This is just meant to be a "Buyer Beware".
First we asked this jeweler if they could do custom work. They said they could. We gave them the photo...we did not know we should have been closely working with them about the design (red flag we did not see). Several weeks later we arrived to see the custom work and it was NOT done correctly. Not only did it not look quite right, but some stones were set unevenly and the center stone was off centered. "Oh we figured you'd like it that way" he said about the wrong design.
We complained and they refused a refund. Instead told us we could either send the ring back for a second try, or use store credit to buy a new ring since I did not want to keep messing around with trying again and again to get the custom work right.
Chose a new ring from their VERY limited stock using my original stone. Before we picked it up the next week, they suddenly informed us we owed an additional $400 to cover his "losses" from the custom work that was done wrong. (This was never mentioned when we picked out the new ring.) We did not want to pay $400 extra so instead he "graciously" told us we could put that towards a second ring.
Got the first ring home and right away noticed black casting flaw in ring. Then, noticed the center stone prongs were set at an angle...the entire ring looked slightly curved. By the next week, all five diamonds were freely rotating in their settings, and very loose, and there was some sort of tarnish mark on one of the prongs. (I have photos and video to prove all of this.)
We returned the ring and said we were tired of all the messing around and we wanted our money back. He refused. He was angry at me and felt I was unreasonable to have documented everything in photos and video. He wanted to fix the ring. I wanted to know why a brand new diamond ring needed to be completely overhauled/repaired. He refused to accept the ring back and refused to refund money. Then even refused to refund the $400 that we had put as a payment on the second ring. Finally just to avoid going to court, we agreed that if he gave back $375 of the deposit on the second ring, that we would not take him to court (my husband signed the agreement...I did not...I was not in the store any longer....however I do not plan to take him to court.). So we left the store with $375 and an unwearable ring that was barely holding onto my precious diamond(s).
Took the ring to a reputable jeweler and they agreed with me that the ring was incredibly bad workmanship and the lady we are currently working with there seemed to be surprised that we would be forced to keep such a flawed piece without a refund. We ended up scrapping the gold and having a new setting made to place the stones. We are still in the process of getting that done, so now I have been 3 months without my wedding diamond because of all this junk going on....this was supposed to be for Christmas and my birthday...but this will now be a pretty belated gift. Not to mention, my original wedding ring is long gone now, and I am no longer able to reproduce it as originally desired, because the "new" ring from Getzow's contained extra diamonds, and now I need to use all those diamonds in my new ring. The only thing I have left from my original ring is the solitaire diamond.
Technically I have no court case because I kept the ring (he refused to take it back, what could I do?) and my husband signed an informal agreement not to take him to court. And we got the refund for the second ring. But I wanted to warn others to be very very careful what you buy from there...inspect your jewelry very carefully before giving them any money....because you will not ever see that money again. We have learned an expensive lesson: Always go with a trusted professional jeweler who works with you closely the entire process and is sure you are satisfied before taking your money...and who will actually give you quality work instead of throwing junk at you, figuring you can just come back and get it "fixed" later. A diamond ring should last a lifetime...not 10 days. |