This is round 7 in our Worst Company in America 2008 contest, DeBeers vs 1-800 Flowers.
DeBeers: Controls over 70% of the world’s diamond mining and has been accused of artificially constricting to diamond supply to inflate prices. Their advertising also teaches us that you’re not a man unless you get your wife or lover the biggest rock you can.
1-800 Flowers: Readers have complained about receiving dead or the completely wrong flowers.
This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2008 series. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america/
STILL OPEN FOR VOTING: Starbucks vs United Airlines, Exxon vs Crocs, Google Vs Sony, Ticketmaster vs Wachovia, Facebook vs The American Arbitration Association, Comcast vs Menu Foods
@Git Em SteveDave:
As I was reading the article, I had that very scene from Family Guy going through my head.
Um, hello, blood diamonds? The state of the Congo in the 70s is a bit more important than your hetero courtship rituals.
The St Valentine’s massacre poll! It’s a wate of time. Neither would make it a round past this one.
All I have to say is two words…Blood Diamond…well, maybe more than two words lol! My husband got me a $125 wedding ring and that was specifically because I’m not feeling the whole dying over a rock thing. I mean seriously…what is the big deal with diamonds?! The fact that people are enslaved, dying, highway robbed, etc. should make the appeal a lot lower! So you’re going to tell me that this shiny rock you found in the dirt is really worth $10,000 and I’m going to buy it?! Come on! I guess the human life value that was spent has to be refunded some how…DeBeers is definitely the worst. And as for flowers!! What’s the point of those too! I mean…they die in like 8 days…LAME! Okay, I’m done.
Dabeers hands down for the reasons above and their past blood diamond problems.. It should be noted though that Blood Diamonds or “conflict diamonds” are not much of an issue today..
Most of this issue ended in the 90s. Though it is still a problem today, The Cocoa industry is currently much more at fault for things like child slave labor.
Can we have a little italicized disclaimer on every one of these posts explaining how seeding works, so we can stop the “these contests are so lopsided, WTF???” comments? You know, like did with the “taking it seriously” posts so people would stop asking why you were posting them…
@Buran:
Diamond Nexus makes some amazing lab made diamonds. I bought my fiancée one and she absolutely loves it. It’s virtually indistinguishable from a “real” diamond. Instead of dropping serious coin on a 2 carat “real” diamond, that money went right into the wedding fund.
@ganzhimself: Except that they are CZ, not “man made diamonds”. That’s fine if that’s what you want (and I totally understand wanting to save the money), but know what you’re buying.
There are also “real” man-made diamonds, which are chemically indistinguishable from a natural diamond. These, unlike the CZ sold by places like “Diamond Nexus”, ARE a diamond. They just aren’t dug out of the ground. But they’re just about as expensive as a natural diamond. Good option if you just don’t want to support DeBeers (although of course there are also other choices there, like Canadian diamonds). Bad option if you want to save money.
@johnva:
That is true. Honestly, no one can tell the difference by just looking at it… And they’re guaranteed for a lifetime, if I remember correctly, so that’s always a good thing.
@Papa Midnight: maybe they’re seeded like the NCAA Basketball Tourney. The best against the worst for the most part. Except there’s less likelihood for an upset because it’s unlikely that 1-800-Flowers will magically become a monopoly and start running a business that appears to be killing people.
I don’t care about neither flowers nor diamonds, but I think that on a small scale, the flowers is the worst. That’s one thing you need to get on time.
1800 is the worst because they take about 30% of every order for themselves and give the balance to a REAL florist to fill the order. Why not order directly from the REAL florist? Why do people order from a broker?
Diamonds and other jewelry come in many sizes to fit all budgets from no diamond to several carats. It is your choice but at least you know you are getting a REAL diamond when you buy Debeers.
Ken
@ganzhimself: Just wanting to clarify, because that site uses some “vague” language in an attempt to give the impression that they ARE real lab-made diamonds. They also seem very expensive for CZ. But like I said, if you’re happy with it, that’s cool. Just pointing out that even for CZ jewelry it pays to do your homework and shop around.
that crystal thing on the right there kinda looks like that thing from the flgith of the navigator movie haha.
wow, i guess nobody knows that DeBeers settled a class action lawsuit and agreed to compensate everyone who bought a diamond between x date and y date. i forget the specifics, but each consumer made out pretty nicely.
“If people really love each other, then they give each other the real stone,” he says, during an interview at council headquarters on the Hoveniersstraat in Antwerp. “It is not a symbol of eternal love if it is something that was created last week.”
Sums up why DeQueers got my vote.
1800 flowers screwed up my valentines day order, but they gave my money back.
DeBeers is evil personified.