Refurb gone really wrong - what to do?

[Niel]

Cerce i hadnt posted before this but I just want to say that this is just terrible and Im very sorry this is happening. Good sleuthing to notice the yellow flour, and i cant believe how they were completely trying to pull one over on you. If you werent so knowledgeable who knows if youd ever have noticed! Let alone the craftsmanship and and damage issues.

 

[vintagelover229]

Huge hugs!
I'm soo sorry this has happened.

I'd send it to ari at singlestone and have him take a look at it and evaluate it. Contact them with the issues and send them the bill for the repairs and the amount they devalued the stone. Take them to small claims court if you have to unless you don't want to deal with it and it's not worth the hassle.


Hugs!

 

[Circe]

Thanks YT, DS, Neilseel, Vintagelover.

Unfortunately, I think it IS out-of-round now: if you look at the face-on pic, there's a weird little dip on the left-hand side of that upper-right-hand prong, and that's there IRL; it's not a photographic artifact. And just to be sure, I took one of the circular templates that I use for silversmithing and lined the stone up with the appropriately sized opening. I'd take a pic, but I literally do not have the hands to hold the ring, the template, and the camera - but it's a perfect circle EXCEPT for that corner, which dips in clearly from where the faceted girdle starts to just outside of that upper right-hand prong.

I guess the thing that really gets me is that it's so stupid. This is a vendor that's gotten a distinct amount of good press on PS: I couldn't hazard a guess as to how much business it brings them, but for a business with an internet shingle, it's probably not insignificant. After I got it back this third time, I got the uneasy feeling that somebody there must be reading this thread: right after I posted saying I was happy except for the finish, I got an e-mail from my rep thanking me for my patience and mentioning, out of the blue, that the reason the finish was light was that they hadn't wanted to bring it to a high shine without asking me, so they'd just buffed it lightly (which, my foot, look at those close-ups).

I can only assume that because I haven't outed them so far, they assumed that I never would: assumed that I was either too stupid too notice this round of screw-ups, or too soft-hearted to post a review encompassing the full magnitude of dishonesty and incompetence.

To quote "Pretty Woman" ... big mistake. Huge.

I'm waiting to hear from my insurance company. And fuming quietly. I have a conference to go to this week, and I don't need the drama, so I'm holding off on posting a full account.

After I return, though? I am looking forward to posting a lengthy description of every single moment of deceit, not just here, but on every damn venue I can find, starting with the Better Business Bureau and moving on down, because this is just unacceptable.

 

[Deactivated member 42515]

I totally missed the part where this was a respected ps vendor! I'm even more curious now what's going I happen!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Circe, when you posted the face-on shot I thought it looked out of round on that upper right prong too I am so sorry about this crazy and ridiculous situation. Hopefully this can be rectified.

From a purely practical perspective and knowing your sentimental attachment to your diamond, I think if you wanted to set your stone into that new octagonal mount you could set it to hide the off round part -- and the hexagonal outline would make it really hard to detect. You would need a good bench to remove the innter bezel and then make the outer bezel finer and milgrain. But it could work. Foor for thought when you do return from your trip and ponder this.

I am simply shocked.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Oh, no, that is terrible that it is out of round! This is hard for me to wrap my head around, but now that you mention it is a PS recommended vendor, I am now understanding more why they tried to cover it up (even though that was a very wrong strategy). What puzzles me more is that they even gave the ring back to you the first time in that unacceptable condition knowing that you were a PS member.

 

[Circe]

One clarification, 'cause I don't want to cast aspersions on any innocent vendors (and then I will try to resist temptation, stay off the internet, and finish my presentation) - they're not a PS vendor in the "Featured Sponsor" sense, just in the "via word of mouth, people here recommend them fairly frequently" sense.

And I never told them I was a PS'r directly - I generally don't when I visit 47th street, unless it IS a "Featured Vendor." I've never seen the point there ... a lot of jewelers are either dismissive or actively hostile.

I think this vendor figured it out because of that weird, out-of-the-blue comment about the finish... but I could be wrong, maybe it was just a guilty conscience. Either way, I still figure that, a) you shouldn't deceive your customers, and, b) if you try and fail once, you have to be a complete masochist to try AGAIN. I am the kind of weirdo who takes macro shots of her jewelry, for god's sake. They knew this because I sent them some of the shots I posted here when I complained initially. They really thought I was going to miss this?

That said, when I was venting about this to my husband, he said ... and HOW many people would they be running this risk with? I guess it's true. I have the 30X loupe and the blacklight and the hobbyist's interest. I guess most people probably wouldn't even bother getting it reappraised, and it would either go totally undiscovered, or get laid at the feet of the next jeweler, when the customer wanted to sell or reset or upgrade or whatever in ten or twenty years.

Unethical doesn't even begin to cover it.

 

[Niel]

That was the thought I had exactly. If you weren't so interested and knowledgeable, you might not even have noticed. For every one person that noticed, how many times were there when no one noticed...

 

[LibbyLA]

circe,

Oh, no! This just gets worse and worse.

I didn't comment after you got it back, but I thought that new head looked pretty ugly and industrial. Seeing photos of it next to photos of the original head, I see why I thought that. The original head has a much more attractive arch between the prongs. The new head is just plain ugly and the crappy finish doesn't help any.

I would be furious, too.

liz

 

[iheartscience]

Circe, when you posted the face-on shot I thought it looked out of round on that upper right prong too I am so sorry about this crazy and ridiculous situation. Hopefully this can be rectified.

From a purely practical perspective and knowing your sentimental attachment to your diamond, I think if you wanted to set your stone into that new octagonal mount you could set it to hide the off round part -- and the hexagonal outline would make it really hard to detect. You would need a good bench to remove the innter bezel and then make the outer bezel finer and milgrain. But it could work. Foor for thought when you do return from your trip and ponder this.

I am simply shocked.

I thought the same thing-I think a setting change would help both the off round area and help get rid of the bad vibes around this experience. And I'm still shocked and have been appalled all day just thinking about this. SO DISHONEST. I look forward to the full account so I can know who to NEVER go to.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Unethical doesn't even begin to cover it.

Word.

 

[TravelingGal]

 

[Mico]

Oh my!!! I am so so so sorry. I really hope this gets better.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I am sure the real PS vendors appreciate your clarifying who it is not, Circe. I am just so sorry this happened right before you had to go to a conference! I hate it that you have this hanging over your head all week!

 

[rosetta]

Unethical doesn't even begin to cover it.

Word.

Double word.

I'd personally black list this vendor forever, when you feel comfortable revealing the name.

Unbelievable!

 

[Mico]

I agree, I would really like to know... After this is all sorted out

 

[Begonia]

Circe -

I can't offer any advice for you...

but I am sick at heart for you over this.

 

[CharmyPoo]

I have my guess. I wanted to go find their store front yesterday but wasn't able to find the booth with their website name.

I really hope everything gets resolved some how

 

[galeteia]

Any updates?

 

[Circe]

Thanks Neil, Libby, Thing, Dreamer, TG, Mico, DS, Rosetta, Begonia, Charmy, Galateia.

Everything is pretty much still up in the air - I spent the week at a conference, which tied things up. The only developments, one good and one bad are as follows:

Bad news first: I e-mailed the original vendor to ask, as politely as possible, why one of my sidestones now had yellow fluorescence and why my girdle was suddenly faceted. On the first count, the rep proclaimed herself "baffled," and on the second, she said that the faceting had been done as a matter of course when the stone was sent to be boiled as I had asked, right before they set it the first time.

(This is not a matter of course. This is a thing you check with the client about, btw.)

Except, if you look at the last shots I posted - a comparison of the ring AFTER I GOT IT BACK in its mangled state that first time, and then again when I got it this last time - you'll see the faceting occurred while it was back in their hands.

So, yeah. They're liars, I'll be writing it up once I get this weeks grading out of the way.

The GOOD news? I'm going to be working with Jon at GOG to figure out a solution. Going in tomorrow, actually, which I'm very much looking forward to. So, dust me, ladies, and wish me luck ....

 

[sonnyjane]

Wow. Wow wow wow at the continued lies! I'm glad you have some photographic documentation!

 

[bunnycat]

Good luck!!!! *DUST* *DUST*

 

[Rosebloom]

Oh Circe. I cannot believe them!! How could they possibly try lying yet again at this point?!

Dust for a wonderful trip to GOG. I hope he has a great solution for you.

And while you're there, feel free to take a zillion pictures to share of the goodies.

 

[CharmyPoo]

I am a bit confused. What does boiling a diamond mean and why does that result in faceting?

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Oh, boy, what a mess. Sounds like you need to speak to the owner and not a sales rep????

Jon is the perfect one to go to to tell you what can be done with a stone. And he has access to a couple of outstanding cutters if they are needed.

{{{hugs}}} Sorry you are having to deal with this!

 

[Circe]

I am a bit confused. What does boiling a diamond mean and why does that result in faceting?

With a bruted girdle, sometimes you get bits of ground-in dirt. Boiling it in acid can restore the whiteness. And, since the bruted girdle is one of the reasons why old cuts tend to face up whiter ... a) you want it as clean as possible, and, b) no, it's not something you would change without discussion.

The SHARP IRONY here is that this woman is the one who talked me out of doing a complete overhaul/recut back when I first got the stone.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Yeesh. What a nasty affair all the way around.

I am glad you are working with Jon. I am sure he can help you get a resolution, whether its a recut to fix the out-of-round, or an insurance claim, or both. dust dust and please update as soon as you can!

 

[CharmyPoo]

I am a bit confused. What does boiling a diamond mean and why does that result in faceting?

With a bruted girdle, sometimes you get bits of ground-in dirt. Boiling it in acid can restore the whiteness. And, since the bruted girdle is one of the reasons why old cuts tend to face up whiter ... a) you want it as clean as possible, and, b) no, it's not something you would change without discussion.

The SHARP IRONY here is that this woman is the one who talked me out of doing a complete overhaul/recut back when I first got the stone.

Thanks for the education! I didn't know about this at all.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I certainly did not know about the bruted girdle issues, either!

Circe, did they facet the diamond all the way around or just where it might have been damaged? That was one thing I was not clear about.

 

[Circe]

I certainly did not know about the bruted girdle issues, either!

Circe, did they facet the diamond all the way around or just where it might have been damaged? That was one thing I was not clear about.

Just for a quarter or so of the perimeter ... the part that coincides with it being out-of-round.