dimendScaasi experience

[Nina]

Hi All,

I decided to share my experience with diamond Scaasi here, as I decided to order from them after reading the feedback here. Well, my feedback is not positive at all … and I hope it’ll be useful for potential e-ring buyers.

We placed an order on April 22nd. Timing being important to us, Isaac told us that it would take 2 weeks to make the ring (1 week for a diamond to arrive from Israel. We received the ring on the May 11th (almost 3 weeks after ordering). The ring was not well done - at all. And I am almost certain it wasn’t even checked, because you could see all the defects easily. There were a few black defects on the ring itself, which were polished but were so deep that even though the ring was thinner at one of these spots, there was still a rather big black defect. The prongs were very sharp, scratching everything they touched. And the ring didn’t look like on the picture, and wasn’t really nicely shaped. It also seemed to be 14k gold instead of 18k gold we ordered (although “18k” was engraved inside).

Isaac suggested remaking the ring and I overnighted it to them on May 15th (after looking at the ring Isaac agreed that it should be remade completely), and was told that it would take 1 week to make the new one. After many calls and e-mails I finally received it on the June 2nd (2.5 weeks later). Now the ring looks very nice... but it took 6 weeks altogether and plenty of my e-mails and phone calls to receive it. And I didn’t have the diamond checked yet.

On my remarks that it’s not acceptable to have such a long wait, Isaac sent me “a present for my patience” – 3 nail polishes…hmmm. I was more than a bit surprised when I saw it. After conversation with Isaac (on June 6th), he decided to send another present... that I should have received within a couple of days, of course… as you can guess, I never did.

I really like the ring (it’s a solitaire 1A2E style - http://www.dscaasi.com/build/step1.asp?prodID=1A2E), but it still doesn’t look as a one-piece ring like on the photo (the part that is holding the diamond is just attached to the ring, and on the first defective ring the connection between 2 metals was like on the photo) but it’s much better that the 1st one I received…and I still like it.

But I think it’s not the service one would expect from an exclusive diamond e-shop. I don’t think that it’s acceptable to wait this long and have to call all the time (each time I was told it would take just 2 days more)… and when Isaac was talking about the present, honestly I would think about a partial refund of the price of the ring (not the diamond)... but the answer was “I have to run a business”…Well, what can I say... I thought running a business is making a client want to return for future purchases and willing to recommend the business to others. Given my experience, I can not do either.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Nina

+ wanted to add, that 20 minutes after posting this message I received an e-mail about a shipment from dimendScaasi, will keep you updated.

 

[bmathews]

thanks for the post, I am working with isaac right now as well as other jewlers while I try to find the perfect ring. I will let you guys know how well it goes with the search, I hope that this is the exception and not the case

 

[mrssalvo]

Nina, I'm very sorry you've had such a bad experience

. I have never worked with Demendscaasi so I have no opinion one way or the other but do appreciate you taking the time to come and share your experience even though it was not a good one. It's always helpful to people when reseaching a vendor to have both the good and the bad to help the determine who they want to ultimately work with.

Welcome to Pricescope

 

[aljdewey]

Date: 6/20/2006 11:25:55 AM
Author: mrssalvo
Nina, I''m very sorry you''ve had such a bad experience

. I have never worked with Demendscaasi so I have no opinion one way or the other but do appreciate you taking the time to come and share your experience even though it was not a good one. It''s always helpful to people when reseaching a vendor to have both the good and the bad to help the determine who they want to ultimately work with.

Welcome to Pricescope

Absolutely agreed......thanks for taking the time to provide detailed feedback on your experiences. It''s very much appreciated.

 

[Lorelei]

Ditto Aljdewey and MrsSalvo. Sorry about this Nina

 

[Mara]

sorry to hear about this nina! DS is relatively new on PS so it's good to hear some feedback on them....even though it's kind of negative. hope things work out in your favor and please keep us posted as to the outcome, i hope the ending is positive. i gotta say that when i read about the nail polishes i was like whaaaaaa???? ummm okay. men!

 

[luvsdiamonds]

Welcome,,, and I totally agree with Mara, I felt the same way she did when I read that about the nail polish... It''s almost like I didn''t know what to think of him... And I''m very sorry about what has happened..

 

[aussiegirl23]

Nina,

Your experience makes me cringe : ( I have been considering working with Isaac at Dimend Scaasi to build by e-ring, and have had some great conversations with him. He seemed knowledgable, considerate, and professional.

But it seemed like timing and prompt service was an issue. Ugh! Having to call all the time and check a project''s progress is no fun at all. I remember a similar situation about Ritani a few weeks ago - it seems like in both cases the customer was on a schedule, and when the designer couldn''t keep to its promises, it sent either something entirely wrong (wrong size & metal type) or something that was poorly crafted.

The nail polish "gift" is a joke - it''s like getting a happy meal prize with your gourmet french meal. Talk about inappropriate. Things need to be scaled properly - you give away free pens at the bank, nail polish with a manicure, how about something classier like jewelery or a price reduction with a diamond ring?

A question for you old-hands with diamonds & designers (online or B&M)... does setting a deadline just get you in more trouble than letting the project drag on? Is pressuring them, even when its just reminding them of their own estimated completion time a bad idea?

 

[londonblue]

wow, 6 weeks does seem quite a long wait for a setting such as that!

about the deadline issue, I think if you give yourself enough time, say 2 weeks before the due date, to start checking in and reminding jewelers of their own deadline should give both you and the jeweler enough of a cushion to get a project finished without sacrificing quality of work.

It seems slippage almost invariably happens in these projects. I think it''s a matter of balancing your own timelines, deadlines and expections vs the fear of a rushed job by a jeweler. But often I think jewelers seem to quote very aggressive deadlines as well. It sucks but it seems that it''s often a trade-off between the two.

I was honestly a bit putoff by whiteflash''s 2 week quote for my 2 rings, especially considering the delays in communicating w/ their jewelers via a third person, and they never did get back to me with a final quote. I don''t know their usual turn around time but 2 weeks seemed very aggressive for my project and I didn''t want it rushed out In the end I went with Quest who quoted me 5 weeks (delayed by about 3 days due to some engraving issues, and the difficulty of communicating long distance over some things that would have been much easier to determine in person). But I did constantly remind them that I didn''t want them to rush the project and I had added enough cushion to my timeline
But yeah, I don''t know what might have possible happened if I really pressured them to get it out by the due date and there is always that issue I think with any project.

 

[Mara]

deadlines are interesting...from my experience WF can turn almost any project in 2-3 weeks, they have in-house production with great communication (but i am also an anal communicator client!!). honestly i am not interested in a 5-6 week timeline for something like a ring! i can''t even imagine how people wait like 3 months for a mark morrell ring! many designers have 4-5 week timelines too. maybe that''s just my impatience but i like the idea of 2 weeks. heehe.

 

[mepearl53]

Date: 6/20/2006 12:40:35 PM
Author: aussiegirl23
Nina,





A question for you old-hands with diamonds & designers (online or B&M)... does setting a deadline just get you in more trouble than letting the project drag on? Is pressuring them, even when its just reminding them of their own estimated completion time a bad idea?

Setting a deadline is fine just make sure it''s realistic. Most designers are 4 to 5 weeks. Some longer depending on how intricate the work is. Handmade will take longer than casting or assembling. Then there is always the situation that something could go wrong in the manufacturing process or a communication problem. Or the ring could be lost in the mail which is infrequent. Most people wait too long and if one piece of the puzzle goes wrong your in for a disappointment. To be safe give your self 60 days and this will remove any stress of not having the ring when you want it.

If your buying over the phone or online make sure you have a contact from whom your purchasing from. This person should be responsible for answering your questions on your purchase and keep you posted on when the ring is to be completed. It''s fine for you to ask questions and if the purchase is running out of the time line call. Your making the purchase so you are the boss. Just be realistic and give them time to do the piece properly.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I am really sorry to hear this. It just seems that there are some great vendors here that on rare occasion have a problem. I ordered a ring from Dimend Scaasi and they quoted two weeks, and it was delivered within two weeks. Apparently you chose a diamond that was not in-house, however, so you didn''t have the opportunity to have the diamond inspected prior to making a decision? I had them look at 3 diamonds for me, and they actually told me that the least expensive of the three was the best performing. At my request, they also sent me a magnified photo of the diamond so I could see if the clarity was acceptable to me. I had that diamond set in a similar setting, and the quality was excellent. I did end up returning the ring as I decided I wanted a diamond with some different features...no fault of theirs at all. And they were gracious in accepting the return and promptly credited our card. I think we all have to realize that things can occasionally go wrong with any vendor and that it does not mean that it is common. I''m really sorry though that you had some problems and inconvenience with your purchase and hope it will be resolved satisfactorily.

 

[jimhwu]

As a former DS customer, I just thought I would chime in on the nail polish thing... It''s not like Isaac would just give you any nail polish! The colors, I believe are designed by his wife, so they are unique and not something you can buy in stores. I''m not justifying their actions or the value of the gifts, just want to say that they are not something you buy from a store.

I think all small businesses can have communication break down once in a while. In general, the service we received from Isaac and his small staff has been great in the two transactions that I have done with him.

Good luck. If you are not happy, just keep working on it with Isaac. One thing I do know about him is that he is patient and will try his best to make you happy!

Jim

 

[Kaleigh]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I''m sorry you had to go through that.

 

[Mara]

thanks for clarifying on the nail polish jim...it just seemed kind of funny that she''s like where''s my ring and why is it taking so long and their response is here is some nail polish, have fun. obviously we don''t know the nuances of the whole thing and i''m sure it wasn''t quite like that, but the nail polish would just make me more irate because i''d be like yeah okay i''d love to paint my nails and admire my ring BUT I DONT HAVE IT YET!!!!

 

[strmrdr]

Sorry you had to go thru this :{

Im not making excuses for them and don't have any experience with them.
It sounds like a very bad case of growing pains.
Over the years iv been here it has happened a lot a vendor gets popular on PS and all the sudden they are buried 200 feet deep.
There are a lot of vendors left in the dust over the years that were great people and with smaller volume were great vendors that couldn't handle the load.
The ones that rise above it turn into some of the best vendors anywhere.

Ask Wink or search for the threads about it and you will see it from the vendors side. He rose to the challenge and is one of the best vendors anywhere but he was 200 feet down for about 6 months slugging away at the load. It happens to the best so give them time but don't excuse it, they need to make it right and the best will.

When dealing with vendors you have to be realistic in your time frames and the vendors have to learn that even if it means passing up work don't promise what you cant deliver and if you promise it you better deliver because PS can be as brutal as it is rewarding.

Storms trip down memory lane and lesson for today :}

edit: spell checker got me.

 

[WinkHPD]

Thank you Storm for your kind words. I appreciate the fact that the time I spent under water did not deter people from giving me a chance to straighten things out. We went from very small to medium in a hurry (we will never be, nor do we want to be big, we like being able to give personal attention to each person in a way we could not do with a large staff) and there were definitely growing pains.

We had to learn that jobs that used to take one week would now take two and two week jobs might be three to five and to quote accordingly. And as Storm pointed out we had to learn to just say "NO", to many jobs. (My worst nightmare was a job we made three times, the result was finally perfect, but by then the magic was gone and she no longer wanted it, we spent 5,000 to make a 3,500 ring and then had to return the $3,500. This taught me to just return the money after the first problem if it is not an easily fixed problem. Modern technology has made that nightmare job a piece of cake today, sigh!)

I got to meet Isaac at the Vegas show a couple of weeks ago and he seems like a very nice, very professional man. I am sure that no one is more upset about the mistakes with your ring than he is, and having gone through a few of them I know that he will be working hard to correct it. I hope that when you update us after the ring arrives that it is everything that you wanted the first time. Isaac did not get his reputation for quality by messing up every job, let us hope that this is a one time aberation.

Wink

 

[Modified Brilliant]

Date: 6/20/2006 4:28:58 PM
Author: Wink
Thank you Storm for your kind words. I appreciate the fact that the time I spent under water did not deter people from giving me a chance to straighten things out. We went from very small to medium in a hurry (we will never be, nor do we want to be big, we like being able to give personal attention to each person in a way we could not do with a large staff) and there were definitely growing pains.

We had to learn that jobs that used to take one week would now take two and two week jobs might be three to five and to quote accordingly. And as Storm pointed out we had to learn to just say ''NO'', to many jobs. (My worst nightmare was a job we made three times, the result was finally perfect, but by then the magic was gone and she no longer wanted it, we spent 5,000 to make a 3,500 ring and then had to return the $3,500. This taught me to just return the money after the first problem if it is not an easily fixed problem. Modern technology has made that nightmare job a piece of cake today, sigh!)

I got to meet Isaac at the Vegas show a couple of weeks ago and he seems like a very nice, very professional man. I am sure that no one is more upset about the mistakes with your ring than he is, and having gone through a few of them I know that he will be working hard to correct it. I hope that when you update us after the ring arrives that it is everything that you wanted the first time. Isaac did not get his reputation for quality by messing up every job, let us hope that this is a one time aberation.

Wink

I understand what Wink has explained so well. Many of us (small independent businesses) have gone through growing pains. Small business drives our economy and we all learn as we grow. Patience and understanding that occasionally something might go wrong is the best approach. It''s always important to resolve any issues directly with the vendor first. Direct feedback will help in preventing the same situation from occuring in the future. I''m sure that all the vendors and appraisers on PS try very, very hard each and every day to make your diamond buying experience a fantastic one!

www.metrojewelryappraisers.com

 

[scaasi]

Hello everyone, this is Isaac Gottesman, the owner of dimend SCAASI.

I must say, I am shocked and dismayed to have just read this post. Especially since this is an email Alexa received from this client the day she received it:

From: Nina
Sent: Friday, June 02, 2006 4:02 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: received the package

Hi Alexa,

I called you earlier, you were busy with a customer..and I spoke with another lady. I just wanted to tell you that I received the ring, and this time it's really great! It's what I was imagining. I'll write/call Isaac to thank him next week, when he is back.

Thank you again.
Best regards,

Nina

It is correct, the ring was not made perfectly the first time, which is why instead of fixing it, I suggested we shall have a new one made (I should point out that no convincing was necessary on the client's part, I suggested this even before the ring came back). I had decided to do so since it is more important for me to have a ring made from scratch perfectly, then fixing it over and again.

Although we typically quote 2 weeks for such ring, it does occasionally take longer than expected and as sorry as we are for that, it is normal for a business producing as many rings as we do. Still, our priority is to create our rings as quickly as possible, while maintaining the high quality we are already famous for.

As for our Nail Polish, we have our very own brand of extremely high end Nail Polish with over 70 color choices, all designed and personalized by my wife, a project that took over 3 years in the making. We have clients coming in to get more of these colors almost daily! I am not in the habit of being extorted for any refunds, but feel bad if something goes wrong, or if a client is unhappy. This is why I offered to send 3 bottles, but apparently, this client had something else in mind.
So, in order to put this to rest, I had offered to send her child a very cute Humpty-Dumpty Piggy Bank made in Pewter and hand-engraved by our engraver with her child's name. This was just ready today and we are shipping it 2nd day delivery via FedEx.

I welcome client's comments and criticism, but as hard as we try to please everyone, certain situations may occur and will gladly stand behind our product and either fix or re-make it as necessary. These are EXTREMELY rare occurrences, but we have and ALWAYS will take care of them promptly.

Sincerely,

Isaac Gottesman

P.S. While copying and pasting the client's email, I neglected to omit the client's last name and e-mail address - I appologize for that!

 

[Mara]

Isaac...thanks for posting your side of the story but I am sure the consumer would rather you not post both her full name and her email address on a public forum...I would edit that out ASAP.

It honestly sounds to me like there are miscommunciations on both ends...and that the consumer should talk directly to DS as well as voicing on an open forum. In terms of the email that Nina sent to Alexa saying she loved the ring, it's not unheard of to get something and think it looks fab, then after having it for a day or two, realizing that there are issues you did not originally see. I think it's fabulous that you guys offered to make a new ring and kudos for going that extra mile, customer service is important...but again, better communication with the client re: timelines and expectations typically go a long way.

Can't wait to see the finished ring.

 

[TravelingGal]

Thanks for posting your side of the story Isaac...

But may I suggest you remove the original poster's full name and email address from your post?

ETA: LOL Mara, damn girl, you are fast!!!!

 

[Mara]

GET OUT OF MY HEAD TG!!!!

(who knows what you''ll find in there?!?!)

 

[belle]

thanks for the post isaac. your posting of an entire client email says more about how you handle business than anything else you could have put into words.

 

[Kaleigh]

Mara, I was thinking the same thing, you are too quick for me girl. Isaac, posting her real name, email addy etc... isn't allowed. Please delete it ASAP.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 6/20/2006 8:40:49 PM
Author: Mara
GET OUT OF MY HEAD TG!!!!

(who knows what you''ll find in there?!?!)

Probably similar much of what I would find in my own head...

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 6/20/2006 8:40:55 PM
Author: belle
thanks for the post isaac. your posting of an entire client email says more about how you handle business than anything else you could have put into words.

Yup.

 

[aussiegirl23]

Isaac,

I apologize if my comment about the nail polish seemed mean - clearly the whole story was not provided by the original poster. We simply heard "3 bottles of nail polish" and heard nothing about how they were a part of your wife''s beautiful, top-of-the-line nail polishes which sound very beautiful! Seems like an appropriate business given your own work! The piggy bank sounds lovely as well!

No more jumping to conclusions - it sounds like you are doing the best anybody could do in the customer service department!

Aussiegirl : )

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 6/20/2006 8:40:55 PM
Author: belle
thanks for the post isaac. your posting of an entire client email says more about how you handle business than anything else you could have put into words.

I agree..

 

[strmrdr]

sheesh
now a slip up on a ring might just be growing pains but posting someones personal info and her daughters name on the board...
Thats just downright low...
very low....

 

[Nina]

Dear All,

thank you for all the messages.
I will try to answer all the posts in order.

mrssalvo, aljdewey, Lorelei, Mara, luvsdiamonds, thank you

aussiegirl23, good luck in finding your perfect ring.

diamondseeker2006, I just share my experience, nothing else. Concerning the diamond, I chose one from their listing online..Isaac told me that it will be delivered from Israel during 1 week, and then it''ll take 1 week to make the ring. He also told me that he checks all the diamonds himself and if he doesn''t like it, he says. So I didn''t ask for any extra check.

jimhwu, I know about the nail polishes, but for example I NEVER use nail polish..so for me there is no use in them at all..even if they are exclusive. I am happy that you experience was different. I''ve seen few positive feedbacks on PS - that is why I chose DS. I don''t want to continue remaking the ring..as I don''t know how is it going to be next time..and when is it going to be. I like it like this.

Kaleigh, thank you.

Mara, I received nail polishes with the ring as a "present for my patience".

strmrdr, I agree. About the timing..It was my first time buying an e-ring. So when Isaac told me it''ll be 2 weeks, I believed it.

Wink, thank you for your message. As I wrote in my first post - I received the ring 2 weeks ago (after 6 weeks of wait). I also hope that others will have different experience.

Modified Brilliant, of course I explained everything directly to Isaac during all these 6 weeks and in the end too. I wrote it in my post.