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Inter-Continental Jewelers are a Texas-based jewelry business that has been in the business for over 44 years. The company is known for their friendly service and quality products, and for the wide range of diamonds on offer. In this in-depth review, we’ll take a closer look at Intercontinental Jewelers and the pros and cons of shopping with them.
At a Glance – Pros and Cons
The best way to explore the features of Inter-Continental Jewelers is to divide them into simple Pros and Cons.
Pros:
- Competitive pricing
- Excellent customer service and care
- Large inventory of diamonds and jewelry
- Customization process
- Quick turnaround times
- Easy returns – no questions asked, and 100% customer satisfaction guaranteed
- Lifetime warranty and free financing options
- Great customer reviews – 4.9 Stars on Google
Cons:
- Physical showrooms located only in Texas
- Some imagery lacking for all diamonds on the e-commerce site
Inter-Continental Jewelers History
Inter-Continental Jewelers have been in the jewelry business for nearly half a century. They were one of the earliest jewelry retailers to open a top-of-the-line online store in addition to its physical location. They began selling diamonds and jewelry on their e-commerce store as early as 2008 and quickly turned their site into one of the best in the industry.
The combination of great inventory, fair prices, excellent customer service, and modern hardware and software tools have made both Inter-Continental’s physical stores and online shop into an excellent location to buy diamonds and jewelry.
What Can You Find at Inter-Continental Jewelers?
Intercontinental Jewelers have a wide range of products and services on offer. These include:
1. Large Inventory
The company has a sizeable collection of nearly 6,000 natural diamonds of a range of carat sizes, shapes, cuts, sizes, colors, and clarity grades. All of Inter-Continental’s natural diamonds are sourced in accordance with the Kimberley Process, meaning that they are conflict-free. The company’s position on responsible and ethical mining practices is firm and transparent.
2. Lab-Created Diamonds
The interest in lab-created diamonds continues to grow as more people turn to alternatives to mined diamonds. If lab-created diamonds are what you’re looking for, you’ll be pleased to know that Inter-Continetal Jewelers offers an impressive collection of over 6,000 great-quality and budget-friendly lab grown diamonds. This gives you, the customer, access to the ultimate “conflict-free” diamond with flawless clarity, and at a much lower price than a natural diamond.
3. Reputable Certification
All diamonds are accompanied by reputable certifications from gemological institutes such as the GIA (Gemological Institute of America), IGI (International Gemological Institute), AGS (American Gem Society), or the HRD Diamond Certificate. This ensures that the diamond has passed stringent assessment of quality factors and that you are getting your money’s worth. However, small diamonds under .30 carats are typically not certified, which is standard in the industry.
4. Reasonable Pricing
Inter-Continental Jewelers offer some of the best value-for-money ratios we’ve seen in the industry. They advertise between 50 to 70 percent off regular prices – as they are the direct manufacturer. They’re comparable to some of the best online vendors in the US in this regard and that applies both to their smaller and more affordable diamonds and to their large and high-value stones and jewelry pieces.
What’s more, they offer a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee. If you’re not happy with your purchase, they will refund or remake your jewelry. This takes away some of the stress of purchasing jewelry, as it’s reassuring to know that the retailer takes responsibility for their work.
5. Engagement Rings
One of the main offerings at Inter-Continental Jewelers is engagement rings. The company offers numerous options with popular setting designs, such as solitaire, halo, three stone, center diamond only, and others. There are also multiple options for to choose your metal, including white, yellow, and rose gold, as well as platinum.
If diamonds aren’t your thing, Inter-Continental Jewelers also offers engagement ring options without a traditional colorless diamond. Choose from sapphires, rubies, emeralds, aquamarines, tanzanite stones, yellow diamonds, and other gemstones.
We especially liked the 360-degree video available for all their popular rings and settings, which give you a clear indication of what the ring looks like from all angles.
6. Diamonds and Jewelry
Inter-Continental Jewelers offer collections of other jewelry types such as wedding bands, pendants, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. These too are available in various designs and metals.
7. Customization Services
Like any good modern jewelry retailer, Inter-Continental gives you the option to create custom jewelry. If you decide to go this route, you can visit any of their physical stores or get in touch with them online and order your custom jewelry.
Inter-Continental will walk you through their streamlined custom jewelry process that starts with a consultation with one of their professional jewelers and continues with a CAD software rendering of the piece. After that, a wax model and casting are made before moving on to the crafting of the jewelry piece itself. The whole process is estimated to take up to 2 weeks on average in most cases.
8. Other Services: Free Appraisals, Trade-Ins, and Purchasing
Inter-Continental Jewelers offer free appraisals for your own jewelry. This is useful if you’re looking to sell your personal jewelry, or you just want to know what you actually have. Each appraisal effectively gives you detailed information about the diamond’s and jewelry piece’s characteristics, an appraisal certificate, and precise current market value.
If you’re looking for a trade-in for jewelry, you can use it to effectively bring down the price of one of Inter-Continental’s jewelry pieces.
Inter-Continental also buys jewelry and diamonds, making it a great option for people who are simply looking for an effective way to sell their jewelry. Whether you’re doing it to raise funds for a new jewelry piece or for any other reason, Inter-Continental’s appraisals will help you to get a fair price.
9. Payment Options and Other Policies
Inter-Continental Jewelers work with Wells Fargo to offer two prolonged payment plans with no additional interest rates – one 6-months-long and the other – 12 months.
If you’re not quite satisfied with the jewelry you purchase from them, they offer a 30-day full-refund return policy for all their items, no questions asked. The only requirements are that the item is in its original condition as well as in its original packaging and accompanied by all documents it came in.
This is standard procedure for all reputable jewelry vendors today and it ensures that any problems with your order or discrepancies between what you saw on the site and what you received will be resolved quickly and in your best interest.
Are There Any Cons to Shopping at Inter-Continental Jewelers?
Some customers report low responsiveness and longer wait times than officially announced for online orders. Even though that is to be expected for online orders of custom jewelry, the wait time can cause problems for people on a schedule, which is often the case with engaged couples.
Another potential con is that Inter-Continental Jewelers’ online store offers plenty of information, but the imagery for the diamond inventory is somewhat lacking. They only offer imagery of the actual diamond for some of their stock. However, you can always get in touch with them to view any of their diamonds – whether physically or via online-appointment.
Should I Buy My Diamond Ring At ICJ?
Inter-Continental Jewelers is a reputable diamond, engagement ring, and jewelry retailer that offers great value for your money and excellent customer service.
However, if you want to visit Inter-Continental Jewelers in person you need to either live in Texas or will need to visit the state for an in-person consultation.
Having said that, online orders and long-distance customer service consultations are possible and tend to be done with great care, so don’t let the fact that you’re not in the state deter you.
Wrapping Up
Inter-Continental Jewelers is competitive with all other major vendors outside of Texas, however, thanks to its huge collection of high-quality and competitively priced diamonds, rings, and jewelry pieces.
But don’t just take our word for it. Check out the number of satisfied customers who rave about the company’s services and products online.
