Several shipping delays with JA for my ring order. Is this normal? Its been a month.

[Gadabout44]

Hello, I just wanted to post and share my current situation with JA. The reason why I am doing this is because I am a fairly patient guy, often times I fail to realize when something is becoming a concern. So I thought I'd post and hear what people have to say. I am not sure if this is normal or not.

On April 10th I placed an order and paid for an engagement ring. It is for a loose stone and a setting. The initial shipping date was on the 23rd, I kept an eye on it and noticed that there was a pattern, every 3 days or so the expected shipment date would be delayed from the 23rd, to the 27th, to the 30th, to the 3rd and now the 7th. Sometime on the 27th I finally contacted JA. The first chat response was due to quality assurance, they mentioned that they were still inspecting the entire ring and should be shipped out. I just told myself, ok fine I can wait.

After being delayed again to the 3rd, I contacting them and asked for more information. Apparently they told me that the initial casting job was done poorly in which they had to re do the entire process which caused the delay.

It is now the 7th, it is scheduled to ship today. I am not confident that it will ship. Its been frustrating because I kept on pushing back the proposal agenda as well as the reservations I had made numerous times.

I want to ask, does this happen often? I have a friend who received his JA engagement ring in a little over a week. I am not sure what I can do at this point because on their end they probably dont think much of it, but on my end I was force to find another reservation with another company due to the delays on the ring and I fear that I will not receive the ring in time yet again.

 

[WillyDiamond]

Is it possible that the casting job was poor? Yes.
But it took so long for them to communicate this to you, I call BS.
While reading your post I was wondering if they had physical possession of the stone or was it a virtual stone they called in which they did not have yet and stringing you along.
If it does not ship today, I would cancel the order.
PSers would be happy to find you a new stone and setting for you.

 

[ac117]

We've had threads from time to time with this same issue - in the past, the common factor seemed to be season (ex. xmas/vday when so many people are getting engaged) or when they have the setting promotions bc more people are ordering. Problems when casting do happen so, while the delay is annoying, I'd be thankful they caught the problem during quality check instead of you finding out when you receive it or after she wears it and potentially loses a stone!

 

[tyty333]

Can you link us to the setting and stone...I'm just curious to what is taking so long.

This does happen occasionally but like ac117 said it is usually based around the holidays.

In my opinion it is NOT ok to delay the ring and NOT contact you and let you know what is going on. They need to work on their customer interaction!

 

[Gadabout44]

We've had threads from time to time with this same issue - in the past, the common factor seemed to be season (ex. xmas/vday when so many people are getting engaged) or when they have the setting promotions bc more people are ordering. Problems when casting do happen so, while the delay is annoying, I'd be thankful they caught the problem during quality check instead of you finding out when you receive it or after she wears it and potentially loses a stone!

Can you link us to the setting and stone...I'm just curious to what is taking so long.

This does happen occasionally but like ac117 said it is usually based around the holidays.

In my opinion it is NOT ok to delay the ring and NOT contact you and let you know what is going on. They need to work on their customer interaction!

It is a 1.30 Carat Round stone. This is the setting I choose.

https://www.jamesallen.com/engageme...t-pave-wire-basket-engagement-ring-item-53021

They do have a Mothers day sale going on which I took advantage of. I am happy that they caught this and decided to make sure the quality of the casting is great. Its just frustrating and I do not want to cancel and go through the whole process again. My budget was pretty tight to begin with. I spent over a month of non stop posting and searching and talking to various vendors that was suggested on here. It's just frustrating. They did however sent me an email once out of all those delays I've been tracking on my order history on JA. However it didnt give any details, it simply said that it was delayed and gave me a new eta on shipment which was initially on the third of this month.

I just wanted to make sure nothing "shady" is going on.

 

[tyty333]

Its a beautiful setting...

I hope it goes out today (and it better be perfect). I would be frustrated too. Keep us posted.

 

[Gadabout44]

Its a beautiful setting...

I hope it goes out today (and it better be perfect). I would be frustrated too. Keep us posted.

I will, thank you for your input. I've been dying to take photos and share with the community. I owe it to the people who has helped me and put up with my needs for so long.

 

[ac117]

Crossing fingers it ships today!

 

[whitewave]

It happens when they have sales. They really need to extend their shipping estimates or make a note about it...

Everyone got their rings though! So here is hoping it shipped today!

 

[rockysalamander]

You must be so anxious. I guess we PS member should remember to warn new folks that buying during a sale can be a double-edged sword. Finger's crossed it is winging its way to you. If you don't get a shipping notice tonight, I'd call tomorrow and speak with a manager. Explain your timeline and with the delays, you can afford to miss your proposal date. See if they will overnight it to you.

 

[WillyDiamond]

OP
Did it ship today?

 

[Gadabout44]

OP
Did it ship today?

It did not, coincidentally I got a phone call. This is the first time I've gotten a phone call, and a second time they've contacted me (the first via email). They said they missed the shipping deadline for today but the good news is taht it passed the Quality assurance and will be shipped tomorrow overnighted via fed ex.

I have an inkling that someone in here works for JA and helped expedite my order. If so, i thank you.

 

[PintoBean]

It did not, coincidentally I got a phone call. This is the first time I've gotten a phone call, and a second time they've contacted me (the first via email). They said they missed the shipping deadline for today but the good news is taht it passed the Quality assurance and will be shipped tomorrow overnighted via fed ex.

I have an inkling that someone in here works for JA and helped expedite my order. If so, i thank you.

They probably have google alerts or something that pings them when they're discussed.

 

[TreeScientist]

Glad to hear it's going to ship. JA no longer has any active trade members posting on here, but I'm sure they're still tracking this forum. A company's reputation is everything, so they don't want bad reports floating around on one of the leading diamond forums.

But like others have said, it's good that they caught the casting flaw before shipping. Better to have it ship a bit late than receive a flawed setting and have to go through the hassle of returning it.

As @rockysalamander mentioned, ordering during these sales can be a double-edged sword. Their benchwork team has a very high workload during these sale periods, which can result in some less than stellar craftsmanship (just like most of us don't produce our best work when we're overly stressed ).

 

[tyty333]

I was going to try to ping Jim Shultz but could no longer find his PS user name. It was convenient when we had someone to look into what was going
on. Keep us posted about it going out today...

I agree with RockySalamander that we probably should give people a heads up when they are running a sale.

 

[yssie]

Hope it ships tomorrow and you love it!

 

[Lorelei]

I was going to try to ping Jim Shultz but could no longer find his PS user name. It was convenient when we had someone to look into what was going
on. Keep us posted about it going out today...

I agree with RockySalamander that we probably should give people a heads up when they are running a sale.

With Ty, please keep us posted of progress Gad.

 

[WillyDiamond]

Shipping today? I'm from Missouri

PS: OP, get a tracking number by end of the day.

 

[Gadabout44]

Shipping today? I'm from Missouri

PS: OP, get a tracking number by end of the day.

Got one. Scheduled to arrive tomorrow

 

[Mags]

I had some JA service issues myself, and after I posted about them here they were more responsive. It could just be a coincidence, but it seems likely they'd want to monitor these forums. A lot of people are still nervous ordering diamonds online, so it's not good for them to have complaints on a reputable site.

 

[HappyNewLife]

OMG, I'd be going nuts! I had to wait 3 weeks for my ring and it felt like an eternity! A month is a very long time for a setting their site claims can ship in 8 days

 

[BobK]

I'm a bit concerned reading this thread! I ordered my ring on Monday and told them that I need it by the 28th which they said they'd noted. However it has not even got to the diamond inspection stage yet.

 

[TreeScientist]

I'm a bit concerned reading this thread! I ordered my ring on Monday and told them that I need it by the 28th which they said they'd noted. However it has not even got to the diamond inspection stage yet.

You mean, Monday as in 2 days ago? Of course it hasn't gotten to the diamond inspection stage yet ! James Allen is a modified drop shipper, meaning that they don't actually own the diamonds listed on their website. The diamonds could be located anywhere in the world, with many being located in India. It usually takes them 3-4 days just to get the diamond delivered to them (unless it happens to be located in NYC) and then another day or two for the diamond inspection.

I wouldn't worry unless it hasn't reached the "In Production" stage by the middle of next week. Then it may be worth contacting them.

 

[BobK]

I was under the impression they held some of the stock themselves, clearly not! I just asked on their live chat and there appeared to be some confusion as they thought I was waiting for an Idealscope image, but I have already received it. Anyhow they still expect to be able to meet my deadline so fingers crossed!

(Sorry for the thread hijack)

 

[TreeScientist]

I was under the impression they held some of the stock themselves, clearly not! I just asked on their live chat and there appeared to be some confusion as they thought I was waiting for an Idealscope image, but I have already received it. Anyhow they still expect to be able to meet my deadline so fingers crossed!

(Sorry for the thread hijack)

Well, they do own a few of the diamonds on the website: The ones that have been traded in through their upgrade program. But all of the others are remote listings.

One trick to finding out where the diamond is located is to look at the "Ships as a loose diamond by" date in the listing. If it's within a day or two of today's date, then it's probably located in NYC. If it's 4-5 days, then it's probably located overseas.

 

[ashjade]

My boyfriend made his purchase through JA on 4/23 and received it yesterday. So all together it was a 2 week process. (The 25% off sale was going on when we ordered as well, we had ordered on the 20th originally, but boyfriends bank account was suspicious because he has a set limit for fraud purposes - we got that taken care of though, and initially the sale said the last day for it was the following Sunday, but since they had record of our order starting Friday it didn’t hurt us - but then Sunday they extended the sale anyway)

Boyfriend said the ring is beautiful and he can’t wait until I see it. He let me design it myself, even though I asked for his input, he said I’d be the one wearing it so he wanted me to love it (which I did when designing it, now I can’t wait to see it and wear it!)

Initially we were going to go with a big name mall store - but he said after seeing it he is so glad we didn’t and that those didn’t even compare to this.

So hopefully it comes today, and hopefully once you see it all the frustration over getting it will be worth it!

 

[ChristineRose]

A while ago someone came on here and they wanted to buy a ring from Kay because of the setting and huge discount. I did a stone search on here and on Kay's website and found identical stones on JA and on the Kay site, and Kay wanted something like $4,000 more for it, which was of course way more than the supposed discount.

I explained diamond memos and drop shipping, and a JA rep came on and stated that they do not drop ship; that they call in all memos and do a quality check before shipping.

 

[TreeScientist]

A while ago someone came on here and they wanted to buy a ring from Kay because of the setting and huge discount. I did a stone search on here and on Kay's website and found identical stones on JA and on the Kay site, and Kay wanted something like $4,000 more for it, which was of course way more than the supposed discount.

I explained diamond memos and drop shipping, and a JA rep came on and stated that they do not drop ship; that they call in all memos and do a quality check before shipping.

Yep, which is why I called them a "modified" drop shipper. Modified, because they do have every diamond come to them first before shipping it to you, even if you're not having it set by them, whereas a standard drop-ship model is to ship the diamond from it's holding location directly to the consumer.