My experience with engagementringsdirect.com

[prettykitty]

Hello all,

I have been checking out this forum for a while now getting ideas on my potential engagement ring. I found a beautiful Asscher diamond from the PS diamond search. It is 0.42 c, 4.26 x 4.26, D, IF. It is smaller than all the ones describe here, but I wanted something that is “perfect” and not too flashy. Being a small diamond, I wanted a delicate thin band setting. I found an antique setting on ERD and thought I was set. So here is my experience with ERD.

Oct 6
Send email via the ERD site about a setting

Oct 7
Received response from Mark at ERD. He was out of town, will response on Oct 10.

Oct 11
I sent email about setting 276.

The description states that the setting is for a diamond 5.2 to 5.9 mm. Mine is 4.2 mm, not sure if the setting can be used. Also ask how long the process will take for the ring to be set and send to California.

Oct 13
Received response from Mark. Family illness, will answer question the next day.

Oct 16
Received response from Mark. Setting can be used with my diamond. It will take approximately 7- 10 working days to complete and forward the ring to me. (I thought, “Great. I might get the ring by my anniversary Oct 31.”)

Oct 16
Decided on setting. Requested mailing instruction from Mark.

Oct 17
Got mailing instructions, shipped diamond overnight.

Oct 18
ERD received my diamond.

Nov 2
Received no info from ERD. Call Mark. He said that the ring will be ready on Monday (Nov 7) and I should receive it on Tuesday. He will call me on Nov 7 to confirm shipping address. (Yay, maybe I can get it before my birthday: Nov 12)

Nov 8
Received no info from ERD. Call Mark. He said that he will set diamond today and call me later to confirm shipping address. Call later in the day.

Nov 9
Received ring. Wrong setting was sent.

I wanted an antique setting with side diamonds and engravings. See picture. Email Mark immediately. Received a response that night. He said that he has several antique settings that are similar and he was sorry for the mistake.

Nov 10
Call Mark. Gave me a Fedex account number to ship the ring back. He will reset the diamond into the correct setting. Due to holiday on Nov 11, I should ship it on Nov 14.

Nov 14
Shipped ring back via Fedex overnight.

Nov 15
ERD received ring. Reset diamond into correct setting. Shipped ring back to me via overnight Fedex.

Nov 16
Receive ring. Another wrong setting.

Poorly set, with glaring flaws. Even my boyfriend who never notices flaws sees them. There is a huge scratch / score at the band. Half the ring is not smooth. Looking at the diamond from above, the prongs on one side is smaller that the other. See pictures. The flaws are more noticeable in person than with my pictures. It is hard to take a pic inline with the ring, so the proportions seems off.

Also, I believe the ring size is smaller. I requested for size 5.75. The first wrong setting fits perfectly. This setting is too tight. I am guessing it is a 5.5. We emailed Mark immediately, but have not decided what to do next. Mark’s response was to have us call him. We have not done so yet.

Basically, this whole process that should have been about 7 – 10 business days has been dragged out to over a month. I are not sure what to do anymore. I don’t want to send my diamond across the country again to be corrected. Also, I don’t know what I will end up with this time. My boyfriend wants to go to a local jeweler to see if the mistakes can be fixed. I am annoyed since this will cost more money. The setting I picked was relatively cheap ($700 for the ring and setting the diamond), but I like it. The current incorrect setting would’ve been okay with me (I like the floral engraving with my pick, more easily seen from here.This one has the wheat engraving on the band.) if there were no other problems. I simply do not want to deal with it anymore. I am remembering when I was told the process of getting a ring should be fun. Sure.

So this is my story. I wanted to share because I just read a really positive experience with ERD from another poster. I picked ERD because of the positive reviews. This is just an FYI.

 

[jcrow]

that just sucks. flat out! i am soo sorry you and your BF had to go through all this trouble!! what should be fun and happy and very very exciting seems to have turned out not so fun, not so happy and not so exciting. where are you going to go from here?

 

[prettykitty]

Sorry all. I was trying to fix the links to my ring pics, but was having trouble editing.

Click here for my photo album under "Ring", image "wrong ring 1" for the first incorrect ring; image "wring ring 2" is the second ring.

 

[valeria101]

And here are the pictures

... sorry to hear this one did not tun out as nice as your pic of stone would have allowed

First time it is pretty obvious that is not what you asked for by far. In the second round, I guess they used a setting meant for a larger stone and bent the prongs allot more than intended to hold yours. That is where the uneven prongs come from too, I'd bet. Perhaps the deformation of the setting is also the result of sizing. Whatever that is, 'hope the return policy holds and you can get your stone back in the same state you sent it to this shop in the first place. Hopefully someone else will have a setting that fits your stone by design.

 

[dani13]

Very unfortunate. My experience with Mark was quite the opposite. I hope you can get the situation straightened out quickly...good luck...

 

[Kaleigh]

I am so sorry for your unfortunate experience with ERD. But I have to say Mark is a great guy and has an excellent reputation here. I would call him and be upfront with him. Tell him everything that you are unhappy with. He is the kind of guy that will make it right for you, really. I know you don't want to send your setting and stone out again, but if you don't there is no real way he can make it right for you. He should offer you a whole new setting, give it a shot and let us know. Don't be afraid to be honest, good luck.

 

[glamgirl]

I have also had opportunity to work with and purchase from Mark. He truely is a fine and Professional gentleman, and it''s obvious he has a passion and love for what he does. MANY people here have had great experiences with him. I have no doubt he will figure things out, and make them more than right. He really does care about pleasing his clients/customers, and I am sure that is a big part of what makes his job meaningful.

 

[Demelza]

I don't know if I should say this, but the setting you purchased looks to me to be from antiqueengagementrings.com (aer.com). I had noticed on ERD's site that the they appeared to have the exact same photos you see on aer.com's website. I can only guess that the 2 companies are working together?? I just wanted to chime in and say that I purchased a very similar setting directly from aer.com and had similar issues with the workmanship. There were scratches on the head, the prongs were uneven -- frankly, it was a bit of a mess. And this was after the setting had to be returned because they made it with the wrong size head. I have no experience with Mark, but you might want to ask him who made that setting. Perhaps the ring is being sent directly from the manufacturer?? Not that that's an excuse. Anyway, I am sure he will make this right for you, but I completely understand that the process of getting there is anything but fun!

 

[MiniMouse]

Prettykitty, I''m so sorry to hear about the saga of your ring. I have dealt with Mark at ERD and he was professional and very caring and interested in getting things right for me and gave lots of quality advice. Although we were never a customer in the end (Whiteflash''s diamond dazzled us more!), I wouldn''t have hesitated using him had he had the perfect diamond for us (we were fussy). Seriously I would give him a call, explain the situation to him and give him a chance to make amends, because I am sure that he will, the gentleman that he is. He really is a good guy so please give him the opportunity. I''m sure he''ll fix the problem to your complete satisfaction.

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Mark''s a professional. He''ll take care of the situation if you give him (another) chance.

 

[Jelly]

Ugh...it makes me cringe when I read stories like this!!

Hopefully they will make this right. Are they paying for all the shipping back and forth? I''d hate to think you have to pay and insure to send the wrong rings back to them.

Let us know how things work out. Good luck!

 

[Leila]

I''m so sorry Prettykitty that you''re having such a bad experience.

**HUGS** I can relate to your story, been there-- but less extreme and not with something as precious as an engagement ring. I sure hope he can get it right the 3rd time but would you want to give him another try? I agree with your fiance, find someone local to fix it for you. If there''s relatively minor work to be done, see if Mark can help you with the cost. But if you go this route, do you feel like settling if you don''t have that setting with the floral design that you wanted? Maybe your local jeweler can find you a setting you like and you can just send the ring, minus your diamond, back to Mark if you want to really want. I really do feel for you Prettykitty. I hope it will all work out, whatever you decide to do. Please keep us posted.

 

[Mara]

What a drag ... so sorry to hear about your negative experience, the wrong setting twice...yikes.

Anyhow, I would agree Dem that I thought the settings looked alot like the ones on antique engagement rings as well...I was considering a few of their settings way back when.

Pretty Kitty..let us know what happens...an easy option may be to find a setting locally, have the diamond unset and re-set locally into your new setting and send the old setting back. Good luck!

Oh and edited to add, your asscher stone looks really lovely!!!

 

[valeria101]

The setting is listed with the very same picture at Antique Engagement Rings (LINK) with the specification that it fits 5.2-5.9mm stones. It may be that the shop did cut some corners to fit a larger mounting to the stone and that is where disaster struck

If no setting was available ready-made for the size of the respective diamond, it may have helped to sort things otherwise. If the settings are thin to begin with, severe modification leaves traces...

There is no setting listed to fit center diamonds under 5mm on the site. Which does not mean there isn''t one available or one cannot be made.

Just IMO.

 

[prettykitty]

Hello all,

Thank you valeria101 for putting up my pics.

I do not doubt that Mark has the best of intentions. He sounded very nice to me on the phone. Also, he was paying for the shipping cost.

Just want to finish up my story. My boyfriend & I went to a local jeweler today. An appraisal was done. He agrees that there were flaws. There was no difference in between the spacing of the prongs. One of the prongs is just larger, thus tricking the eyes. He check the ring size, it was 5.5, as I suspected. What was really surprising was that the platinum was pitted. The appraiser said that he recommends returning the setting because of that. I have never heard of pitting before, so he explained to me. Essentially, pitting weakens the alloy, especially in the prongs. Thus, there would be higher probability of prongs breaking and losing the diamond. So he removed the diamond for me and I will be returning the setting to ERD. Mark already offer a refund.

I am going to get the setting for the local jeweler instead. He is able to custom made something similar to the antique design, with some changes that would make me happy. Strangely enough, the flaws were a blessing in disguise. If the flaws did not exist, I would have kept the ring with the pits. Who know what would’ve happen. So in the end, I guess it will be okay. I now have to wait another month or so. Oh well.

Thank you everyone for listening. Just want to share my story.

 

[AndyRosse]

Well, I''m glad everything seems to have worked out so far!!!

 

[Kaleigh]

I am so sorry for your troubles, but at least all will be good with a setting you''ll be happy with and will enjoy. I look forward to you posting pics of your new ring!!!

 

[Demelza]

Glad things were resolved to your satisfaction. Pitting (or porosity) in platinum is common, and, if severe enough, can definitely weaken the mounting. I think it''s good that you''re returning it. Please post pics when you get the new ring!!

 

[prettykitty]

Hello all,

I want to let everyone know that I received the refund with no problem from ERD. Thank you for listening to my "saga" Happy Thanksgiving.

 

[MiniMouse]

prettykitty, I''m sorry you''ve had to go through such an awful experience. I hope your new ring turns out to your complete satisfaction. Please post it when it''s done, we''re excited to see it.