Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NYC?

[TotalNewbie]

PSers,

Has anyone out there had experience w/ Michael C. Fina in NYC? We bought my engagement ring there recently. The good news is that I love my ring. The bad news is, the experience at Michael C Fina was a poor one but they are the only A Jaffe dealer in NYC (since Fortunoff went out of business). I will post more details later today or tomorrow. But has anyone else had issues? The most shocking thing was, I'd written a fair complaint letter -- on June 21st -- and no response! (original complaint letter: http://www.bsp-ny.com/ComplaintLetterToMichaelCFina.htm )

The most important thing is that I love my engagement ring. But the things I found unprofessional were that they tacked on a $1050 surcharge on a ring for having a "larger" stone (of 1.35 cts) without having mentioned this in the 4 weeks prior to purchase that we were talking about the ring, billing the remaining 50% of the cost of the ring without so much as a courtesy call, and never did anyone call us to tell us the ring was ready (we figured it out when the card was charged ). And lastly, not responding to our complaint letter of June 21st at all. That says a lot in and of itself.

On the plus side, their jeweler who mounted our stone was very professional and skilled.

Other experiences, folks?

I just want to give other future purchasers an honest account of my own experience.

 

[TotalNewbie]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

by the way, the pricescope vendor where we bought the center stone, Whiteflash, was beyond awesome. It was a night and day experience.

 

[tyty333]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

I can see why you are frustrated with them . Most of your points seem valid...but no major injustice (except maybe the added
cost for the larger stone). I would agree that their support was less than positive. Are you looking to get anything from them?
An apology or recognition that they did not treat you in a manner one would expect from a store like Michael C Fina?

Posting your experience is a good way to let everyone know what they might expect. I hope you can put it all behind you
and enjoy your beautiful ring (which we havent seen any picture of). Congratulations on your engagement...please
post some pics!

 

[TotalNewbie]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

Not looking to get anything from Fina, and agreed that there was no major injustice done, but I know that Pricescope is a good forum for information-gathering for ring buyers, and for any future purhasers reading this, I would want them to be aware of my experience. For a store that markets themselves as offering a top-notch Fifth Avenue experience, in my opinion they displayed some pretty low-class behavior. It was not a high-level buying experience.

That being said, I am thrilled with the stone WF provided, am thrilled with the ring A Jaffe made for me. I just wish I had gone the distance (literally, by car I mean) and ordered from a more professional A Jaffe dealer even if they may have been far away. Just sharing my experience. If others have had good experience with jewelry purchases from them, I'm glad they were more fortunate than I was.

tyty333, the ring pics are in another thread, I completely forgot to add the link:

link: show-me-the-ring/e-ring-pics-t145064.html

I do adore the ring, am over it, but at the same time I would like future purchasers to be aware of the purchasing experience I had through Fina, so that they have a "heads up".

 

[septsparkle]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

I'd say charging your CC $1050 as a surcharge for a larger stone when it wasn't agreed to in advance is a bit of an injustice, no?
Unless, I am misunderstanding how the extra fee was determined. If it wasn't on the paperwork, receipt, etc. and just showed up billed to my CC I'd take MAJOR exception to that. If that's not what happened, i apologize in advance for misunderstanding.

 

[missy]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

I'd say charging your CC $1050 as a surcharge for a larger stone when it wasn't agreed to in advance is a bit of an injustice, no?
Unless, I am misunderstanding how the extra fee was determined. If it wasn't on the paperwork, receipt, etc. and just showed up billed to my CC I'd take MAJOR exception to that. If that's not what happened, i apologize in advance for misunderstanding.

Ditto- and I believe that is illegal as well. They are not allowed to charge your credit card before they ask permission and tell you the amount and get an OK from you. Regardless of if they have the CC number on file. Doesn't matter.

I went to Michael C Fina with my dh when we were thinking of doing a custom resetting and I didn't get a good vibe from the store so after looking at the sparklies (a girl can look can't she? ) we left and didn't plan on doing business with them.

I'm sorry you had a not great experience with them and good for you for speaking up. I feel it is important to let people know when you are dissatisfied as that makes for improved business practices in the future hopefully.

Congrats on your beautiful ring!

 

[Ultimate Diamond Co.]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

by the way, the pricescope vendor where we bought the center stone, Whiteflash, was beyond awesome. It was a night and day experience.

I am located right near Michael C. Fina in NYC. I have no experience with them. To my understanding, they used to sell silver but I think they started moving into engagement rings and stuff. I'm sorry for your bad experience. They probably charged you that amount because most stores, especially stores that are in the middle-high end market never sell just mountings. They want to sell the diamond along with it so they can make profit. I'm guessing that they probably put that 1000 charge on there because they weren't making enough on the ring.

 

[elle_chris]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

Been to Fina many times. Their customer service has not been great. They've always always charged more than other jewelers, but to be fair, I've been overcharged for designer pieces at Stewart Moore and Soho Gems as well. I think it's the overhead cost in Manhattan. You'll never get a good as deal as you can get out of state.

But, charging you an additional 1k without notifying you first is not acceptable. When you first noticed it on your statement, did you try to talk to Michael C. Fina about refudning it? Also, did you get the initial quote in writing?

 

[heyjudes]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

When we were looking around at Michael C Fina and considering a Mark Patterson setting, they did inform us that we were able to bring our stone in but if it exceeded a certain size (I think 1.5 or 2 carats, I can't remember) that there would be an additional charge. If I remember correctly, it was only a $250 charge, nothing close to the $1,050 you were charged. Maybe the amount of the charge is specific to the setting vendor?

 

[tyty333]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

I'd say charging your CC $1050 as a surcharge for a larger stone when it wasn't agreed to in advance is a bit of an injustice, no?
Unless, I am misunderstanding how the extra fee was determined. If it wasn't on the paperwork, receipt, etc. and just showed up billed to my CC I'd take MAJOR exception to that. If that's not what happened, i apologize in advance for misunderstanding.

Nowhere does she say she was charged the money without knowing it. I think that amount is outrageous and I never would have
paid it (because I'm a cheapskate). If I had a repair problem I would have had to deal with it long distance which wouldn't have
been fun. If they had charge that without me knowing, I would have been beyond myself.

From TotalNewbie's post:
None of A Jaffe’s other authorized dealers were going to charge us an added cost for our 1.34ct stone (their authorized dealers are all listed on the A Jaffe website by zip code). The others were ALL charging about $1000 less than Michael C Fina for the same ring, more in line with the “sticker” price on your 18K stock model. None of the other tri-state area dealers charged a supplemental fee for a larger stone on the same A Jaffe ring, and this is after they called A Jaffe with the exact dimensions of our stone. In the end, we purchased the ring from Michael C Fina only because we wanted to be physically near a dealer in case repairs need to be made. Fortunately, with my 15% JP Morgan Corporate Perks discount, the ring was only slightly more expensive than everyone else instead of significantly more expensive than everyone else. Perhaps Michael C Fina adjusted the price upwards to balance the savings from this coupon. I am not sure, all I know is that without the coupon the ring was $1000 more through Michael C Fina than any other A Jaffe dealer

TotalNewbie - your ring is beautiful! It is unique and very eye-catching. I can see why you love it!

 

[elle_chris]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

tyty- based on what totalnewbie said in her first post "But the things I found unprofessional were that they tacked on a $1050 surcharge on a ring for having a "larger" stone (of 1.35 cts) without having mentioned this in the 4 weeks prior to purchase that we were talking about the ring,"and the link posted, I'm confused on when she find out they were paying an additional 1k.

 

[tyty333]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

I dont know when either...but in her complaint she sounded like when she found out about the $1k, they did their research
and found out that no one else would charge them but decided to do it any way. If she was charged the extra $1k without
knowing it would have been wrong, wrong, wrong.

I was explaining to septsparkle why I said what I said. I can see how in one place TotalNewbie makes it sound like she new
and in the other place sort of sounds like she didnt know. So, depending on what you zero in on you might understand it
one way or the other.

 

[TotalNewbie]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

Thank you for the responses. I just wanted to clarify what happened with the added charge: they didn't do anything illegal, but it was very unprofessional:

- on March 26th, I looked at rings at Fina and in my heart decided on A Jaffe one I ordered, BUT I wanted to make sure my then-BF liked it in person, so we arranged a date in late April when he would fly to NYC from Bermuda to see the ring. The mounting was around $2500 (plus tax) in 18K white gold, which was within our budget. It was holding a 1-ct equivalent cubic zirconia. The sales reps seem unhelpful and nonchalant in the store, but I do understand that they get a lot of traffic from browsers because of their 5th Ave location I think.
- after seeing the mounting I e-mailed the Fina rep, Libby, to see if they could mount a stone sold from another vendor, or a family heirloom stone. She completely did not respond to that e-mail (I suppose either because she was busy or because she knew I wasn't going to buy the stone from them that I wasn't worth the time). I consider having a custom ring made in the style of the A Jaffe ring, but I decide on the original.
- like any woman, I was completely exited about the ring, the engagement -- all of it. I knew I wanted a 1.2 to 1.3 ct stone or larger, so I emailed the Libby once again to see if the ring could be made for that size stone since it's sort of a halo style. Now she starts answering my emails again, She said yes, it can be made for up to 2 carats, without saying anything about cost.
- one Saturday afternoon I am near Fina and pop in again to double-check my ring size. I adore this ring, my ring size is the same, and we are basically all set to order except that my fiance has to fly in to see it (and we thought it would be more romantic that way instead of ordering over the phone).
- I find out that I get a 15% discount from my then-employer, JP Morgan through Corporate Perks. I do not know, at the time, whether this discount applies towards engagement rings, but it seems like a neat bonus to me.
- on April 23rd my fiance has flown in from Bermuda and we have an appointment with Fina. This is almost a full month later. I go in, and bring the discount info, and we are ready to buy. She tells us all of a sudden that it's an extra $1000 for the mounting, that A Jaffe charges extra because th stone is 1.35 cts (which is not even that much larger than their 1ct sample!). We walk out without buying the ring to think about it. We are disappointed that a month after corresponding about the ring, this extra $1000 comes up. My fiance is annoyed, but we both love the ring (and he can afford it). I feel it was very unprofessional for them to have brought this cost up at the last minute, and I spend the rest of Friday afternoon researching to find what other A Jaffe dealers there are in NYC (there are none) or even NJ or CT. In the meantime, we receive an email from Michael C Fina "confirming" the pricing AND that 15% corporate discount would apply. So $3500, less 15%, would be $2975. I'm frantically calling around to three out-of-state dealers to get pricing, and they all call A Jaffe and call me back to tell me it is about $2500 (there were slight variations, but everyone else was charging around $2500, not $3500 for the mounting). My FI reminds me that he has to fly back out on Sunday, so we only have the weekend together, and that we should be enjoying our time together, not rushing around calling other places for the sake of being annoyed and saving a little $$$. I agree in the end, and we order the ring over the phone, plus the matching band. I try to focus on how happy we are, and the ring itself and not the poor service or the price differential sprung on us at the last minute.
- around May 25th, my FI is thinking about the ring and wondering if it is ready since Libby at Fina said it would be ready by 5/28. He checks his card and the balance was already charged on May 20th with no courtesy call, nothing about the ring being ready (we gather it's probably ready given that they charged us, but we don't know). So he initiates a call to Libby, asking if the ring is ready. She says it is ready. I think it is not legal to charge before shipping, I believe there are laws about shipping at the same time as charging, such as when you order clothing online. I'll check up on that.

Bottom line is, it was not a wonderful experience buying from them. It's an unprofessional way of doing business, I feel. But to clarify, we did know about the added charge for a "large stone" right before we were about to place the order the first time (when we politely left the store to think about it). This is a very long-winded account of what happened so I hope you all aren't too bored. I am focusing on the engagement, and loving the ring, but if you are reading this and you are a NYC ring-shopper, I'd like to share that this was my experience shopping there. I did write a complaint letter to Fina on June 21st, as I'd mentioned. Will update this if I get a response but nothing so far.

Thanks.

 

[TotalNewbie]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

When we were looking around at Michael C Fina and considering a Mark Patterson setting, they did inform us that we were able to bring our stone in but if it exceeded a certain size (I think 1.5 or 2 carats, I can't remember) that there would be an additional charge. If I remember correctly, it was only a $250 charge, nothing close to the $1,050 you were charged. Maybe the amount of the charge is specific to the setting vendor?

heyjudes, thanks for your note. We did pay a $150 mounting fee (we had known about the mounting fee all along, which is size-dependent), but in the detailed message I just typed out, they basically added about a grand to the price of the ring just as we were putting the credit card down because "A Jaffe was going to charge them more to make the ring for a larger stone". I was wondering what the surcharge would be for the pretty 2-3ct stones I see on Pricescope

 

[tyty333]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

Thanks for the update. I'm sorry your experience was not the enjoyable and exciting one that it should have been thanks to Fina.
I hope you can put this all behind you (which sort of sounds like you can because you do not seem overly upset about the situation).

Your post will be a good forwarning for possible future MCF shoppers. Enjoy your beautiful ring and being engaged!

 

[TotalNewbie]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

Thanks for the good wishes, tyty333 !

Well, I've now forwarded my complaints to the Jewelry Sales Manager (the lack of response was from the sales rep, Libby) in hopes that they can at least work to help future customers better (assuming they care)... will update this thread if I get a response...

and yes, we're thrilled about the engagement

 

[septsparkle]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

My mistake, i did post that I wasn't clear on it to begin with, but i had the impression from the first post that they sprung that fee on you at the last minute...almost like a "oh here's your beautiful ring, by the way we are charging $1050 extra" type of thing.

Regardless, your experience did seem very unpleasant to say the least and I'm glad you posted your experience here. You would expect a business catering to high end jewelry customers to act with more courtesy and professionalism. It's a shame you weren't treated in that manner.

 

[Kittyheel]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

Funny--- my engagement ring setting is also from Michael C. Fina. Libby was also our sales rep-- and nope, she never did call to say when the ring was ready!! My fiance called several times and was getting worried. I knew he purchased the ring and I told him to email her, some people are quicker to email- she replied right away saying they had it ready (I wonder for how long.... I also love my ring and they are one of the only Tacori retailers in NYC. We also bought the stone at another store in the diamond district and I think she was a little annoyed my fiance didn't buy the stone there as well. When we did an initial consultation w/ her, she was really good using analogies to help talk about diamonds that my fiance (who didn't know much) could relate to. She was definitely trying to sell the Hearts on Fire, which weren't worth it to us.

 

[Gypsy]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

We lived near them for a few years and they had the best browsing in our immediate area. I was always underwelmed by their service. Personally, I decided I would rather give my money to someone with good customer service. So, to answer your question, I'd keep shopping for a jewelry vendor you like better.

 

[TotalNewbie]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

Funny--- my engagement ring setting is also from Michael C. Fina. Libby was also our sales rep-- and nope, she never did call to say when the ring was ready!! My fiance called several times and was getting worried. I knew he purchased the ring and I told him to email her, some people are quicker to email- she replied right away saying they had it ready (I wonder for how long.... I also love my ring and they are one of the only Tacori retailers in NYC. We also bought the stone at another store in the diamond district and I think she was a little annoyed my fiance didn't buy the stone there as well. When we did an initial consultation w/ her, she was really good using analogies to help talk about diamonds that my fiance (who didn't know much) could relate to. She was definitely trying to sell the Hearts on Fire, which weren't worth it to us.

Kittyheel,
WOW! We had very similar experiences (with the same rep, even!). I'm glad this post is up here so that other PSers will now know about our experiences. Michael C Fina makes themselves out to be high-end(ish), but their customer-orientation seems to be anything but. I still can't believe they haven't responded to my complaint letter!!!! A "We're sorry. We'll make a point in the future of trying to let out customers know when their rings are ready, be courteous about billing their credit cards for a few thousand $$$ and let them know first, will try not to charge weird surcharges when they don't buy the stone from us" type of reply would have been the professional response from a professional company!!!

On the plus side, I'm glad you love your Tacori ring -- I love mine too. I guess the lesson (for me) is, it's worth it to go the distance to work with a non-local dealer if Fina is the only NYC dealer for my next jewelry purchase. I would feel too silly if burned twice from the same place.

 

[susimoo]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

Totalnewbie,

Maybe someone should send them a link to this thread!


That might get them moving!!!

 

[TotalNewbie]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

Thanks for the post, susimoo.

Given that I wrote a complaint letter to the rep, Libby, at Michael C Fina in late June, I don't expect seeing this thread will prompt them to apologize for any lapse in service. I forwarded the complaint to the Jewelry Sales Manager this past Tuesday and it's still soon so I'll see if I hear anything.

I did make the manufacturer A. Jaffe aware of this thread highlighting my experience (and Kittyheel's less-than-wonderful Fina experience with her Tacori ring), and have received a note that they would like to speak. Since Fina is blaming A Jaffe for the last-minute 38% ring price increase (which cannot be true if no other dealer was intending to charge a similar "large stone surcharge"), I would like to make A. Jaffe aware of my situation and this experience. The lack of a reply at all from Fina has surprised and displeased me.

 

[TotalNewbie]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

Funny--- my engagement ring setting is also from Michael C. Fina. Libby was also our sales rep-- and nope, she never did call to say when the ring was ready!! My fiance called several times and was getting worried. I knew he purchased the ring and I told him to email her, some people are quicker to email- she replied right away saying they had it ready (I wonder for how long.... I also love my ring and they are one of the only Tacori retailers in NYC. We also bought the stone at another store in the diamond district and I think she was a little annoyed my fiance didn't buy the stone there as well. When we did an initial consultation w/ her, she was really good using analogies to help talk about diamonds that my fiance (who didn't know much) could relate to. She was definitely trying to sell the Hearts on Fire, which weren't worth it to us.

Kittyheel - one question for you. Did Michael C Fina also charge your fiance the balance of the cost well before he finally heard back about the ring being ready?

 

[tyty333]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

Thanks for the post, susimoo.

Given that I wrote a complaint letter to the rep, Libby, at Michael C Fina in late June, I don't expect seeing this thread will prompt them to apologize for any lapse in service. I forwarded the complaint to the Jewelry Sales Manager this past Tuesday and it's still soon so I'll see if I hear anything.

I did make the manufacturer A. Jaffe aware of this thread highlighting my experience (and Kittyheel's less-than-wonderful Fina experience with her Tacori ring), and have received a note that they would like to speak. Since Fina is blaming A Jaffe for the last-minute 38% ring price increase (which cannot be true if no other dealer was intending to charge a similar "large stone surcharge"), I would like to make A. Jaffe aware of my situation and this experience. The lack of a reply at all from Fina has surprised and displeased me.

Maybe A Jaffe will have a little talk with MCF about thier little (well, not so little) price increase for the larger size. This
may not be authorized according to the agreement between A. Jaffe and MCF. Hmmm...this could get interesting (maybe).
Keep us posted.

 

[TotalNewbie]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

tyty333,

I hope to have more info next week. I was in touch with A. Jaffe a bit more today. I really woulld have preferred not to have involved the manufacturer at all (especially since they made such a gorgeous ring for me!) but they should be made aware of how Michael C Fina, as dealer is selling (and changing prices) on their product. I did give Michael C Fina a chance to respond first, when I wrote to them in late June, and they chose to completely ignore my complaint letter.

On a brighter note, my FI and I are finalizing wedding dates and are enjoying our first summer together as an officially engaged couple

 

[Kittyheel]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

Hi, I had to ask my fiance-- he actually used a debit card and paid upfront when he brought the ring in, so there was no balance charged later. He had the store actually call the bank for him to make sure it would be ok to put such a large transaction through without any problems. Our experience was decent except for the fact that he wasn't getting called back. The ring came on time too, it's not that it was late. It's just on such an important purchase people want to know what's going on, and not getting even a call-back to say it's ready or even not ready is frustrating when you're planning how and when you are going to propose. PS- we were also charged the $50 shipping to NJ, but I guess it beats paying NY sales tax.

 

[TotalNewbie]

Re: Any other buyers have experience w/ Michael C Fina in NY

Thanks for the reply, kittyheel. I'm really glad you and your fiance didn't have the same experience with billing.

It's good that we can share our experiences and feedback with others on Pricescope.

I'm in total agreement with you that with such an important purchase people want to know when it's ready and expect a call back, so they can plan re proposing (which, in my then-boyfriend's case, involved flying in from Bermuda again to propose formally with the ring ready). Our ring delivery wasn't late either, I should add. But no one called us at all about it being ready, until we initiated calls as to whether the ring was ready. Since he was flying in to propose soon after the ring's stated ready date of May 28th, and May 25th was the day my fiance realized no one had called him so he started checking his credit card billing and discovered it was billed on May 20th (I still don't know if that means the ring was ready on May 20th then? But the point is moot now.). So it was ready on time, it just wasn't a nice way to find out for a purchase like this, and not nice nor professional not to respond to my letter. I would have expected better.

Well, hopefully this will be read by others as I think it's important to share experiences. At the same time, I'd like everyone to know how great Whiteflash it, but I think there are enough posts on this forum highlighting that! This is jut one more to add

P.S. Still awaiting a response from A. Jaffe after their initial inquiries for more detail last week. A. Jaffe took the time to inquire further, as I would expect of a company that cares about customer service. Stay tuned, folks....