Do not buy from Shenoa and Co

[Detox]

Anyone else out there like me that stumbled upon this site trying to figure out what''s a good size diamond for an engagement ring and ended up staying a little longer than expected? Kind of like being caught in a conversation during a flight delay.

Personally I have learned a lot from these forums (and others). In my opinion in the end it is buyer beware. It is the responsibility of the consumer to do your research, develop a relationship with the seller and purchase only when you feel comfortable. There is nothing wrong with asking questions, any seller who is annoyed by answering a sellers questiions should be avoided.

Thanks Pricescope.

 

[JohnQuixote]

Shenoa and Mark_j

Strmrdr linked you to a great place (Show Me The Ring folder). If you have a spare 10 minutes it's also fun to cruise the "Hangout" forum...You may even get drawn into a thread or two, as there are regulars who always have good topics of discussion going. More enriching than this.

I hope you're able to stick around and check it all out from a more casual point of view.

 

[baltneu]

I too am amazed at all the responses to this thread.

If no one has anything new to add, can we just go on?

 

[rms]

Date: 8/5/2005 2:02:34 PM
Author: JROC

any negative can wipe out 2000 positives, but if the negative is legit, then you need to re-evaluate why that happened and deal with it internally so that it will not happen again.

not to beat a dead horse or anything, because I do not enjoy threads like this whatsoever. But just to acknowledge this one key point from JROC that I believe in strongly, and that is a very key part of the culture of my workplace (which is not even remotely related to jewelry):

It is not a matter of faulting any particular individual(s) involved. Rather, UNDERSTAND what happened, and TAKE PROPER MEASURES to prevent it from happening going forward.

 

[Grashoppa]

Hello all,

First of all, WOW. I go out of town and two days later I have 80 emails from responses to this post.

One of those emails is a response from Ebay about the feedback retraction:

Hello,
Thank you for writing in to Safe Harbor with your concerns, my name is
Meyer and I will be happy to assist you with regards to item numbers
5008452096 and 4956377848.
I am sorry for the frustration and concern you have experienced in this
situation. While I know it might not feel like it right now, please be
assured that eBay has done all that it can to help you in this matter
while still staying within the strict guidelines of our Member
Agreement.
Please remember that eBay does not participate in the buying or selling
of any items. We simply provide a place where our members can meet to
sell, and buy just about anything, at anytime, from anywhere, in a
variety of formats, including a fixed price format and an auction-style
format commonly referred to as an "online auction."
If you are having a hard time resolving this situation with your buyer
or seller, please refer to our help pages for some useful information:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/overview.html

When it comes to feedbacks, we wanted to create a system where everybody
is free to leave their side of the story in every transaction they are
involved in. If eBay were to prevent people from leaving certain
feedback, or if we were to pick and choose which feedback comments could
be left, then the feedback system would no longer be a free, open place
for people to communicate their experiences.
I can only tell you that it''s important to speak the truth about your
experiences dealing with another eBay member. If that means you feel it
appropriate to leave negative feedback - then you should leave it. Your
comment may prevent others from running into a similar situation with
that member in the future.
I understand your frustration regarding this matter and apologize for
any inconvenience it might have caused you.

Regards,

Meyer
PowerSeller Investigations Team
eBay Trust & Safety

Thank you all for jumping in on the dogpile. I will check back on this post and update you all on my quest for an engagement ring. It is true that every time I share this story, I get a reccomendation to a diamond dealer that they know. I think that is just human nature, and I do not think that we have vendors in disguise on this forum. At least I hope not...

I will most likely be in communication with Meyer when I get back in town, but I think I will spend my energy working towards a new ring rather than griping about the last one. Ill keep you guys informed.

G

 

[flower12]

> Eventually he offered to pay me $150.00 to remove my negative feedback on EBay. I told him I would think about it.

He called my twice the next day and twice the day after that, constantly badgering me to retract my feedback. I eventually submitted, not because he paid me to do so, but simply because I value my privacy, and it was becoming harder to hide the fact that I was diamond shopping from my fiancée.

Today, I received my refund, but what I saw simply incensed me. The email he sent me confirming my refund reflected an amount $65.00 more than what I actually received. I could not believe that they were still trying to rip me off. I gave myself an hour and I composed this letter:

******did you agreed this offer????*********
if you did.it's bad ... then you are writing all story in here I guess bit not fair

I belive seller offer money to remove the negative feedback is wrong

but the buyer accept the money is wrong too.

I don't have any experiance with shenoa and co
shenoa and co post sounds bit aggressive
HOWEVER can't belive only one side story. because you got money for remove the feedback.
all my kids often get stuff from E-bay ( not jewelry )but always the feedback is important to bid? or not
we belive the feedback as truth.

>2 Round trips to my mother's house: 200 miles ~ $35.00 in gas plus wear on my car, plus 3 hours of my time
More of my time taking the ring to Jared for a second opinion
Shipping the ring back to you, twice: $21.00 a popu


you could use USPS registered mail...

anyway I hope you will find nice e-ring.

 

[fire&ice]

Looks to me like an ebay form letter. It does not address the practice of paying people to remove negative feedback.

 

[mark_j]

So, I see how people respond to my honest and friendly opinion. ( I actually like the company some people hate, so I must be some kind of super secret mole, sent in to boost that company''s reputation or something like that.)
So I got a few people saying what a non-person I really am (and the poster after me).


***YET noone has really suggested a place where I can get a set of custom-made wedding rings that form a pattern when put together, in all the posts afterward, wasn''t even mentioned, nope NADA.
That''s the WHOLE reason I came to pricescope in the first place.

As for the "regular people" on this particular forum. I have seen tons for regular folks just looking for advice. I was one of them, and will probably look around in the future. There''s lots of good advice. The gentleman OLDMINER is very informative, and I actually look for his posts, and he even says he is an appraiser (I hope to send business his way one day)

Hey, I visit various forums also. All I''m saying is that when I see a person posting THOUSANDS of posts on a Forum, 5,6,7 times a day, for YEARS, it makes you wonder "Is this just a regular person, or a person with a mission." Thousands!! "Diamonds are my hobby.", I can''t imagine most people saying that. Some did say "gemstones are my hobby" and I think I can see that.

Furthermore, in a post where someone is responding to another person saying how much they hate a company, to state "I have purchased from Whiteflash myself" just doesn''t sound right. It may be genuine, but if my friend bought a car and said he hated the dealer, I certainly wouldn''t say " I got my car from Toyota." It just doesn''t sound right. I''m not saying everyone is a dealer, just a few that I see ALL over this forum.

Well I''m off to find a customer ring maker. (thanks, but don''t bother posting one in this thread, it''s not the topic I was looking for)

 

[chateau4us]

I just had a GREAT buying experience from Shenoa & Co. I needed to replace my wedding ring and started the research and shopping around. The one I liked at a local jewlery shop was 32K and was feeling rather discouraged until I saw this amazing ring on E-bay. I checked out Shenoa and Co. and read the great refund policy and bought this ring.

The ring I bought was listed for $7241, 1.5 round center vs1 I-color in a platinum pave setting for a total of 2.58 carats. I got the ring within a week and had it appraised by the best in town (known for being picky). He appraised it as a 1.48 VVS2 center and K color- I can only see any yellow when I hold up a yellow shirt next to it and even then its pretty faint and 1.2 vs1 in the pave setting. I asked for a super conservative appraisal and he said $8900. He said I should insure it for a lot more. I also saved hundreds on sales tax.

The ring is incredible and the customer service was perfect. I couldn''t be happier.
Jeanne

 

[decodelighted]

Ummm ... lemmie get this straight (it's not fitting in my brain so well). You thought you were buying a 1.5 I color round & found out it was really a 1.48 K and this is a GREAT buying experience. I hate to see what you'd call F-R-A-U-D.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 10/13/2005 1:55:56 PM
Author: decodelighted
Ummm ... lemmie get this straight (it's not fitting in my brain so well). You thought you were buying a 1.5 I color round & found out it was really a 1.48 K and this is a GREAT buying experience. I hate to see what you'd call F-R-A-U-D.

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 10/13/2005 1:55:56 PM
Author: decodelighted
Ummm ... lemmie get this straight (it''s not fitting in my brain so well). You thought you were buying a 1.5 I color round & found out it was really a 1.48 K and this is a GREAT buying experience. I hate to see what you''d call F-R-A-U-D.

yes, I for one would not be happy at all

 

[ame]

I and K are not very closeby in the color scale as far as I am concerned.

 

[Kaleigh]

If I bought what I thought was an I and found out it was a K, that would not be a great buying experience for moi. I''d return that sucker in a heart beat.

 

[WinkHPD]

It sounds to me as if the appraiser was grading a mounted stone by weight estimation formula. That can be a plus or minus 10% for the estimated weight, so a .02ct deviation is well within that 10% margin of error. So if the stone was graded while mounted there is nothing to holler about here as the weight and grade of the stone should have been determined by the vendor when it was still unmounted.

If the stone was graded loose, (unmounted) then there was misrepresentation as there would be a substantial difference in the price per carat for a 1.50ct stone versus a 1.48ct stone.

Wink''s fair is fair department

 

[lumpkin]

Date: 10/13/2005 1:55:56 PM
Author: decodelighted
Ummm ... lemmie get this straight (it's not fitting in my brain so well). You thought you were buying a 1.5 I color round & found out it was really a 1.48 K and this is a GREAT buying experience. I hate to see what you'd call F-R-A-U-D.

Okay, I'm just a customer so I don't have professional experience here, but isn't there often a wide variation between labs? Isn't that why a diamond might be sent to several labs and then the seller uses the most favorable cert to sell the stone? I can even see having a certified stone, taking it to an appraiser without the cert and the diamond being appraised as another color/clarity than what's on the certificate. Even the measurements might be different if the appraiser gets the stone after it's been set. Also, I don't think 2 points constitutes fraud. I can see the appraiser measuring the stone in the setting and getting a slightly higher or lower weight.

Here is what I'm thinking. If you are very particular, why wouldn't you buy a GIA or AGS cert diamond loose, have it appraised, then get it set. Ebay is where I go to look for BARGAINS -- price is my objective, or collecting something no longer being made, or finding something rare (like a plate for an old china or flatware pattern) -- those are the examples that come to mind. If you are trying to buy a diamond engagment ring on Ebay, are you trying to get a BARGAIN and wanting an E VS stone on a K I1 budget? I can see that if you don't mind an estate piece and buy from an individual or a store that specializes in estate pieces, but I can't visualize a store buying from a cutter's rep being able to do that or wanting to. Those deals are few and far between. Buyer beware.

I'm sorry for a bad experience. I've had some myself on occasion -- they are not pleasant.