Pricescope Vendors Rant!!!!

[SilverLily]

I am not new here. I have lurked for over a year and have felt the need to post today.

I have purchased before from a PriceScope vendor last year and had a wonderful transaction. I bought an ideal cut H&A, 1.5cts, and had it set in a plain platinum setting. Beautiful stone, wonderful service.

A few months ago, my mother gave me a platinum semi-mount that has two small (about .25 ct) emerald cut diamonds. The semi-mount needed a center emerald-cut stone of about .75 cts. The final look would be a three stone ring.

I waited until after the holidays to look for a diamond for my ring. This is what happened:

Vendor #1: This is the vendor from whom I purchased my 1.5ct diamond from last year. I e-mailed them, told them what I was looking for, and waited. Eleven days after my e-mail I get a response from someone saying that they were busy, and sorry for the delay. Unfortunately, I gave up on hearing from them on day 6 and had already contacted another vendor.

Vendor #2: Seemed great at first. I found a few diamonds, she checked the availability of them, and got back to me within a day. At that point, I decided to spend a little more and go with a GIA certified diamond, so I found a few more that I liked and e-mailed her back asking to hold one for me. She never did hold it for me, never e-mailed me back, so I called Vendor #3 and asked them to get THAT SAME diamond for me.

Vendor #3: I called them (was getting frustrated with e-mails). I talked to the owner directly. He was very nice, told me he could get that diamond, and would ship it out to me to take a look. I said great. I told him about the semi-mount that I had, and told him that if the diamond looked good and was a nice fit, then I would send the diamond and the ring back to him for setting.

Here is where the problem is: Yesterday I received the diamond. Today I called Vendor #3 . I talked to someone else (not the owner), and told him that I liked the diamond, looked like it fit the semi-mount perfectly, and that I wanted to ship it all back for setting. He then told me that they don''t set their diamonds into a ring that was not sold by them. I told him that the owner NEVER told me anything of that sort, and neither can any of that info be found on their website. He said that he would be happy to have the owner call me back, but that in all his time of working there they have NEVER set a diamond into someone else''s ring.

Now, I can understand having that policy. But when I talked to the owner about my plans, he never told me that. Now I am stuck with a loose diamond (unless I decide to return it), an empty semi-mount, and no jeweler to set it. I live in a very small town that doesn''t even have a jeweler, which is why I didn''t mind paying the extra shipping costs to send it back to the vendor for setting. Now I am stuck. I guess I will have to decide if I want to return the diamond, or if I am willing to drive to the nearest city and try to find someone to set it for me. And I would think that most jewelers would not be happy at all to set a diamond that they didn''t sell.

I am very angry. It seems like my puny little purchase wasn''t enough to warrant decent customer service from not one but THREE different vendors. I guess if you aren''t spending huge amounts with them, they could care less about you. Too bad vendor #1 didn''t know that I DID spend a pretty decent amount with them last year.

 

[strmrdr]

ouch sorry to hear that some vendors dropped the ball.
Give the owner a chance to talk to you before getting too down on vendor 3.
Sometimes the employees dont know what the boss is up too.
If the owner says the same thing Id return the diamond and find someone else to buy one from.

 

[Richard Sherwood]

You might consider sending it to one of the appraisers and having it set. Most of them offer that service, and then can appraise it for you as well.

 

[goldengirl]

I am sorry you had such a rough experience. As most people here will vouch, if you''re having trouble communicating via email, it''s best to pick up the phone. While I cannot make excuses for vendor #3 (who definitely should have told you of their policy, knowing your intentions with the diamond), I think you may have had better luck with vendors #1 & 2 if you had called.

Regardless, I think that kind of delay is really inexcusable (#1) and I cannot for the life of me imagine why a vendor would ignore you if you asked them to hold a diamond (#2)... I mean, that''s a purchase, small or not! Maybe your email didn''t go through?

I hope you get a satisfactory conclusion to this ring dilemma! ((hugs))

 

[chrono]

Not to excuse any vendor, but I find that there are some who are so flooded with emails that they can''t sort through them in a timely manner. If in a hurry or in need of immediate response, a telephone call is always the fastest and most effective way of communication. I''m sorry that you had to go through such an experience.

 

[SilverLily]

Thanks everyone. Richard, I remember reading that about independent appraisers before, but I guess I forgot! Thanks for reminding me that they can also set stones. It does seem like this would be the best choice for me so that I can get an appraisal at the same time (That is, if I don''t return the diamond and buy the same diamond from someone else. Believe me, I am tempted to do that).

I agree that calling is probably the better option (which I figured out after Vendor #1 and Vendor #2, which is why I finally called Vendor #3). But it is funny that I had no problem getting e-mail responses when I was buying a 1.5ct diamond. I really do think that they take the e-mails in order of who is spending the most, not in the order of which they came in. I hope I am wrong about that.

Oh, and Vendor #1 made a booboo. On day 8 of waiting for an e-mail from them, the owner sent an e-mail to one of his employees asking him to handle my e-mail. He said he had handled all of the rest, but had to pass my e-mail on because he was busy. How do I know this? Because the employee that finally e-mailed me on day 11 sent the owner''s e-mail to me! I guess he didn''t mean to, but there it was with his own little message to me before it. That kind of ticked me off. It again made me feel like my e-mail was passed over in favor of more expensive purchases. Why else would the owner handle ALL of the other ones, but not mine? I hope I am just paranoid about that also, but it is hard to believe when I see that same person posting on threads here. No time to answer my e-mail, but time to answer posts on pricescope?

 

[hoorray]

Date: 1/12/2005 3

3:25 PM
Author: Chrono
Not to excuse any vendor, but I find that there are some who are so flooded with emails that they can''t sort through them in a timely manner. If in a hurry or in need of immediate response, a telephone call is always the fastest and most effective way of communication. I''m sorry that you had to go through such an experience.

I understand that it is easy to get buried with email. But this is specifically the way these vendors do business, so they need to have a system in place to respond in a timely manner, and actually follow through with requests from serious customers. I have had similar experiences and just won''t bother with those vendors anymore.

That said, Rich has a good suggestion. Send it to an appriaser and have them arrange for the setting. I have done that before with very good results. And, you''ll get a good appraisal for peace of mind and insurance at the same time.

 

[icelady]

Date: 1/12/2005 3:19:35 PM
Author: SilverLily
Thanks everyone. Richard, I remember reading that about independent appraisers before, but I guess I forgot! Thanks for reminding me that they can also set stones. It does seem like this would be the best choice for me so that I can get an appraisal at the same time (That is, if I don''t return the diamond and buy the same diamond from someone else. Believe me, I am tempted to do that).

I agree that calling is probably the better option (which I figured out after Vendor #1 and Vendor #2, which is why I finally called Vendor #3). But it is funny that I had no problem getting e-mail responses when I was buying a 1.5ct diamond. I really do think that they take the e-mails in order of who is spending the most, not in the order of which they came in. I hope I am wrong about that.

Oh, and Vendor #1 made a booboo. On day 8 of waiting for an e-mail from them, the owner sent an e-mail to one of his employees asking him to handle my e-mail. He said he had handled all of the rest, but had to pass my e-mail on because he was busy. How do I know this? Because the employee that finally e-mailed me on day 11 sent the owner''s e-mail to me! I guess he didn''t mean to, but there it was with his own little message to me before it. That kind of ticked me off. It again made me feel like my e-mail was passed over in favor of more expensive purchases. Why else would the owner handle ALL of the other ones, but not mine? I hope I am just paranoid about that also, but it is hard to believe when I see that same person posting on threads here. No time to answer my e-mail, but time to answer posts on pricescope?

During my seach for a diamond over a year ago, I had a similar unpleasant experience with a PS vendor that posts here regularly also, maybe the same one you posted about. I had the same thought you did above! This experience made me appreciate working with a gemologist/jeweler that is located over an hour from where I live, and believe me, she is worth every minute of the drive!!

I hadn''t thought about an appraiser setting the ring, but that is a great idea since the appraiser wouldn''t sell settings or stones, they wouldn''t have the policy that vendor #3 reportedly has.

Good luck, let us know how it turns out!

 

[valeria101]

Sounds like growth pain to me

You know... business getting too bussy before gets staffed accordingly. Besides, was thid during the holydays ?

No excuse there really and yours is not the first case of e-mail frustration either.

 

[SilverLily]

No, this was not during the holidays. I purposely waited until all vendors were back from the holidays before e-mailing them. I was trying to be thoughtful of them and how busy they are, even though completing this project was my christmas present from my husband. I wanted the ring done by Christmas, but decided that it would be easier on the vendors, and that maybe I would get better service, if I waited until after the new year. I wish that I was treated just as courteously.

 

[Brian Knox]

Hi SilverLily,

I think many internet dealers are experiencing growing pains.

As well, It can be impossible to get things done during December unless you have the employees and infrasturcture inhouse.

If nothing else works out for you, I will help you.

If it is a round stone and has the correct size crown, I will do the setting for free.

You would be responsible for the shipping/Ins.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

News Flash - it is now the year 2020 and there are now more diamonds sold on the Internet than in B&M stores. There are also very few B&M stores - and most of those that have survived are those that are able to offer a full range of services.

As an old timer i tell young people there was a time when a jeweller made 50% of his profits from diamond sales. They never believe me.
There is still a demand for good personal advice as to what earring would look good with which pendant etc and so sales of jewellery are now very much the staple - where as engagement rings and higher value sales might return 2x the gross profit of a pair of earrings worth 1/10th of the $ value.
Much design and custom mounting is performed on-line with CAD CAM production in China and India. The retailers and e-tailers that made this work are now more like distribution businesses than jewellery workshops; but that''s progress for ya!

 

[valeria101]

Date: 1/12/2005 5:172 PM
Author: Garry H (Cut Nut)

As an old timer i tell young people there was a time when a jeweller made 50% of his profits from diamond sales. They never believe me.

Rings true to me

CAD might have to grow up though... allot. Is it a customary comunication tool at any level already ? Looks too much of a technical tool and not so much of a presentation tool as is. Say, compared to what "real media" drawing software can do

 

[WinkHPD]

As one who has experienced growing pains, and who still is, I was hoping this was not me, then I saw about the email to the subordinate and knew that I was not it, I don''t have a subordinate to do any of this for me... whew!

It is just as busy this month as it was in December, I do not remember a January this busy, and I am leaving in two more days for two weeks in Chile.

I am sorry that you are not getting the service and attention that you deserve, there are just not enough hours in the day for us when we are busy, and there is not the margin for us to hire large staffs at the profit margins allowed on the net.

It is a quandry and it will not be solved overnight, but all of us are working to improve our operations. It would be nice to have the millions of dollars of other people''s money that a Blue Nile has, but for most of us, that is not in the cards, so we have to develope our systems one step at a time.

Wink

 

[Rhino]

Something sounds a little familar here.

Last week we did return from vacation and my assistant Tim was inundated with requests. He had forwarded some of his emails to me but I am in the process of taking a course which requires all my attention so I was not in the store much of last week and all of this week and I had forwarded emails back to Tim asking him to take care of it. You have my sincere apologies if I was vendor 1. The delay in responding was due to the influx of mail awaiting us when we arrived back from vacation which took us some time to respond to. Your''s was not alone as we were catching up (which btw we are all caught up). If there is any way we can be of help we''re here for ya but we did need time to catch up on all the mail we received while we were away.

Peace,

 

[pearcrazy]

When I bought my diamond upgrade from an internet vendor I was in the same situation as you in trying to find a jeweler to set it. Fortuantely I live in the suburbs of a moderately sized city so I had many jewelers to choose from. I hate to tell you to lie about where you got the diamond, but that''s what I had to do to get a jeweler to set it. I already had a setting and I wanted my old diamond removed and my new stone set. I had already called two other jewelers explaining that I''d bought a stone online and they both flat out refused to do the work, one of them rather rudely so. So, lesson learned, I called the third jeweler and told him I''d purchased the diamond from a relative with a failed engagement and he gladly set the stone. I was so pleased with his work and he was so nice and friendly that I have since purchased a few other pieces from him.

Just tell him that the setting was a gift from your mother and the diamond was a gift from your (fill in the blank) and they''ve put you in the pickle of trying to get the ring put together. Maybe asking him to please give you an appraisal of how much he thinks they are worth for your insurance and playing dumb acting like you know absolutely NOTHING about diamonds and is it even a real one? and blah blah blah and he may just help you out.

Maybe you could just deform one of the prongs a bit and act like the diamond fell out and you want it reset????

 

[aljdewey]

Date: 1/12/2005 3:26

0 PM
Author: lop

I understand that it is easy to get buried with email; But this is specifically the way these vendors do business, so they need to have a system in place to respond in a timely manner, and actually follow through with requests from serious customers. I have had similar experiences and just won''t bother with those vendors anymore.

Most of the time we agree, Lop, but I have to offer some alternate thoughts here.

You''d be surprised to know that email is not *specifically* the way these vendors do business....in fact, for most of them, it''s not even the primary way they do business. It''s merely *one* of the ways they do business. I''ve spoken directly with most of these vendors, and most of them would be hard-pressed to document more than a scant number (as a percentage) of sales that occur with email contact alone. Most of these vendors have storefronts or established personal relationships via phone contact with their customers. That being so, the customer standing in front of them in the flesh or the voice on the phone right now tends to be a bit more urgent than the email from a customer (which wasn''t expected, so no one had the heads up to be on the lookout for it).

The email server that receives the mail, by the way, is a portal and some software.......it''s a machine, not a cognitive secretary. If I send an email to Lesley at Whiteflash, the email server knows to deliver that to Lesley''s email. It doesn''t know that (the way Lesley knows) that I am Aljdewey, the repeat customer who has a relationship with them and purchased an e-ring stone, custom setting, and wedding band from them. All the email knows is, here''s an email for Lesley, and it''s number 50 today (sorted by the order in which they came in). Unless you send it urgent, it does not know how to prioritize you. It is a wonderful tool, email, but it has limitations.

How do folks expect the sifters of the email to *identify* them as serious customers? Honestly, I''m not trying to be facetious here, but I''d roll over in shock if vendors told me that they regularly receive email with a subject heading "SERIOUS CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION ENCLOSED". Most of the time, they can only ascertain that the good, old fashioned way.....by reading through every email. If you get 50 emails in a day, that might take quite a bit of manpower, especially if you are cramming it in between appointments, walk-ins to your storefront, or teleconference appointments with customers.

Yes, I agree that any serious customer should receive a response. That''s why, when I was a serious customer and I wanted service, I picked up the phone. No better way to identify yourself as serious. When I did that, I got a warm response and ample time from every single vendor I spoke with.

Lily, I truly don''t believe the size of the purchase was barrier in your situation. A repeat customer is nearly always easier to work with because the relationship/trust is already established....and because they tend to be more vocal in telling others of their positive experiences. That''s worth a lot more than a single sale in most cases.

 

[TLS]

peacrazy, i hear what you are saying here... .I think it is so pathetic that we are basically forced to lie about where we got the stone in order to get anyone to set our rings. I am looking for someone locally to set my stone and we just came back from the appointment and the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. The woman who had initially started out being nice, became pretty unfriendly towards the end when we were talking prices. I don't think she liked that I had done research and that I had an idea of fair prices ( I had compared at several stores and online). There was no need for to have the conversation end on a bad note, all we were trying to do was get a fair price for a setting - I didn't even mind paying a little bit more in order to establish a relationship with someone local. Not sure if she is more pissed that we didn't buy the stone from her or pissed that we have an idea what the prices should be on the settings.

I would like to give someone local my business and establish a relationship with someone locally, but when you are treated rudely by these stores why would we want to do business with them? I hope to buy a lot more jewellery in my life so you would think it would be in their interest to try to and maintain relationships but the first thing they try to do is cast doubt in your mind about where you bought the stone, and if you bought it over the internet they try to make you think you got screwed - when the reality is that we did more research than anybody we know.

Anyway, i think this got off topic a bit...sorry i am just disgusted...

 

[SilverLily]

aldjeway, I understand that calling is probably the best bet. And I also understand that e-mailing alone may not be how most of their business is generated. But in the case of Vendor #1, I filled out the form on their site and in the part where it says "READY TO: " I answered that with "purchase the diamond". I made it clear that I was ready to buy. I did not mention that I was a prior customer, and I don't expect them to remember me. But I also did not expect it to take 11 days for them to acknowlede someone who says they are ready to buy. You would think that someone there could at least glance at the e-mails that come in and write a quick note of acknowledgement. You could pay a high schooler to do that. Even if all they had time to do was see that I was serious and write a quick e-mail saying that we got your e-mail, we will need some time to find the right diamond for you, and we will get back to you as soon as we can. I would have gladly waited my turn for them to get to me after that. I don't see how that is any different than calling them and having to give my name and number and wait for them to get back to me.

But I did learn a lesson. I will not just e-mail anymore. I will definitely call when I need something.

 

[aljdewey]

Date: 1/12/2005 8:13:13 PM
Author: SilverLily
aldjeway, I understand that calling is probably the best bet. And I also understand that e-mailing alone may not be how most of their business is generated. But in the case of Vendor #1, I filled out the form on their site and in the part where it says 'READY TO: ' I answered that with 'purchase the diamond'. I made it clear that I was ready to buy. I did not mention that I was a prior customer, and I don't expect them to remember me. But I also did not expect it to take 11 days for them to acknowlede someone who says they are ready to buy. You would think that someone there could at least glance at the e-mails that come in and write a quick note of acknowledgement. You could pay a high schooler to do that. Even if all they had time to do was see that I was serious and write a quick e-mail saying that we got your e-mail, we will need some time to find the right diamond for you, and we will get back to you as soon as we can. I would have gladly waited my turn for them to get to me after that. I don't see how that is any different than calling them and having to give my name and number and wait for them to get back to me.

But I did learn a lesson. I will not just e-mail anymore. I will definitely call when I need something.

I DO agree that you should absolutely get a response more quickly than that.

I do feel compelled to address the "you could pay a high schooler to do that" comment....and to the general vibe that sometimes runs in waves on PS that says "it's not rocket science, just staff appropriately/hire more help." I really find that people sometimes oversimplify this issue.

Complexity of the task (or lack thereof) isn't usually the problem, so it's irrelevant that a high schooler could do it. The problems/obstacles are more likely to be these: 1) finding the high schooler who would be satisfied with working only an hour or two a day for 2-3 days a week (if the demand was even that great), or 2) finding a high-schooler who is reliable enough to turn down going to THE concert of the year (which he just got invited to) because he has to work for an hour tomorrow and one hour the next day, or 3) paying that high schooler when the overhead budget doesn't have an allowance for him....etc, etc. And that's IF it's a reasonably foreseeable event like vacation. The challenge may be come even more daunting when half the staff has come down sick or an emergency arises....by the time they get someone in and get them up to speed on how to log in, the crisis is already over.

Most of the time, I'd imagine vendors are appropriately staffed. If they could reasonably foresee a staffing crisis....AND if they could find someone to cover it.....AND if there was enough demand, I'm sure many would go the high-schooler route.

I wholeheartedly agree that vendors need to self-monitor their response times. To me, there's a distinction to be made between individual instances of no-response and patterns of no/poor response.

 

[icelady]

The struggle that any vendor has to endure regarding staffing properly should be of NO concern to the client. It is the vendor''s problem. Waiting 11 days for a response is unacceptable and the vendor will lose business. If this happens enough times the vendor will not have to worry about staffing properly.

 

[perry]

Please note that at least one of the promenent PriceScope vendors was on vacation for a week or so. Immediately after the holidays is one of the few times they can get off.

Your story may be more of bad timing than anything - and not reflective of how things work the other 50 weeks of the year.

Perry

 

[hoorray]

Date: 1/12/2005 8

3:50 PM
Author: aljdewey

Date: 1/12/2005 3:26

0 PM
Author: lop

I understand that it is easy to get buried with email; But this is specifically the way these vendors do business, so they need to have a system in place to respond in a timely manner, and actually follow through with requests from serious customers. I have had similar experiences and just won''t bother with those vendors anymore.

Most of the time we agree, Lop, but I have to offer some alternate thoughts here.

You''d be surprised to know that email is not *specifically* the way these vendors do business....in fact, for most of them, it''s not even the primary way they do business. It''s merely *one* of the ways they do business. I''ve spoken directly with most of these vendors, and most of them would be hard-pressed to document more than a scant number (as a percentage) of sales that occur with email contact alone. Most of these vendors have storefronts or established personal relationships via phone contact with their customers. That being so, the customer standing in front of them in the flesh or the voice on the phone right now tends to be a bit more urgent than the email from a customer (which wasn''t expected, so no one had the heads up to be on the lookout for it).

The email server that receives the mail, by the way, is a portal and some software.......it''s a machine, not a cognitive secretary. If I send an email to Lesley at Whiteflash, the email server knows to deliver that to Lesley''s email. It doesn''t know that (the way Lesley knows) that I am Aljdewey, the repeat customer who has a relationship with them and purchased an e-ring stone, custom setting, and wedding band from them. All the email knows is, here''s an email for Lesley, and it''s number 50 today (sorted by the order in which they came in). Unless you send it urgent, it does not know how to prioritize you. It is a wonderful tool, email, but it has limitations.

How do folks expect the sifters of the email to *identify* them as serious customers? Honestly, I''m not trying to be facetious here, but I''d roll over in shock if vendors told me that they regularly receive email with a subject heading ''SERIOUS CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION ENCLOSED''. Most of the time, they can only ascertain that the good, old fashioned way.....by reading through every email. If you get 50 emails in a day, that might take quite a bit of manpower, especially if you are cramming it in between appointments, walk-ins to your storefront, or teleconference appointments with customers.

Yes, I agree that any serious customer should receive a response. That''s why, when I was a serious customer and I wanted service, I picked up the phone. No better way to identify yourself as serious. When I did that, I got a warm response and ample time from every single vendor I spoke with.

Lily, I truly don''t believe the size of the purchase was barrier in your situation. A repeat customer is nearly always easier to work with because the relationship/trust is already established....and because they tend to be more vocal in telling others of their positive experiences. That''s worth a lot more than a single sale in most cases.

I agree Al, that the email server can''t differentiate who''s serious and who is not, but I still contend that most of these web sites provide email addresses as the first method of contact so some basic processes and infrastructure has to be in place for them to be credible. I''ve run small businesses with email as a sales channel, and we made sure that several things happened. First the web site stated what would happen if someone sent us an inquery. Usually the customer got an auto reply telling them it was received and in what timeframe they could expect an answer (24 hours, 2 days, whatever). These auto messages are perfect for the time when you are on vacation or swamped. It is about managing customer expectations. It''s much better to tell someone that you are gone and won''t be answering mails until a certain time rather than have the person sit and wait, wondering if their mail entered some black hole.

On the serious customer front, I assumed that the dialog was in process since she was asking for a stone to be held. Sales people working through email have to have a system to identify mail coming from people they are working with versus new incoming inqueries. Different email addresses is one way. (My bet is that first time emails don''t go straight to Lesley''s email box, nor will you find it on their website, they go to a generic address that several people manage. You probably have her direct email)

My point is that, yes, many of these vendors have either B&M businesses or persona relationship built buinsesses also or as their primary business, but they are putting a storefront on the web, where the primary first contact is through email, so if they want to provide good customer service, they have to be responsive to it. I understand the understaffing, and the growing pains, but that doesn''t make a nervious beau about to shell out mega-bucks on something he/she really doesn''t understand in detail, but is very important to them, feel any better. All rational aside, it''s still about customer service, and the ones who excell, will succeed in the long run. I''m the first to tell people to pick up the phone and call, but that is not the normal way of doing business on the Internet, and isn''t obvious to many that that''s what they need to do. Other business are setting a very automated standard -- you can''t talk to a live human being without jumping through major hoops!

 

[lostdog]

Much as it shouldn't happen, email is easy to overlook when the phone's ringing off the hook.

Another culprit might be spam filtering, which I have seen screen messages simply because the subject line was blank or because the message began with "Hello" or some other innocent reason. Ours at work went crazy and started intercepting the internal mail. I found a bunch of messages hidden in the server that had been missing for months. We finally had to turn the filtering off and live with the spam. For all we know, this sort of issue could have something to do with vendor #2.

 

[Lord Summerisle]

And the cause of much spam...

Putting your Email as a link in your website... and the more popular your page, the more it registers, the more chance of it being picked up by the Bot scavengers...

Me and my lass had that problem, when we ran an Offical fan site for a Band we where friends with - we had our email addy on pritty much every page, and soon after we went live - we had hundreds of spam emails coming in - tho the ISP filtered them so what it classed as spam had ***SPAM*** added to the subjectline to make life a bit easier - and allowed us to set a rule in Outlook to move anything with ***SPAM*** in the subjectline to the bin.

But like noted above - it can catch the innocent ones too... and consine them to the bin - to be buried with all the rest.

I guess christmas is a very busy period... plus beening off for a few days to a week or 2 overthe holidays means that the emails build up - and can be time consuming to filter through, especially if you have a zillion and one other things to do... i know i had about 150 waiting for me when i got back - and i aint in the sales business...

 

[strmrdr]

The problem with hiring more help is that finding someone to provide good service for a couple months out of the year you need them is very hard.
Then add to it that they need to know diamonds/jewlery and the hunt becomes harder.
As wink alludes too the margins arent high enough to keep that much staff on year round.

The local independant jewlery stores run into the same problem.
The family operations can call in spouces and other family members to help out but not all the vendors are going to have that kind of resources available.

Yes in your case the ball was dropped and that sux but while not good is in some ways understandable.

The best ones will look into what went wrong and try their best to fix it for next year.

 

[DiamondsRagirlsbestfriend]

eeeek, SilverLily:

I can understand why you''re upset.

I''ll keep my fingers crossed that this resolves well for you. Mary

 

[SilverLily]

Good news! The owner/operator for Vendor #3 contacted me because he saw this post. He was very concerned and wanted to make me happy. He agreed that we did talk about them setting the stone for me, and said he would still set it for me. He said his employee was just following the rules, but that rules were made to be broken, and the employee just wasn''t aware of my conversation with the owner.

So...I shipped everyting back today and should have my ring sometime next week!

I am very happy that the owner stood by what he said, and even though things were bumpy there for awhile, I would be happy to do business with them again. I know problems can happen, but if the problem is resolved satisfactorily to both parties, then I cannot complain. I will recommend vendor #3 to friends and family, and hopefully I will purchase something (preferably some diamond studs - I neeeeeed some!

) from them again.

 

[icelady]

I love a happy ending!!!

 

[chrono]

SilverLily,
I am very happy for you that everything turned out well for you in the end.