I WILL NEVER BUY FROM JEWELS BY GRACE AGAIN

[ARTISAN]

I, too, had a recent negative experience with Jewels by Grace concerning customer service. I ordered a 4.03 ct. GIA graded FLB SI1 diamond ring by telephone because I wanted to talk to Grace in person about the order. Grace agreed on a price and then called back asking for a higher price, blaming her bookkeeper for the discrepancy. Thinking it was an honest mistake, I agreed. Grace did not honor her original price. I was very unhappy with the ring and sent it back within two hours of receipt because the stone did not perform nearly as well in reality as it did in the photos and videos. The package was signed for the next day and the stone was soon posted back on her website in the same condition. Grace did not send an invoice in the package and claimed that she had emailed it; I never got the email. It took five weeks to get the invoice, which created problems with the credit card dispute. Grace did not honor her 3 business day refund policy. Her web page under Client Services states, “refunds for items returned will occur on or before the third business day of the package being received in house”. It took six weeks to get the refund, during which time I contacted her on numerous occasions, and kept getting excuses, again blaming the discrepancy on her bookkeeper. At one point she claimed that she had attempted to refund the money but had transposed digits in the credit card number. If there was a problem with the bookkeeper, why does she keep someone on staff who makes so many mistakes? I contacted Grace and received her authorization to return the ring and followed her exact instructions. I have totally lost confidence in this company.

 

[valeria101]

.
FLB ... Fancy Light BLUE ?

I am sorry to hear of the mess .-(

 

[doberman]

I'm assuming fancy light brown. A fancy light blue, the price would be astronomical.

 

[EvaEvans]

Not sending an invoice is Grace common practice. I also purchased from her, I paid with check, I didn't receive an invoice, that is why I was keeping a copy of my check as a proof of purchase.
Not giving a receipt cannot be a good business practice!

 

[Niel]

Yeah that’s bullshit

 

[rockysalamander]

I'm sorry for your bad experience. It does seem that the billing side of things is her Achilles heel.

 

[metall]

Wow...it seems like quite a bit fell through the cracks here! I am sorry that you had to go through this.

 

[motownmama]

Ugh - Sorry to hear you had to endure all that.

 

[kenny]

I'm curious why Grace doesn't post her side of stories here.
Is she banned?

I suspect the odds of her not knowing about this thread are pretty low, as are the odds of her not knowing that PS can bring business to her, or send it to other vendors.

 

[rockhoundofficiando]

I'm curious why Grace doesn't post her side of stories here.
Is she banned?

I suspect the odds of her not knowing about this thread are pretty low, as are the odds of her not knowing that PS can bring business to her, or send it to other vendors.

One has to wonder if it's because she knows her actions are indefensible and responding here will only prolong the negativity?

 

[scarsmum]

I'm curious why Grace doesn't post her side of stories here.
Is she banned?

I suspect the odds of her not knowing about this thread are pretty low, as are the odds of her not knowing that PS can bring business to her, or send it to other vendors.

She might not be banned; she might just be wrong.

 

[yssie]

1. Once OP agreed to the higher price the fact that JbG did not honour the original price becomes irrelevant.

2. Five weeks to deliver an invoice to a customer is inexcusable. Faulty customer service seems to be a recurring issue with several smaller outfits popular here on PS - it is definitely not a problem unique to any one vendor. However, I am confident that all vendors who do have these sorts of issues do take note of them and do take steps to improve their processes, whether or not they post about it here on PS.

I’m glad you were eventually able to sort things out. I hope the bookkeeper who seems to have been at the root of this trouble got bookkeeping boot camp.

 

[Niel]

One wonders if this “bookkeeper “ exists

 

[msop04]

One wonders if this “bookkeeper “ exists

It seems this "bookkeeper" serves as Grace's scapegoat when the problem is Grace herself. Her business, her reputation, HER RESPONSIBILITY! ...and BTW, what kind of business owner continually blames employees for mistakes yet STILL GIVES THE WRONGED PURCHASER HELL when they just want it made right??! Grace Lavarro, that's who.

IN.EX.CUSABLE. Buyer Beware.

 

[msop04]

OP, I'm so sorry this happened to you... JbG has a less than stellar reputation. And by that, I mean it's craptacular with regards to honesty, respect, and customer service. I'm glad the situation was resolved in your favor finally. However, no one should ever have to deal with the BS Grace has put some of her clients through...

 

[kenny]

Jewels by Grace has a 5-Star rating on Yelp.
Is this the same business?

https://www.yelp.com/biz/jewelry-by-grace-encino

 

[msop04]

Jewels by Grace has a 5-Star rating on Yelp.
Is this the same business?

https://www.yelp.com/biz/jewelry-by-grace-encino

It is... you really can't go by those. They can be cherry-picked and vendors can easily have the bad ones removed.

...and I'm sure JbG is capable of giving good customer service to at least a few clients, since she has somewhat of a cult following here. LOL

 

[rocks]

People that post reviews on yelp fall into two categories as a rule. Over the moon satisfied or totally disgruntled. Having negative reviews removed isn't easy. The review can even be fake or fraudulent, and yelp is unlikely to remove a suspect review. What a vendor can do is post a reply, factually disputing a negative review. That usually turns into a pissing match; Yelp is still unlikely to remove it.

So sorry for all the heartache though.

 

[EvaEvans]

Jewels by Grace has a 5-Star rating on Yelp.
Is this the same business?

https://www.yelp.com/biz/jewelry-by-grace-encino

No!
That is NOT Jewels by Grace.

 

[msop04]

People that post reviews on yelp fall into two categories as a rule. Over the moon satisfied or totally disgruntled. Having negative reviews removed isn't easy. The review can even be fake or fraudulent, and yelp is unlikely to remove a suspect review. What a vendor can do is post a reply, factually disputing a negative review. That usually turns into a pissing match; Yelp is still unlikely to remove it.

So sorry for all the heartache though.

It may not be "easy" on every site, but a lot of review sites will remove negative reviews for vendors for a hefty fee... I'm not sure if Yelp is one of those, but it is and has been done.

 

[msop04]

No!
That is NOT Jewels by Grace.

Oops, I stand corrected! Sorry, OP! ...maybe that Grace gives better service!

 

[yssie]

Folks... Let’s discuss what appears to be a pretty unfortunate incident of faulty customer service without this thread devolving into conspiracy theories? Worth pointing out that we don’t know if there’s context or background missing - we’ve heard only one side of this, and vendor silence is neither admission of deliberate wrongdoing nor raising of the sword.

No, JbG’s customer service most certainly is not always dreadful. I’ve personally had nothing but positive experiences with Grace and know many others who would happily say the same. Assuming there isn’t in fact more to the story than what was posted originally - these sorts of incidents are simply (sadly!) not uncommon with smaller operations and I would wager that the vast majority of the time the problem is in fact bookkeeping, people thinking things have been taken care of when they have not, failing to follow up on action items... not an owner with a malevolent agenda. Eventually all small businesses either create scalable workflows or they go up in flames - I sincerely hope for the former for all vendors popular on PS!

Edit - well, almost all. But let’s not go there either.

 

[MarionC]

There seem to be many more positive experiences with jgb than negative. I’m not not defending OR putting down either side, but I am shocked at how this thread has turned into an attack on her.
It has gone from a statement of facts to an emtional tirade.
I am one of the people who had excellent customer service from jbg and enjoyed the experience very much. Also, the OEC I purchased from her was top notch and she went out of her way to help me get funds from my smaller oec (bought elsewhere) without doing it as a commission job.
I understand the issues, but I have done business or discussed business with almost every PS vendor here and I could tell less than stellar tales about most of them, including fibbing, sketchy customer service, a poorly set stone, and being called and awakened very late at night to have a chat about their product.
So please don’t put Grace by herself on one side of the line while holding up the other vendors as the gold standard.

 

[EvaEvans]

So please don’t put Grace by herself on one side of the line while holding up the other vendors as the gold standard.

@Jimmianne and @yssie
You obviously don't understand the complain of @ARTISAN. Here we don't discuss Grace service with HAPPY customers, but how Grace manage her business with UNhappy customers and how Grace manage refunds!
To get my $$$ I can also go above and beyond, satisfying my customers. It is much more difficult to be fast, accurate and polite when you have to deal with reclamation or return/refund.
I appreciate that @ARTISAN share his story, because other potential customers can make their own decision if or how to deal with Grace.
I've also had mix impressions with other PS vendors, nobody is perfect. However, everybody is free to tell his customer experience. Seller also is free to respond.
For me, how a seller performs in disputes and returns, is much more indicative about seller's rating.

 

[MarionC]

I understand fine, and simply added my opinion.

 

[Niel]

I’m inclined to disagee with the idea that questioning the validity of her excuses rises to the level of “conspiracy theory”. This is not the first time I’ve heard bad customer experience from her blamed on this scapegoat.

And to the idea that this website has more good comments than bad - I know plenty of people who have had poor experiences with her and choose not to come and share them here because they do not want to deal with the fan girl mentality on this site. I disagee with this as in my opinion, if enough people said something, people might get the full picture of the vendor and situations like this might be avoided. With that said, it is not my place to share other people’s stories.

 

[MarionC]

Niel, I respect your take on things and will do more research. Thanks

 

[MarionC]

Well, that explains my take on things. I was not able find anything negative about jbg, only positive, except the current issues experienced by a couple of people.
Can you explain at all what the negative issues were without divulging too much?
Is it the quality or the “book keeping”?
Thanks.

 

[msop04]

...of the negative comments that have actually made it to PS, I recall a good many of them not having their own thread, but popping up as an aside on other threads (some of them not necessarily about JbG exclusively). So it might be pretty difficult to find them with just a few of hours searching.

I haven't made a thread on my negative experience with Grace, but I have mentioned it in other threads. I get that she has her super happy customers, fan girls even... I get that they will defend her actions no matter what (although I don't really understand that mentality). However, I'm really not interested in how Grace has dealt with happy customers, because, well... they're happy. That's easy enough. How a vendor deals with an unhappy client is more indicative of their professionalism, integrity, and character IMO. The fact that Grace has had a bunch of super happy clients doesn't excuse or negate the fact that she has dealt very poorly with those who have had a less than stellar experience. It's not a wash. They don't simply cancel out.

I have also heard of several other PS members who have had really bad experiences with Grace, but as @Niel mentioned, those aren't my stories to tell...

 

[yssie]

I’m inclined to disagee with the idea that questioning the validity of her excuses rises to the level of “conspiracy theory”. This is not the first time I’ve heard bad customer experience from her blamed on this scapegoat.

And to the idea that this website has more good comments than bad - I know plenty of people who have had poor experiences with her and choose not to come and share them here because they do not want to deal with the fan girl mentality on this site. I disagee with this as in my opinion, if enough people said something, people might get the full picture of the vendor and situations like this might be avoided. With that said, it is not my place to share other people’s stories.

This is true of many vendors. I know plenty of people who have had negative experiences with a couple of vendors in particular who choose not to share publicly - I think it is often easier to post a negative review if you’re brand new to the forum, because other people’s possibly-negative reactions aren’t going to trouble you. It is also easier to post a negative review if you’ve been around for a long time. As you said, these aren’t our stories to share.

The cult following mentality is rife. I don’t consider myself a fan girl - I would have posted what I said regardless of who the vendor is, because accusations of deliberate lies or wrongdoing (as opposed to what OP explicitly indicated: an administrative mess) without any proof whatsoever are nothing more than theories. It sounds like OP had a poor experience with JbG, and JbG dropped the ball on dealing with the fallout, which is something that should be improved - however, again, there may well also be more to this story that is not anyone else’s right to share.

A full picture means facts, timelines, actions and reactions, all of which OP provided. It does not, in my opinion, include theorizing about the vendor’s staff. But that’s my opinion and obviously everyone’s fee to his own!