What's going on with DanielM?

[missy]

Kelli, I am very relieved for you. I just checked their website and still they are taking orders. And there seems to be NO negative feedback. How is that possible? Just goes to show feedback should be taken with a grain of salt. Hope everyone else gets their issues resolved soon.

 

[innerkitten]

Maybe he needs some sort of help getting the refunds and stones back to their owners. Perhaps things have really fallen apart. I do hope you get everything taken care of quickly. Stay on top of everything. can't you request a refund through Paypal? The stones are another situation.

 

[Andelain]

Maybe he needs some sort of help getting the refunds and stones back to their owners. Perhaps things have really fallen apart. I do hope you get everything taken care of quickly. Stay on top of everything. can't you request a refund through Paypal? The stones are another situation.

If you paid by credit card, you have much longer than paypal gives in order to file a chargeback.

 

[koolchicken]

Just wanted to give an update on what's happening with my order. I had been planning to email him and ask/demand a refund and the return of my stones. My husband wanted me to ask what was going on and give them a second chance. They admitted to personal issues (they gave no specifics) but that they were really hoping to get back on track, restore their reputation, etc. I basically laid it all out for him. If they've done nothing with my stones fine, but they needed to start doing something or I was going to Paypal and Etsy (I didn't mention I also planned to file criminal charges). Dan got back to me and agreed to our start over and to the increased transparency and communication.

Since then I've had a few emails. He's sent me the cad's for three of my items and supposedly sent two (maybe it was just one but I'm almost positive it was two) of them off for casting. He got the settings for my earrings in today and was going to set them either tonight or tomorrow morning and Caren was going to take photos of them. He is also supposedly very close to having another cad (more labor intensive) ready for me to view soon. If I continue to receive regular communication and photographs proving they're working on my stuff I'm okay with continuing to move forward. If it stops it's all over.

He seems genuinely sorry and has offered a discount (which I think should be expected at this stage). But I'm not counting my chickens until they're hatched. I won't consider this over until I have the finished product in hand. And sadly, while I agreed to start fresh trust has been eroded. It's going to take a lot to build that back up. He's on the right path for sure, but it's a slow journey.

 

[JewelFreak]

Thanks for the update. Funny, they were on my mind this morning. I hope your projects are finished & in hand on schedule and just as you want them to look. Ditto others waiting for work to be done.

 

[chrono]

Ditto what JF said. I am very glad to see updates and hope everything is on track this time with better communication as promised.

 

[hogster]

Reading this thread gives me the shivers and im sure has put alot of people off buying online.

Phone up paypal and etsy and ask for advice. Sounds like they were once a great conpany to deal with but dont care anymore and they should be ashamed of how treating people.

A message on their website explaining delays or quick email to people is not much to ask when they spend hard earned money.

My 2c

 

[digdeep]

Just wanted to give an update on what's happening with my order. I had been planning to email him and ask/demand a refund and the return of my stones. My husband wanted me to ask what was going on and give them a second chance. They admitted to personal issues (they gave no specifics) but that they were really hoping to get back on track, restore their reputation, etc. I basically laid it all out for him. If they've done nothing with my stones fine, but they needed to start doing something or I was going to Paypal and Etsy (I didn't mention I also planned to file criminal charges). Dan got back to me and agreed to our start over and to the increased transparency and communication.

Since then I've had a few emails. He's sent me the cad's for three of my items and supposedly sent two (maybe it was just one but I'm almost positive it was two) of them off for casting. He got the settings for my earrings in today and was going to set them either tonight or tomorrow morning and Caren was going to take photos of them. He is also supposedly very close to having another cad (more labor intensive) ready for me to view soon. If I continue to receive regular communication and photographs proving they're working on my stuff I'm okay with continuing to move forward. If it stops it's all over.

He seems genuinely sorry and has offered a discount (which I think should be expected at this stage). But I'm not counting my chickens until they're hatched. I won't consider this over until I have the finished product in hand. And sadly, while I agreed to start fresh trust has been eroded. It's going to take a lot to build that back up. He's on the right path for sure, but it's a slow journey.

I'm glad you have some communication with them.........and agree that at this point everything depends on what they follow through on. Good Luck to you!

 

[Kelli]

koolchicken I hope you have better luck than I did in getting your pieces finished!

 

[koolchicken]

I just thought it would be fair to let others know what's going on. I know I'm grateful to Kelli for starting this thread, as I really did think I was the only one.

I think just being really frank and slightly demanding has worked for me. I told him if we were going to keep going we were going to just start fresh and I was really insistent that there be consistent communication. Right now we have that, so I'm okay moving forward. If it stops then things will change.

If I had to guess he had done nothing, or next to nothing on my order in all the months he's had my stones. Again, I told him that was okay. But he did need to start working on my stuff now. I feel bad if I'm jumping the queue, but it's been so many months how many people could still be in front of me?

I'll keep posting back about what's going on. Hopefully things keep moving forward. We don't have a set deadline for things to be finished and I'm okay with that for now. So long as things are getting done I'm okay with them the time they need. But progress does need to continue to be made for me to keep going with this.

 

[CaraMish]

Just wanted to give an update on what's happening with my order. I had been planning to email him and ask/demand a refund and the return of my stones. My husband wanted me to ask what was going on and give them a second chance. They admitted to personal issues (they gave no specifics) but that they were really hoping to get back on track, restore their reputation, etc. I basically laid it all out for him. If they've done nothing with my stones fine, but they needed to start doing something or I was going to Paypal and Etsy (I didn't mention I also planned to file criminal charges). Dan got back to me and agreed to our start over and to the increased transparency and communication.

Since then I've had a few emails. He's sent me the cad's for three of my items and supposedly sent two (maybe it was just one but I'm almost positive it was two) of them off for casting. He got the settings for my earrings in today and was going to set them either tonight or tomorrow morning and Caren was going to take photos of them. He is also supposedly very close to having another cad (more labor intensive) ready for me to view soon. If I continue to receive regular communication and photographs proving they're working on my stuff I'm okay with continuing to move forward. If it stops it's all over.

He seems genuinely sorry and has offered a discount (which I think should be expected at this stage). But I'm not counting my chickens until they're hatched. I won't consider this over until I have the finished product in hand. And sadly, while I agreed to start fresh trust has been eroded. It's going to take a lot to build that back up. He's on the right path for sure, but it's a slow journey.

They contacted me shortly after this thread got heated, said similar things, and offered to refund money or get moving on the project and get it completed. I wanted to give them a chance to redeem themselves, so I said finish the project. Two months later I have heard nothing from them and they once again are not returning my emails. So, any goodwill I had towards them is absolutely gone.

 

[texaskj]

koolchicken, have you seen photos of anything? Or just emails telling you things?
They've had my stones and deposit since May 23 and I'm really losing my sense of humor.

 

[chrono]

CaraMish and Texaskj,
So sorry to hear the situation has not improved.

Koolchicken,
Any updates?

 

[digdeep]

Bump............koolchicken?

 

[texaskj]

Well since koolchicken is out of pocket, I'll give an update.

I checked the Etsy store last night and there were 13 items for sale. Today there's eight.

I sent them a message through Etsy Aug. 28 and heard nothing. I emailed a copy of my deposit receipt to their hotmail account Sept. 4 with a message that if I didn't hear from them by Sept. 12, I would be contacting Etsy and PayPal.

I'm officially pissed off now. From what I can tell on the sold pages, other people's items have jumped the line by months. All they had to do was be honest with people and I don't see that happening.

 

[JewelFreak]

All this is so weird. If they weren't filling any orders it would be one thing, but doing them this way doesn't make normal sense. I hope you get some satisfaction, Texasj. Silence makes you even more mad, or it does me.

--- Laurie

 

[digdeep]

I'm so sorry to hear this continues and apparently new customer's are treated differently than existing customers.

 

[koolchicken]

I'm so sorry I dropped off. Things have been a bit crazy here and I forgot.

Basically they stopped communicating again. Things had been going well. They sent me some images and told me my earrings had been set. I kept hearing that I'd be getting photos of those, but they have yet to materialize. It's been two weeks total since I last heard from them. I emailed Dan again last night and told him he had until tomorrow at 5pm (their time) to reply or it's over.

I fully expect to spend Tuesday contacting Etsy and Paypal. And if I can't get a satisfactory resolution from them, I'm going to the police. I'd really rather not have the parents of two small children arrested. But if that's what it takes to get my stuff back I promise you, it's what I'll do. This is just not funny anymore.

 

[chrono]

So sorry for everyone (koolchicken, texaskj, CaraMish and others).

 

[deskjockey]

Very sorry to hear this is going the way it's going for everyone. I'm still waiting on mine and was told last week that I should have photos and it will be ready this week. We'll see. I'm trying to keep the faith but reading some of these other posts is pretty disheartening.

I should probably see if he can send back the old ring and stone I'd sent this week regardless (originally I was hoping to have the new stone placed in the old ring but it wasn't going to work).

 

[Kelli]

Ugh… Glad I settled for a refund. Sorry you guys are still going through this and that he has your stones!

 

[boerumbiddy]

This is so sad and disappointing. I had a lovely experience with them last year around Thanksgiving and now feel so lucky to have my pearl-haloed zircon pendant in hand. The workmanship was excellent; too bad their business practices are so slipshod. So now I guess I have a fairly rare collectible.

 

[deskjockey]

This is so sad and disappointing. I had a lovely experience with them last year around Thanksgiving and now feel so lucky to have my pearl-haloed zircon pendant in hand. The workmanship was excellent; too bad their business practices are so slipshod. So now I guess I have a fairly rare collectible.

That pendant is totally in my inspiration folder. I want to have a similar one made but with a white topaz and ruby halo (that would be my son's birthstone surrounded with me and dad's birthstones, heh). It really did come out beautifully

 

[koolchicken]

Hi ladies (and gents), I actually got an update today. I really thought I was going to be making some phone calls today but he sent me an email with photos so I guess I'll back down- for now. I really hate that I'm forced to make ultimatums to get contact from him. Things had been going really well for a while. He did have my earrings finished and he finished the CAD. Supposedly my castings will be in sometime this week, we'll see. I told him flat out I didn't like that he was doing this to me and it's just not right. I'm going to give it more time, but this is just not funny. Here's the images he sent me.




They are exactly what I wanted. But I'm still waiting on:

One of his halo pendants
A custom peg head
A Lucida inspired ring
A simple solitaire pendant (recreation of one of their previous designs)


I have seen the CAD's for the last three. I've obviously seen the first one, it's one of their most popular pieces. I'm just having mine done in gold instead of silver.

I don't know too much about this sort of stuff. As many of you might remember I'm still a newbie. I honestly don't know what a reasonable time frame for completion should be. I'm going away the end of this month and I've told him as much. I said if he can't finish and ship the stuff to me before the 24th of this month then to wait until after I get back on the 7th. I'm not in a rush and I'm fine with waiting till after I get back from my trip. I'm guessing that will give him more than enough time to complete everything. Hopefully things keep going well. Things are still really shakey but I'm hoping he really does come though. I'm sort of at a loss for what I want to do. I wish he'd just finish the stuff and we could be done.

 

[megthered]

If he doesn't fulfill his part of the contract, he needs to refund any money you gave him and return your stones. If he doesn't do either, at the very least contact PayPal and Etsy. Since he is not communicating with you by ignoring your emails, the authorities should be notified. It's theft. You are being taken advantage of and it will continue as long as you allow it.

 

[chrono]

Koolchicken,
I love the CAD of your pendant; it's so beautiful. It is organic and yet feminine and sweet. I can't wait to see it done. What are the stones to be used? A custom project from start to finish can take several weeks but once the CAD is approved, most benches can get the item done anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks, depending on the complexity and their current workload.

 

[texaskj]

Well since koolchicken is out of pocket, I'll give an update.

I checked the Etsy store last night and there were 13 items for sale. Today there's eight.

I sent them a message through Etsy Aug. 28 and heard nothing. I emailed a copy of my deposit receipt to their hotmail account Sept. 4 with a message that if I didn't hear from them by Sept. 12, I would be contacting Etsy and PayPal.

I'm officially pissed off now. From what I can tell on the sold pages, other people's items have jumped the line by months. All they had to do was be honest with people and I don't see that happening.

I, of course, heard nothing and gave them one last chance and emailed through Etsy late on Sept. 11 and said I would be contacting PayPal and Etsy the next day. I got a fairly quick response that they were having health issues, running behind, would issue a refund and an apology. As of this morning, I have seen no evidence of a refund, so I opened a case with PayPal.
This is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[JewelFreak]

Hope you get help from Paypal, Texasj. You've waited enough.

Koolchicken, I just love the design for your pendant! It is gracefully simple & elegant -- here's hoping it gets done in a reasonable amount of time. Your other pieces too.

I wonder if things weren't a little overwhelmed even a year ago when I had a ring made. I sent them the tourmaline & down payment after we'd agreed on what I wanted. Heard nothing for quite some time. Eventually in answer to an impatient email, Caren said they would begin working on the setting right away. When a few more weeks passed without any word, I wrote them that sometimes projects are just jinxed & continually fall through the cracks -- maybe we should cancel mine & return the stone & deposit. I received a very indignant response from Caren, saying they were juggling full time jobs and 3 children and trying to do well for their clients. I apologized & the project went ok from then on & I love the finished ring. I was not thrilled with the delay in starting it & communicating, though.

--- Laurie

 

[minousbijoux]

I adore your pendant CAD and send good thoughts that all goes well and it arrives completed and beautiful to you in the very near future.

 

[texaskj]

Thanks, JF.
That's interesting about your ring.

The thing is, because of the way they've treated a bunch of us, I don't care about their jobs or kids or health problems any more. All they had to do was be honest and they just can't seem to do it. A little transparency goes a long way.

Have you ever noticed there's no mention anywhere about how long they take with custom jobs on their Etsy store? I have a friend with her own at-home business and one of the first things she tells people is how long the waiting list is. Saves everyone a lot of time and headaches.

Oh, and they're now down to four items for sale from nine a few days ago.