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Pearlsource purchase - Tahitian Pendant and stud earrings

NathanS

Rough_Rock
Joined
Apr 15, 2021
Messages
11
I just wanted to post here my experiences with online purchasing, so as to help others who are looking for information around the subject. I was looking and now have purchased a Pendant and stud Earrings for my girlfriend.

I originally posted on these forums in the "Trusted Vendors Sticky" thread asking about www.pearlsonly.com.au (i'm Australian, it's a global franchise with warehouses seemingly in a few places), I also had been looking at Pearls of Joy, Purepearls and quite a few others, but they are purely based in the United States, and I'm not really protected by Australian consumer law buying from them, bar the 30-60 day return period.
I did try and place an order through Pearlsonly, only for their website to reject my payment three (3) times, for some bizarre reason, so clearly a glitch there on the website for some reason. I received confirmation emails stating my order had started but that "ORDER HAD FAILED!", and so I moved on to www.ThePearlsource.com.au . (In the meantime, I received a day later an email from pearlsonly stating they had attached a "PayPal link" for me to use to pay, sadly it was too late, I had moved on) I had seen they, being Pearlsource, seemingly have excellent ebay feedback, that Leon Rbibo the CEO had been involved with CPAA (Cultured Pearl Association of America) and Jewellers of America, but there are a few complaints I see about aftersales service (to be expected with an online shop only!) in reviews and the thread here that ain't so rosy! I read NacreLover's post in that thread, and the fact they had spent quite a few thousand over time on Tahitian pearls through them still, and Leon had posted pictures of the Hanadama "pearls of drama", which looked ok seemingly vs the negative claims, and decided to take a chance.

So I ordered a Tahitian pearl pendant, spent extra on the 10mm AAAA graded Black Tahitian on 14k White gold setting/chain and a pair of 8mm AAAA grade black Tahitian stud earrings (even though I know reading up that "AAAA" is not really a recognised Tahitian pearl grade ie AAA = A, AA+ = B, AA = C, A = D in the two scales of remote grading standards recognized) and thankyou to Kevin over at Pearls of Joy for outstanding information around all this, appreciate it as a newcomer! So I AM EXPECTING at least a AAA Grade to "Gem Grade" product, and I will be posting up photos here when I receive the product. I'm also getting the items looked at by a trusted jeweller where I live, for their opinion on the items.

Now after the order of the Pendant at Pearlsource (as I ordered it first, was only planning to ever order the Pendant, but had a change of heart later to add the earrings), strangely I never received a confirmation email with an order number, I checked my account from which I paid for the Pendant, and the cash had been taken. It was lateish here in Australia, Eastern side, around 9pm, and so I waited 30 minutes, and still nothing, I sent a "How can we help?" request from their Contact us page. I then went to bed. I was emailed back 8 hours later by Celene from the European branch it appeared, Euros being shown as the currency on the invoice, even though I paid in Australian dollars via the website. And she proceeded to be very helpful, including giving me the 15% discount I had missed on the site after a simple request. Celene also proceeded to state they would look after me and try and match the pearls of the corresponding earring set with the pendant, which I appreciate, on top of the 15% refund on the pendant order I made due to missing the Promo code whilst ordering. So what was seemingly potentially bad service in terms of website failure to acknowledge even the purchase (which would be worrisome to some I would imagine after seeing the money taken from your account), it's switched around with what I would say excellent communication and service from Celene there.

I await the shipment and tracking information and will keep everyone posted on it.
 
Last edited:

Pearlescence

Brilliant_Rock
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Confirmation emails are often intercepted along the way because they are automated and some programs see them as spam.
There are pearl suppliers in Australia.
 

NathanS

Rough_Rock
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Apr 15, 2021
Messages
11
Confirmation emails are often intercepted along the way because they are automated and some programs see them as spam.
There are pearl suppliers in Australia.

Yeah, I looked in my junk folder etc, nothing there at all, so pretty weird to be honest. Anyway was sorted via customer service, which is fine.

There are jewellers and pearl suppliers in Australia, however none carry designs like Pearlsource etc, and the cost is prohibitive. I don't particularly want to pay double the price. I can literally order something from the United States at half price, in US dollars (even with a -24% currency conversion loss) exact same pearl, so the markup is insane! But it's the consumer law protection that is most important to me. I can literally go to fair trading here and prosecute a company if they rip me off, and forcibly get my money back if required!
 
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NathanS

Rough_Rock
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Apr 15, 2021
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11
How excitting !

Yes it is, first time buying pearls, so looking forward to seeing them! I really like the look of Tahitian pearls personally, and my girlfriend likes them as well, and doesn't have any "black" coloured pearls. Fingers crossed they live up to at least a 95%+ non-blemished surface! Particularly when I added cost for the "AAAA" grading.
 

NathanS

Rough_Rock
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Apr 15, 2021
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Just a quick update, the pendant and earrings were sent within 24 hours of ordering, with an estimated arrival time of 1 week to Australia (Queensland). I'll edit this post as things transpire...
 

katbran

Brilliant_Rock
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Looking forward to the photos of your pearls ! It will be interesting to see what AAAA looks like .
 

Pearlescence

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The email may well not be in your junk folder. There are many servers between you and the company. We were DDS'd more than five years ago, and there is still a small ISP in the USA which blocks all our emails. (I have a hotmail for exactly this reason!)
 

NathanS

Rough_Rock
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Apr 15, 2021
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Looking forward to the photos of your pearls ! It will be interesting to see what AAAA looks like .
I wait in anticipation.........let's hope I'm not disappointed!
 

Daisys and Diamonds

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Apr 30, 2019
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Yeah, I looked in my junk folder etc, nothing there at all, so pretty weird to be honest. Anyway was sorted via customer service, which is fine.

There are jewellers and pearl suppliers in Australia, however none carry designs like Pearlsource etc, and the cost is prohibitive. I don't particularly want to pay double the price. I can literally order something from the United States at half price, in US dollars (even with a -24% currency conversion loss) exact same pearl, so the markup is insane! But it's the consumer law protection that is most important to me. I can literally go to fair trading here and prosecute a company if they rip me off, and forcibly get my money back if required!

The exchange rate isnt great over here in NZ right now
But over the years i have bought many many things from the US (not jewlery though) and i have never had any problem with supply, or quality, shipping etc
 

Daisys and Diamonds

Super_Ideal_Rock
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The email may well not be in your junk folder. There are many servers between you and the company. We were DDS'd more than five years ago, and there is still a small ISP in the USA which blocks all our emails. (I have a hotmail for exactly this reason!)

I don't understand a lot of modern tech talk
but boo hiss to that ISP thingy !
 

NathanS

Rough_Rock
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Apr 15, 2021
Messages
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Well the day of reckoning has arrived. The pearls arrived ahead of schedule, 1 day early than stated. And looking at the surface of the pearls they are almost flawless, there is a very slight indentation on one of the earrings, but in lieu of AAA quality (in this case AAAA) stating 95% of the surface is clear of blemishes etc, that is very applicable. I'll let you comment on the lustre etc. These photos were taken in a dimmer more "orange" light source. (looks like a spare chain with the pendant, I'm unsure what the go is there as well?)
IMG_1248.JPG IMG_1249.JPG

In conclusion, I am now going to a reputable jeweller where I live, who specialises in valuation of jewellery, and I'll post her findings here. Overall very happy with www.ThePearlsource.com.au in terms of overall experience of service and the product (at this stage until full evaluation)
 

NathanS

Rough_Rock
Joined
Apr 15, 2021
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I don't understand a lot of modern tech talk
but boo hiss to that ISP thingy !

basically DDoS is a cyber attack that floods your IP address with data and makes it impossible to pretty much do anything else. Literally soaks the entire bandwidth rendering you useless.
 

Daisys and Diamonds

Super_Ideal_Rock
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basically DDoS is a cyber attack that floods your IP address with data and makes it impossible to pretty much do anything else. Literally soaks the entire bandwidth rendering you useless.

:(2
I knew what ever it was it needed a boo hiss !
 

Daisys and Diamonds

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Apr 30, 2019
Messages
22,496
Well the day of reckoning has arrived. The pearls arrived ahead of schedule, 1 day early than stated. And looking at the surface of the pearls they are almost flawless, there is a very slight indentation on one of the earrings, but in lieu of AAA quality (in this case AAAA) stating 95% of the surface is clear of blemishes etc, that is very applicable. I'll let you comment on the lustre etc. These photos were taken in a dimmer more "orange" light source. (looks like a spare chain with the pendant, I'm unsure what the go is there as well?)
IMG_1248.JPG IMG_1249.JPG

In conclusion, I am now going to a reputable jeweller where I live, who specialises in valuation of jewellery, and I'll post her findings here. Overall very happy with www.ThePearlsource.com.au in terms of overall experience of service and the product (at this stage until full evaluation)

Oh they look lovelly
 

Lisa Loves Shiny

Ideal_Rock
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Nov 1, 2007
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4,683
@NathanS - So glad you are happy with your purchase and they look lovely! Have you given them to your girlfriend yet? I think she would be over the moon happy with such a gift. :)
 

NathanS

Rough_Rock
Joined
Apr 15, 2021
Messages
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@NathanS - So glad you are happy with your purchase and they look lovely! Have you given them to your girlfriend yet? I think she would be over the moon happy with such a gift. :)

No she has to wait a couple weeks yet till her birthday, just ordered ahead of time in case they weren't "upto scratch" so to speak. But yes she loves Tahitian pearls, and didn't have a "black" pearl in her jewellery collection. In fact looking at what she has the other evening, they're all "freshwater" or "manmade" pearls she owns, so these are definitely a cut above! I'm personally happy with them, and money spent vs alternatives here in Australia.
 

NathanS

Rough_Rock
Joined
Apr 15, 2021
Messages
11
Just in finalising this thread for posterity. I had the pearls valued, they are near "flawless" on the surface and a very good lustre, I wouldn't say they have excellent "orient" or that really "shimmery" surface you can see on some Tahitians, but absolutely flawless surface, which for me is paramount anyway. I did select literal "black tahitian" and was expecting the product I received in terms of this anyway. And they do match the AAA rating I expected. But just to clarify is all. They were valued at the market value here in Australia, and so the pendant and chain is near 3x what I actually paid, along with the earrings. So I would recommend The Pearl source to check out from my experience only. The service and turnaround time was very good after initial issues with verification email for the actual purchase, and they arrived a day early from the United States, literally 1 week turnaround in effect to Australia. If you can wear the fact customer service will be non-existent after point of sale, get over the "risk" around buying before actually seeing and not having that really tailored service before and after, definitely worth looking at vs the cost difference!
 
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