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Overall Score:2 | | ||||
Price:2.5 | | Selection:2.5 | | Customer Service: 1 | |
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| Other Recommended Retailers |
Bottom Line Recommendation
Rogers & Hollands’ selection is very hit or miss. You need to be careful that you don’t get screwed. Even if you manage to avoid those pitfalls, their pricing is nothing spectacular. If you are willing to pay a 30 – 40% premium over buying online, you should be getting some sort of added value. Judging by our in-store experience, there was nothing to justify spending extra at Rogers & Hollands.
You are better off buying a diamond ring from a reputable online retailer like Blue Nile or James Allen. You will have a far better experience and you will save 30 – 40%.
The History
Rogers & Hollands have an incredibly long and rich history by jewelry store standards. Rogers Jewelers’ roots go back to 1945 but that pales in comparisons to Hollands which started way back in 1910. The companies merged and slowly grew. By the 1980s they were operating about 30 stores. By the turn of the century, the company had 64 locations, and as of 2017, it had opened its 82nd US location.
In the current retail landscape of IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, Rogers & Hollands has managed to maintain their company as a family run business, despite having locations spread out over 10 states.
The Experience
We had the opportunity to visit a Rogers & Hollands store on our recent trip to Chicago. Just off Magnificent Mile, they have a location in Water Tower Place. Walking around what seemed to be an interesting and upscale shopping mall, we finally found Rogers & Hollands a few floors up.
While we are generally underwhelmed by the ambiance in mall stores, Rogers & Hollands was pretty decent. It didn’t have the most luxurious feel, but at least it didn’t feel like a Groupon day at supercuts. The store had a comfortable vibe that felt almost upscale.
Why you should trust us
To help you with the diamond buying process we lean on our expertise and experience. The author of this article, our CEO, Mike Fried has over 20 years of experience in the diamond industry. Mike started from the bottom, sorting and evaluating hundreds of thousands of diamonds to learn every facet (pun intended) of diamond quality and value. Mike followed that up by spending years buying and selling diamonds on the wholesale market as well as selling tens of millions of dollars worth of diamonds to diamond retailers.
The comfortable feeling ended as soon as we looked for help. I still don’t understand how a store can be selling such pricey items while completely ignoring customer service. Given the fact that these stores simply can’t compete with reputable online vendors from a quality and value perspective, the only advantage they seem to have would be direct personal contact.
The staff in the store seemed visibly upset that we walked in and that they needed to stop their conversation. While perusing diamonds, the salesperson who reluctantly detached from their group was visibly bored. There was very little feedback nor was there any attempt to guide us through the purchase. I was so annoyed, I was tempted to just walk out without even looking at any of their rings.
Deal Alert: Get 25% off sitewide at James Allen
Rogers & Hollands Diamonds
Alas, we came there for you guys. I couldn’t just walk away without looking at their products. Their diamond choices were a mixed bag. On the one hand, they did have some nice choices. On the other hand, they had some diamonds with bad certificates.
The first diamond we looked at was a 1.20ct H SI1 round diamond in an 18kt white gold solitaire setting for $10,400. The diamond was GIA certified, eye-clean and pretty nice. The cut wasn’t great (the depth was a bit high) but it was a nice diamond overall.
The second diamond we looked at was 0.90ct E-F color SI3 clarity diamond in a white gold setting for $3,999. I put the color and clarity grades in quotes because the diamond was EGL certified. In reality, the quality was much worse than that. I wasn’t able to properly examine it, but at best it was an H I1.
Not only was the quality incredibly low (and they used a less reliable certificate to try to mask that), but the diamond’s cut was horrific on the diamond as well. As I mentioned above, the 1.20ct diamond was OK cut. The depth was 62.9% which is the maximum I would ever consider when judging a diamond. Ideally it should be closer to 62.0%. This 0.90ct diamond had a depth percentage of 67. That is off the charts bad.
The Value
I’m going to ignore the 0.90ct because that diamond is a bad choice at any price. So let’s focus on the 1.20ct diamond. That diamond was pretty nice, but the price seems insane to me. Take a look at this 1.20ct H SI1 excellent cut from James Allen. This diamond is roughly comparable and it costs $6,350. Adding in this similar solitaire setting and the cost is $6,960. That is 33% cheaper than the choice at Rogers and Holland without accounting for the tax savings (that will bring your total savings to about 40%).
For another comparison, you can go with this 1.22ct H Si1 from Blue Nile. This diamond is also comparable to the Rogers and Hollands choice but it will only cost you $6,135. Adding this solitaire setting to the diamond will run you a total of $6,535. Again, that is a savings of about 42% while getting the same ring.
What we love about them:
- No questions asked returns within 30 days of shipment. James Allen will send you a paid shipping label to return the ring.
- Lifetime Warranty
- Free International Shipping
- Free prong tightening, repolishing, rhodium plating and cleaning every 6 months
- Provide insurance appraisals
- One free resizing within 60 days of purchase
- Free ring inscriptions
- Best-in-class high quality imagery of all diamonds in stock
- 24/7 Customer Service
- Best-in-class packaging
What we love about them:
- No questions asked returns within 30 days of shipment. Blue Nile will send you a paid shipping label to return the ring.
- Lifetime Warranty
- Free Shipping
- Free prong tightening, repolishing, rhodium plating and cleaning every 6 months
- Provide insurance appraisal
- One free resizing within the first year of purchase
- High quality images of about half of their diamonds
- 24/7 Customer Service
- 100% credit towards future upgrades (must be at least double in value)
- Best in class fulfillment
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