Buying with us
Our fifteen-day gemstone return policy
You have fifteen days from delivery to return a stone that materially differs from the one you bought or from the specifications stated for it. Every return is verified against the stone's own report, and a confirmed return is refunded to the original payment method within five working days.
- The window
- Fifteen days from delivery
- The grounds
- Materially differs, verified
- The refund
- Five working days
The window
How do returns work?
Fifteen days from delivery, where the stone materially differs from the one you bought or from the specifications stated for it. It comes back unset, with its report and the sealed packet intact, and every return is verified against that report before a refund is made. If you are unsure whether a stone qualifies, write to the concierge and a gemmologist replies.
The window is there so a stone can be checked, not so a decision can be deferred. Fifteen days is time enough to see it in daylight, in the light you actually live with, and to read it against what its report states. What the policy answers is a stone that is not what was described; what it is not is a cooling-off period, and we would rather say that plainly than imply otherwise. If the law where you live gives you a wider right, that right stands.
How a return is verified
What must come back with the stone?
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The stone, unset
Unset means the stone as it was sent, loose and not mounted. The report is issued on the loose stone, before any setting, so setting a stone closes the return window.
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Its laboratory report
The report travels with the stone in both directions. It is the document the stone is checked against when it comes back.
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The sealed packet, intact
The sealed packet is the container the stone travels in, and it is what ties the stone in your hand to the report that describes it. A loose stone in its packet is the only form in which the two can be read against each other again.
Return policies often ask for "original condition" without saying what it means. Here it means exactly these three things, nothing more. They are what makes verification possible: with all three in front of us, the stone can be measured, weighed and read against its own report, and a stated difference either shows up or it does not.
The refund
When is the refund paid?
Within five working days of the stone reaching us and the difference being confirmed, to the original payment method. It returns by the route the payment came, to the card that paid or to the account the transfer came from.
Payment reaches us one of two ways, card to US$ 10,000 and bank transfer above that, invoiced in USD. The refund follows the same path back. Working days are days the banks are open, so a weekend in between adds to the calendar time rather than to the five days.
Questions
Asked before you buy
If a question about returns is not answered here, write to Colombo and a gemmologist replies, not a template.