I must admit, John is a nice guy. Everything about him seemed to make me want to do business with him.
I had asked him to make me an engagement ring, given him all the specifications, and paid about 35% for the deposit. He made the ring in the specified timeframe and I paid the remaining balance. At the time I picked up the ring I noticed a few flaws in the workmanship that I wanted corrected. John said I could come back and have them fixed.
So I brought back the ring to have it fixed. When I returned to pick it up the problems were corrected but new problems had appeared. After a number of trips back and forth to have things corrected I finally decided to get another opinion.
I showed the engagement ring to another goldsmith and was told the workmanship and quality was "mediocre." My suspicions were confirmed; I overpaid for a piece of jewelry that was made with no concern for quality.
I had the ring made again from scratch (not with John) and guess what... it looked beautiful the first time!
So the lesson from my encounter with poor workmanship: DON''T USE JOHN CLAUDE''S IF YOU''RE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING NICE!