James Allen - A review and a word of caution

[Miss Sparkly]

I had never even considered writing a review for my purchase, until an email that I received yesterday. As a whole, James Allen has been great to work with. The 24 hour customer service via phone or chat is awesome as well as the supplied images and information on the stones. My purchase is still in review as of now, so I don't have a stone to comment on, but in my experience customer service makes for a large portion of the purchase. Two changes that I would like to see are in the review of the stones and the loss prevention department. I have communicated these to JA but feel they were taken too lightly. First, JA would not offer me a review of an I1 stone from the side. From the top it was eye clean, however many of us have settings that show off the sides too and to see a large inclusion would be undesirable. Some I1's are eye clean from the side too if it is a clear inclusion - not wanting to start that argument. Second, I received an email asking for more information from the loss prevention department. Having worked with loss prevention via debit card at a bank, and currently auditing for a bank, I can completely appreciate their extra step. Keep in mind that there is more than one option to verify your information. THIS should NOT be an option (taken directly from the email). I voiced my concerns with JA on this and why it is such a concern to me but was only reassured that there are other options...

If you do not have a business email, the next best option is to send us a clear, color copy of the credit card used (front and back), along with a clear, color copy of your state (or country) issued identification. Providing us with copies of your credit card and identification is not much different from placing the order in a store, where both of those items are often required by the cashier. Please know that any information sent to us is held in the strictest confidence, never sold or shared, and destroyed once your transaction is complete.

My first thought was RED FLAG RED FLAG! This is a scam and not JA. It is that much different than placing an order in the store. If a person is unable to choose another option they are likely to send a clear color copy of their card via personal email, front and back, to JA. There is no guarantee that this person is sending on a secure network (unsecured wireless networks are all over in people's homes), a shared computer, or even that their email hasn't been hacked into. I dropped hotmail because the issue of hacking was so prevalent in my own account. The last sentence gives the impression that what they are about to do is secure, when in fact it may not be. Please think long and hard before taking this option! Or, as I suggested to JA, this should not even be an option.

Would I buy from them again? Yes. Overall I have been happy with the level of service that they have offered. The selection is large and the search function is so easy to use. The offer of free shipping regardless of stone price is also a selling point for me. Hopefully the stone should arrive tomorrow so I'll have something pretty to show off too

 

[Karl_K]

That should clearly say FAX not email.
Then it should go to a specifically designated fax machine with a cage around it and limit access to be compliant.
In fact sending by email is a PCI 2.0 violation.
They do need to redo that.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Well, I don't have a corporate email, so if sending a copy of those items over email was the only way they'd sell to me, they have lost one customer now. Thankfully, GOG, WF, and BG are happy to sell diamonds to me!

 

[Octavia]

Yikes!! I would definitely refuse to do this, for all the reasons already stated. Also, this IS different than showing a clerk your ID when he or she swipes your credit card, as there is no copy made in that scenario. Even if the hard copies here are destroyed, they are almost certainly going to be saved in electronic format on a server somewhere, and could still potentially be retrieved even if deleted. Very alarming, IMO.

 

[Blue-Seeker]

That should clearly say FAX not email.
Then it should go to a specifically designated fax machine with a cage around it and limit access to be compliant.
In fact sending by email is a PCI 2.0 violation.
They do need to redo that.

duplicate post

 

[Blue-Seeker]

That should clearly say FAX not email.
Then it should go to a specifically designated fax machine with a cage around it and limit access to be compliant.
In fact sending by email is a PCI 2.0 violation.
They do need to redo that.

Agreed. This is definitely a violation. I am a contractor, and the staff I work with are not allowed to receive any credit card, social security numbers, etc., information in an e-mail. Fax or snail mail only.

 

[Laila619]

Just curious, but what does having a corporate e-mail prove? That you are who you say you are?

 

[D&T]

Just curious, but what does having a corporate e-mail prove? That you are who you say you are?

If your ship to address is different than your billing address (outside of fedex hold), I can see that they would ask for this? I had to do this as I was shipping it to my workplace and with my email address and physical work address stated on my email exchanges. Don't know really, shipping it to a different address other than a Fedex location, I can see why they would need extra information possibly?

but we have some mom and pop tenants that don't have a corporate email address for their space, they only have a "free email" account like hotmail, yahooo etc. how does that work?

 

[marymm]

I ran up against this same JA policy when I tried to purchase a stone - but I did not want to send an email about a personal transaction from my work email address, and did not feel comfortable sending the requested ID info via email. I called their 24-hour Customer Service telephone number to discuss the matter but the only person who could deal with this issue is only available weekdays during regular work hours (9-5 I believe, East Coast time). I do not have privacy at work to make a personal phone call regarding this kind of purchase and do not have the flexibility of leaving my work space and exiting my building to find a spot to place a private call, let alone having any certainty that the one person who can deal with this issue would actually be available to receive my call. It became impossible to resolve the matter, so I cancelled the order and removed JA from my list of vendors. Really, I felt their stated policy was more likely to spread my personal information over the Internet rather than a policy carefully crafted to verify alternate shipping addresses while protecting the purchaser's information.

 

[alice87]

I totally agree, having military, business or university address to verify exactly what?
CS was rude to say the least.

 

[Niel]

Whiteflash made me do that as well when I bought from them. They didn't give me an option of a school email.

 

[Riesz]

JA also requested a copy of my fiance's credit card emailed from his work address. We live in Canada so we figured it was an extra measure of security on their part for an international sale. My fiance scanned the card and sent it without hesitation (actually, he sent it without asking me first, not that I minded anyway). We've had no fraudulent charges made to the card whatsoever since supplying the information to JA. They shipped the diamond out the next day and I received it one day later. I personally found the service at JA very good and wouldn't suspect such a large company to steal our credit card info or identities or anything like that. Just my opinion, though. Everything went smoothly for us.

 

[Diamondhallic]

I placed an order for an engagement ring this past Sunday. I immediately received an email asking me to confirm my order, which I did. Since Sunday night it shows as PAID under order status. They said it would take a few days to go into production.

Then this afternoon I received an email from a JA CS asking for a business email (which I don't have) or for a color photocopy of my drivers license and CC?? What? No way I'm letting a company have a color copy of my license and CC just sitting around for anyone to see, so I asked them to cancel my order and refund my money, which my CC shows they took back on Sunday. I've purchased larger ticket items and have never been asked to do this. I can see if something got flagged before being approve but once JA confirmed / approved my order and it shows they received the funds from my CC (shipping and billing both match) I don't see why they need to ask for such documents? Also the link to upload pictures of my license and CC wasn't even secure IE: HTTPS....

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

Well, it looks like I have company. I was very unhappy with JA customer service and had the same problems and more, The aset and gemologist findings went just fine. Thats 2 separate people I e-mailed with. I then placed an order for one of the diamonds, a CS rep said everything with credit card was OK, (3CS) and I would be contacted shortly.

I was contacted saying my credit card was declined (4thCS.). Another e-mail saying my credit card was declined. I quickly called my cc
and they said the charge had been approved and there was no decline given, and the charge was already on my card.
I contacted JA reps again, explaining the situation, and telling them the card had never been declined. E-mail came back saying they put the charge through again and it went through, and everything was OK. All in all 4 e-mails telling me my CC was declined.

I wrote back saying they misunderstood what I said and to remove the second charge off my account. Now rep5 or 6 told me that they never recharged my account. They found their error and all was OK. So one rep just lied about putting the charge through again. Called cc. No second charge was applied .
Now for payment. Same as other complaints. I don't know how to up- load my ID. So the order was cancelled. I would think with all that back and forth with the cc company, they would know its my card. I would not buy from JA again either. Airplanes, hotel, and cashing a check at my bank are the only places that even ask for ID.

I was really disappointed.

 

[Diamondhallic]

Hi,

Well, it looks like I have company. I was very unhappy with JA customer service and had the same problems and more, The aset and gemologist findings went just fine. Thats 2 separate people I e-mailed with. I then placed an order for one of the diamonds, a CS rep said everything with credit card was OK, (3CS) and I would be contacted shortly.

I was contacted saying my credit card was declined (4thCS.). Another e-mail saying my credit card was declined. I quickly called my cc
and they said the charge had been approved and there was no decline given, and the charge was already on my card.
I contacted JA reps again, explaining the situation, and telling them the card had never been declined. E-mail came back saying they put the charge through again and it went through, and everything was OK. All in all 4 e-mails telling me my CC was declined.

I wrote back saying they misunderstood what I said and to remove the second charge off my account. Now rep5 or 6 told me that they never recharged my account. They found their error and all was OK. So one rep just lied about putting the charge through again. Called cc. No second charge was applied .
Now for payment. Same as other complaints. I don't know how to up- load my ID. So the order was cancelled. I would think with all that back and forth with the cc company, they would know its my card. I would not buy from JA again either. Airplanes, hotel, and cashing a check at my bank are the only places that even ask for ID.

I was really disappointed.

Talk about jumping through hoops. I hope you find another company to go with.

I just don't understand if my billing and shipping matched why they needed the extra proof? There was absolutely no reason for my order to be flagged especially since they confirmed my order and it was marked as PAID and I've bought higher ticket items with the same card and was never flagged...I think it's more of a JA thing than them saying it was "flagged".

As the saying goes, everything happens for a reason. I ended up ordering a beautiful halo engagement ring from Bluenile with one of their signature diamonds. I also saved $100 by using a loose diamond coupon code they had sent me this past weekend...and the best part is it's being delivered tomorrow. After ordering everything I emailed their CS and asked if there was anything they needed from me. They replied almost immediately and said no I'm all set and that my ring would be here tomorrow.

WOW, now THAT'S how to do business, take notes JA!!