MAJOR problems with Ritani (guidance requested)

[mrssalvo]

Date: 6/10/2006 8:35:16 PM
Author: Gypsy


There's no confidenitality to be breached, you have accusations or information, this is the forum for them....

I have been reading along waiting for more information before commenting. If this is true and it is appropriate for Bill to post all the missing details I think it would be very helpful for those of us following this thread.


ETA: also, after re-reading, I think Bill was asking GeoAtl to call him, not Gypsy..

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 6/10/2006 9:01:15 PM
Author: mrssalvo

Date: 6/10/2006 8:35:16 PM
Author: Gypsy


There''s no confidenitality to be breached, you have accusations or information, this is the forum for them....

I have been reading along waiting for more information before commenting. If this is true and it is appropriate for Bill to post all the missing details I think it would be very helpful for those of us following this thread.

Thank you mrssalvo, my thoughts exactly. Thank you Bill for giving us the full story as you know it. I think someimes we forget that there are two sides to every story. Sounds like SB dropped the ball.... And Ritani makes mistakes too. It happens, no one is perfect last I checked.

I''m just glad it all ended well and he got the ring he wanted. As I stated earlier I do love a happy ending.

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 6/10/2006 8:35:16 PM
Author: Gypsy

I generally have a lot of respect for you, despite the fact that you qouted me one price for Beverly K settings in writing, then one day someone else that works for you qoutes me another significantly higher price with no explanation or apology. (I still have the emails from your store that proves this. I believed at the time that it was honest error and did not pursue this because I had was fairly sure I was going to go custom at that point and the higher price qouted me by your employee confirmed my decision.)

I don't want to hijack this thread but I'm curious as to why this would be an issue. I can see how an employee would not necessary know the price Bill gave you directly and if you had it in writing why even call back for a second quote? If I had received 2 quotes from a vendor, one of which was the owner, I'd surely assume that price would be honored and the employee didn't know any different. I have worked with Bill in the past and am in the middle of 2 projects with him right now and am completely confident that Bill would have honored his original quote to you.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Date: 6/10/2006 8:35:16 PM
Author: Gypsy
Shame on me? For what? There is nothing I posted above that I am ashamed of. It''s the truth, you are treating this as a personal attack on the man''s morality. And it''s not.

Call you? Excuse me?

Bill, I''m not going to engage in this. If I we are missing facts, then post them here... or better yet have Steve post them. And we''ll be glad to listen. You know something... post it.

I generally have a lot of respect for you, despite the fact that you qouted me one price for Beverly K settings in writing, then one day someone else that works for you qoutes me another significantly higher price with no explanation or apology. (I still have the emails from your store that proves this. I believed at the time that it was honest error and did not pursue this because I had was fairly sure I was going to go custom at that point and the higher price qouted me by your employee confirmed my decision.) But there will be no phone calls. Certainly not about this. Frankly, it''s not worth my time. I don''t have anything invested in this. I''ve never planned to get a Ritani... and don''t see myself doing so in the future.

There''s no confidenitality to be breached, you have accusations or information, this is the forum for them....

I don''t intend to get involved in this one, but I wanted to point out that Bill was asking GeoAtl to call him, not you, Gypsy.

 

[Gypsy]

It just seemed relevant, at the time... but probably isn''t. Frankly I was just irritated beyond belief that Bill would say ''shame on you'' to me, when I stated nothing but the truth given the amount of information available to me. I have a temper. He roused it.

As for honoring the price, I was talking exclusively to Bill for quite a while. Then all of the sudden Jason sends me an email with some information I had requested from Bill (which bothered me). And also gives me another price for the setting, much higher than the last. I cut and pasted from my correspondance with Bill the previous price... was told I would have to take it up with Bill (which really bothered me, because I had intended to deal with Bill, had been... and all of the sudden I wasn''t). I just decided not to pursue it because I was fairly certain I was going to go custom at that point... and figured it was just an error one way or another. Still think it was. Honestly was just furious earlier and it sprang to mind as relevant. It''s not though, and I apologize for the outburst.

 

[Gypsy]

Date: 6/10/2006 10:42:48 PM
Author: diamondseeker2006

Date: 6/10/2006 8:35:16 PM
Author: Gypsy
Shame on me? For what? There is nothing I posted above that I am ashamed of. It's the truth, you are treating this as a personal attack on the man's morality. And it's not.

Call you? Excuse me?

Bill, I'm not going to engage in this. If I we are missing facts, then post them here... or better yet have Steve post them. And we'll be glad to listen. You know something... post it.

I generally have a lot of respect for you, despite the fact that you qouted me one price for Beverly K settings in writing, then one day someone else that works for you qoutes me another significantly higher price with no explanation or apology. (I still have the emails from your store that proves this. I believed at the time that it was honest error and did not pursue this because I had was fairly sure I was going to go custom at that point and the higher price qouted me by your employee confirmed my decision.) But there will be no phone calls. Certainly not about this. Frankly, it's not worth my time. I don't have anything invested in this. I've never planned to get a Ritani... and don't see myself doing so in the future.

There's no confidenitality to be breached, you have accusations or information, this is the forum for them....

I don't intend to get involved in this one, but I wanted to point out that Bill was asking GeoAtl to call him, not you, Gypsy.

Saying "shame on you gypsy" when I am certain I did nothing to deserve it is like waiving a red flag in front of a bull. I skimmed the rest of the post. But thank for the clarification.

Still pretty furious frankly.

 

[mrssalvo]

Religious faith is not a shield against human stupidity

this is the only thing you said that I could see coming across offensive, albiet true in many cases. Thus far, we don''t know for sure what exactly Steve said other that what GeoAtl has told us which may be 100% accurate or may have personal bias and spin. Bill has given us pieces of the story but says there are facts missing which we hope to know. I don''t think Bill was trying to make excuses for Steve by giving us his cultural/religious background, only give is insight as to why some customer service issues may have come up. How well does Steve speak english? maybe his English comes across as short and rude b/c it''s not his first language? I don''t know, i just think calling him stupid when we really don''t know anything about the conversations other than our OP''s story can be seen as rather harsh. I do believe Ritani needs to be sure the people who are dealing directly with customers are trained appropiately in dealing with customer relations and would like to see GoeAtl receive some sort of acknowlegement/apology from Ritani for the mistakes that they made.

 

[lizz]

Honestly, this whole thread makes me never want to buy a Ritani ring. It really seems like good customer service these days in all industries is on the decline. That''s why, when I get good customer service, I always notice it and never forget it.

 

[Gypsy]

Date: 6/10/2006 11:11:26 PM
Author: mrssalvo
Religious faith is not a shield against human stupidity

this is the only thing you said that I could see coming across offensive, albiet true in many cases. Thus far, we don't know for sure what exactly Steve said other that what GeoAtl has told us which may be 100% accurate or may have personal bias and spin. Bill has given us pieces of the story but says there are facts missing which we hope to know. I don't think Bill was trying to make excuses for Steve by giving us his cultural/religious background, only give is insight as to why some customer service issues may have come up. How well does Steve speak english? maybe his English comes across as short and rude b/c it's not his first language? I don't know, i just think calling him stupid when we really don't know anything about the conversations other than our OP's story can be seen as rather harsh. I do believe Ritani needs to be sure the people who are dealing directly with customers are trained appropiately in dealing with customer relations and would like to see GoeAtl receive some sort of acknowlegement/apology from Ritani for the mistakes that they made.

I wasn't calling the man stupid. I'm sorry if it came across that way. As I wrote it, and as I read it now-- that's not what I was saying. But if it reads that way to you... mrssalvo, then I can see why it would be offensive.

What I meant by that is that all kinds of very faithful religious people do stupid (and by that I meant anything from merely 'human' mistakes to horrible unthinkable acts) things. It was a general, not specific statement. I should probably have put in a paragraph all by itself. But I didn't.

And while Bill did mention religion in one instance to explain why working on a particular weekend day was difficult, he first mentioned it as a affirmation of character. To me, it isn't one. I'm met athiests more moral and humane than some of the most 'religious' people I've met. Religion isn't a shield against stupidity. It doesn't stop people from doing things that are wrong. I'm not ashamed of my opinion on this subject.

I just felt that the man's religious faith (with the exception of the explanation of the weekend work restrictions) was completely irrelevant. And said so.

 

[mrssalvo]

thanks for the clarification gypsy. I understood where you coming from, i was just trying to point out that what you said could be interpreted differently, which can easily happen in the written language.

you know what they say about Religion and Politics

 

[Gypsy]

Well, *scratches head* ... that you shouldn''t mix the two?
That''s true. But... that wouldn''t apply here....

That you they are personal and private and should be kept out of most ''public'' conversations? (Don''t know if that''s what ''they'' say.... that is what *I* say though....lol)

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 6/11/2006 12:03:59 AM
Author: Gypsy
Well, *scratches head* ... that you shouldn't mix the two?

That's true. But... that wouldn't apply here....


That you they are personal and private and should be kept out of most 'public' conversations? (Don't know if that's what 'they' say.... that is what *I* say though....lol)

that they shouldn't be discussed on a public forum

i'm with ya on the what *you/they* say

 

[blueroses]

Date: 6/11/2006 12:09:19 AM
Author: mrssalvo

Date: 6/11/2006 12:03:59 AM
Author: Gypsy
Well, *scratches head* ... that you shouldn''t mix the two?

That''s true. But... that wouldn''t apply here....


That you they are personal and private and should be kept out of most ''public'' conversations? (Don''t know if that''s what ''they'' say.... that is what *I* say though....lol)

that they shouldn''t be discussed on a public forum

i''m with ya on the what *you/they* say

Hell, I don''t even want to discuss them at the family dinner table. Gah!!!!!




(mommy daddy please stop fighting)

 

[orangevixen]

whhhhooooooooooooaaaaa....drama! i''m w/ kaleigh. in the end, glad you got the ring and that you''re engaged, GeoAtl. Congrats!!!

regardless of who''s right or wrong or who dropped the ball, imo, BOTH Ritani and SB owe GeoAtl a HUGE apology. to complain about poor customer service when you''re buying a diamond at walmart is one thing... but when you''re spending thousands upon thousands on an engagement ring from a specialty manufacturer, superb customer service should be a given. sorry that this happened. and please, please, post some pics!!!

 

[lizz]

Date: 6/11/2006 12:23:10 AM
Author: orangevixen
whhhhooooooooooooaaaaa....drama! i''m w/ kaleigh. in the end, glad you got the ring and that you''re engaged, GeoAtl. Congrats!!!

regardless of who''s right or wrong or who dropped the ball, imo, BOTH Ritani and SB owe GeoAtl a HUGE apology. to complain about poor customer service when you''re buying a diamond at walmart is one thing... but when you''re spending thousands upon thousands on an engagement ring from a specialty manufacturer, superb customer service should be a given. sorry that this happened. and please, please, post some pics!!!

Agreed. Those Ritani settings are so overpriced. I will pay more for something if I get good customer service to go along with it.

 

[Duckymama]

"Alright, class, lets all settle down"

Geo, I'm glad you got the ring in time for your altered timeline proposal, though (and I'm saying this quietly, sweetly and as gently as I can so as not to start anything else up...) she DID pick out the setting with you. She did know it was coming sometime soon. So unless the dates you picked were particular dating anniversaries to you...? My husband of 20 years is a non-romantic romantic type...have been married all this time with no actual proposal, so my perspective on sweet gestures has become somewhat skewed

And as far as the phone calls and who faxed what to whom with what info...the only ones who really know what happened in total are SB and the ring manufacturers. Geo knows what Steve told him, but not what was told to HIM. SB spoke with Geo, but did they speak with Ritani as many times as they said they did in status land? I know not of them one way or the other, just speculating.

Geo, if I were you, I'd stay away from both the retailer and the designer in future. It seems as though mistakes were made on both ends, but again, who really knows who dropped the ball and how hard?

Try to put the whole thing behind you as fast as possible, or every time you look at that rock on her hand you will get a little tense. Not good karma on which to base your futures. (and we still want to see it....keep snapping those pics!)
Ducky

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 6/11/2006 1:05:39 AM
Author: Duckymama
'Alright, class, lets all settle down'

Geo, I'm glad you got the ring in time for your altered timeline proposal, though (and I'm saying this quietly, sweetly and as gently as I can so as not to start anything else up...) she DID pick out the setting with you. She did know it was coming sometime soon. So unless the dates you picked were particular dating anniversaries to you...? My husband of 20 years is a non-romantic romantic type...have been married all this time with no actual proposal, so my perspective on sweet gestures has become somewhat skewed

And as far as the phone calls and who faxed what to whom with what info...the only ones who really know what happened in total are SB and the ring manufacturers. Geo knows what Steve told him, but not what was told to HIM. SB spoke with Geo, but did they speak with Ritani as many times as they said they did in status land? I know not of them one way or the other, just speculating.

Geo, if I were you, I'd stay away from both the retailer and the designer in future. It seems as though mistakes were made on both ends, but again, who really knows who dropped the ball and how hard?

Try to put the whole thing behind you as fast as possible, or every time you look at that rock on her hand you will get a little tense. Not good karma on which to base your futures. (and we still want to see it....keep snapping those pics!)
Ducky

Hey Ducky if you make your font bigger I can read what you just said. Thanks!!!

ETA:just read in another thread you are having computer problems so no biggie.

 

[FireGoddess]

Date: 6/11/2006 12:14:08 AM
Author: blueroses

(mommy daddy please stop fighting)

Was thinking it earlier, wanted to say it earlier, but it''s your line!!

 

[Mara]

Random thought...I'm going with a friend tomorrow to BBB specifically to look at Ritani settings for her e-ring, so hope to hear some positive outcome from this thread on Ritani's end, so that I can feel comfortable recommending them to her wholeheartedly. I do love their stuff from a visual perspective, but not sure I would want her to deal with them right now, as it seems they are working out some kinks...I would hate for her to have any type of issues on her e-ring...she's been looking fwd to it for so long.

 

[GeoAtl]

Date: 6/11/2006 1:05:39 AM
Author: Duckymama
''Alright, class, lets all settle down''

Geo, I''m glad you got the ring in time for your altered timeline proposal, though (and I''m saying this quietly, sweetly and as gently as I can so as not to start anything else up...) she DID pick out the setting with you. She did know it was coming sometime soon. So unless the dates you picked were particular dating anniversaries to you...? My husband of 20 years is a non-romantic romantic type...have been married all this time with no actual proposal, so my perspective on sweet gestures has become somewhat skewed

And as far as the phone calls and who faxed what to whom with what info...the only ones who really know what happened in total are SB and the ring manufacturers. Geo knows what Steve told him, but not what was told to HIM. SB spoke with Geo, but did they speak with Ritani as many times as they said they did in status land? I know not of them one way or the other, just speculating.

Geo, if I were you, I''d stay away from both the retailer and the designer in future. It seems as though mistakes were made on both ends, but again, who really knows who dropped the ball and how hard?

Try to put the whole thing behind you as fast as possible, or every time you look at that rock on her hand you will get a little tense. Not good karma on which to base your futures. (and we still want to see it....keep snapping those pics!)
Ducky

Ducky, everything you say is absolutely fair. The engagement dates that I picked out were anything but random though, so while it would''ve meant a lot to have been able to propose on the 3rd, the 6th was still a special day for us and we are both extremely happy that it all worked out in the end.

As far as putting it all behind us, it''s already been done. We both couldn''t be happier with the ring and, most importantly, with the fact that we are now engaged! When it comes to our lives, we definitely don''t have anything to complain about

I am a very strong believer in fairness, however, and would never abandon a retailer that has bent over backwards to help me. This is the reason that I am still posting in this thread -- I have no factual knowledge of SB having done anything wrong in my transaction but, even if they have, they have certainly done everything in their power afterwards to make sure that I was happy. On the other hand, I also believe not only that Ritani could not have handled the situation any worse but that they are compounding their numerous mistakes by acting through another vendor to attack SB instead of trying to make sure that the customer is happy. If nothing else, the first instinct of any reputable retailer in their situation should be to apologize to the customer and only then, if warranted, to try to explain that the fault is not entirely theirs.

Not only has Ritani not accepted responsibility and apologized for its actions, but the tactics that they are employing against SB are downright dishonorable. I have already posted that Ritani has previously falsely claimed to me, for instance, that SB''s purchase order referenced yellow gold -- they have subsequently admitted that their assertion was false. Further, Bill, in one of his posts above, stated that Ritani was prepared to manufacture the setting in platinum -- with all due respect to Bill, this directly contradicts the statement that I personally received from Ritani regarding the issue. As such, Ritani doesn''t have much credibility with me in this situation.

 

[mrssalvo]

If SB is having so many problems with Ritani, it will be interesting to see if they will continue to carry the line. My local jeweler recently stopped carrying another well known designer because they were having so many problems. Many rings were coming in with workmanship issues and he got tired of having to make excuses to his customers. I would think SB would tire quickly of constant issues and no longer want to carry Ritani.


Mara, I''d ask BB&B is they have been any problems with Ritani and if so, whay types of problems are they experiencing. We all know mistakes can be made and were in GeoAtl''s situation but i''m not convinced that it''s "common." Unfortuatley, GeoAtl''s situation seemed to turn into a perfect storm where several events lead to many errors and it was capped of by Ritani''s normal customer service reps being away and not handled as well as it should have been. I think they normally do a pretty good job or we''d see a lot more threads like this one on here.

 

[Mara]

oh yeah mrs s...i was going to ask them about their dealings with ritani anyway..

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 6/11/2006 3:19:33 PM
Author: Mara
oh yeah mrs s...i was going to ask them about their dealings with ritani anyway..

I assumed you probably would

. Please let us know what you find out.

 

[mrssalvo]

bumping to see if what mara found out about Ritani from BB&B, if anything?

 

[Mara]

Date: 6/12/2006 10:52:23 AM
Author: mrssalvo
bumping to see if what mara found out about Ritani from BB&B, if anything?

hi Mrs S...sorry i got distracted in SMTR bumping my old Ritani thread about that solitaire I loved since of course I tried it on again, heheeh...I posted my experience in there..but here is a copy and paste about the store and their brands:

"Yes while there I did ask the gal about their dealings with Ritani. It was pretty interesting talking to her because she said that they have not had any problems dealing with Ritani and that they are always on time with all their stuff. She said it''s 4 weeks to have a ring/setting made and that they are like clockwork with their timelines.

I also asked about their warranty on the settings, esp for my friend who is considering the solitaire non-halo endless love like Kayla''s. She said that they have a lifetime warranty on the setting for things like melee falling out etc and that they take care of everything for you, you just drop the ring off and it takes about 7 days. She said that they have people who get melee falling out and I asked how often and she said maybe one every few months but that some customers have their melee falling out all the time! She said that she has one client who just LOVES the setting and has to replace melee fairly often, but does not care, she just brings the ring in and drops it off and picks it up. How funny is that, she just had to have that setting and apparently is really hard on it. Lifetime warranty works great for her! I wondered if she was a PS''er. hehee.

The other interesting thing she mentioned was that they don''t have that many problems with Ritani BUT they do with the Vera Wang settings! She said that the setting like Albi''s (but without diamond prong tips) has lots of problems and that they are always sending it back for repair and lost melee, and she said it is not a sturdy setting and I could have sworn I heard her say that some had BROKEN.

Be careful Albi!

I also asked about what are their most popular settings and she said anything from Scott Kay, Tacori, and Ritani but that Vera Wang is a top seller right now. How funny when compared with what she just told me about the durability issues they are having. Yikes! "

 

[mrssalvo]

thanks Mara..I just finished reading your Ritani thread, love the solitaire 2 eternity band idea

very interesting about the very wang settings too..

 

[GeoAtl]

Just to keep this thread complete, I wanted to post an update. I called Bill yesterday and spoke with him for a little while. No new information was revealed or uncovered in the conversation, although I do feel that Ritani should certainly be proud of friends such as Bill. I told Bill that with all due respect to him, I could not accept him apologizing on Ritani''s behalf and that Bill''s offer to contact Ritani so they could apologize to us directly while quite nice, wasn''t appropriate. My fiance and I both felt quite strongly that it certainly wasn''t incumbent upon us to continue to ask for Ritani''s apology, when one obviously was not about to be extended to us voluntarily.

Today I received an email from David Friedman, one of Ritani''s owners, which I am sure was inspired by Bill''s communication with him regarding this issue. David apologized for the mistake and offered a $100 retail discount, valid at any authorized Ritani retailer.

It''s unfortunate that this had to go as far as it did but as far as we are concerned, the matter is now closed. Thank you all once again for all the wonderful support, kind replies and refreshing opinions.

 

[FireGoddess]

Date: 6/14/2006 4:07:08 PM
Author: GeoAtl
Today I received an email from David Friedman, one of Ritani''s owners, which I am sure was inspired by Bill''s communication with him regarding this issue. David apologized for the mistake and offered a $100 retail discount, valid at any authorized Ritani retailer.

On another Ritani purchase?

Or on anything? Cuz y''know, it''s sorta useless if they''ve already gotten this bad taste in your mouth.

 

[GeoAtl]

Yep, the $100 discount can only be applied towards future Ritani purchases. It was a nice (although a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery late) apology so I didn't want to insult David with a rejection. Whether we end up using this discount or not is an entirely different story, however. I'll give it to my fiance and she'll decide what to do with it.

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 6/14/2006 4:53:38 PM
Author: GeoAtl
Yep, the $100 discount can only be applied towards future Ritani purchases. It was a nice (although a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery late) apology so I didn''t want to insult David with a rejection. Whether we end up using this discount or not is an entirely different story, however. I''ll give it to my fiance and she''ll decide what to do with it.

i can understand being very wary of using them again due to all the trouble

. I would say however I love the matching wedding band and if she is planning on wearing one, it might be worth giving them another chance just to own the matching set?