Anyone have experience with Leibish & international wire transfer refunds?

[xcacaox]

Hi Pricescope, just wondering has any of you had experience with Leibish & Co., and their wire transfer system?
I purchased a stone about 4 weeks ago, sent a payment, then chose to opt out of the purchase.
So they've processed the refund, 3 weeks ago.

I was told that it's at my end, then went to my bank. No PENDING international payments either.
So, now my $1955 USD is just gone.
(Just to add, I'm a student and this is money I saved up from part-time job, working 3 years.)

What actions should I take? Should I take legal actions?

 

[pinkjewel]

That's odd- I've never had any problem with them. I would contact them again and ask them to find out where the glitch is. What country are you in?

 

[xcacaox]

@pinkjewel : Yes. They're really big and reputable, which is one of the reasons I chose them. Also PSers were quite positive about them. That being said, they have assured me that they will follow this to the end with me (tbh it's kind of a pain) and reimburse me so I'll see what happens and keep you guys updated as well.
I am in Australia by the way.

 

[kenny]

That's odd- I've never had any problem with them. I would contact them again and ask them to find out where the glitch is. What country are you in?

+1

Leibish is in Israel and I'm in USA, but they've given me an address in NYC to ship them to ... then that company forwarded them to Israel.
It's been a while; I've no idea whether they still do this.

I've bought many diamonds from Leibish, with wired funds.
I've returned some.
Of course I precisely followed their return policy and return instructions.
The full refunds (minus the shipping as stated in their policy on their website) quickly followed via wire.
Of course this was after they received the FCD & GIA report and the stone was verified to be the one they send to me and was undamaged.

If you followed their policies, then something sounds fishy here.

 

[xcacaox]

Hi! I just returned (I know it's a bit late) but I returned to say I did get the refund.
Not only that, I have my personal experience to share with PSers.

So the main thing is: Leibish is a REPUTABLE, HONEST & WONDERFUL COMPANY!

It did take a loooooooooong time (3-4 weeks) for refund to just get here and I had to chase up my bank on my end to even get the payment! So if anyone wants to make payment through wire transfers (I know other diamond companies sometimes offer them too), it may be a good thing to know, that it can take such a long time in some - rather rare - cases. And sometimes you need to receive it on your bank's end. (I don't know why...)

That being said, firstly it wasn't Leibish's fault - it was more of the banks' (I found out they go through multiple banks when they do international wire transfers!). Nevertheless, Meira was super apologetic, patient and reassuring. And more than that, they said SHOULD ANYTHING ARISE DUE TO THE FAULT OF THE BANKS, NOT ONLY WILL THEY CHASE THEM UP, BUT REIMBURSE ME IN WHATEVER POSSIBLE WAY(!!!). I mean... at this point I felt so relieved. Whew.

So yes, I didn't want to leave a loosely-ended thread on the forum to such a great company! In this case, some situations arose on MY END so I couldn't get their beautiful diamond unfortunately (I totally would have if I could afford it as of now), but I'll definitely be back at Leibish in the future and I recommend them to all PSers & my friends/acquaintances as well!

+I just think return/refund policy and customer service is such an important part of a company. Of course we all hope everyone's happy, but should a trouble arise, you get to see the bare face of their customer services. In this case, Leibish definitely did a 5 star service! Bravo!

 

[kenny]

Thanks for returning and glad (but not surprised) to hear a good outcome.

FWIW a few years ago I had around 25 transactions with Leibish, including some refunds.
Every wire, in both directions, happened overnight; FWIW I'm in USA.
So yeah, something about your bank, or current international banking regulations must be mucking things up.
Maybe with terrorism and money-laundering concerns moving substantial sums of money internationally is more difficult today.
Just a guess.