Remember my ring? WWYD

[Pom]

So we visited several stores when buying my anniversary ring to celebrate 10 year anniversary on September 18.  We saw nothing in anyone's stock, that was "exactly" right.  We decided to go the custom route and after meeting with 3 different places, we decided on a jeweler.  They promised to expedite the ring and but could not guarantee it by September 18 but understood our sentimental request and agreed to try with the caveat that we be diligent in responding when they called.  We were promised that ordering custom from this national company would not be anything like our experience with Ashley Furniture.  This company is very proud of their service and understood what we expected and assured us we would not be sorry.

From the time we ordered it, we were proactive.  We checked-in, called, made decisions, didn't ask to see the clay mold in person.  A week prior to our anniversary we called.  After being transferred several times, we were connected to a person we'd never talked to before.  She explained that she is  their point person for customs apparently and said she knew nothing about our order.  There was no chance we'd have it by Sept 18 and further said that the paperwork was dated that the ring was due until October 1.  We were pissed that no one ever referred us to her, never even made any attempt to get it expedited.  Whatever, we told her to move forward.  She offered us a $400 credit.   She sends us an e-mail to approve the order, we respond promptly.

October 1 comes and goes and no one calls.  October 2nd, we are told they cast the ring in yellow gold, rather than white gold as ordered.  Next we are told the ring will be ready on Saturday, October 11th. (I was hoping to have it for our family weekend starting Oct 10, but nope).  Mr. Pom writes about our EXTREME disappointment with the company on their FB page.  National office calls, assistant GM of local store calls.  Says they are aware and will make sure we are kept informed and will handle our situation personally this is important.  Also says GM is out of town will call us when he returns.  He never does.  The custom chick apparently pulls the short straw and does call us every couple of days to say things are moving forward.  On Friday, October 10, custom lady calls and says the ring will be in Saturday, Oct 11 and I say fine, we will be out of town and will come in when we get home to get it.  

We get back early Sunday, they are open, so we stop to get it.  It is there!  Mr. Pom goes in to get it, I am in the car with my mom.  He comes out with the ring, we discuss taking it home for the "presentation" but opt to open it then and there.  It's lovely but  THE FUCKING RING DOES NOT FIT.  Sized 2.5 sizes too small.  We go back in the store.  Their paperwork is in store is wrong that is with the ring.  My paperwork at home, which I checked as soon as I walk through the door, AND shows the correct size.     
  
So the assistant manager is dispatched to deal with us.  He apologies, half-heartedly. He says it's the casting company's fault and they have messed up more than our ring.   He can have it re-sized by tomorrow, Monday.  I am almost in tears I am so pissed.  I just want this to be over, they have made the whole process such a mess, I am boiling.  He then says, "If you don't want it, we understand."   I tell him I expect to be compensated for all the massive inconvenience and run-around.  I do want the ring.  Mr. Pom and I designed it to compliment my wedding rings and it is important, but the experience dealing with the store is ridiculous.  We insist that we meet with the General Manager when we come to pick-up the ring.  They are to call us Monday when it's done.  

As an added bonus, Mr. Pom insists they check my size while we are in the store before they adjust it.   The assistant GM says "Are you sure you don't want to go up a half size? Your hands seem puffy, but maybe that's just because you are agitated."   Is that appropriate?   I walked out.   What do you think our expectation for a resolution should be?

[imojoebunny]

Talk about taking the joy out of a purchase. I would just get the ring done and move on. Lingering and fighting with them would just make me more frustrated. They screwed up. They gave you a $400 credit. You'll never use them again. Enjoy your ring and move on.

We share an Anniversary, including the year. Congrats!

I got a glider from Grand in Road. We had a good fight trying to put that together :-)

[Pom]

Oct 12, 2014 19:23:45 GMT -5 imojoebunny said:

Talk about taking the joy out of a purchase. I would just get the ring done and move on. Lingering and fighting with them would just make me more frustrated. They screwed up. They gave you a $400 credit. You'll never use them again. Enjoy your ring and move on.

We share an Anniversary, including the year. Congrats!

I got a glider from Grand in Road. We had a good fight trying to put that together :-)

This is exactly how I feel.  They took away the joy of the experience.  

Happy anniversary to you too!

[Deleted]

I had a similar problem. After much comparison shopping and agonizing over the cost, I finally decided to get a stacking set of birthstone rings from an online jeweler. You may remember my post Pom. Well the main stone fell out twice in the less than a year I had it, the second time the stone was lost. The jeweler refused to fix it. Didn't even offer me a discount on a new ring. So now the whole set is unusable. I'm so pissed.

I don't know how much your ring cost, is $400 a decent credit? Like 10%? If so, I would accept that. If not, I would ask the credit to be bumped to 10-15%. And never go there again.

[gogreengowhite]

Oh, Pom, I am so sorry!

I hope the ring is fixed tomorrow and you can enjoy the beautiful ring you created with your husband.

[Pom]

@supergreen  I am so sorry about your rings. That is terrible. Ugh, I can't believe they won't help you and make it right.

No, $400 is not 10%. I would NEVER shop there again.

[raangoli]

I'm so sorry you've had a terrible time with getting your ring. I'd let them know, in writing, just how dissatisfied you are. If you want, you can ask for an additional discount, or you can just put your frustration in writing and leave this behind you. I'd be more apt to do the latter since I wouldn't want to drag this out even more than it has.

I hope you enjoy your ring and that when you look at it, you think of the 10 years spent together and not this less than stellar experience.

[spankswife]

I'd be reay tempted to get my money back.

You've already missed your dates, I'd go somewhere with better CS.

Plus, a ring sized 2.5 sizes is going to be thin and might not sit right. What if you do need to size up in the future? Can it handle going up 3.5 sizes?

The whole experience would just leave a bad taste in my mouth, not something I'd want for a special piece of jewelry.

[tripleshot]

That's ridiculous. I would google if it's ok/not hard on the metal to size up that much. I vaguely remember being told when we bought my rings that if it's more than 1 size up or down, it can affect the strength of the metal.

ETA: I did some googling and skimmed several sites and it seems 2 sizes is the max recommended. My wedding band had to be custom made in my size because they wouldn't resize the one in stock because it was a 2 size difference.

[lurknomore]

I agree with the people who said they would call the whole thing off. I wouldn't want a ring resized that much and fuck them. why should they get your money at this point. You've already lost the sentimental date. You've already lost the fun of the experience. Tell them to give you a refund and fuck off. Take your business elsewhere and enjoy the while process from scratch (even though it's well past your anniversary....congrats on 10 btw!!)

I'm so sorry Pom. Just one more thing.

[Pom]

Oct 12, 2014 19:40:51 GMT -5 spankswife said:

I'd be reay tempted to get my money back.

You've already missed your dates, I'd go somewhere with better CS.

Plus, a ring sized 2.5 sizes is going to be thin and might not sit right. What if you do need to size up in the future? Can it handle going up 3.5 sizes?

The whole experience would just leave a bad taste in my mouth, not something I'd want for a special piece of jewelry.

I am pretty much here.  But Mr. Pom wants me to have it.   

I am concerned with re-sizing the metal with regards to the issues both you and tripleshot have mentioned.

[polarbearfans]

At this point pass on the ring. You don't want this memory attached to it. You can get another ring that you will love even more. Even if it's the same exact design, it would be better to get it elsewhere. Sorry you are going through this

[tripleshot]

The more I think about it, I'd call it off and get a full refund. I'd constantly be worried something would happen to it. I know you've put a lot of time and effort into it so far but it worries me about the quality of a ring sized that much. I'd try to find another jeweler. Sorry, Pom.

[audette]

I'd find another ring. One that won't be fraught with such bad experiences. Get your money back from this retailer, and find someone else to make your ring.

[lurknomore]

@supergreen...god that sucks. I remember those rings and LOVED them. If she hadn't discontinued them I wanted a set after DD3 was born. I hope you ripped her a new one anywhere you could online. I'm sorry that happened.

[emilyinchile]

Honestly, especially considering the Asst Manager already threw out "if you don't want it, we understand," I would probably refuse the ring at this point and start over doing the same custom job elsewhere. You've already missed your anniversary deadline, so why not do it somewhere else where you still have the chance of a good experience and feeling happy about having spent the money? I'm sorry this has become so un-fun

[BioNerd]

Pom DH wants to know if this is Jared? He worked there once upon a time and says this sounds like them. He says Jareds problem is that they have so many customers that they don't care about individuals and don't have to worry about repeat customers.

[BioNerd]

He also says it won't hurt for the ring to be sized up multiple sizes as long as it's a good jeweler doing the job.

[Pom]

Oct 12, 2014 20:50:22 GMT -5 BioNerd said:

Pom DH wants to know if this is Jared? He worked there once upon a time and says this sounds like them. He says Jareds problem is that they have so many customers that they don't care about individuals and don't have to worry about repeat customers.

Well they certainly won't have to worry about us being repeat customers  We should have known better.   Thanks to Mr. Lobster for the info.

[LoveTrains]

I would refuse the ring. It can't be properly sized up like that.

Start over at an independent jeweler. I'm sorry this place sucks so bad.

[vanillacourage]

Ok, honestly I would be frustrated too but I think you somewhat set yourself up to be near the end of your rope a lot earlier in the process than necessary. You say that they said it wasn't guaranteed to be done by your anniversary on Sept 18th, but you started calling them and getting upset about "missed deadlines" a full week ahead of that.  Now if it were me and I'd known all along the ring might not be done by my anniversary, I would have made my peace with it and have been stoked if they offered $400 off for missing a deadline they'd never promised to hit anyway. 

Casting it in the wrong metal and making it too big are bad, but I don't know that it's enough to say screw it and start anew with another store and not get your ring for that much longer. 

[Pom]

Oct 12, 2014 21:02:05 GMT -5 vanillacourage said:

Ok, honestly I would be frustrated too but I think you somewhat set yourself up to be near the end of your rope a lot earlier in the process than necessary. You say that they said it wasn't guaranteed to be done by your anniversary on Sept 18th, but you started calling them and getting upset about "missed deadlines" a full week ahead of that.  Now if it were me and I'd known all along the ring might not be done by my anniversary, I would have made my peace with it and have been stoked if they offered $400 off for missing a deadline they'd never promised to hit anyway. 

Casting it in the wrong metal and making it too big are bad, but I don't know that it's enough to say screw it and start anew with another store and not get your ring for that much longer. 

I get your point. The store's floor managers kept leading us to believe they were expediting it.  They encouraged us to stay in touch and we did order it 6 weeks before our anniversary. We were told if we responded promptly when contacted, there was a good chance it would happen.  It was the smiling and lying to my face when it was never even brought to the attention of the custom coordinator that escalated the issues with the first missed deadline.  We completely understood it was a long shot and should have been told no if they were overloaded.  But these more recent screw-ups? Poor service, entirely.  

Yeah the thought of starting over now is not appealing.

[Deleted]

Oct 12, 2014 19:39:34 GMT -5 Pom said:

@supergreen  I am so sorry about your rings. That is terrible. Ugh, I can't believe they won't help you and make it right.

No, $400 is not 10%. I would NEVER shop there again.

She was a total birch about it. Basically said "too bad, so sad, my warranty is 30 days. I can make a new ring for the same price you paid for the first one." I told her that was unacceptable and that I should at least get a discount, and she never replied again. She's halfway across the country so nothing I can do. I'm still really upset about it.

I really hope your ring turns out correctly. And I would ask for a bigger discount, I think 10% is fair for so many screw-ups.

ETA: just read the other replies about going up too many sizes. I didn't think of that! If you think you can let go of the bad experience and enjoy the ring, I would keep it. Who knows if another jeweler can make it exactly the way you want it KWIM? But if you every time you look at your hand you think "grrr those assholes" then by all means I would cancel the order.

[Deleted]

Oct 12, 2014 20:03:42 GMT -5 lurknomore said:

@supergreen...god that sucks. I remember those rings and LOVED them. If she hadn't discontinued them I wanted a set after DD3 was born. I hope you ripped her a new one anywhere you could online. I'm sorry that happened.

I loved them too. They were exactly what I wanted. To commentate my whole family. But when I tried to have it fixed by a very reputable local jeweler they said it was "amateur work and bound to break again." And it did. I'm hoping to take the two remaining stones and have the whole set re-made by a custom jeweler. But I doubt we can afford that anytime soon. In reality, they'll lay in my jewelry box collecting dust

[mrsd2006]

She/he said your hands were "puffy"? To your face? Oh hell no. That's insulting.

[pamela]

I would not let them just resize a ring that much. My first e-ring (from an engagement that didn't work out) was sized up that much. The resulting shank was so thin that I was afraid it was going to snap. Oh yeah, and it was from THERE. They save money by doing that because it's less gold. But you (and that FI) ordered and paid for a ring in the right size, which is more gold, and they are shorting you by not providing that.

[M]

If your ring comes back with a thin shank then I would definitely get a refund. You really don't want a ring that has been half assed resized because 1- they didn't add more gold to it like they should have to make it thicker and stronger so it may break easily and 2- they likely didn't adjust the prongs around the stones when stretching out the shank so the stones are probably not set properly.

I had a similar horrible experience. I had a $30 ring that we gave to a jeweler to replicate with white gold and real natural pink sapphire side stones. Well they didn't do the designs on the metal at all, the beautiful sapphires were covered up by super thick sharp edged prongs, and it was 2 sizes too big when they finally got it to us after weeks of hounding them for being late.

Worst of all, we had a reputable store do it only to find out they sent it to a jeweler who has a terrible reputation for doing half ass work. I didn't give it to my own jeweler at the jewelry store I was working at because I wanted good work and ended up with crappier work. I have never worn that ring and have kept it forever trying to decide what to do with the sapphires.

[niq]

I'm so sorry,.

I know almost nothing about jewelry, but TIL that you and Mr. Pom have the same wedding day as msniq and I, six years earlier

[Deleted]

If they do resize it, they absolutely should add more gold to the band.

[lillaguma]

I'd probably just ask for a refund and go elsewhere at this point - like others said, otherwise the memory of all the bad feelings of getting this ring will just stay with it. Plus I'd imagine they won't put more gold in when resizing. Find someone else to do it for you.