Edinburgher's balancing act

beanielou

Thats all sounding good
Student loan your very last debt?

edinburgher

Student loan your very last debt?

Yeah, but don't really know if it counts as a 'proper' debt due to the odd interest rules...

beanielou

I dont actually think it does count but couldent think how else to put it.

edinburgher

I have news!

It's pretty good news, but it has left me feeling somewhat stupid!

We're getting almost all of last months rent and our deposit back from the landlord, should be in the region of £1800.

I have decided to use my half to sort out an engagement ring for wonderful GF. To that end, I ordered a beautiful internally flawless natural sapphire (light violet in colour) from the internet. It's marquise cut (entirely her thing) and at £100 or so, it seemed a wonderful deal.

I had planned on having it set in 18ct white gold or platinum - then the jewellers struck! I have requested about half a dozen quotes and the only one returned so far suggested £900/£1800 depending on white gold/platinum Surely this is exorbitant for a relatively simple ring (albeit a custom design)?

It seems a total ripoff that I can supply the stone myself and it's only about £50 cheaper than buying a ready made 0.5ct diamond ring! Maybe I should buy the diamond ring, have the stone swapped and sell them back the diamond?

elantan

can i be honest ... the price of gold has went through the roof ... you will literally get what you pay for ... yeah you can go for cheaper and have a cheaper gold but do you want to do that ? sometimes there are some things worth spending money on ....

although there is also the stealing risk so make sure you have it valued and insured ... i had a 2.5 platinum ring stolen and the insurance refused to pay out ... so be careful

edinburgher

can i be honest ... the price of gold has went through the roof ... you will literally get what you pay for

You can be honest, but I think you've skipped over my comments on other rings? It seems unreasonable that a simply designed custom ring (no stone) would only be a few pounds cheaper than a full ring with an attractive 0.5ct diamond? Am I that out of touch?!

Thanks for the comments re. insurance - I'll be sure to get a valuation report once the ring is designed/forged

elantan

It could be down to paying for the services of the designer .... The ring maker for instance will charge huge amounts compared to a student ... I have a friend that is a silversmith ... The prices can be a huge difference between each jeweller ... Forgot to say congratulations

elantan

And the ring you would buy the gold has already been bought at a cheaper price .... With ordering it to be made for u the gold may still need to be purchased iyswim

edinburgher

I think I must have been totally off bat with my expectations for getting a custom engagement ring crafted! Quotes have ranged from £900-£1150, so oddly enough the quote I was complaining about the other day is the most reasonable to date

Still waiting on the return of our flat deposit/overpaid rent, but at least the quotes are rolling in. Also discovered that I can get a 5% discount off the £900 quote if I pay upfront and may chance my arm and see if they can knock another few pounds off if I pay in cash

Also pleased to see that the DCA have tried to correct my credit report (after 5 months!) The status now shows as 'Satisfied', although it is noted that it was partially satisfied. The only problem now is that they messed up the closing value of the account, so it looks like I didn't pay £5500, as opposed to the £800 that it actually was. Obviously 'getting away with' paying £800 isn't nearly as bad as over five grand, so I spoke to them today and they should hopefully update it soon...

Long weekend coming up (Glasgow Fair), so we may need to start flat hunting.

edinburgher

Woohoo! Just got a quote 50% cheaper than the leading one - looks like this might happen after all