Great Retailer, Would Buy Again.
I bought a Princess cut ACA diamond from Whiteflash, and it lived up to my expectations from reading descriptions on the website. It is a very well cut ring.
WF was eager to send me pictures and get the gemologist's opinion on a couple of diamonds I was deciding between. This was important when you couldn't actually see the diamond in person. This was also what pushed me to buy from WF vs. one of Blue Nile's Signature Ideal stones. Also, it seems that it takes a better cut to earn the WF ACA rating vs. the BN Signature rating.
Order to delivery time was about a week (i also bought the setting from WF). They kept me posted during the process and sent high res. picks of ring the day it was sent. Overnight shipping to the FEDEX center was also good because I wouldn't want something worth so much $ sitting outside my house.
Overall, White Flash provides excellent service from start to finish. They are much smaller than Blue Nile so can afford to provide excellent service to each customer. Also, they are not aggressive at all (as in a brick-and-mortar store), and I actually felt like I could believe what they told me.
The lifetime upgrade guarantee is a bonus if you are ever planning to trade up. However, if diamond prices drop dramatically over time, I would worry that WF would go under with too many upgrade requests - as they have essentially sold me a put option where I could cash in for the current value of my stone even if it is worth 1/2 of that on the open market. I imagine it would take a significant move in prices to cause big problems for them though.
Bottom line, if I bought another engagement ring, I would buy it here.
Dan M, Alaska, USA