Sholdt custom work - advice please!

[Krisking]

I am considering a reset with a semi-custom Sholdt setting. Looking for anyone who has previously had custom work done with Sholdt...Can you describe the process of design and production you experienced (i.e. which parts of the process were completed locally vs. Seattle)? I have met with my local Sholdt authorized retailer and have also reached out to Sholdt directly but still don't have a clear answer. Any info or advice is appreciated!

 

[Queenie60]

Hi Krisking: You may want to email Erica at Loveaffairdiamonds. She works a lot with Scholdt and could answer most of your questions. She's very knowledgeable and easy to talk to. Good luck

 

[liaerfbv]

+1 to Queenie. If I was going to buy a Sholdt, I'd go through Erica.

 

[globaltravel]

Hi Krisking: I had a semi-custom Sholdt setting done about a year ago. I had explored it for some time, including having visited them in Seattle. Like you, I had been in contact with Sholdt who said I could work directly with them or one of their retailers - no difference in price. I worked through Good Old Gold since I had bought the diamond from there. I received the setting in Oct and after a couple weeks noticed some problems with it (not perfect smooth finish, stone was a little loose, a little off center). Challenge is that I live in Asia so next chance back for a business trip was end of January when I had the ring sent back via GOG with plans then to receive on my following work trip in March. It was not the smoothest process from the GOG side handling things but then I ended up coordinating with Dara and Kalee at Sholdt directly. They were both really great and actually were not happy with the adjustments their bench tried to do so had the ring remade from scratch. It is very good now - still a tiny difference in the distance for the prong placement which I flagged immediately to which they both said that if I was still bothered by it, then they would be happy to fix it the next time I am in the US. In future, I would just go directly to Sholdt personally since I did not feel like GOG added any value in this process except play middle man and ship the diamond directly to Sholdt. I think it would have been more efficient and effective for me to communicate directly with Sholdt even if the ring was purchased through GOG. Hope this helps.

 

[Krisking]

Thanks @Queenie60 and @liaerfbv for the LAD votes.

 

[Krisking]

Thank you, @globaltravel for sharing your story - it was very helpful! I was interested in working directly with Sholdt, because I am not familiar enough with the local bench to use them. I reached out to Sholdt with our design idea and asked for photos of similar custom work. Based on the email chain, Kalee was excited about a custom project (as was I!), but her employee turfed it back to the local bench without really answering my questions. I think communication is very important, and I wanted to understand the process upfront to avoid any missteps. @globaltravel, I'm so glad you had a great customer experience with Sholdt and that you ended up with a beautiful ring! That's great to hear!

 

[globaltravel]

Hi Krisking - was the employee Dara or someone else? I am a very detail oriented person when it comes to this kind of thing and kept hearing from GOG that I should be happy with what a great job Sholdt had tried to do. Meanwhile, what I originally received was nothing like the products I had seen and heard about. However, my experience with Dara was very good once I got on the phone with her and really discussed the situation with her (before was usually with GOG contact as the intermediate and I could never fully tell if the flippancy was from GOG person or Dara or both). Kalee is great even by email. I would have no hesitation to recommend them for custom directly but I always believe establishing that personal rapport with some people makes the difference. I think if you have no connection with your local retailer, the chance for miscomunication is just amplified. Good luck with your endeavours.