affordablediamondsonline.com

[ysc2k]

I got a diamond from this place for a bargain, but the service is nowhere close others. You will find a very short return period, and if you use a credit card, you will not they will deduct 2.4% for credit card processing. Compare them to dirtcheapdiamonds.com's return policy... or some others. The salesperson was willing to break a small promise to save the company/herself $6+shipping on a hearts and arrows scope that she promised when she made the sale. Well... the honesty bell here? can anyone find me an hearts and arrows scope for $6? I am just being sarcastic. They did sell me real stone, and for a very good price... but I recommend trying somewhere else if such imperfections really matter to you when you are shelling out some thousands... of $$$.

 

[affordablediamonds]

My, My, Mr. Choe....According to your last email to us, you seemed quite pleased: "I just received the diamond, and it shines and twinkles like none other to my eyes. Unfortunately, the H&A scope was not in the package =(.
I will check it out with a gemologist (probably Martin Fuller because he is so close...) and let you know"
In fact more than pleased! Now we find out that you're slamming our company!!! You confirm the old addage that "you can't please all the people all of the time". You didn't even have the decency to try and resolve this issue with us, you just go to the Pricescope chat room to see what havoc you can create for us over a scope the diamond vendor forgot to include in your package!

Goodness sakes, we made an apology for the oversight, and while you were disapointed about it, you didn't seem at the time to have a terrible problem with the situation since you were going to have the diamond checked by a local gemologist with a scope. So how does that now warrant such a slanderous denunciation of our company!?!

As thorough as you've been in your diamond search, and obviously looking for the BEST value you could find, you were well aware of our policies I'm sure. So I don't understand your sudden contempt with us now? If they were such an issue with you, why did you not just purchase the diamond thru DirtCheap, who you now so whole heartedly endorse? It's because we had the BEST price on the diamond, that's why!

I'm sure we can gets hundreds of endorsements of our company for our prices AND service. You just happen to be one of those people that would have had some kind of complaint no matter who you dealt with.

Only one last question Mr. Choe: Why did you not return that diamond???

Your friends at Affordable Diamonds Online.

 

[ysc2k]

I indicated that you on that very e-mail that you included. And it seems like some part of my messsage was taken out in your response.

>>. Unfortunately,
>>the H&A scope was not in the package =(.
>>

Plus, I also telephoned later to resolve this issue because you did not respond as quickly as you used to... I did not record the phone call, but... your salesperson did tell me... "It's such a small matter, so we are not going to do anything about it. you can get it for $6 or something from pricescope. why don't you just order it from there ... or ask a the jeweler show it to you... " & it's how you (your people) decided to resolved it.

>Why did you not that diamond?
I repeat, I did like the stone,
Absorbing $140 in restocking fee + return shipping + my time + risk of sending it back to you vs. forfeiting a H&A scope that could be almost useless pretty soon? To me the choice was obvious, but I hoped that others in the community would not have to worry about that to begin with.

Bottom-line is... you left me with a good stone, but did not leave with a very good taste. It was not the product... it was just the attitude that I was complaining about.

 

[ysc2k]

Ok, then, if I didn't have the decency to try to resolve the problem with you, how and when did you apologize me for the oversight? or did you? and how did you know I seemed disappointed? I was on the phone with you trying to resolve the issue, and we discussed about it for some time.

The issue was resolved with you at that time, and I figured it was not worth the trouble to pursue it FURTHER. Also, I did trust you that I could buy H&A scope for $6 from pricescope at that time. Is it that you didn't know? or just wanted to settle my dispute without any further cost and hassle on your end?

I was still disappointed even though I felt it was not worth the trouble. Let me know if anything I said was factually wrong, and I will apologize.

 

[ysc2k]

>> You confirm the old addage that "you can't please all the people all >>of the time". You didn't even have the decency to try and resolve this >> issue with us, you just go to the Pricescope chat room to see what
>> havoc you can create for us over a scope the diamond vendor forgot to >> include in your package!

My goal is not to damage your company... it is to gripe about the fact that
- you promised the scope,
- the promise was not kept,
- you did not want to contact your vendor to resolve the issue
- you did not offer to make it your responsibility when notified via e-mail and telephone that it was missing in the package,
- you gave me misleading information about how easy it is to find it myself.

I am sure my gripes will be ignored if I sound like that person in the adage.

 

[virginia1]

Maybe I shouldn't butt in: but to the vendor--I think you are also forgetting the old adage "the customer is always right." You would do much, much more to salvage your image if you were simply overgracious in response to the criticsim (even if you think it was unjustified) rather than trying to bicker about it online to prove that your were right. Just something to thnk about from a disinterested lurker...

 

[pricescope]

Thank you Virginia1. It makes sense.

 

[ysc2k]

Thanks for your comment virginia1. This is a public forum, and I wanted to get 3rd party opinion about this ...

I was trying to be polite and respectful to this vendor when I brought this issue to the vendor privately and promptly, and I am also saddened to find out that they took it as if my disappointments were not a terrible problem for them. I would be happy to hear opinions from zillions of happy customers of this vendors.

BTW, isn't it hypocritical for wanting me to give enough credit for the beautiful stone that their supplier has sent me, but do not want to make it their responsibility that small parts of the order was not fullfilled? and label their customer's unfavorable comments a slanderous denunciation, and question their customer's decency in public?

 

[ysc2k]

One last gripe,
That small missing parts of the order was never full-filled...,
and they think I am being unreasonble because their apology/excuse did not replace ... whatever most good retailers do, IMO.

 

[financeguy1]

Not to butt in this conversation, and not to disagree with the importance of customer service...but as a finance guy, the prices at AFDOL are quite a bit cheaper than the nearest competitor, so if you know exactly what you want it would be by far the most competitive price available. I had asked Abazias and USACert to match the prices on AFDOL and I did not get a response from either. So really if you look at the whole picture, missing a scope versus saving quite a few hundred dollars...the choice is yours. Albeit, their credit return policy could be quite expensive if you do not like the stone at 5% of purchase price….my two cents.

 

[larry]

I would say if your just looking for the best price check out

www.RussianDiamondsSyndicate.com
login name: Russian password: Diamonds

I have never delt with them but their prices look cheap.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Save too much money and you get to the point where you get burned!

Thos e other guys trade on less than 10% margin, go lower and you will probably find you get what you payed for = trouble.

 

[financeguy1]

I wanted to let everyone know that I purchased from Abazias after all, they came back with a very competitive price and a no questions asked return policy. Oscar was great to work with! No need to deal with bad customer service or a high handling fee!

 

[ysc2k]

I found afd prices were usually best or among the best.

afd may still be in the pareto optimal curve... i just wanted
give some back to this forum that I benefited from.

 

[jamesd]

affordablediamondsonline,

It's not unreasonable for a customer to want the full value they bargained for.

Shipping issues happen. Customers know it and live with it, just as you do.

Expecting a customer to be willing to accept a 5% restocking fee to deal with a missing item worth far less than the restocking fee isn't reasonable. Clearly, you and your customer didn't communicate well enough to know the level of dissatisfaction. That's unfortunate but there are enough differences in how people express lack of satisfaction that it will happen. If you really want people to be happy: ship them everything they bargained for and correct it quickly if you find that something went wrong.

Your post here was poorly done. Don't expect any customer, ever, to be happy with any vendor who doesn't ship all that was ordered. It doesn't matter how wonderful every other item in the order was. The customer isn't going to be 100% happy even if you fix it immediately. The best you can do is make it as painless as possible for them to deal with the drag of getting it fixed. That can leave them 99% happy and pleased that you didn't make it an ordeal to sort it out.

The best you can now do is resolve the situation by delivering the full value of the bargain now, even though it's too late for a really good result.

The really bad news here wasn't the post from your customer. It was the post from you in reaction. You did that to yourself, in and with your own words. It was a really great example of how a vendor can magnify the negative impact of an unhappy customer with a poor response.

If you were going to post, here's how you should have responded to minimize any harm:

------

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize that you were as unhappy as your post here has made it clear you were. I've shipped out the missing item to you. Please let us know when it arrives and accept our apologies for the inconvenience."

Bonus points if it what arrives includes a gift voucher of twice the value of whatever was missing or some other compensatory item of modest value - a polishing cloth or a loupe or similar, according to value of what was missing.

------

Had you responded in those ways you'd have made it look like the simple misunderstanding it appears to have been on your part. The post you actually made probably leaves every consumer who reads it with a bad taste. Note that it's YOUR post, not the one from your customer, which did the real harm here.