Unhappy with James Allen wedding band purchase

[headingtothechapel2013]

So my fiance and I live in Australia but couldn't find the design we liked so started looking online.
We read reviews & went ahead & ordered a James Allen Platinum men's wedding band size 11.
To determine the size we visited Tiffany's in Australia as they have US sizing & were fitted as a size 11. We also went to an Australian jewellers & determined his size & translated the size using the James Allen conversion scale. We then finally used their online sizing guide (using a credit card to determine the size of the screen).
All of these told us size 11.
So we ordered a size 11.
The ring arrived & was lovely. My fiance put it on & it was huge. We were shocked we had ordered it so wrong. We went that night to visit some jewellers who told us the ring was a size 12 & we visited Tiffany's again & confirmed he was a size 11. We visited a third jewellers who recommended we go to the sixe of 10 3/4 as due to it being summer his fingers might go smaller in winter. They said size 11 was the right size for him though. The ring which James Allen claimed was size 11 clearly wasn't.
We dealt with Greg & Melissa & they advised us to send the ring back & they would pay for the $65 FED EX Postage (which they would refund to my credit card)if the sizing was indeed of.
We sent it of & they emailed saying it was a size 11 & sent 3 photos which clearly show it is NOT a size 11. See for yourself in the photo below with the huge gaps which were the same gap on my fiance's ring finger.
My fiancee Paul rang up Greg & said look at the photos-clearly not size 11. He agreed it did not look like a size 11 but then we had an email saying,
' The "gap" was due to the type of mandrel used - it is concaved in that area to protect an exposed culets when sizing "diamond" rings. Being that our Quality Control department has verified, to our satisfaction, that the ring is size 11'
Basically they are refusing to admit the ring is not a size 11 & say we can resize it but will have to pay the shipping charge. But what is the point of resizing it to 10 3/4 if they claim that is a size 11?
What does everyone recommend? Really unhappy with this-we are getting married in a month tomorrow!
Thanks

 

[Christina...]

I've heard of other situations where the purchaser believed the ring to be bigger/smaller than it was listed as. I believe the conclusion was that mandrels differ a small amount depending on manufacturer. You could ask that they check the ring size on a different mandrel instead of the concave one to see if it measures any differently. Since your wedding is so close and you haven't been able to find anything locally, I would suggest eating the $65 and have the ring sized and returned to you. It's frustrating to have to deal with, I can totally understand that, but you have so many other details to handle right now that I wouldn't want this to be the one that caused you to lose enjoyment in the planning and preparation of your big day!

Of course that doesn't help you select the proper size now that you have confirmed that he is a size 11, and I don't really have any good advice regarding that. I'm sure others will read your post and have ideas or suggestions. Many posters though use sizing beads inside their rings to accommodate for swollen fingers, knuckles, weight gain/loss etc, I haven't heard it suggested for a mans band, but perhaps this could be a solution? Others will chime in. Congrats on your upcoming nuptials!

 

[WillyDiamond]

Vendors on this forum like JA live and die by our feedback. I do not think that JA needs this. I have seen other complaints about JA on this forum, but JA reads this forum or it is brought to his attention to resolve the problem which I am sure he is willing to do. I think I would send an email to his attention with attachments and confident it will be resolved to your satisfaction.

 

[distracts]

Well, by their mandrel, it IS a size 11. And yes, that's a concave mandrel, which is why it looks like it's sticking out in the first picture. If it really stuck out that much on his finger, I would go down to a size 10. At least. Or just return it and buy locally where you can see if it fits.

Is it possible that his knuckle is bigger than the part of his finger where the ring rests, so that he requires a size 11 to get over the knuckle but it is too large once he gets it on?

 

[sparkle_more]

Honestly, I'd return it and forget it and go somewhere else. I recently had a different issue with JA and just returned the ring because I didn't want the stress of dealing with them. My ring size is a 9.75. When I bought my ring I talked to the SA and was told to get the 9.5 (the ring only came in half sizes). So that's what I got. Of course the ring was too small when I got it and esp. with my other rings together. So I called to exchange/resize and was told it was going to be $100 to resize because it was outside of the normal size range they carry. As it turned out, the person who did my original order did not up charge me for the ring even though they should have. I understand that mistakes happen, but I was specifically looking for a ring under $200 and would never have bought it at $300. They would not exchange it for me for the same price, I didn't want to ship it back and pay $100 to get the bigger size and I didn't want to pay to have it resized locally (about $35). It was all just too much of a hassle with them.

It took me forever to get the SA to admit that they had mischarged me to begin with. Then the SA said that they would not honor that price in an exchange and resize even though they claim resizing for free. Basically they wanted to charge me $100 to go up .25 in size. It was their fault for charging me the wrong price originally and having me get the wrong size but they wanted me to pay $100 to fix the issue. It just wasn't worth it.

I will eventually be going back to BG to get the band that matches my ring. Right now I'm wearing a $7 sterling silver band and it is working out just fine.

 

[sparkle_more]

If you really want to have it resized (and you have time), the other thing you can do is to get a cheap stainless steel ring or a silver ring in the size that fits. Send them that ring and tell them you want it sized at that same size. Make the ring is the same width so that sizing is accurate.

 

[denverappraiser]

Mandrels are not all calibrated to one another and 1/4 size variation from one to the next is more common than you think. The tools for measuring your finger aren't well calibrated either by the way. I couldn't begin to guess who is right here but it mostly doesn't matter. If it doesn't fit or you're unhappy for ANY reason, send it back within their return grace period. That's what it's for. If you’re unhappy with them as a vendor, get another one somewhere else. Lots of people will be thrilled to sell you a ring that looks like that. By the way, ¼ size is within the fluff of what he had for breakfast, temperature, time of day and similar variables with the finger, not the ring. Your usage of the term ‘huge’ suggests that it’s more than that. Are you absolutely certain that 11.0 is the correct finger size?

 

[Laila619]

Mandrels are not all calibrated to one another and 1/4 size variation from one to the next is more common than you think. The tools for measuring your finger aren't well calibrated either by the way. I couldn't begin to guess who is right here but it mostly doesn't matter. If it doesn't fit or you're unhappy for ANY reason, send it back within their return grace period. That's what it's for. If you’re unhappy with them as a vendor, get another one somewhere else. Lots of people will be thrilled to sell you a ring that looks like that. By the way, ¼ size is within the fluff of what he had for breakfast, temperature, time of day and similar variables with the finger, not the ring. Your usage of the term ‘huge’ suggests that it’s more than that. Are you absolutely certain that 11.0 is the correct finger size?

I agree.

 

[YoungPapa]

Hi chapel2013,

I'm sure it is very frustrating to receive conflicting information, but please understand our goal is only to help you.

The ring is a size 11. We've measured it multiple times on multiple mandrels and keep coming up to the exact same size - 11. The gap you see in the first photo is the 'valley' that is present on all mandrels to allow a center diamond to slide without damage. It doesn't effect our measurement of the ring. The second image (also taken by us using a different mandrel) shows the location of the ring, pushed as far down the mandrel as possible.

If your jewelers measured the ring as a 12 and your fiancee as an 11, then it would seem the most logical next move is for us to size the ring down to a 10. What we can't do, however, is resize a ring to an 11 when every tool we use tells us that's already the size of the ring.

If it is more convenient for you to simply purchase a ring locally that you're sure will fit, we can process a full refund of the original purchase price.

I hope this information is helpful and most importantly that you're able to resolve this matter quickly and to your complete satisfaction.

All the best,

quick correction: The first two images were taken on the same mandrel. The other mandrel we used was probably the third image you stated that we sent. I have attached that below.