Man-Made Diamonds, A Buyer’s Guide

It seems nearly impossible to watch TV or open a newspaper without seeing something about man-made diamonds. For hundreds of years science has tried to create a perfect synthetic diamond. Finally, 21st-century technology has made that prospect a reality.

There are many reasons to purchase synthetic diamonds instead of the mined variety. The prices charged for mined diamonds are, in the very best verbiage, an illusion. To put it more bluntly, Cecil Adams, in his award-winning newspaper column “The Straight Dope” says: “Diamonds are a con, pure and simple.” Diamond prices are largely controlled by the DeBeers diamond cartel, and they are not a fair reflection of diamond scarcity. Additionally, studies show that one out of three diamonds sold in the US today has been altered to artificially increase its value. Further studies have shown that on average a couple pays 40% too much for their diamond engagement ring.

Beyond deceptive pricing, there are the issues of “blood diamonds”, forced child labor, and a myriad of other disturbing diamond facts.

Recently, socially conscious celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Minnie Driver, and Angelina Jolie have made a vocal issue of wearing only synthetic diamonds to the many gala events they attend.

Good synthetic diamonds are virtually indistinguishable from the mined variety, but without the baggage, and additionally, they cost thousands of dollars less. But, which synthetic diamond is the best choice?

There are many types of man-made or synthetic diamonds available. The choices are numerous, but unbiased information is scarce. Here is an overview and comparison of the synthetic diamonds currently unavailable on the market:

Cubic Zirconia

The grandfather of simulated diamonds, Zircons are available widely. In their best examples, CZ’s are actually a fairly decent diamond replica. Unfortunately, the commodity-like availability and vast differences in quality have made the stone synonymous with low-cost fashion jewelry. Perhaps a good choice for cheap bling, but not for fine jewelry. Many sources are available, a decent one is: http://www.czfantasy.com

Russian Diamonds

Including Russian Brilliants, Russian Stars and others, they are in fact nothing but high quality cubic zirconias. This is not mentioned prominently on their web sites and they will only cop to it when pressed, but that is the fact. Russian diamond simulates are priced around $280 per carat.

Russian Diamonds are a fine jewelry selection and are usually mounted in quality precious metal settings.

Russian Brilliants are one of the best and oldest sellers of “Russian Diamonds” available at: http://www.russianbrilliants.net

Moissanite

Moissanite is a lab-created mineral that is a very good diamond stimulant. Moissanite has been on the market as a fine jewelry choice since the early 90s and has picked up quite a few fans. Moissanite is a hard mineral that, like diamond, will cut glass. There are a couple of minor downsides to moissanite however. First, it is quite expensive, (though still cheap compared to diamonds) usually priced about $500 per carat for good samples.

Secondly, moissanite does not have the same optical qualities as diamond and there are several indicators that make them easy to spot with the naked eye for an experienced practitioner. It is difficult to produce a pure white moissanite and they often appear slightly green when viewed in natural light. Also, moissanite has significantly higher radiance and brilliance factors then natural diamond, causing them to appear “too sparkly” to some. Overall though, moissanite is a beautiful synthetic diamond choice.

“Moissanite From the Sky” at http://www.fromthesky.com is a good source of fine moissanite jewelry.

Diamond Nexus

Diamond Nexus gemstones are the result of a fairly new scientific advancement in processing technique, and have only recently been available in the United States.

Diamond Nexus gemstones are excellent diamond stimulants and come very close to matching the properties of mined diamonds at many different comparison points. They cut glass, being virtually identical to diamond on the Mohs (hardness) scale. They refract perfect “hearts and arrows” and have radiance and brilliance readings extremely close to flawless diamond.

Best of all, they are currently introductory priced for the U.S. market, and are a steal at $79 per caret. Diamond Nexus gemstones are only available in precious metal, solid-gold settings.

Diamond Nexus is only available from Diamond Nexus Labs at: http://www.DiamondNexusLabs.com

White Sapphire

Sapphire is the second hardest natural mineral on the Mohs scale, surpassed only by diamond. They are, unlike the others in this review, a natural stone. Their radiance and brilliance are not up to the standards of diamond however. Nevertheless, quality white sapphires priced at around $220 per carat are a good diamond alternative.

A quality source is: http://www.TheNaturalSapphireCompany.com

Gemisis Cultured Diamond

Gemisis diamonds are beautiful and almost perfect diamond replicas. Unfortunately, they are not available in a clear, white color, so they are not a good choice for traditional diamond settings. However, if a yellow, orange or pink diamond is what you crave, Gemisis offers stunning choices in beautiful precious metal, fine-jewelry settings.

Gemisis Cultured Diamonds are only available at: http://www.gemisis.com

Recap:

Synthetic diamonds offer many advantages over the mined variety. You can buy with confidence, knowing that you are getting exactly what you paid for, and have not been the victim of diamond pricing chicanery. If you are concerned with the world around you, you can have a clear conscience, knowing that your money has not contributed to the support of an unethical and abusive industry.

However, there are many choices of synthetic diamonds, with varying degrees of quality. Take a little time to review the seller’s information to get a clear idea of what the science is behind the gemstones you are buying.

For my money, I believe the best choices are quality Moissanite stones or the new diamond stimulant gemstones available from Diamond Nexus Labs.

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Iced Out Watches: The Fad Of Diamonds

Okay, let’s start with the basics. Iced out watches are watches that are gleaming with awesome sparkle from diamonds. They are often some of the most sought out in the hip hop fashion world. In today’s markets, there are all sorts of designs and features offered in iced out styles. There is no doubt that those who are after an iced out look can find it available to them right on the web. Let’s talk about iced out watches though.

Iced out watches are encrusted with gorgeous diamonds. They are literally lined with them. But, don’t worry. The watches that you see in your favorite videos and on your favorite stars are probably real, but you can get the same look for much less. That means that anyone that is looking for iced out watches can have them. They look just as cool, shine just as bright but they are easier on the wallet.

That is where it all started. The hip hop artists are known for wearing some of the most outrageous designs, jewelry and clothing. It is through their videos and their appearances that hip hop clothing got its name. What is good for you, though, is that these looks can be yours without all that much work.

Throughout the web, you are going to find a wide selection of awesome looking iced out watches. They glare with bling bling fashion. They gleam with bright light. And, they are designed in the most popular hip hop styles. Need something specific? Go ahead and have it custom made. Want something that says just what you are all about? You will find it. There are some excellent websites online right now where you can easily purchase the iced out watches that you have been waiting for. They are offered in just the look you want, to look just like what your favorite hip hop artist is wearing. Stop watching it happen on the television and get with it! Iced out watches are only the start of what you can own, at awesome prices on the web.

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Diamond Insurance!!! Total CRAP! (Diamond Car Insurance)

Well the time has come to renew my car insurance, like most people i shopped about for the cheapest quote. I have had 2 accidents and a conviction in the past 2 years so i was expecting the quotes to be high anyway. So when i did a quote with diamond i was very pleased with the quote that i got back online. I was quoted £607.87. As i wanted to pay monthly i called them up and went through the details. Their sales service is actually good! As i was going through the details he asked for more details on the 2 previous claims i had. I advised him on the details and he them came back saying that the premium had gone down to £587.87 which as you can imagin i was very pleased with.
The sales advisor advised that as i was paying monthly, i would inccur a 8.5% admin charge over the year so my payments were going to be more. The overall total payable was £689.89, payable over 10 months at £68.90 a month.

Now this is where it gets bad. At no point during the sales call was i told that this policy would only cover me for 10 months!!! Now this wouldnt be so bad BUT i am paying a extra £100 to pay monthly and i am only getting 10 months cover. Whereas if i paid the £587.87 in one go then i would have got 12 months cover!!!! Where is the logic in that!! I mean i am being peanilised for paying monthly. How many people actually pay their insurance in one go! I dont have the money to do that!

Now we come to calling Diamond to find out whats going on. It wasnt until my mum was reading through the documents that we realised that i was only covered for 10 months, now if i had’t have noticed this then i would have been driving around next year for 2 months with no insurance. Well i called Diamond and started telling the advisor what i am concerned about i was told that this is a 10 month policy and that i will have to either live with or or cancel! Now i was getting angry, the call centre was in India as well so the advisor didnt speak good english. I asked to speak to a manager 3 times and no avil. i was told that they can listen to the sales tape and they would call me back in 2 days, which they did, only to be told that 3 mins into the call i was told that this is a 10 month policy. I asked if i could listen to this tape and was put on hold yet again. when she came back she told me that i can listen to the tape the next day before 12 noon. Now i work mon to fri 9am-6pm and i am unable to take calls at work so i told them this and they said the only other option was for me to be sent a copy of the tape but that came with a cost of £13.75!!!!! The cheek of it! I told them to stick that idea!!! I continued to argue with them but got no where. I was told by the manager to just cancel the policy, but if i did that then i would be charged £19 to do this.

I am now stuck with DIAMOND for the next 10 months weather i like it or not!!!
Just great!

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UPDATE!!!

Well i got a call from Jas at Diamond on 10/05/06 and he said that as they couldnt get someone to stay late to play me the tape that he was going to give me 12 months cover as well as pay monthly. I had to pay a £54 charge but over the remaining 12 months it actually reduced my payments from £68 per month to £61 per month. Im guessing that they re-listened to the tape and realised that i wasnt told it was 10 month policy.
Ok now i am happy with this but i still wont be going with them again next year. At least i got what i wanted. Just goes to show that it pays to complain.

Summary: Will not be going with DIAMOND AGIAN!!!!

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Diamond Car Insurance

Diamond Insurance – be aware that this company adds to its profits by automatically renewing your insurance policy and will then chase you through the courts for monies owed. My policy ran out at the same time as I moved house. As Diamond were not the cheapest I changed insurers. I didn’t inform Diamond of my change of address as I had no further reason to deal with them and as this insurance was for a second car there was no need to contact them for my proof of no claims. 6 months later I am being harassed by a debt collection agency threatening me with a CCJ for £110, this includes a laughable administration fee of £45. It is with a wry smile to myself when I think of what Diamond’s stance would have been if I’d tried to make a claim on the policy I so say had with them. Do not use this company or any that fall under the Admiral umbrella. A totally inflexible, unhelpful and greedy company.

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Be warned – you get what you pay for (Diamond Car Insurance)

Advantages: cheap especially for women, fine until you actually have to claim from them

Disadvantages: no two staff members ever give the same answer to your question, poor communication

I had been insured previously with Diamond and switched last year as elephant.co.uk gave me a better offer. This year my parents had offered to pay for my car insurance as I have gone back to studying full-time to do an Msc in speech therapy. I dutifuly searched many insurance companies to get the cheapest quote as i did not want my parents to have to pay any more than they had to. Diamond were the cheapest by about £100 so I took the insurance out with them.
Unfortunately just 1 month after taking out the insurance I had an accident and crashed into the back of another car as the winter sun blinded me for a second just as the car came to stop in front of me, as i came over the top of a hill.
I was very shaken up by the accident and my mum ended up phoning diamond for me and reporting the accident. They were very helpful on the phone and since the only damage was a broken headlight and a rather smashed in bonnet i thought things would be fixed in no-time especially since i live next door to the garage they recommended to do the repairs! The man from the garage came over to look at the car the very next day and said that as the car was 12 years old it is possible Diamond may try to write it off. He reckoned the car was worth between £800 and £1100 (it was a very much loved Renault Clio 1.8 RT – with only 41k on the clock in 12 years!) and that as it had been kept so clean and in such good condition he would take some photo’s of the inside and of the milometer to try and persuade them it was worth fixing.

He then told me that although the bonnet was quite badly dented nothing on the inside was damaged and as the actual headlight bulb still worked it was still safe to drive until i got clearance to get it fixed. I didn’t use it until i really had to and drove to the supermarket about 3 days later.
The next day I get a phone call from diamond to say sorry the cars been written off as a technical write off and uneconomical to repair, if you have any questions please call us. So i did call them – in fact the only reason i did call was to see why it was written off – what the quote for repairing it had been. All i can say is it is lucky i did phone them. I explained that i really wanted to push for getting the car fixed as it was worth alot more to me than any other car i could buy for £800 as i had kept it in such good condition and that it was still driveable as the man from the recommended garage had told me. She said well you can’t drive it anyway we have cancelled your insurance from this morning and the salvage company have been called and will come and remove the car as soon as possible. I was astounded – had i not telephoned THEM i would not have found out i was uninsured – they might have deemed the car a write off but it was a technical write off and still driveable and they had not told me otherwise!! Equally i couldn’t believe they had authorised the salvage company to come and take it away without informing me – all my personal belongings were still in the car and it would have been an incredible shock to just have someone turn up on the doorstep saying they had been authorized to take my car away. I had not even been given a chance to get any other quotes from other garages.
I was rather upset by their attitude and finally persuaded them to hold off the salvage company while i actually decided what to do and to get some more quotes. This involved me obviously driving to different garages to get other quotes – however diamond had uninsured me. It was a total struggle to get them to agree to insure me for another few hours while i took the car to garages.
The final straw came when 9 days after the accident i recieved a letter from them – dated 4 days after the accident telling me i was no longer insured by them as from the day after the accident. I therefore drove to the supermarket totally uninsured and no-one had told me this when i reported the claim. It had taken them 4 days to even write and tell me this and then i didn’t recieve it for another 5 days. Had i not telephoned them myself i would have been driving around all week uninsured.
I think this is totally unacceptable. It is probably in the small print of their policy somewhere but who actually reads the whole thing when they take out a policy and after the accident i definately wasn’t in the right frame of mind to scour the policy just in case they were going to do something like this.
To top it all off I was told that I lose the remaining £270 of my policy as i had on ly had the insurance for 1 month and they put that towards claiming back their costs for my claim, that and of course my £150 excess. So they make £420 out of me while giving me back the value of my car according to them – which so far 2months down the line has not been decided, somehow i doubt it will be near the £1k it is worth and will probably be under the £800 that was what the mechanic thought was the least i could expect.

Consequently i have just bought a new secondhand car (another clio!) with a rather large loan from the parental bank and had to find insurance for this car. Diamond had offered as a goodwill gesture (!!) to put some of the money i lost on my last policy towards a new one, therefore i got £200 off my policy. It turned out it was only £80 cheaper than a new policy with elephant but as i am a student i couldn’t afford to pay an extra £80 just to ensure i wasn’t with Diamond again (plus the fact that elephant are another subsidary of admiral just like diamond so may not be any better customer service wise). So i am trapped into another years insurance with diamond as they were the cheapest , i dread to think what will happen should i need to claim again so will just have to cross my fingers and not even think about it. As soon as i am working and can afford to change insurance companies i will!!

Well done if you have stuck with this review the whole way down, it has become somewhat of a rant and for that i apologise but i feel so angry at them for their attitude and customer service that it is quite hard to get the story down and warn other people without rambling a bit!!

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Ladies First! (Diamond Car Insurance)

Advantages: Great prices for women, Bonus Accelerator Programme, Good service, Easy to access quotes online or freephone

Disadvantages: Foreign call centre ‘out of hours’

Diamond specialise in car insurance for women.

Background Information and Some Interesting Statistics…
In many instances, with all insurance companies, women can often receive cheaper insurance quotes than men… the reason for this? Well, according to information Diamond have collected women tend to be involved in the same number of accidents as men, but those accidents don’t tend to be quite as serious. Because of this, when a man makes a claim the insurance company normally has to pay out more than they would if a woman was making a claim.

Information on Diamond’s website suggests that women also tend to drive shorter distances and tend to drive more slowly (remember – this is in general!). Apparantly men are convicted for 92% of driving offences and 98% of all convictions for dangerous driving.

It’s because of these reasons that insurance companies tend to generalise and say that women drivers are typically “safer”. However, this difference is more prominent during late teens and twenties. By the time a driver reaches 30+ it tends to even out more… and by the time a driver reaches 75 it’s the men that are considered “safer”.

Diamond make a suggestion that they feel this trend is likely to change (and is probably changing now), but they confirm that “until the statistical evidence shows that there has been a swing insurance companies will still rate women differently from men”.
Good news for women then!

About Diamond
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Diamond offer car insurance to women… This isn’t to say they offer insurance soley to women, men can appear as named drivers on a woman’s policy, but their quoting system is based around the woman being the main driver and the owner of the car in question.

Diamond is part of the Admiral Insurance Services Ltd group which means there’s no middleman involved – they’re not brokers looking

for another company to insure you, they offer the insurance direct to you.

Getting a Quote
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Diamond are able to offer insurance quotes over the phone and also over the internet. In terms of the things they need to know to offer a quote it’s pretty much the same as any insurance company, however one thing that came in particularly useful in my situation is that they only take consideration of claims and convictions that have happened in the last 3 years – many insurance companies want to know details of claims and convictions within the last 5 years, therefore if something has gone wrong in your past you have to suffer the consequences for 2 years longer than you do by getting a quote with Diamond!

To get a quote by phone they have a freephone number (0800 36 24 36) Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm and Saturday & Sunday 10am to 4pm, or to get a quote online you should visit www.diamond.co.uk where you can get a quote 24 hours a day. If you opt for the online option there will be instances where you may need to call them and you won’t be able to get a quote online, however this is very rare and is normally only in circumstances such as an unusual car. When trying to get a car for a Subaru Impreza STI that had been imported from Japan but not yet registered in the UK I found I was unable to get a quote online, so had to make a call to their call centre…

One of my majoe gripes is companies that switch to call centres abroad during ‘anti-social’ hours… Diamond’s call centre is open 8am – 8pm during the week, but I found that calling after 6.00 pm meant a call to a foreign call centre. The call centre seems to be based in India, and, whilst I’m sure these people try very hard (to read their scripts), if you’ve got anything more than a straight-forward question they will struggle. Also, no matter how good some people’s grasp of the English language is, a foreign accent over the tele
phone
is sometimes extremely difficult to understand. When trying to get a quote for the car that was a Japanese Import I had the “cutomer service” representative repeatedly telling me that there was no such car made in the year I was telling her that the car was made in. This was very frustrating! In particular as I knew I was right – I’d already seen the car! This lead to me having to wait and make additional calls during ‘office hours’.

Types of Cover
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As you’d expect, Diamond offer both Comprehensive and Third Party, Fire and Theft types of insurance.
One advantage, in particular for younger or not so experienced drivers or those that have lost their no-claims-bonus is that Diamond offer a Bonus Accelerator Scheme. By taking insurance using the Bonus Accelerator Scheme you pay for 10 months insurance, and at the end of those 10 months Diamond give you 1 year’s no claims bonus. This helps you to build up no claims bonuses much quicker. This is only offered to drivers with less than 5 years no claims bonus, and I can certainly say it has been of advantage to me. Taking this option costs no more than it would to take the full twelve months cover (as far as I’m aware you just pay for 10 months cover instead of a full 12).

Diamond offer the usual benefits, including legal expenses cover, a guaranteed replacement car (though this is subject to conditions – for example, they don’t guarantee a replacement car if you’re insuring an imported vehicle), and a 24 hour accident and glass repair helpline.

The Expense
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According to their website their motor insurance quotes are particularly good if you live in Scotland, London or the South East. I don’t live in any of those areas, but I have consistently found them able to give me the best quote for the last few years. Obviously a company that’s cheaper for one person is not going to
be cheape
r for everyone – at the end of the day to get the best price you do need to ring around a good few companies.
I was concerned when insuring my car with them that I would have problems adding my boyfriend as a named driver (with Diamond being a specialist in womens car insurance), I thought that they would either not do it or it would cost a fortune, however this was not a problem and only cost a relatively small amount.

The Verdict
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In general their customer service is good, though I would recommend that if possible you use the internet to communicate with them or call during the day, not the early evening.
Diamond are very prompt in sending out paperwork and are keen to get feedback from their customers – almost every time they’ve posted something to me (e.g. when I’ve rung to change my payment details at the time of renewal) they’ve always sent out a brief questionnaire for comments on how well they dealt with my query. (Hopefully they take notice of what customers say to them!)

If you a female driver, in particular if you’re young, have had claims in the past and drive a fast car (like myself!) then I would certainly suggest giving Diamond a try. If you’re reading this, then you’re already online, so why not go to diamond.co.uk to see what quote they could offer you. You’re not tied in to anything by getting a quote.

Four stars * * * * (one knocked off for the foreign call centre)

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Good cover for us girls (Diamond Car Insurance)

Advantages: Good cover , friendly, competitive

Disadvantages: extras normally included

My husband would disagree with the statement that Diamond attracted me with. This was that Women are more careful drivers than men.
He claims that they are more dangerous when he is cursing and moaning about being stuck behind someone that is driving slower than he is.
Well the facts don’t lie do they? If they did, companies like Diamond would not be able to function or offer their great cover.
However, saying this, Damond do state that generally Men have as many accidents as women but the claims cost less and they pass the savings on to us.

Diamond are an Insurer simply for Women. They claim it was created by women for women.
Their website is worth a look.
www.diamond.co.uk
You can find out about all of their other services here.
This review is about the Motor Insurance so I will continue with that.
The services they provide are very thorough and give you great protection.
One of their policies gives you:-
* 24hour Accident Helpline
* Convenient monthly instalment option
* Guaranteed replacement car from their Approved Repairers following an accident
* Unlimited windscreen cover
* 24hour Glass Repair Helpline
* Hassle – free claims service
* Up to £100,000 of legal expenses cover

This is a good range of cover that has a diverse set of cover. You can opt for Fully Comprehensive, Third Party only, or include Fire and theft too.

They also allow you to pay by installments to spread the cost of payments over many months. Handy if you have a high premium.

When you are asking for a quote, you can apply directly to them via the website. The short form that you are required to fill in takes about 10 minutes and they will email you within 36 hours with a quote.
Even the phone quote allows you to register a phone number and they will call you within a timeframe. Very good as it saves your phone bill.

They came out as one of the cheapest wh
en I got my quote back and decided to opt for their deal. I have not been dissapointed.

They have some optional extras that you may be interested in.

For £19.95 you can be covered for personal accident. This is good if you are a passenger and become injured.
For a theft claim, Diamon will supply a hire car for £24.95. Some companies insure you for free on this so this may be seen as an additional expense.
For an additional 9.95, you can be covered for windscreen damage on lower priced policies. This is covered for free on most of their competitors.

The staff are very helpful and friendly on the phone too. They give you the feeling that they know what they are talking about rather than reguritating facts and figures.
As far as helpfulness and promptness with claims, I dont know as I have not had an accident with them (touch wood).

Overall, this is a great insurer. The extras they offer are normally included in most other insurer’s policies though.

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