BGD Experience

[cindy123]

Most comments about them are true - i am not going to repeat what you''ve all been reading.

I do want to say tho that I''m a little disappointed in how long it took. I was told it would take 7-10 days to get the finished ring. It ended up taking longer than that, about 3 wks. I even started to feel they forgot about me (don''t know for a fact, just me being paranoid?) till I followed up.

While I understand they''re pretty busy, as a comsumer I have expectations once I''m told 7-10 days. This is not a gripe, just fyi for anyone out there with time issues.

 

[coda72]

I too am having a long wait for a ring, but hopefully it will be done soon. I have not felt that they forgot about me, as Lesley has been very attentive to getting back to me. I just want this project to be over, especially since I started it in March. There were some snafus along the way, and I won''t go into all of them, but in the end Brian and Lesley decided to make my ring from scratch for me instead of using a stock setting. It does mean a longer wait though, but I know it will be worth it in the end. But if someone is in a time crunch, he/she may want to use another vendor. And I wish they took credit cards instead of just paypal!

 

[FancyDiamond]

Date: 7/26/2009 1:29:44 PM
Author:cindy123
Most comments about them are true - i am not going to repeat what you''ve all been reading.

I do want to say tho that I''m a little disappointed in how long it took. I was told it would take 7-10 days to get the finished ring. It ended up taking longer than that, about 3 wks. I even started to feel they forgot about me (don''t know for a fact, just me being paranoid?) till I followed up.

While I understand they''re pretty busy, as a comsumer I have expectations once I''m told 7-10 days. This is not a gripe, just fyi for anyone out there with time issues.

I am a newbee, and do not have much experience purchasing online (will tell later when I get my ring). This is my humble opinion. 7-10 days means two weeks, because these are business days. So, if it takes one extra week to do a superb job, I shall have no problems letting the jeweler take his time and do his job well. In other words, I prefer receiving a well made ring a little later than originally quoted (meaning estimated) than getting a horrible looking or imperfect ring rushed to me just to meet a soft deadline.

The most important question is, do you like your ring? Enjoy it with great health. Don''t forget to post photos, so I can drool.

 

[ILoveDiamondsToo]

I have purchased from BGD a couple times already and they DO take credit cards (it says so on their website).

 

[coda72]

At the time I made my purchase back in March, they did not take credit cards yet. I knew they were going to, but as of that time they were not. But thanks for the correction.

 

[lyra]

Honestly, I don''t think that''s long to wait, but perhaps it would have been better to have been given that forecast upfront. My Beverly K set took 6 weeks to complete, and that was a stock setting, but made for the general size of my stone. I had my stone set separately. It was a long wait because I was so excited, but totally worth it. Hope you post pics when you get your ring!

 

[MrsChil]

Date: 7/26/2009 2:02:15 PM
Author: FancyDiamond

Date: 7/26/2009 1:29:44 PM
Author:cindy123
Most comments about them are true - i am not going to repeat what you've all been reading.

I do want to say tho that I'm a little disappointed in how long it took. I was told it would take 7-10 days to get the finished ring. It ended up taking longer than that, about 3 wks. I even started to feel they forgot about me (don't know for a fact, just me being paranoid?) till I followed up.

While I understand they're pretty busy, as a comsumer I have expectations once I'm told 7-10 days. This is not a gripe, just fyi for anyone out there with time issues.

I am a newbee, and do not have much experience purchasing online (will tell later when I get my ring). This is my humble opinion. 7-10 days means two weeks, because these are business days. So, if it takes one extra week to do a superb job, I shall have no problems letting the jeweler take his time and do his job well. In other words, I prefer receiving a well made ring a little later than originally quoted (meaning estimated) than getting a horrible looking or imperfect ring rushed to me just to meet a soft deadline.

The most important question is, do you like your ring? Enjoy it with great health. Don't forget to post photos, so I can drool.

I'm sure Cindy appreciates them taking the time to make her ring perfect, however like she said she felt a little forgotten about. That doesn't mean to say it happens to everyone. That was just her experience. I'm sure it will be helpful to other consumers which is part of the reason why I believe this forum exists. There are a lot of great positive reviews for numerous PS vendors on this site that are of course very well deserved, however I think that is also important to post the COMPLETE experience, and not just the PERFECT parts.

Can't wait to see your ring!

 

[FancyDiamond]

I think the issue here is more like a surpise or unexpected anxiety than a little longer wait. If the vendor sends a short email notifying the customer about the delay, then the customer will not wonder. It is the unknown that is more stressful than the wait, especially involving an online purchase.

 

[Gypsy]

I've done three custom projects with three different vendors on this board.

All of them have gone differently. And am now working on a fouth project, which is not custom, but is "special order"

All of my vendors have been incredible about communication. But then, I'm a nervous ninny about communication and contact my vendors with frequency when I have a project going with them.

I just did a colored stone project with an etsy dealer and I emailed ber ... probably once a week sometimes twice. And it wasn't exactly on time. I asked for it in hand on the 15th and I didn't get it till a few days after that. No big.

Do all the projects always come in on time, no. But I always know that the adjusted timeline is. Perhaps because I do talk to my vendors, even if it's just a check in to say , "Hi, how are you guys today? Hope all is well... any news?"

My personal experience wtih BGD about my pendant project was that it ran one day over time. And Lesley contacted me to say, "Listen... we looked it over, it's good, but not as good as we'd like do you mind if we take an extra day to do some extra finishing?" And I say said, No, take two. They didn't, but for me having the item be perfect is more important than having it on time. And THEY were the ones to call me with that update. I was not left in the dark. I'm sorry if you had a different experience! And you can always pick up the phone too, if things seem delayed. And I've had to do that as well, just not with BGD.

I did get asked once what the 'trick' was to good custom work on here. I don't think there is a trick to it. You have to pick vendors by making sure you have the same expecations for a project... whatever that is. But you have to comminicate those expectations clearly, and then like any project--do follow ups. At least that's what I do. I picked Ocean, BGD, and JuliaKayTaylor after having emailed/talked to them about the project, about my expecations and theirs, etc. And then, like I said... just checked in with them and they with me. Custom work is WORK, not just for the vendor but for you too. If something is happening that has you concerned... speak up, and ask what's going on. With my colored stone project I recieved some pics of the in progress work and saw a couple of things that I had questions about, so I asked them... and it was a good thing, because it was something that the designer didn't know I cared about... but I did. So she made a small modification. All was well.


I would love to see pics of your ring... forget SMRT... can we have a preview??? A teaser, right here?

You know we are addicted.

 

[coda72]

BGD definitely does not have any problems communicating; I just want to make that clear. They have been very good at updating me. I do imagine that they are getting quite a bit of business since they are doing such beautiful work, and that may also mean that they are a bit delayed in getting projects to their clients. I''m sure my long experience is an anomaly, and I would definitely work with them again. In addition, my project was not originally custom, it involved setting stones in a stock setting, but in the end result Lesley and Brian decided they wanted to custom make my ring from scratch. They did not have to do that, and I appreciate that they went above and beyond for me.