E.E. Robbins - The Engagement Ring Store - Our Blog

“Ruses, Rip-offs and Outright Lies”- An inside look at every day business in America

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:22:00 GMT

A few years ago; after I had published my book, “Popping the Question, Seattle Style”, I wrote a second book about business. This book tells the story of how business is often done in our country. The title I decided on was “Ruses, Rip-offs and Outright Lies”, a harsh title, but one clearly deserved.

My primary purpose in writing the book was not to make money. In fact, I found out early on that most business books are not profitable. My goal instead was to try to wake people up to all of the scams and gimmicks that are perpetrated on us by so many companies in today’s times. It seems many people blindly accept these deceptive business practices as just the way business is done. However, I am continually frustrated and disgusted by the way many companies do business. I never did have the book published, as I found it would have taken another re-write or two as well as an investment on my own part of fifty thousand dollars or more. However, it is still a subject I’m passionate about and the lack of integrity often found in business continues to disturb and disgust me. I’m a big believer in karma and that we get back what we give in one form or another. In order to know where to spend our hard-earned money, it’s important to be aware of some of the “snake oil” that’s being peddled out there. Thus the purpose of my book is to alert consumers so that they know and understand what businesses and practices to avoid.

Some of the subjects and chapters in the book include:

“Bogus sales” – a new and different sale just about every week with supposed savings of 30, 40, 50%? We all know the truth - the starting price is marked up higher to allow for such deceptive discounts.

“Phoney and Fictitious Claims”. Claims with “guarantees” to grow hair, lose ten pounds in a week’s time, enlarge or reduce various parts of the body, etc.

Extended warranties. Many companies don’t even make a profit on the products they sell, but are able to stay in business from the profits generated by these after-sale warranties.

Joining a club to save money. This one drives me crazy. Needing to have a plastic tag or a special number to save $$$ at the neighborhood grocery store and elsewhere?

Rebates – one of the most frustrating of all. These companies show the price in bold print with a small asterisk that says “after $50. Rebate” or similar. They know full well that less than 25% of the buyers will bother to redeem the rebate.

Zero percent interest scams or “Don’t pay until 2015”. C’mon, we know these prices are marked up to cover the interest charges. Such offers can end up causing a lot of financial trouble later for those customers that are not as fiscally responsible.

There are many more chapters and various other “ruses, rip-offs and outright lies”, but we obviously haven’t the time or space to list them all here.

The bottom line is that wherever and whenever you shop, it’s important to recognize these deceptive and even immoral business practices and avoid the companies that employ such tactics to try to con you. Remember, Caveat Emptor, i.e. buyer beware.

Spend your hard-earned dollars with companies that deserve your business and that have integrity and treat you with respect. In business, buyers vote with their pocketbooks. It’s a powerful tool that can influence how businesses operate and advertise, so be sure to make your vote count!

The New and Improved EE!

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 09:36:00 GMT

When we first began in business, we carried just about every important bridal Designer ring line in our store. It was costly to inventory all of these pricey lines, but we felt as the engagement ring specialists, “The Engagement Ring Store”; it was important that we feature all of these heavily advertised lines.

Over the years, however, we found that several of these Designer lines weren’t a good fit for our brand. Some lines had quality issues; with others their rings just didn’t sell that well. And then when the recession hit in 2007, several of these companies broke their exclusivity agreements, wanting to sell the national chains to increase their suddenly declining sales volumes. Since one of our core beliefs at EE Robbins is to offer unique styles to our customers that can’t be found all over the town, we elected to drop many of these Designer lines. We have always felt that uniqueness is important to our clients when selecting this very special ring that will symbolize their lifetime commitment to one another.

So for many of the above reasons, we decided it was time that we started designing and manufacturing our own rings. Fortunately we already had a great head-start here. For many years, earlier on in my career, I had designed rings for a major jewelry Co-op, made up of hundreds of stores around the country, I knew that I already had a talent for design. In addition, our Ring Buyer, Susan Greenwood, had years of experience as a fashion consultant and New York fashion model. We had also established a great friendship and a close business relationship with noted Northwest artist, Erik Hall, who over the years designed hundreds of incredible engagement and wedding rings for our clients. We were equally fortunate to find a very talented Production Manager, Julian Lin, not only an expert in jewelry manufacturing, but also extremely skilled in CAD CAM – the state of the art methodology for ring design. We also already had an accomplished Master Goldsmith and wax carver in Sanh Duong. We were further fortunate to add to our Design team a gifted English Designer, Benjamin Marchant. With this talented group of Designers and others as well, we began to build an impressive collection of magnificent engagement and wedding rings. Not only were these styles beautiful, but we found that we could save up to 30% and more by manufacturing ourselves rather than paying for Designer rings. We not only could offer lower prices on our rings, but we could better control the quality, offer faster delivery and better control our own destiny. Within a few years time, almost fifty percent of our rings were designed and manufactured by us.

However, we still intend to represent a handful of coveted Designer lines in our stores. Lines like Simon G. who offers beautifully made rings that are very well priced; styles by Mark Schneider, who has won more awards for jewelry design than any other Designer on the planet. We also are proud to feature rings by Ritani, a company that has mastered the art of micro-pave’ – a very difficult diamond setting methodology as well as several other lines that we feel that offer our customers diversity of style and are consistent with our uncompromising quality standards.

In closing and without hesitation, I can proudly state that this metamorphous in our merchandising make-up , transitioning from Purveyors of Designer rings to Designers and Direct Manufacturers of our own rings, has been the most exciting and important change since our company was first founded. Our business has improved since we made this transition and our clients have found our rings to be equal to any Designer ring styles that we’ve ever carried. With our expert design team, we are also able to custom design a unique ring for our clients that can’t be found anywhere else in the world and often for less than a pricey Designer mass manufactured ring. This custom process is both interactive and fun. We start with a detailed artist’s sketch, produced by either Erik Hall or Benjamin. Then once this sketch is approved, we build a three dimensional CAD Cam rendering. Then again when our client approves this, we produce an actual wax of the ring. Again, changes can easily be made anywhere along the line. Once the wax is approved, we then produce a casting. From here, when approved, we polish and set the diamonds and voila – one’s own masterpiece – a one-of-a-kind ring that is sure to be cherished forever. Either way, with an EE Robbins in-house ring creation or a custom ring, our clients can’t possibly lose. As most people already know, we at EE Robbins will not compromise on quality. We are totally dedicated to our customers’ happiness and a ring that is truly the ring of our clients dreams, each made to last and be treasured for a lifetime and more.

The Online Diamond Lie!

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:31:00 GMT

Here’s a fact! Diamonds with the exact same grades can look very different from one another. If you don’t believe this, please ask any Graduate Gemologist, Certified Diamontologist or any other qualified diamond expert (except those that are employed by one of the many online diamond companies.) Those that work for an online diamond company certainly don’t want you to know these facts as they are relying on selling you a diamond sight unseen.

However, everyone with any decent amount of time and experience looking at diamonds will tell you that they have seen many diamonds that can look great on paper, i.e. on a Gemological Laboratory Grading Report (commonly referred to as a Lab Certificate), but that don’t look so great when compared to other diamonds of similar quality. These diamonds can come with high ratings in clarity, color and cut, but can appear somewhat dull and lifeless, lacking brilliance and beauty. This is especially noticeable when comparing that diamond to a brighter and more beautiful diamond. The reason for this is because of the actual rough material formed in nature. There are no categories or descriptions of this rough diamond material on any Lab Report. However, this may in fact, be the most influential aspect affecting a particular diamond’s beauty and brilliance. Every diamond expert knows that a Lab Report only tells a part of the story regarding a diamond’s beauty and brilliance.

Those that buy diamonds sight unseen usually either don’t understand this fact or they may not really care. Some shoppers feel that good enough is, well… good enough. Or maybe they are buying a diamond sight unseen because an online diamond company’s representative did not tell them the truth in a phone conversation or via instant-chat. To test this, I recently used an alias and had an online instant chat with a representative from one of the most recognized internet diamond companies.

The following is part of the transcripts from that “conversation”:
You have been connected with Josh
Josh: Hello Sam
Sam: Hi. I have a ring that my Grandmother gave me and I’m looking for a one carat diamond for it. I would like to spend no more than $5500.
Josh: I see - Thanks. One moment please
Josh: Here is a diamond that is actually below budget. It offers what we would call, 'visually perfect'. Meaning, it will
appear colorless to the eye, unless it were to be compared to much higher graded diamonds, and the Clarity of VS2
means there are no eye-visible flaws. Most importantly, the Cut Grade of Ideal will guarantee the most brilliance, fire and scintillation.
Sam: should I click on this link?
Josh: Yes, that is to the diamond I was referring to.
Sam: It’s not a one carat?
Sam: I already found one this size that had even a higher grade at a local jewelry store
Josh: I did find a 1.00ct that is the same VS2 Clarity and Ideal cut under your budget.
Josh: I’m sending you the link to view this diamond : www.(companynamewithheld.com) # XXX 416805.
Josh: I should say, though, that you would hardly see the size variance between the smaller diamond I sent to you before
Sam: Do you have this diamond in front of you?
Josh: We have 70,000+ diamonds, they are vaulted all over the world. However, based on the GIA diamond certificate,
I know that this diamond is going to be perfect to the eye. That is how we have become such a popular company.

Here is the most important part of this “conversation”

Sam: They told me at a local jewelry store that diamonds that have the same grades can look very different from one another. Is this true?
Josh: That's not true – Especially for Round diamonds. A Round Excellent cut is about the best you are able to receive in terms of visual perfectness. You really can't do better than perfect.
Sam: so every diamond that is Ideal cut and has I color and VS2 will look exactly the same?
Josh: That's correct - If you had 2-3 diamonds side by side, only a skilled diamond gemologist would be able to determine which is which.
Sam: okay, I'm getting conflicting information here from what I was told when shopping at some well respected jewelry stores. I think I need to investigate this more.
Josh: Sure, I would encourage you to do so

As you can see, this representative did not tell the truth. Either he just doesn’t know the truth or he is being intentionally untruthful. Please understand that I am making no assumptions regarding their true intentions. It should be mentioned that these same kind of untrue answers were received when our other associates had similar “online chats” with other representatives from several of the most popular online diamond companies. This is upsetting since the average diamond shopper is relying on this representative and other associates of internet diamond companies to provide them with accurate information, so that they can make a wise decision in their diamond purchase.

Another fact to be aware of with most internet diamond companies, is that they normally do not own nor do they even normally see the diamonds that they are selling. All they usually see is an accredited Gemological Laboratory Grading Report, which as we reminded you earlier, does not adequately describe the diamonds actual brilliance and beauty. If we could buy diamonds from just looking at their Lab Reports or by fax, phone, e-mail, etc. and still insure that we had the most beautiful looking diamonds for the money, I can assure you that we would do so. Then we would not have to send our Diamond Buyer, Brant Kane to the diamond centers of the world to hand-pick each and every diamond. Sending Brant overseas several times per year to select our diamonds costs our company quite a bit, when you consider the airfare, hotel costs and the time he is away from our company. However, it is also critical to send Brant there in order to insure that we are offering our customers a selection of the brightest and most beautiful diamonds possible.

If we could simply buy diamonds from a Lab Report or by fax, phone, e-mail, etc and still insure that we were getting the most beautiful looking diamonds for the money, believe me, we would not hesitate to do so. However, the fact is, you have to see a diamond in person and compare it to other diamonds, in order to find the most beautiful diamonds. Just like most things in life, there are usually no short-cuts to success.

So knowing these facts, why would anyone buy a diamond sight unseen?

Most diamond experts are still amazed that anyone would buy a diamond without seeing it up close and comparing it to other diamonds. The answer is that most online diamond purchasers just don’t know the truth about diamonds – that diamonds with the exact same ratings can look very different from one another. And that even the finest quality diamond (on paper) may not be the most beautiful and brilliant diamond, when compared to a similar quality diamond. One other answer is the reality that some people shopping for a diamond just don’t care about finding the most beautiful diamond for their money. As long as they can find a diamond that looks good and is affordable, they’re content. The irony here, is that quite often, a diamond of a lower color or clarity or even cut or any combination of the three can appear to be brighter and more brilliant than a diamond with higher grades. Sometimes, the less expensive diamond is even more beautiful, so it always makes sense to see diamonds in person and compare one to another before purchasing your diamond. Another fact is that just like many other things, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, so what is beautiful to one person may not be beautiful to another. This is also very true in diamonds.

When shopping for diamonds, remember the adage: Caveat Emptor, which translated from Latin, means “buyer beware”. Even an associate from the most well known online diamond company may not be telling you the whole truth. I’d suggest that you shop at a reputable jewelry store and look at a lot of diamonds and take the time to compare one to another. Look at these diamonds under the proper lighting, using a 10X calibrated Gemscope with the guidance of a Graduate Gemologist or Certified Diamontologist. You should always listen to your intuition. If you don’t trust the person or the company showing you diamonds, then don’t buy from that person or company.

It is wise to make sure that there is an accredited independent Gemological Laboratory Grading Report with the diamond and to look at its ratings, but do NOT buy the diamond based strictly on its grades. These grades are just for your protection, to give you an idea of the quality of that particular diamond and a rough reference for price. However, these grades are not meant as a complete description of the diamond any more than a drivers license will adequately describe you or the one you love.

The diamond that you should purchase is a diamond that you have seen with your own eyes, that you have viewed using the proper gemological equipment and that you have compared it to other diamonds at the same store and at the same time.

Remember that the human mind is incapable of storing the concept of color, beauty, brilliance, etc. So once you leave that store, you will not be able to remember exactly what that diamond looks like. It’s best to purchase the diamond that looks the brightest and most beautiful to you, the diamond that appears under natural light to have the most life and sparkle, the diamond that seems to call out to you. This is the diamond that you’ll want to own, to give to the one you love and plan on sharing your life with.

It's Just Not Our Style

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:04:00 GMT

There are thousands of sales trainers and motivators all pitching their services, books, programs, etc. Some of them you’ve no doubt heard of like Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, Joe Girard - to name just a few. Many of these trainers and motivators are available for hire for public appearances, corporate events or for private training sessions, etc. Plus every major industry has their own select list of sales trainers. In the jewelry industry alone, there are literally dozens of trainers for hire. Any of the above could, as the expression goes, “sell ice to an Eskimo”.

Many of these sales trainers have called me up to offer their sales training services to our company and I politely turn them down. I explain how we do business and they try to convince me that we are losing sales with that approach. I get the feeling they think I’m totally naïve and that we’re missing out on making a lot more sales than we otherwise could if we followed their advice and sales methods. Quite frankly, they may be right, but any other way just isn’t our style.

We want to feel good about how we conduct business. It’s an integral part of who we are as a company as much as the product we carry and the people that we hire. We stay as far away as possible from the sales shark types and instead look for bright, warm and truly caring people. More like charismatic teachers than pushy sales personalities.

We believe in providing our customers with as much information as possible, show them the merits of our products and treat every customer, just as we wish to be treated when we go shopping. We don’t like to be manipulated, so why would we possibly want to do that to our clients?
Sales trainers will tell you that a salesperson needs to find out how much a customer wants to spend and then “lift the sale”. In other words, they should try to sell the customer more than they planned on buying.

But that’s just not our style.

Sales trainers will train sales associates to go for the “add-on” purchase. In other words, try to sell their customers an additional item or two more after they have purchased the item they came in for. Even fast food employees were trained at one time or another to ask “do you want fries with that”?

That’s just not our style.

Sales trainers will often train sales people to ask questions that will result In a yes answer In order to get them in a yes mood so that they are more likely to say yes, when the sales associate “asks for the sale” or in sales terms “goes in for the close”.

That’s just not our style.

Sales trainers say that if a sales associate can’t “close the sale”, then you need to T.O. (turn it over) it to another sales associate. Some stores will even require that the sales associate turn the sale over to another associate or a Manager if the sale is not made.

I even know of companies that mandate that every customer be “turned over” as many as three times if they have not purchased.

That’s just not our style.

While we do ask our sales associates to turn the sale over to another sales associate if they feel that they are not able to establish a good rapport with the client. We do this because we believe our customers would rather work with someone that they enjoy working with more. But we would be out of business before we would ever think of pressuring a customer by bringing in a “closer”.

I often jokingly refer to us as the Mahatma Gandhi of sales. We just don’t believe in pressuring customers to buy. We hate it when we are pressured so why would we want to pressure the most important people in our business, our customers. I’m often amazed at how stores think that they are different than their customers. Who doesn’t hate to be pressured when they go shopping? Who doesn’t dislike being manipulated by salespeople?

So why do so many companies continue to sell like this? I guess it must work or they wouldn’t keep doing it. However, I’ve always felt that if we educate our customers and then they don’t purchase from us, it’s because we either didn’t have the right product for them or we didn’t have the right product at the right price. In any case, we do not allow our customers to be pressured and every single associate at EE Robbins knows this and would never think of pressuring their customers. They know that at our company that if I hear of one customer feeling pressured by one of our associates, that associate will be given a strong reprimand. Then if it happened again, they’ll likely be looking for a job.

We call our approach “Golden Rule” selling, in other words, sell to others just as we want to be sold to. I don’t know if we invented that term, but I do know from shopping around myself that most companies do a great job of talking the talk when it comes to customer service, but very few walk the walk. If after reading this blog, you don’t “buy” what I’m telling you here, then please feel free to shop at either of our stores and see for yourself. And if you feel that I’ve exaggerated any part of this, please don’t hesitate to let me know at emerson@eerobbins.com.

In need of a smile?

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:03:00 GMT

If you haven’t met Kim Todd from our Seattle store, do yourself a favor and come in sometime and introduce yourself. Kim is one of the most incredible people I know. She is always up. I mean always. And it’s not an act. It is totally genuine. Kim lights up any room she’s in with her fun personality and her warm smile. You’d never know it, but Kim has been through some difficult times in her life. She has fought off cancer. Her Mom, who she is so very close to, is now in failing health. She has had more than her share of difficulties since I’ve known her, but I have never once heard her complain about her troubles. Instead, she comes to work every day with a smile on her face. Her fun, charismatic upbeat presence always lifts the mood of all those who come in contact with her. Her co-workers all love her and her clients are constantly raving about her. However, the most extraordinary thing about Kim is her big heart. For many years now, she has helped out a local homeless guy, helping find him a place to live, giving him food, supplies to wash cars, allocating his government welfare checks out to him over time so that he doesn’t blow the money all at once on drugs. She even brought him over to her Mom’s once for Thanksgiving dinner. (I’m not sure how her Mom felt about that one).

Kim’s current project is named “Drink Up Butter Cup”. It is a fund to raise money for a well for an African village. If she can raise $5,000, this village will for the first time have its own well for clean water. She has already raised almost $2,000. Here is the link below if you’d like to help contribute to this wonderful cause. mycharitywater.org/drinkupbuttercup

However, this article is not meant as a pitch to encourage people to donate (although it really is a great cause). It’s meant to tell you about what an amazing person Kim Todd is. She is one of the kindest and warmest people I’ve ever known. She is so much fun to be around. Everyone that meets her loves her. I’m thrilled that she chose to join EE Robbins when we first opened for business many years ago and I am extremely thankful that she is still with us today. She is truly one in a million.

If some day you find yourself in need of a smile, c’mon on into our Belltown store when Kim is there and say hi. If you spend any time at all with Kim, I guarantee when you leave the store, it will be with a smile on your face.

How to Raise a Romantic

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:02:00 GMT

I haven’t read any scientific studies on this subject, but it only makes sense to me that if a child is raised in an environment where love abounds, that child will be much more likely to grow up to understand how to be in a loving relationship. I was fortunate enough to have parents who lived their own true love story. I can clearly remember my Mom greeting my Dad at the door every day when he returned home from work, handing him a drink and the two of them then sharing a warm kiss. She always made sure she looked her best when he came home and that the house was immaculate. I guess this was kind of a 1950’s thing, but it sure seemed to work well for them.

My Mom was certainly no shrinking violet. She was and still is a strong outspoken woman, but what made it all work was that they truly wanted to cater to each other. They were dedicated to each other’s happiness and fulfillment. It seemed to work for us as well, as all three of us boys have also enjoyed wonderful marriages that are all still each going strong after twenty-five years and more.

As we all know, marriages often don’t work out as planned. (it did take me a second marriage to get it right), but I do believe children ultimately learn to emulate their parents. If a child is brought up in a loveless home, that is how they will likely perceive marriage to be. It’s certainly not a universal truth, but I do know that I was very fortunate to have been raised in a house filled with love. I’m extremely thankful to my Mom and Dad for being such outstanding “romance role models”. In fact, I have no doubt that this is why I have enjoyed a long and successful career in the engagement ring business. I guess you could say I was raised to be a true romantic.

Although my Dad has been gone for many years now, I’m grateful to still have my Mom around. On a somewhat unrelated note, my incredible 85 year old Mom has always loved to sing. Recently, she especially wanted to sing a Maurice Chevalier song and have it recorded for her family. She hadn’t planned to make a big deal out of it, but the videographer decided it was worthy of posting on YouTube. My Mom who I’m not sure even knew what YouTube was, has now seen her video go over 20,000 hits. Because of its popularity, she was even asked to appear on the Rosie O’Donnell Show. Being the outspoken woman that my Mom is, she told the Rosie O’Donnell representative that she didn’t even like Rosie O’Donnell and had no interest in apprearing on the show. I guess she’s holding out for the Tonight Show.

Here is a link to her video. It’s Mitzi Robbins singing “I’m Glad I’m not Young Anymore”:

I hope you enjoy watching it. If you do, please let me know at emerson@eerobbins.com

Love and Let Love!

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 14:01:00 GMT

Having been in the engagement and wedding ring business for most of my life, I’ve had the opportunity to meet literally thousands of couples in love looking for rings to symbolize their relationship and lifelong commitment to one another. These couples come in all sizes, shapes, colors and types. The one thing they usually all share in common is their love for one another. It’s truly the reason I’m in this business. And I’m sure that our EE Robbins associates would say the same.

I believe that love makes life worth living. It is the most wonderful of all emotions. I can’t even imagine what my life would be like without my wife and best friend, Sherri.

The diametrically opposite emotion to love is hate. Hate is an ugly word, and an even uglier emotion. While we know that hate exists, often abundantly, we all wish it did not. Even so-called religious people (from many assorted religions) can sometimes be inconsistent in their love and at times even hateful in their thoughts and actions. I’m always amazed at this hypocrisy. Isn’t religion, worshiping God in any form, supposed to be about love? Would God, or however you or I define a Supreme Being, want us to be hateful? I’m certainly no preacher, nor even formally religious, but it seems to me that love should be the driving force in life. It sure shouldn’t be hate!

The point is this - love comes in many different forms. I have seen couples that are totally in love that are man and woman, loving couples that are man and man and couples in love that are woman and woman. And all of these relationships are beautiful in their own way and deserving of equal respect and equal status. Now maybe by my writing about this controversial topic, some people will no longer want to shop at EE Robbins. That is certainly one’s choice, but if you or someone you know feels that way, I would ask you to search your heart and ask yourself if such beliefs are truly loving? Or do you believe that your own narrow concept of love is the only way that love can be defined?

I was a history major in college and I still continue to read a lot of historical non-fiction. I can tell you without question that beliefs, customs and what is considered socially acceptable change and evolve with the times. It was only about a hundred and fifty years ago that many people in this country felt that it was morally acceptable for one human being to own and enslave another human being. It was less than one hundred years ago that our country allowed women the right to vote. Before that time, many people felt women did not deserve this right. Now think about this for a moment - it was only about fifty years ago that many white people in this country felt that those of a different color did not deserve to share the same equal rights.

When will we learn? When will we accept that we are not all the same? When will we understand that we don’t have to look, act and or think the same? When will we evolve to the point that we can celebrate our differences rather than condemn those who don’t believe as we do?

I’d be willing to bet and I fervently hope that it won’t be long before we accept that people can love differently than we do. Some of us find love with the opposite sex and others may find love with the same sex. Either way, it is still love! And two people in love, no matter their sexual preference, deserve to be viewed the same and given the same basic and equal rights.

That is true love! And it’s how I want our world to be. Isn’t it time that we all learn to love and let love?

A Review of Review Sites

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:59:00 GMT

Not long ago, I met a woman at a business conference who had founded, and several years later, sold a successful clothing company. We got to talking about business in general and she excitedly told me about the new internet company that she had recently founded. She went on to explain that her new company provided reviews for companies that would be posted on the various review sites. I was a bit confused at first and asked her if these reviewers actually shopped the different companies that they were providing reviews for? She explained that was not the case; that these reviewers were simply writing enthusiastic reviews for their client’s companies. I asked her if she considered it ethical for people to write reviews for companies that they have absolutely no first-hand experience. She explained somewhat defensively that this is now a common practice. I have to admit; I was totally dumbfounded. I had suspected that this occasionally happened. However, I couldn’t believe that this was now a common practice and that there were actually companies that could be hired to write and place phony reviews on the assorted review sites.

The review sites will tell you that they have experts at detecting such bogus reviews; that they can tell by the algorithms and other such complex detection methods. My reply to this is, “baloney!” (I’m refraining from using my real response in the interest of remaining PG). Without saying which review site this is; I can tell you that we have had literally dozens of customers tell us that they have posted enthusiastic reviews about our company (without our even asking them to do so) and for a variety of reasons, these real reviews from real customers are then dropped off the review site as they are suspected to be untrue. At the same time, on the most popular review site, there is a small jeweler in a small upstairs office whom none of us at EE Robbins has even heard of, that has over three times the number of reviews that our successful and customer service driven company has. There is another small local jeweler on this same review site that also has triple the number of reviews of any other local jewelry company. I have walked by this store many times and haven’t once even seen a customer in the store. I’m guessing that these above companies have hired the woman’s company mentioned above or some other “social media” company to help them get positive reviews posted.

My friends with businesses both here and in other cities constantly complain of similar problems with these various review sites. So how is one to know what reviews are real and which ones are just “professionally written” bogus reviews?

The answer is you just can’t possibly know! This is why we post customer reviews on our own website. Because we know they are real. No matter how many positive reviews we could have on these review sites by hiring one of these social media companies; if they are not real customers writing real reviews, we want no part of such unethical business practices.

I can tell you without hesitation that I don’t know of another company that values customer satisfaction more than we at EE Robbins do. And no company works harder to please customers than we do. Every associate at EE Robbins can and will gladly testify to the fact that we will not tolerate anything less than “over-the-top” sincerely caring customer service. It is what we strive and work for every single working hour of every day. So I cannot help but question these reviews when I see small companies that we’ve never even heard of, or companies that we know don’t offer the same level of customer service with an inordinate number of positive reviews posted on these review sites.

So how do we as consumers find out what companies we should shop at and what are the best quality products to buy and other important questions that allow us to purchase wisely? There are no easy answers here, but I would start with the following suggestions:

Don’t believe everything you read.
Ask someone who you know and trust where to shop - someone that you know for sure who has really shopped at that company or purchased an item or items from that company.
Shop around. Listen to your own instincts and the feelings you get from the associates of that store as well as the general feeling of the store itself. This may be your best guide as to where to shop and what the best products are.

Maybe it all comes down to the old adage that there are no simply no shortcuts in business or in life. Caveat emptor!

Michelangelo, Beethoven and Shakespeare

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 13:54:00 GMT

Every once in a great while, you come across an individual that is so outstanding in their field that you just can’t help but admire and appreciate them and their work. Not just doing the job, but doing it with such dedication to perfection, that it literally astounds you. I’m sure that you’ll agree that people like this are truly one in a million and rarely found in today’s fast-paced world.

Martin Luther King , Jr. was once quoted, “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets as Michelangelo painted, or as Beethoven composed music or as Shakespeare wrote. He should sweep streets so well that all of the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper, who did his job well.”

If the hosts of heaven and earth do indeed look down upon us mere mortals, then I’m quite certain that my Dentist will earn their respect.
He takes so much pride in his work that one can’t help but be in awe.

No one that I know of, (myself included), enjoys going to the Dentist. However, when we do have a tooth problem, we want to know that our Dentist knows what he’s doing and that he’s going to make sure that our teeth are well taken care of. There are of course a lot of Dentists that can solve your tooth issues and help you to properly maintain your teeth. However, I can tell you from personal experience, that it took visiting quite a few other Dentists for me to fully understand how rare and amazing Dr. Chyz is.

I had some serious teeth issues due to a sudden fall (or more appropriately - foul) while playing basketball many years ago. I later discovered that I had cracked a number of teeth. After much pain and suffering, I ended up going to quite few of highly regarded dentists over the next several years. One in particular had hands the size of an NFL linebacker. After the work had been completed, my mouth felt like the Russian army had marched through it. Now to be fair, contrary to some people’s opinion, I do have a small mouth. Nevertheless, this Dentist was obviously not a good match for my mouth. Another, considered one of Seattle’s best, caused me to suffer from TMJ having forced my mouth open wider than my jaw would allow. I then had to go to a TMJ specialist for several months afterwards for treatment. Another Dentist or two were adequate, but they simply didn’t impress me as being special. I felt I was just one of many others in a revolving door of endless patients.

Finally, a friend at work raved to me about her Dentist, so I thought I would give him a try. Since my co-worker had such a perfect set of teeth and spoke so highly of him, I felt I had to at least give him a try.

Since that time, I have lost my fear of going to the Dentist (well, at least most of my fear). More importantly, I am continually amazed at how much pride Dr. Chyz takes in his work. When he puts on a crown, you feel that when finished, that same tooth was always there. Even his temporary crowns are made to fit like a glove.

Although Dr. Chyz has been practicing his profession for many years, it is quite obvious that he thrives on learning and embracing new and ever evolving state-of-the-art techniques and technology. He also helps teach these new techniques to other Dentists.

As one might expect from a perfectionist such as Dr. Chyz; he has also assembled the dream team of dedicated and talented assistants. They too are not only totally proficient in their work, but they make sure to treat their patients like they were royalty.

Now the purpose of this article is not meant as a pitch to go to Dr. Chyz. This article is really about the pursuit of perfection.

As the owner of a business, I also want to do all that I can to keep growing and improving. However, I continue to find myself in awe of Dr. Chyz. After a visit to my Dentist-for-life, I ask myself if I really have the kind of drive that it takes to keep learning, evolving and improving? I used to think that I did, but compared to Dr. Chyz, I must admit I feel like a bit of a slacker.

Dr. Chyz is without a doubt, a rare individual. He is the kind of person that MLK, Jr. referred to in his quote above. He is truly the Michelangelo of Dentists - a Master in his field.

I only wish that I could find people equally dedicated to the pursuit of perfection in every other profession, trade or business that I encounter.
Do you know of such artisans and experts in other businesses, trades and and crafts? Someone truly extraordinary! - the best there is in their chosen field? If so, then please let me know.

Send me a message at emerson@eerobbins.com

The customer isn't always right

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 10:54:00 GMT

I’m going to make a bold statement that I believe with all of my heart and soul. No company that I’ve ever encountered in my thirty plus years in the business cares more about their customers and works harder to offer the finest possible customer service than we at EE Robbins do. It is what we are all about. Every EE Robbins associate would readily attest to this. They will tell you that this is our reason for being. We don’t worry about making a sale. We worry about making a happy customer. And every EER associate knows that we won’t accept less than outstanding service to every customer every time. Are we always perfect? Of course not. We make our share of mistakes. Actually, probably less than our share. Nevertheless, every company is going to make mistakes once in a while. It is impossible for any person or company to be perfect. That doesn’t mean we don’t try to be.

On those rare occasions when we do slip up, we sometimes surprisingly find that a customer has gone on one of the review sites like Yelp or Citysearch. etc. and ranted about our company. This is without even first bringing a problem to our attention? I find this practice more and more common and extremely frustrating. Sometimes, after researching the problem(s), we find it was just a misunderstanding and the reasons for the rant were totally without basis. And other times, we discover that we just didn’t get the job done quickly or correctly. We wanted to, but something along the way just didn’t go the way we intended it to. In any case, once we know about it, we’ll do everything we can to get the problem corrected as quickly as possible for our customers. However, when this happens, we also hope and expect our client will be patient with us and courteous. We value each and every customer tremendously, but I also greatly value our associates. We have gone to great efforts to find the finest possible associates. It has taken us years to find these bright and sincerely caring individuals. Outstanding people like our EE Robbins staffs are not easy to find. And I am very proud of them - each and every one of our associates. In fact, at this point in time, I believe them to be the very best in the business - the most thoughtful, caring and talented people I know of in our industry. I haven’t always felt that way, but after much time and effort and many years of searching, I sure feel that way now. And because we are a small family owned company, after so many years, we establish a real bond with each other. So I can’t, and won’t, allow our associates to be mistreated any more than I could tolerate our customers being mistreated. We all deserve to be treated with respect. At times, we’ll encounter customers who are rude and abusive.

The wonderful thing about owning a business is that while customers have the right to shop where they choose, we also have the right to choose who shops in our stores. We’re nice people and we in turn like to work with and help nice people. Those who are not considerate of others can shop elsewhere. Life is too short to have to suffer abuse. We deserve the best and so do our customers.

We’ve all heard the cliché, “the customer is always right”. I’m sorry, but there are times that the customer is not right. I like to say that the customer is right 99% of the time. Sometimes people are not only not right; but some are not very nice at times. So to those customers who are rude, mean-spirited and/or insulting, you can shop elsewhere. In all the years I’ve been in business, I’ve only had to tell a handful of customers that we don’t want their business and I hope I never have to again, but the truth is, I’d rather offend one mean-spirited customer than lose one of the wonderful associates who serve the great majority of our customers so well.

We are all consumers at one time or another. If I’m shopping at a certain business and I have a problem, I first politely explain the problem to an associate and give that associate and their respective company an opportunity to correct the problem. If they are unable to resolve that problem, I then ask for the Manager or Supervisor. If the problem is still not resolved, I’ll then try to go as “high up the ladder” as possible. After I’ve exhausted all efforts, I have no problem shouting to the world that this company just doesn’t care. At EE Robbins, we’ll always do everything we can to see that our clients are thrilled with our company. If you’re not happy with us after you’ve asked one of our associates to help, and then if they haven’t resolved the problem, let one of our managers know about the problem and finally if need be, let me know and you have ultimately exhausted all your efforts to have your problem(s) rectified, then please feel free to shout out our shortfalls to the world. But first give us a chance to get it right for you, won’t ya?

Jewelers Warranties – Don’t be fooled!

Mon, 09 May 2011 13:48:00 GMT

If you lose your engagement and/or wedding ring, chances are you’re probably not covered.

The majority of jeweler’s warranties only cover chipping and cracking and loss of the diamond from the mounting as long as you have your rings inspected every six months. They also usually cover unintentional damage to the ring and loss of any smaller diamonds. Some don’t even offer that. Many just have a lot of legalese language and they basically only cover manufacturer’s defects, whatever that means?

Some jewelers offer these warranties for free, while others charge for them. While the warranties may differ slightly as to what they actually cover; none of these jewelry warranties cover some of the most common problems encountered after purchasing a significant jewelry item. The bigger problem is that most clients feel that their purchase is adequately protected after they receive such a warranty because many jewelry stores seem to want to boast about how great their warranty is. Not to mention, that when one is dealing with the myriad of emotions that goes along with getting engaged and married and the celebrations that take place soon afterward; it’s not unusual to space on the details of making sure their newly acquired ring is fully protected.

However, according to Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company - one of the most common reasons one makes an engagement/wedding ring claim is due to accidental loss or mysterious disappearance. In fact, almost 40% of their 2009 claims were for these very reasons. It could be the ring was lost at the beach or maybe left in a restroom. It could be lost while traveling, dropped down the garbage disposal, accidently wrapped in a tissue and thrown out with the garbage, etc.

Since a diamond ring is so small, there are hundreds, if not thousands of ways to misplace or lose it. The problem is that we’re likely talking about a ring that likely cost thousands of dollars, especially if it is her diamond engagement ring. Not to mention, the emotional loss of something so meaningful; this by itself is irreplaceable.

Other reasons for loss near the top of Jeweler Mutual’s list include burglary and robbery, occurrences that are again not covered by any jeweler’s warranty that I’ve ever heard of. Unfortunately, it’s a sad awakening when one finds that they are not covered for their loss by their jewelers warranty or often even their homeowner’s policy. Very few people are aware that most homeowner’s insurance policies specifically exclude any single item of over $1,000 to $1500 in value.

Most customers suffer from a false sense of confidence because they thought they were covered by the jeweler’s warranty. Even more don’t realize that they are not adequately by their homeowners policy; that they are not protected unless they have specific jewelry insurance. I have to admit that even I, a third generation in the diamond business, thought that my wife’s jewelry was covered only to discover a few years ago, that was not the case.

Fortunately, we didn’t suffer any losses. However, as soon as I found out that my wife’s ring and other jewelry items were not covered by our homeowners’ policy, I immediately had my wife’s jewelry appraised and subsequently insured. And we also made sure to immediately revise our own EE Robbins Warranty.

We believe it’s especially important that our clients have a specific insurance policy for their most cherished engagement ring and/or wedding ring and their other valuable jewelry items. We are clearly not in the insurance business. In fact, I should make it very clear that we do not receive even a single cent when our clients choose to get their rings insured. Our new and improved EE Robbins Warranty does pay our client’s individual deductible up to $500.00 on a one-time loss basis, if they replace it through our company. However, whether your ring or jewelry was purchased from our company or not, it is important to make sure that you choose an insurance company that your comfortable with and that your valuable jewelry is fully covered. We like Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company, whom we use for our own personal jewelry insurance. You can click on this link to get a quote or to insure your personal jewelry items.

You can also compare rates and coverage with your own personal insurance agent. Just make sure that your engagement ring, wedding ring or other valuable items are adequately covered. If you purchased any of these items more than a year ago, chances are that you are underinsured as gold, other precious metals and diamonds have been skyrocketing in the last year or two. This is due to the volatility of world markets, the rapid growth of the Chinese and other economies and the decline of our dollar.

We’ll be happy to re-appraise those rings that are from EE Robbins to make sure that you are insuring it for current replacement costs or we can recommend some qualified appraisers if your ring or jewelry items are not from our stores. In any case, the time to be covered is now, before you suffer a loss.

Also, if you are properly insured for your engagement and/or wedding ring and your EE Robbins warranty has not yet been updated to our new warranty, just ask one of our associates to switch you over to the new EE Robbins Warranty, so that if you do have a loss, you’ll be able to recoup some or all of your deductible. Please don’t hesitate to ask any or our associates if you have any questions on our warranty and on insuring your ring(s) and other jewelry. We’re here for you to help make sure you are adequately protected.

The Pros and Cons of Designer Rings

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 09:32:00 GMT

There are literally hundreds of designer lines for engagement and wedding rings and thousands more for manufacturers of generic rings.

So the question is, why buy a designer engagement ring versus a generic ring? The answer isn’t simple, but here are some important considerations.

The most important consideration is, definitely, quality. An engagement and/or wedding ring should last for a lifetime and even for generations to come. However, the sad reality is that the majority of engagement and wedding rings sold today in the U.S. are produced in overseas factories in Asia and India. While some of these factories produce fine quality products; the vast majority of these rings are mass produced to hit aggressive low price points. Many, if not most of these rings are sold to mass market discount stores and regional and national mall jewelry chains. These retail giants carry these rings in order to offer extremely low prices. However, a poor quality engagement or wedding ring will be inexpensive initially, but it is doubtful that they will last for very long.

Some Designer rings are also made overseas and while the quality may vary, most name brand designer rings are not sold on the basis of low prices, so they are usually of higher quality. Many Designer lines are also made here in the United States. However, whether they are made overseas or in the States, these designer rings often come at a premium price. These name brand Designers often spend millions of dollars in advertising their product in national bridal and fashion magazines in order to create name brand awareness. Who ends up paying for this extensive advertising? You guessed it! The consumer does. These designer rings can often end up costing 40 to 60% more than a equal quality ring that doesn’t come with the name.

Another fact is that many Designers are not even really true designers. Their lines are often given some French or Italian sounding name in order to give it a sexier sound and feel. However, the designers are often times from other countries far away from Italy, France, etc.

Not only that, but many of these so called designers buy their designs from overseas or have in-house designers that comes up with their styles. There are most definitely some amazing designers that do create their own designs, but they are the exception and not the rule. Obviously, this column will not make some designers very happy, but you’ll note that I am purposely not using names so as not to offend anyone. Nevertheless, I do believe that the consumer has a right to know some of the trade secrets so that they can make an informed choice when they go to select the most important jewelry item they’ll likely ever own, their to-be-treasured engagement and wedding rings.

So why do jewelers want to carry overpriced designer rings in the first place? One reason is that many of these rings are absolutely beautiful and most are very well made as well. Even though they may come with an inflated price, these designer names often bring customers to their stores because of their national advertising. However, the better known these designers are, the more likely that their rings will also be that much more expensive.

Now let’s talk about EE Robbins. While we do design and manufacture most of our own engagement and wedding rings, we also carry some designer lines as well. We always avoid the higher priced designers who charge a super premium just because they feel their name justifies their exorbitant prices. (However we usually don’t happen to agree). So why have we chosen to carry some of these designer ring lines that you find in our stores?

First off, because we are engagement ring stores, we sell many more engagement and wedding rings than most jewelry stores do. Our business is 99% engagement and wedding rings, while the average jewelry store does about 25% of their sales in engagement and wedding rings. Because of our volume and our reputation, both in the greater Seattle market and nationally , at one time or another we have been solicited by most of the designer lines. The reasons we elect to carry a particular designer line varies. For example, Ritani makes some of the finest micropave’ rings to be found anywhere and their rings happen to be priced well considering their high quality. Micropave’ is a very difficult diamond setting process and if not done well, the small diamonds are sure to fall out over time. We love the Simon G line, Their rings are made overseas in their own factories and the quality is superlative and yet somehow they are able to offer amazingly affordable product.

Mark Schneider makes all of his rings in his own shop in So. Calif. Mark is a true designer/artist who has won more awards for jewelry design than any ring designer in the world. We also proudly feature the work of Maeve Gillies of MaeVona, the talented Scottish designer who creates truly original designs unlike any others you will see. There are other designer lines that we carry, but in the interest of time, we won’t be able to list them all and the reasons we have chosen to carry them in our stores.

Through the years, we have carried many other designer lines. Many of these lines we have discontinued either because of quality problems or poor service or because they didn’t sell well. In some instances, it was just because we found that the company was not the kind of company that we enjoyed doing business with.

If you would like to know more about a designer line that we carry or even about any lines that we have chosen not to carry, please don’t hesitate to ask either myself or Susan Greenwood, our talented buyer. You can reach Susan at susan@eerobbins.com or myself at emerson@eerobbins.com. And you can always be sure that either one of us will give you the real inside scoop.

When will we figure this out?

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 15:24:00 GMT

I was reading in this morning’s Seattle Times about all the cutbacks in education that our schools and colleges are facing, both in our own Washington State and around the country. I find it incredibly shortsighted that even given these difficult economic times, that we would shortchange our schools and stifle the education of our young students.

The U.S. has already fallen in the world educational rankings of countries according to the latest surveys. We are currently rated as “average”. This is not my opinion, this is a sad reality.

According to a OECD 2010 study, in a study of international student assessment (PISA) report, when our students were compared with 70 other countries, the United States finished 14th overall in the world. Countries such as South Korea, Estonia, Poland and Finland finished well ahead of us. The U.S. ranked 14th in reading skills, 17th in science and we were ranked a dismal 25th in mathematics. Only eight of these 70 countries have a lower high school graduation rate that the United States does. We are third from the bottom in the percentage of 15 year olds who are enrolled in school above only Mexico and Turkey.

And now we are reducing our educational funding even more? I’d hate to see where we’ll be a few years from now if we continue to reduce spending on education.

You might ask what the correlation is between education and the economy. According to the OECD report, the investment in education is paid back many times over. Boosting U.S. scores for reading, math and science by just 25 points over the next ten or twenty years would result in a gain of 41 trillion dollars for the United States economy for that generation of students. Since I admittedly would not help our scores in math, I can’t even translate what this means to our country, but I do know that it’s significant.

What I do understand and I wish everyone in our country did; is that the more educated our populace is, the less money we spend on a myriad of other social problems. Think about this for just a moment? With a more educated populace, we would spend less on fighting crime, less on unemployment, less on drug control, less on the environment, less on health care and the list goes on and on. Talk about being “penny wise and pound foolish”. By reducing our educational funding, you can be sure we’ll pay for this disproportionally, down the line.

If it were up to me, our teachers would be among the highest paid and most valued members of our society. I find it absurd that we pay our teachers barely enough to live on and usually not even enough to raise a family. We expect our teachers to devote their lives to better others at their own sacrifice. Their roles in educating our youth, our leaders of tomorrow are as critically important as any career that I can possibly think of.

I would suggest that we tie teachers’ earnings directly to their effectiveness. I would not recommend granting tenure to teachers. Just like in the corporate world, I believe if teachers didn’t produce results, that they would be looking for a new job. Teachers’ salaries should be dependent on the improvements that their students show. Let their effectiveness as educators be measured and rewarded. If a teacher is making a difference and truly raising the education level of his or her students, let’s make sure that those accomplished educators can make a generous income.

If we properly fund education, if we start paying teachers what they should be earning and we measure their effectiveness; you can bet that it won’t take long before the U.S. is again at the top of the charts relative to the educational level of our populace. However, if we continue to undervalue and underfund education, how long will it be before our economic and social systems fail and we become subservient to more educated countries? You think we have it tough now?

It’s not too late to support better education! Spread the word, let our political leaders in Olympia know, let our federal government know. Expect and demand better education for our young students. And let’s be willing to pay for it. Otherwise, I can guarantee you that we’ll all end up paying a much bigger price for our shortsighted negligence in the not-too-distant future.

Diamonds -A Little Knowledge Can Be Dangerous

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 20:33:00 GMT

Being the third generation of my family to make my living in the diamond industry, I've definitely seen evolutionary developments in the consumer's understanding of diamonds. However, just as the title suggests, when it comes to diamonds, a little knowledge really can be dangerous. Not dangerous as in life threatening, of course. But dangerous in the respect that consumers can make big mistakes before really understanding the true nature of diamonds.

There is no doubt that most consumers know more than most consumers did thirty or forty years ago. Unfortunately however, most consumers still don't know how to go about finding the most beautiful and brilliant diamond for their particular budget and often go about their search heading down the wrong path. Please read on and I'll explain.

Prior to the 1970's, when I first began working in my Dad's store, there was no universal grading system for diamonds. One store might refer to a diamond as their "AAA quality", the very finest available they would say. Another store might take liberties and call their finest diamonds "blue-white". Yet another might want to impress customers using some British sounding diamond terminology to describe their top diamonds such as "Wessleton", "Rivers" or "Premier". There was simply no universal standard for grading back then.

Back in the 1940's and 50's, one of the leading educational organizations, the Gemological Institute of America did in fact, formulate a diamond grading system, but it didn't really catch on with the general public until several decades later. It wasn't until 1975 that some of the top world diamond organizations got together to form the International Diamond Council to further the goal of establishing a universal system for grading diamonds. This was also just about the time that the GIA's grading system finally seemed to take hold and the basic 4 C's of diamonds began to slowly become a part of the public's general knowledge.

Of course, there were still other influential grading systems, the most notable probably being the American Gem Society or AGS. However, in time the GIA (with apologies to any AGS stores out there) became the most widely used grading system.

However, please understand that even today world-wide, there is no one single grading system that all diamond authorities, Gemologists and experts can agree upon. This remains a very hotly debated subject in many diamond circles.

Nevertheless, most customers even way back then seemed to understand the first C - Carat weight. Most customers could easily comprehend that a one carat diamond weighed 100 points and that points to a carat were like pennies to a dollar.

Then sometime in the late 1970's, most customers seemed to expand on this knowledge and got to know and understand — the next C, Clarity. You'd often hear customers ask about SI1 or VS2 or the like, knowing that these ratings indicated how easy or difficult it was to locate inclusions, (which many customers back then still mistakenly referred to inclusions as "flaws"). And at that time, Clarity became the most commonly sought out of the other C's. (Carat weight withstanding).

Then sometime during the 1980's, the third C seemed to catch on ñ Color. Customers increasingly seemed to understand the spectrum of D through F being identified as Colorless, and G to I as Near Colorless, etc. And color seemed to become the most critical of the 4 C's to the majority of consumers shopping for diamonds back then.

Then from around the 1990's and on, we have has seen the final C in this evolution, Cut become the most discussed and the most desired of the 4 C's. Consumers seemed to feel and jewelers and diamond purveyors further emphasized that Cut was the most critical of the 4 C's. As such, we began to see the tremendous growth in popularity of the Ideal Cut. We also saw a huge spike in popularity for other Cut brands. In fact, in the past decade in order to maximize profitability, Cutters came out with more and more new cuts and brands started to become an influential part of the diamond industry. Brands like "Hearts On Fire" and proprietary brands such as the "Leo" and others became more and more popular. Every jeweler around seemed to want to expound about the proportions of a diamond, the symmetry, the polish, etc. and how important this all is to a diamond's beauty and brilliance, etc. And that is not to suggest that these proportions and cut characteristics are not important.

However, the irony of all this is that it's really quite ludicrous to think that one C is more important than another. If a diamond was perfectly proportioned (and diamond experts can't even agree on what this means exactly), how would it look if it were an L or M color or if it was filtered with so many visible inclusions that it affected that diamonds's light return?

It's inarguable that all of the 4 C's must work together to produce a stunningly beautiful and brilliant diamond. Just as if we were listening to an orchestra and one of the sections, such as the string section or wind sections were playing their instruments way off tune or not following the music. If that were the case, we know that they would not harmonize with the other sections of the orchestra. This would of course, destroy the integrity of the music, just like if one of the 4 C's was visibly not desirable; that diamond would not possibly be as brilliant or beautiful.

However, there is more to it than the simple 4 C's when it comes to diamonds and this is the reason we use the expression "a little knowledge can be dangerous" when shopping for a diamond. Many Diamond Cutters and diamond experts are clearly frustrated and saddened by the simplistic approach that many jewelers and even gemologists and other so called diamond experts take in teaching the public about diamonds. They find it absurd that a diamond could be adequately described by using only 4 C's or even the practice and sale of a diamond by presenting and obsessing over the minute details listed in that diamond's Lab Certificate rather than viewing the diamond itself in person. If you ever have the opportunity to hear someone like Gabi Tolkowski speak about diamonds, you will hear his obvious frustration as well as his passion for the unique personality that each and every diamond possesses. Gabi is inarguably one of the world's most respected diamond cutters and also the nephew of Marcel Tolkowski, who invented the most widely used standard for cutting diamonds of the last half century or more, the modern Brilliant Cut diamond. The times I have heard Gabi speak; he spoke almost lovingly about how each diamond is unique and different and how foolish it is to judge a diamond simply by its ratings or its proportions. He understands that diamonds cannot be cubby-holed or identified in such simplistic terms. He obviously loves diamonds and hates the idea of diamonds being treated as cold hard commodities. This is not much different than trying to judge a person totally by their physical statistics without even seeing or meeting that person. Imagine judging a person strictly by their driver's license or even by a psychological profile such as a Myers-Briggs test, etc.

Would you select your mate for life using only these criteria and not by meeting them first and spending time to get to know them? Not likely. Imagine not learning about their personality, their individuality, those indefinable character traits, both physical and non-tangible that determine who we each are as a one-of-a-kind human being.

The same unique and often indefinable attributes are equally applicable to diamonds. Their crystalline structure, the natural rough of the diamond before it is ever cut and polished ñ this cannot be properly identified or adequately described on a Gem Laboratory Certificate. This is why diamonds from specific mines around the world often look quite different from one another, both in their natural state and after they are cut and polished. For example, it is said that diamonds that come out of the Siberian mines have a certain glow to them; that they can sustain a higher polish because of their unique rough material. Let's compare this to wine, where every grape can taste differently depending on what region it was grown in, what the soil and weather conditions were at the time they were grown and a thousand other factors way too numerous and complex to even list and possibly not even completely understandable to mere mortals.

Nevertheless it is human nature to want to try to put diamonds (and most other things of value) in a simple to understand grading system and base their value on their ratings. However even Martin Rappaport, the genius inventor of the Rappaport grading and pricing index knows that diamonds cannot truly be defined this way. It is only a rough short-cut to describing diamonds, a mere approximation at best.

In order to truly appreciate a diamond, every true diamond expert knows that a diamond must be viewed up close and personal in the proper lighting and compared to other diamonds side by side to be fully evaluated and appreciated. To further illustrate this point, you can take two one carat diamonds with the same exact clarity, color grade and proportions and compare them. Chances are that they will both look quite a bit different from one another. How can this be when they may possibly share the same exact ratings on paper or on a Lab Certificate? This is the true nature of diamonds. Just like human beings, snowflakes and other products of nature; every single diamond in the world is totally unique and one of a kind.

Now let's look at another aspect of diamonds that is hugely important. Herein we'll offer up another well known, but poignant quote, "beauty is truly in the eyes of the beholder." Just as we are attracted to different people, each of us prefers different colors or shades of colors, we enjoy different art, different cars; we don't all like to wear the same identical clothing, we wear our hair differently and on and on. We just don't respond to the same things in the same way. We each see the world with our own set of eyes and ears and with our own individual heart and soul.

The very same thing can be said of diamonds. People respond to the beauty and even to the brilliance of diamonds quite differently. We see this every day. People interpret beauty differently. It is what makes both people and diamonds unique.

The only way to fully appreciate a diamond and select the diamond that is right for you is to find a store and a person you can trust; hopefully a store with a large selection of loose diamonds to choose from. Then shop around and view diamonds under the proper lighting, with the proper magnification and compare one diamond to another; taking the time and effort to find the diamond that shouts out to you "I'm the diamond you want to spend your life with. I'm the only diamond for the one person you love!" This is why we say that when it comes to diamonds, "a little knowledge can be dangerous"

Santa Taught Me So

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 09:36:00 GMT

I hope you’ve seen the movie, “Miracle on 34th Street” especially the original 1947 version. I saw it when I was a little boy and have seen it many times since then. There was one particular scene that I’ll always remember because it had a profound effect on me and even helped me to formulate my philosophy in owning and running a business. It was the scene when Santa Claus was working in the Macy’s department store in Manhattan and a woman asked him if the store carried a certain toy. The Santa there, who was the real Kris Kringle, answered that they were out of that particular toy, but that she could find it at Gimbel’s Department Store down the street. He even went on to tell her where it was located in the Gimbel’s toy department as well as its selling price. This was a simple and honest effort on his part to help this woman with her Christmas shopping. He thought nothing more of this than doing what was for him a simple courtesy. However, the Store Manager heard about it and was furious with “Santa” for sending this lady to their arch competitor’s store. However shortly after, the woman told the Store Manager how impressed she was with Macy’s service that their employees would help customers even when they didn’t have a particular item. She further said to him that because of this unique and unselfish policy, she would from that point forward be a lifetime Macy’s customer. Other customers that Ol’ Kris Kringle had similarly helped also praised this practice to Macy’s management. Soon Mr. Macy decided this was good business and he had Macy’s change their entire store policies to include recommending other stores if Macy’s didn’t have what the customer wanted.

Although you don’t find this happening in today’s tough competitive business world very often; this always struck me as the way business should be conducted. No store is going to have everything the customer wants. If you really care about helping customers, you should help them even when you aren’t going to make a sale. Why not send a customer to another store, if you can’t help them find what they are looking for?

At EE Robbins, we follow this same practice. We often recommend other stores when we don’t have what a customer is looking for. Naturally if we can get that item for the customer and it fits with our quality standards, we’ll do so. However, the core belief is that if you want customers to care about your company, you had better care about their best interests as well. I believe it’s our responsibility to have the finest quality engagement and wedding rings for the money and we work hard to help make that happen. However, sometimes a customer wants an antique setting and we don’t carry such items. Therefore we’ll recommend a store with a good reputation that specializes in antique rings. There are other times a customer may want a certain Designer style that we don’t carry. We may first ask to show them some similar styles, but if they haven’t found what they’re looking for, we’ll try to help them find a store that carries the particular line that they’re interested in. And so on…

I know that just like in the movie, this is how Santa Claus believes in doing business and I’m very glad that he taught me to do business the same way.

Whether it’s Merry Christmas or whatever holiday you happen to celebrate; we wish you good health, happiness and all the joys of the season.

Our Northwest Heritage!

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 12:36:00 GMT

One of the many reasons that I love living here in the Seattle area is the appreciation and regard for nature that so many people seem to have here. Having lived in other cities for parts of my life, I know that in most places, people just don’t have the same regard for the environment that we do here. Maybe it’s because most places just aren’t as beautiful as our own Northwest region. Or maybe it’s because of our local legacy.

I don’t know if you have ever read Chief Seattle’s historic speech when his people were forced by our government to sell their native land to the white man. If you haven’t yet read this incredible speech, I would strongly urge you to do so. Some say that many of the words were changed in the translation, but no one knows for sure. What we do know is that Chief Seattle was a very wise man, maybe even a prophet. And his speech is truly magnificently written, regardless of whom or how many others had a part in writing it. It is beautiful and at the same time extremely sad as well since this great Chief clearly saw the coming of the end to his people and their way of life.

Here are some passages from his speech that I hope will motivate you to read it in its entirety.

“Every part of the earth is sacred to my people.
every shining pine needle,
every tender shore, every vapor in the dark woods,
every clearing, and every humming insect
are holy
in the memory and experience of my people.
The sap which courses through the trees
carries the memories of the red man…
Our dead always love and remember
the earths swift rivers,
the silent footsteps of the spring, the sparkling ripples on the surface of the ponds,
the gaudy colors of the birds.
We are a part of the earth and it is a part of us.
the perfumed flowers are our sisters;
the deer, the horse, the great condor,
these are our brothers.
The rocky crests,
the juices in our meadows,
the body heat of the pony,
and man all belong to the same family.

So when the Great Chief in Washington sends word
that he wishes to buy our land,
he asks much of us...
It will not be easy,
this land is sacred to us.
We take our pleasure in the woods and the dancing streams.
The water that moves in the brook is not water, but the blood of our ancestors,
If we sell you the land, you must remember that it is sacred to us, and forever teach your children that it is sacred…
that the rivers are our brothers,
and yours
and you must henceforth give the rivers the kindness you would give to your brother…
The white man is like a snake who eats his own tail in order to live.
and the tail grows shorter and shorter.
Our ways are different from your ways. We do not live well in your cities, which seem like so many black warts on the face of the earth.
the sight of the white man’s cities pains the eyes of the red man.
like the sunlight which stabs the eyes of one emerging from a dark cave.
There is no place in the white men’s cities quiet enough to hear
the unfurling of leaves in spring or the rustle of the insects’ wings.
In the white man’s cities, one is always trying to outrun an avalanche.
the clatter only seems to pierce the ears.
but what is there to living if a man cannot hear the lonely cry of the thrush
or the arguments of the frogs around a pond at night?
But I am a red man and do not understand
I prefer the wind darting over the face of a pond
and the smell of the wind itself cleansed by a midday rain-shower.
The air is precious to the red man,
for all things share the same breath
the beasts, the trees, and man,
they are all of the same breath
The white man does not mind the foul air he breathes.
like a man in pain for many days,
he is numb to the stench.
But if we sell the land,
you must remember that the air is precious to us,
and our trees and the beasts.
The wind gave man his first breath
and receives his last sigh.
And if we sell you our land…
“Teach your children what we have taught our children,
that the earth is our mother.

Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons of the earth.
If men spits upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.
This we know.
The earth does not belong to the white man;
the white man belongs to the earth. This we know.
All things are connected
like the blood
which unites our family.
If we kill the snakes,
the field mice will multiply and destroy our corn.
All things are connected.
Whatever befalls the earth,
befalls the sons and daughters of the earth.
Man did not weave the web of life;
he is merely a strand in it.
Whatever he does to the web,
he does to himself.
No, day and night cannot live together. What is it that the white man wishes to buy, my people ask me?
The idea is strange to us.
How can you buy or sell the sky,
the warmth of the land, the swiftness of the antelope?
How can we sell these things to you,
and how can you buy them?
Is the earth yours to do with as you will,
merely because the red man signs a piece of paper
and gives it to the white man?
If we do not own the freshness of the air
and the sparkle of the water
How can you buy them from us?”

I’m not sure if the northwest people that existed for eons before us lived the true life and if our so called modern devices and conveniences continue to destroy the very essence of life.

Are we missing out on the pure simplicity of nature and the beauty to be found in it?
Are we destroying our world in our determination to continually make life easier?

I know that I still take joy on those days when I can view Mount Rainier in all its majesty or watch a bald eagle or a giant blue heron flying overhead. Or hear a seal barking out on the Sound or spot a tiny tree frog on our front window. I can’t help but wonder if my grandchildren not yet born will be able to enjoy these same simple pleasures?

There is a Cree proverb that goes “only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we can’t eat money.” I sure hope that is not our fate. And I hope that you take the time to read Chief Seattle’s speech and that you ask yourself the same questions.

Monsters on Maple Street

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 14:41:00 GMT

I don’t know if you remember the original Twilight Zone TV show?
I grew up on that mind-bending series. One of the things I loved about the show was how most of the episodes had a moral to the story, not to mention a twist ending. One episode that I remember I believe was entitled “Monsters on Maple Street.”

The setting was on a small street in a quiet neighborhood where the neighbors experience a mysterious black-out. Before long, the lights in the houses start going on and off. First in one house, then in another and then another... In a short time, the neighbors somehow become convinced that aliens have invaded and are hiding among them. It isn’t long after that, these neighbors who previously got along beautifully, begin accusing each other of being aliens and total chaos erupts from there.

I was thinking about this and then how difficult the last few years have been on most people and the reactions of many to the stress and financial challenges that they are facing. The result is that I have seen more anger and hostility from people these past two or three years than in all my previous years in business. Just like the “Monsters on Maple Street” episode, many people are hastily taking out their pent-up anger and frustration out on others. Why is that when we most need to come together, we are so torn apart? You can see this clearly happening in politics, in business and in daily life. We all know that these are difficult times. Many have lost their jobs and can’t find employment. Others have had their homes repossessed or are facing that harsh reality. A huge percentage of homeowners owe more on their home, than it is now worth. Others have lost or gone through their entire retirement savings; or they can no longer afford to send their children to college. Worse yet, many are homeless and hungry. These are no doubt very tough times.

However, taking our anger and frustrations out on others doesn’t help anybody. At EE Robbins, we’ve recently seen several of our key vendors who we had strong relationships with since we first started in business do things that not only completely lacked integrity, but are downright mean-spirited. We have also experienced several disturbing customer problems in the past two or three years where customers have quickly become abusive and threatening and as a result it became even more difficult for us to help resolve the problem. Without going into the gory details; suffice it to say that in normal times I’m sure such issues could have easily been resolved in a matter of minutes. Yet, some of these situations resulted in the unhappy end to previously valued long-term relationships; relationships that had been extremely close as well as beneficial for both parties.

My take on all this is that life is short and taking out ones frustrations on others usually only results in more problems. We work hard to make sure that we hire only truly nice people at EE Robbins and we treat our associates, our vendors and our customers just as we want to be treated. We try to always live by the “Golden Rule”. Above everything, that is our number one value. At our small family owned company, it comes way above trying to make a buck or any other possible goal. We do this because it’s how we want to be; how we want to live our lives. We do it because it’s the right thing to do. We like making friends and feeling good about how we do business. However, I have unfortunately learned that there are times that no matter what you do, you just can’t make certain people happy. These are the same kind of people who could be in the “Garden of Eden” and they’d complain about the one brown leaf they found there.

I tell our associates that if they perceive a customer is going to be difficult to do business with; that they should politely encourage that customer to shop elsewhere. Yes, admittedly business is harder than ever to come by these days. But life is short and who needs to deal with people that are angry and hostile? The very same thing goes for doing business with vendors. We all have choices and our choice is to do business with vendors that treat us as nicely as we treat them. There is no customer or vendor that we can’t live without.

I guess you find out the true nature of people not when things are going their way, but when they are not. In times of trouble, you find out who truly has character and who does not. In the words of Thomas Paine, “These are the times that try men’s souls.”

Another less sophisticated saying can be found on certain bumper stickers. It reads “Mean people suck!”

Life is short. Why not try to be thoughtful of others and treat everyone as you yourself want to be treated. It sure makes life more enjoyable. And just like in the aforementioned Twilight Zone episode where the lights came back on, sometime in the not too distant future, this difficult economy too will turn around. In the meantime, let’s all make sure we don’t become monsters.

Mokume What?

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:19:00 GMT

When a lot people think of a jeweler, they imagine a guy in a shiny suit wearing a big diamond pinky ring. However, none of us guys at E.E. Robbins would even come close to that description, least of all me. In fact, most of the time, you’ll find me wearing my jeans (and they’re not even designer jeans), my Ecco loafers (the most comfortable shoes on the planet) and a loose, comfortable shirt (all of which were probably purchased from Nordstrom). However, I do love my wedding band. It’s very subtle, extremely unique and ergonomically designed, not to mention very cool.

My band is made from an ancient gold-smithing technique called Mokume-Gane by one, or rather two, of our favorite designers, Michael Parrish and Daniel Jenkins, two goldsmiths from the appropriately named town of Cool, California.

So what is Mokume-Gane? First of all, it’s pronounced (moh’coo-may gah-nay), which is the art of fusing layers of precious metals together to form a single piece with unique markings represented by the different colors of the metals used. Mokume Gane was first developed in feudal Japan in the 17th century by Denbei Shoami to make Japanese samurai swords. These swords were sold back then for the equivalent of a king’s ransom and the ancient technique of making them remained a closely guarded secret. Then in the 1970’s, a few modern artisans studied with the great metal-smiths in Japan and brought this ancient art to the west where today only a handful of goldsmiths are able to produce this magnificent metal art. Michael Parrish and Daniel Jenkins’ company, Michael Daniels, has developed a proprietary combination of heat, pressure, forging and carving to produce their wedding bands and more.

You can read more about Mokume Gane and Michael Daniels by visiting www.mdmokume.com or visiting one of our stores and seeing these unique wedding bands for yourself. If you’re anything like me, and you like cool but subtle stuff, wedding bands just don’t get any cooler than these.

Thank God for Mark Schneider

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 07:35:00 GMT

Mark Schneider has won more design awards than any other jewelry designer in modern history. In fact, the long list of prestigious jewelry design awards that he has won just got that much longer after winning several more honors for his bridal collection this past spring. He is one of the few jewelry Designers in the entire world to have his works exhibited in the Smithsonian Institute.

We are very proud to be among a handful of exclusive stores in the country to represent his beautiful ring line. However, it is not his unrivaled design talent or his beautiful ring creations that are the key reason why we are so grateful to feature Mark’s prestigious line of engagement and wedding rings.

The overwhelming reason we are so proud to represent his line is because Mark Schneider is simply one of the nicest people you will ever meet. He comes up to visit our stores several times a year and he knows most of our associates by name. He appreciates each and every one of our associates. He brings donuts or bagels in the mornings when he visits us. He asks about our families and shows that he truly cares about our company’s best interests, our associates and our customers. He is kind, sincere, thoughtful, humble and honest. He encompasses not only what we look for in a vendor, but the qualities you want in a close friend. I wish every one of our vendors could be like Mark Schneider. Our work would be so much more enjoyable if everyone was able to conduct their business like Mark, his wonderful wife Nancy and his caring and attentive staff.

While we do have a handful of other vendors that we love and appreciate working with; unfortunately I have to say that based on our experience, most jewelry manufacturers and Designers have proven to be the diametric opposite of Mark. All of these Manufacturers are naturally hungry for your business, but through the years, we’ve sadly learned that when it comes right down to it, most don’t really care about our company, our associates or our clients. What the majority of them seem to care about is how much you buy from them and how quickly you pay your bills. I guess this is the sad reality of the business world; maybe even the world in general. However, since I admittedly tend to be an idealist, I find this reality disturbing.

We at E.E. Robbins very much believe that a business relationship, in order to be successful, needs to be based on mutual trust and respect. A relationship where each party truly wants the other to be successful and realizes that in order to do this, both must understand and care about the others wants and needs. Just like a successful marriage, it’s best if we share common goals and views of how we want to the world to be. I guess it comes down to doing business with people who live by the Golden Rule; who believe in treating others just as we ourselves want to be treated. While this unwritten rule sure seems simple enough and most everyone talks the talk; unfortunately we have found vendors like Mark Schneider to be very rare indeed.

If you like believe in karma as we do and you are looking for a unique and beautiful engagement or wedding ring, you just can’t do better than a ring from Mark Schneider to symbolize your lifelong commitment to each other. In any case, we remain thankful that we have the privilege of doing business with people like Mark Schneider.

Symbols of our City

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 09:06:00 GMT

I can still remember going to the 1962 World’s Fair as a little tyke. (I guess that tells you I’m now an ol’ codger). I still remember being blown away by the height and majesty of the Space Needle, originally built for the World’s Fair. Ever since then, the Needle has served as the worldwide symbol of our city. In fact, there are probably just a handful of iconic symbols on the entire planet that identify a city as well as our own Space Needle does ours.

It’s difficult to even imagine Seattle without the Space Needle. Every time I pass by it, whether under its shadow or viewing it from a distance, I still get a thrill from seeing it. We have some other wonderful symbols here that serve as reminders of how fortunate we are to live in such an amazing place. Pike Place Market is known around the world as a must-see place to visit while here and the outdoor sign is recognized all over the world. Seeing the ferry boats traveling across Puget Sound never fails to thrill me as does crossing the 520 bridge and looking over at the quaint houseboats on Lake Union. Of course, if we include one of nature’s creations, then nothing even comes close to Mt. Rainier as a symbol of our region.

There is, however, one other great symbol of our region that we have let get away. An icon that I find to be totally unique and impressive. It saddens me that our city didn’t embrace it. If I had Bill Gates or Howard Schultz like money, I would have found a way to help fund the restoration of this metallic relic of the past. I’m speaking of the Kalakala, the ultra cool ferry billed as “the world’s first streamlined vessel”.

Built back in 1935, the Kalakala was used off and on in our ferry system and was even voted the second biggest attraction of the World’s Fair after the Space Needle.

If you haven’t seen the Kalakala or don’t know much about it, I’d encourage you to check it out at www.kalakala.org

Steve Rodriques has been working for many years to have this amazing ship restored to its original magnificence. If after checking it out, you agree that the Kalakala should not be lost to us, you can even help save this incredible vessel.