How long does it take for custom setting?

[nimbus]

We are having a custom setting made and since this is the first time I've ever done this I'm wondering what sort of timeline is normal. I feel like it has been taking a long time and I'm not sure if I should be upset or if this is usual for custom designs.

We were originally told it would be 6-8 weeks from start to finish. I gave pictures, and a description of what I wanted on May 15th and was told I would get initial design work in 10 days. 21 days later on June 6th I got an email with a rough sketch, which looked like it took 5 min to sketch out on a scrap of paper. Really this was a ROUGH sketch, it looked like something I could have made and I'm not a good artist. I was actually expecting the CAD drawings especially since it had been 21 days but I didn't say anything because I thought maybe this was how it's done. I told them the sketch looked fine and was looking forward to the CAD drawings. FInally almost a month later on July 1st I got an email with the CAD drawings. Everything looked good except that the drawing had 8 prongs instead of the 4 I requested. So I emailed that everything looked good but I had wanted 4 prongs. I was told they would change it and send me the new pics. It has been 14 days and I still do not have the pictures. It seems like changing from 8 to 4 prongs on the CAD would be a quick change. We are almost at 9 weeks from when we started and they haven't even started making the actual ring. I'm really starting to get annoyed but I'm not sure if this is normal or if I should get upset with them and say something. We are going on vacation in Aug and had hoped to have the ring by then. We thought given the 6-8 week estimate we were given that the ring would be done well in time for our trip but now it doesn't look like that is going to happen.
Anyone have any words of advice or could share there experiences on making a custom setting and the normal timeline, process that they went through. I want to know what is usual before I approach the jeweler and express that I'm upset. I don't want to be unreasonable if this is normal.

 

[nfowife]

That does seem excessive. However you need to get in touch with your jeweler right now and express your frustration. As they say, the squeaky wheel gets the oil.
I have a custom setting made by a vendor here on PS. It took about 2 weeks to get the CADs and then I had it in my hand 2 weeks after I approved the CAD. I was on a time crunch though and gave the vendor the date I needed the ring by.

 

[antelope1]

This is not normal. They're really taking a long time with this -- we got CADs in 1 week, and the ring 2 weeks after that (from ERD). They also told us to plan for 6 weeks, but they managed to turn it around much faster than that.

Is it too late to take your business elsewhere? Or have you paid a deposit that you can't get back?

Make sure all future communication are via email. Use Paint (or the mac equivalent) to mark up any images to show them exactly what you want and expect. If there are problems later on, you can point to your drawings to show the vendor that he is at fault, not you (and therefore, you should not have to pay for the changes after the ring is cast).

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

This seems pretty ridiculous. I have only gone fully custom once, cads and all. The whole process took about 3 days to get initial cads, two days for adjustments, once they cads were approved I had the ring within two weeks. I worked with whiteflash on this purchase.
My initial drawing

Cad received within a few days

Final ring completed in about two weeks

I have even had jewelry made going completely custom and hand-made, no cads. For this I used Hearts of Water Jewels on Etsy and even that only took about 8 weeks and they are very busy.

 

[trungiez]

I'm currently in the process of getting a custom setting made.

CAD drawing took 2 weeks for us.

 

[denverappraiser]

I’m not going to answer your question as others have taken care ahead of me but I’m reminded of a favorite story about Pablo Picasso.

For most of his career, Picasso was not very commercially successful but things picked up as he got older. One day as an old man he was at a café in Paris and a fan spotted him and asked him to draw her a picture. He agreed, took a napkin from the café and made a drawing for her. He handed it to her and said ‘That’ll be 5,000 francs please”. The woman was shocked. ‘That only took you 5 minutes, how can you charge so much?. ‘No ma’am, that took a lifetime, you were only here for the last 5 minutes.’

 

[maplefemme]

I’m not going to answer your question as others have taken care ahead of me but I’m reminded of a favorite story about Pablo Picasso.

For most of his career, Picasso was not very commercially successful but things picked up as he got older. One day as an old man he was at a café in Paris and a fan spotted him and asked him to draw her a picture. He agreed, took a napkin from the café and made a drawing for her. He handed it to her and said ‘That’ll be 5,000 francs please”. The woman was shocked. ‘That only took you 5 minutes, how can you charge so much?. ‘No ma’am, that took a lifetime, you were only here for the last 5 minutes.’

I love it! How true...

 

[Gypsy]

I've had a lot of custom work done. When I get a timeline quote that seems a bit long I just ask the reason why. Usually it's a matter of my project being in que behind other projects.

I would just ask them to explain the timeline for it.