Jared Jewelers Experiences PLEASE! Need some Feedback!

[maybaby]

I'm new to this forum, but I have been reading most of the posts and have found them to be most helpful!

Here's my story... My boyfriend and I went ring "looking" last week and the only store that was open late was Jared. We have a family jeweler, but we thought that it would be a good idea to look around first to get an idea of what looked the best on my finger. I must say that we had a wonderful 1st time experience at Jared. We really liked the ladies that helped us and found two settings that were amazing! The BF also was very pleased with their 20% down/12 month 0% interest plan.

He's probably going to price out the ring he chooses there and bring pictures to show our jeweler to see if he can match or come down on the price. We are both extremely new to this process.

Despite loving the experience of trying on many beautiful rings (what girl wouldn't love that), when I went home to look up reviews for Jared I found nothing but awful experiences! I know that with this company being a chain, every store is different, but some of the stories were really scaring. Examples: white gold rings turning yellow after 1 month, chipped diamonds, poor workmanship, not honoring warranty. The worst part was there were hardly any GOOD reviews.

Help! Please send me any advice/experiences you can about this store. Thanks!!

**I'm also a picture lover, so if you have any pictures of your Jared rings as examples good or bad I would love to see!

 

[marcy]

I have shopped at a nearby Jareds for a couple of years now. They have always been very nice to me and I have no complaints about their service. My husband has bought several watches. I have a garnet ring, pendant and bracelet (all of which they had to tighten stones with no problem), a pendant and I had a 1/2 ct heart diamond from Kays (same company) that I had Jared's mount in one of their sapphire engagement rings. I like the comfort of having a jeweler I can go to for repair or issues. Jared's does not negoiate on price and they are certainly higher than online dealers.

Good luck with your search.

 

[Cehrabehra]

I think you can do better than Jared in terms of quality and price with most any ps vendor

BUT

The reason you find so many complaints is that by nature people are more likely to go out of their way to complain where as if they're happy they usually just disappear...

 

[Ultimate Diamond Co.]

I'm new to this forum, but I have been reading most of the posts and have found them to be most helpful!

Here's my story... My boyfriend and I went ring "looking" last week and the only store that was open late was Jared. We have a family jeweler, but we thought that it would be a good idea to look around first to get an idea of what looked the best on my finger. I must say that we had a wonderful 1st time experience at Jared. We really liked the ladies that helped us and found two settings that were amazing! The BF also was very pleased with their 20% down/12 month 0% interest plan.

He's probably going to price out the ring he chooses there and bring pictures to show our jeweler to see if he can match or come down on the price. We are both extremely new to this process.

Despite loving the experience of trying on many beautiful rings (what girl wouldn't love that), when I went home to look up reviews for Jared I found nothing but awful experiences! I know that with this company being a chain, every store is different, but some of the stories were really scaring. Examples: white gold rings turning yellow after 1 month, chipped diamonds, poor workmanship, not honoring warranty. The worst part was there were hardly any GOOD reviews.

Help! Please send me any advice/experiences you can about this store. Thanks!!

**I'm also a picture lover, so if you have any pictures of your Jared rings as examples good or bad I would love to see!

If you went to Jared, you can go tell every one that "He went to Jared!"

 

[maybaby]

If you went to Jared, you can go tell every one that "He went to Jared!"

haha that's the one thing I do NOT want to do. I was laughing on the way to the store because I can't stand their ad campaign! Thanks for the laugh!

 

[ImpatientOne]

We have purchased a few pieces from Jareds including a 5 stone band with Ideal cut stones. I really don't have complaints about their service, but I will tell you we bought my wedding set and center diamond from PS vendors. When I went in to Jareds to look at the 5 stone bands, the store manager was gushing over my rings and asked where I got them. I asked her how much something similar would run at Jareds, then told her how much we paid, and she about fell out right then and there. THOUSANDS of dollars difference in the price between their top of the line Peerless diamonds versus what you can get from one of the PS vendors.

I know some people are leery of making such a big purchase online, but ofr us, it was a no-brainer!

 

[Haven]

Have you looked at similar rings from your family jeweler? Have you looked through our SMTR threads and looked very closely at the quality of the PS vendor rings? I would compare what you see in other places to what you see in Jared.

Personally, I've been in to a couple of Jared stores in the area and the pieces always looked a little sloppy to me. We priced a shared prong eternity band (for my wedding ring) at Jared but the difference in quality between their bands and the shared prong eternity band of my engagement ring was very obvious, and not in Jared's favor.

However, each location may be different. I would get educated, and make an informed decision based on what you've seen at different places. The worst thing you can do is to rush into a decision and rely only on what other people say or don't say.

Good luck!

 

[LGK]

Have you looked at similar rings from your family jeweler? Have you looked through our SMTR threads and looked very closely at the quality of the PS vendor rings? I would compare what you see in other places to what you see in Jared.

Personally, I've been in to a couple of Jared stores in the area and the pieces always looked a little sloppy to me. We priced a shared prong eternity band (for my wedding ring) at Jared but the difference in quality between their bands and the shared prong eternity band of my engagement ring was very obvious, and not in Jared's favor.

However, each location may be different. I would get educated, and make an informed decision based on what you've seen at different places. The worst thing you can do is to rush into a decision and rely only on what other people say or don't say.
Good luck!

What Haven said. Definitely do your homework- and if you're open to shopping online, frankly, I've found that the largest selection and best prices are available online, and you can definitely find places that have excellent customer service too. (And a lot of PS vendors like Good Old Gold, Whiteflash, Brian Gavin Diamonds, Infinity etc. also have excellent trade up policies, like you can upgrade with any diamond that's even slightly more expensive.)

Just inform yourself basically, and if Jared's is what you prefer, go for it- I have no doubt you could find a beautiful diamond through Jared's if you are educated; it may not be as cheap as you can find elsewhere, though... you just need to decide if that's what's most important to you, and if having a local store you can walk into, like your family jeweler or Jared's, is worth paying that premium for. If it is, there's nothing wrong with that- you just need to know that up front and make an educated decision.

It's definitely easy to fall in love with jewelry in person, since, well, jewelry is lovely, y'know? Generally in a bricks & mortar store like Jared's you pay more- stores like that have a lot overhead, and your purchase must pay for the rent, the lighting, the payment plans, the helpful saleslady's salary, etc. If that is worth it to you, to have a local place to go to get your rings repaired/inspected, to get that payment plan etc., that's no big deal- just make sure you know that's what you're paying for.

Also, just FYI, the warranties offered by places like Jared's are often redundant... it's a really, really good idea to get your higher end jewelry insured (as warranties don't cover loss or theft) and so what is covered by their warranties are *also* covered by a good insurance plan (like breakage and damage). And you don't have to take your ring in to be inspected ever 6 months to keep coverage with insurance unlike the warranties usually specify.

Have fun shopping!

 

[maybaby]

Thanks to all of you for posting. I guess it's very easy to get wrapped up into a sales pitch especially when the people are so nice. I think that the best idea would be to continue to look around and possibly look into ps dealers like many of you mentioned.

Best Regards!

 

[Miss Sparkly]

I'm a huge fan of Jareds. And their extended warrenty is worth every penny to me - especially if you're buing white gold. With the acidity of my skin I have it replated at least 4x per year. Customer service has been amazing, and if you take your time to go through the stock you can find some beautiful pieces. Personally, I would buy my center diamond from a trusted online vendor, my setting from Jareds (and buy the extended warrenty!) and make sure to have outside insurance. A lot of today's designs become very expensive as prongs begin to need fixing and stones tightened (Jared's setting warrenty covers all of this).

My Jareds setting (STUNNING in person and all of the small diamonds are fireballs - now if only my camera skills were up to snuff )

show-me-the-ring/happy-birthday-to-me-halo-and-baguettes-with-transitional-t146821.html

 

[february2003bride]

I have tons of experience with Jareds. They have so many settings to try on so even if you don't buy from them, you can at least narrow down what type of setting that you like. I like that they carry Scott Kay and Levian in their stores. They just recently started carrying Neil Lane settings on their website.

I bought my diamond from Jared.com. I got a much better diamond at a better price buying through their website than buying at the Jared's store. My setting is a Scott Kay bought through Jared's and mounted there. They have a lot more settings on their website as well! So definitely look there. I would say on a scale of 1-10 me being happy with Jared's, I would rate it an 8.

Good luck!

 

[Amys Bling]

My Ering is from Jareds and I could not be happier. It appraised for MUCH MUCH more than we paid (even the sales girl remarked to my FI that she thought maybe the pricing was mislabeled on my stone becuase she was surprised at the price!)

1.55 D RB SI2 with .7 ct eternity band

I have been checking out stones on this website (ones people list for opinions) and I have found that my price was VERY Good. I don't feel that I was ripped off in price or quality.

 

[maybaby]

Thanks for the help ladies!! We are still supposed to look at a couple more places, but it makes me feel so much better that some of you have had good experiences with your purchases.

I'll keep you posted on my search!!

Thanks so much again for your help!

 

[marcy]

I look forward to your final decision and seeing pictures of what you get.

 

[onedrop]

A good friend of mine got her engagement ring from Jared's and it is really gorgeous. I can't speak on the specs and such, but to my eye it certainly *looked* beautiful! You are doing the right thing though in shopping around. It really helps in making an informed purchase. Good luck in your search!!

 

[Scuba_Guy]

Not to hi-jack the thread but I have a Jared Question also about their Extended Service Plan:

"Must Have" or "Waste of Cash"?

Thanks

 

[luvsdmb]

I would love to know if anyone has ever had a custom ring made at Jared's?? When you are in the store they make it sound as if they can make whatever your heart desires, I am just nervous because I would like to know the details of their jewelers. Are they just people off the street, are they experienced as much as the people that are so well known on the here. It seems when you ask anyone around here about the melee size they never have an answer, which seems like something they should know and be able to tell you about.

 

[CharmedOne]

This ring came from Jared about 8 years ago. The price and quality back then was amazing. Great experience at the time. I haven't been back since, so I can't say how their service is now.

 

[momhappy]

My only experience with Jared is that I went in there once (when shopping with my MIL, who wanted to pop in since it was right next to a coffee shop that we stopped at). As I was walking around the store, they offered to "inspect" my rings. The next thing I know, they claimed to have found loose stones and wanted me to leave my rings and they would bill me for the repairs. I declined the "repairs" as I did not find them necessary.
Personally, I wouldn't shop at Jared (just like I wouldn't shop at Kay, etc.).

 

[Niel]

I would love to know if anyone has ever had a custom ring made at Jared's?? When you are in the store they make it sound as if they can make whatever your heart desires, I am just nervous because I would like to know the details of their jewelers. Are they just people off the street, are they experienced as much as the people that are so well known on the here. It seems when you ask anyone around here about the melee size they never have an answer, which seems like something they should know and be able to tell you about.

For me unless you've seem specific examples of what you're looking for I would commission them for custom work. I did that with a local B&M jeweler and it turned out terrible. Not saying you have to go with one of the vendors here. If you find a local place that's great! I'd just want to see examples of similar work before you go with anyone.