If you asked me a couple months ago where I would recommend buying jewelry from I would've said Smyth jewelers without hesitation. However, after my fiancé bought my engagement ring there (Elliott City location) I would strongly advise choosing a different store to purchase from. My fiancé was told he was purchasing a GIA certified diamond but when the time came to get the paperwork it supposedly couldn't be located, that is because it was never a certified diamond. Upon insisting the diamond be certified as we were told it was, it came back from GIA rated 1 grade lower in almost every category. This is known as "grade bumping". The Federal Trade Commission does have laws about diamond grade bumping and allows diamonds to be sold within 1 grade of what they truly are. So, yes, Smyth stayed within FTCs "rules"; however, is this ethical? Absolutely not. The difference in price between 1 grade of color, clarity, etc. is significant and as stated before, my diamond was off by 1 grade in almost all categories which adds up to big bucks in price differences. After realizing that they "messed up" they offered us a diamond which were the specifications cited from the original diamond purchase. What is irritating is that they acted as if they were doing us a favor by replacing the diamond with what we thought we purchased in the first place. Overall, yes they did attempt to make it right. With that being said, I would never trust purchasing from them again in the future. While they kept stating that the salesperson would have no reason to lie because she does not make commission, the store itself still lied on paperwork to make the store more money. If you do still feel inclined to buy a diamond from Smyth I would suggest only purchasing a GIA certified diamond, paperwork in hand. The jewelers may feel as though they didn't do anything wrong; but, bottom line is that it is unethical and sneaky.