Vendor Experience Update

[Anise]

This is an update of https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/custom-ring-design-woes.181410/.

They sent an updated CAD, but it's not an approved CAD, because apparently they are having difficulty working with the size of the sapphires. Basically they are too big to insert in the space without making the rest of the ring look bad. They did not send an updated price quote, although the owner did call my SO and spoke with him on the phone about exactly why the design with the given stones and design won't work.

The sapphires were purchased on their direction as to the size, but their recommendation was based on the miscommunicated design.

The e-mail they sent this afternoon offered a couple options, both of which really compromise the design in my opinion. They've invited us to talk, think, etc. and call them Sunday morning to discuss. I'm not really sure what they want to discuss, as if they can't do it and can't come up with viable options maybe it can't be done?

Right now I think we should ask them to see if the design could be executed with smaller sapphires and what size/shape. I've told my SO that we can use the pears we have as drops for earrings or something like that in the future.

I'm pretty bummed about all this, especially as a minor time milestone in our relationship occurred recently, and when we were discussing the ring the other day he mentioned that he was hoping to propose on that milestone but obviously couldn't because we're stuck in ring design hell.

I know people ask about this sort of thing; here are the specs on our center stone:
.738 ct, F, VS2
Depth: 61.3
Table: 57
Crown Angle: 34.8
Pavilion Angle: 40.7

I've also uploaded the idealscope.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Well, I read through the other thread and I am puzzled as to why there is now a problem with the sapphires! That should have been established beforehand. What size are they? I would think they would need to be very small with a .70+ center and especially if they are to be inset with diamonds around them.

 

[tyty333]

Can you post the new cad they sent? I'm curious to how big the sapphires are also? Can you
Give us a mm size on them? I know you are frustrated but better to get this right before
the ring is made. Hang in there!

 

[Anise]

The sapphires are 3 x 5 mm, so are basically too wide to have the split shank go around them while still looking nice and in proportion with the center stone. The original mistake was that the Verragio inspiration photo never made it to the design team for the quote or the first CAD design. So when they told us the size, it wasn't when the design team had the correct design in mind.

One of the suggestions made was that we could just do a split shank ring and not have the twist, but the twist was one of the parts of the inspiration ring that I really liked! The designer wasn't a fount of solutions either, which doesn't give me a good feeling on the project. I think we'll probably end up asking what size and shape of stones would work and try to find those, as I poked around and my SO wouldn't be able to afford a bigger center stone (at least, not the size that we would probably need to make the design work).

We'll see what our conference call turns up tomorrow morning.

 

[Christina...]

Anise, I'm sorry that this project has been so frustrating. Is it possible for you to exchange the sapphires with the vendor that you purchased them from? Although sapphire earrings to match your ering sounds delish! I'm hoping that everything works itself out during your conference call tomorrow, but if it doesn't and you are still unsure of their ability to envision your dream ring, don't be afraid to back out and ask that the initial CAD deposit be returned. None of what has happened has been the fault of you or your SO and you shouldn't be penalized financially for the vendors lack of communication with their bench. Good luck, and I'm hoping to hear happy things tomorrow!

 

[Anise]

Hi tyty: I don't want to post the CADs because they weren't approved for production. One shows the design without the sapphires and the other shows them attempting to put the sapphires in but it's obvious the sapphires don't fit. I don't think it's fair to show something that isn't possible to execute and was only given to us to show the implausibility, if that makes sense.

I really do believe the positive reviews for this vendor, and I do believe that they are giving us 100% to make this happen. It's just hard to recover from a glaring early error. If they said a month ago that they couldn't do it or what we were asking was impossible for our budget and size stone we had in mind, I would get that. But I do understand that they don't want to send us away or be disappointing at this juncture and it really does seem like everyone is going at this with nothing but good intentions. It's just disheartening to go from "it can be done" to "oh, we're having lots of problems related to our original mistake" and "we don't have many good options".

Christina, I think we'd probably keep the pears and just have earrings made. Yogos are really special to me and while I already have a pair of Yogo studs, one thing that might be nice to have made is a pair of drops with diamond studs. I really like the vendor we bought the sapphires from and would hate to try to make a return/exchange on this purchase from a month ago.

I do appreciate the support and encouragement! I never anticipated the custom ring design process would be like this and I think if we knew in advance we probably would have just kept looking for a design we liked enough that was already made! I just tried so many rings on and while we liked a lot, never found the one that was for us. I think out of all our engagement ring shopping we found only one ring that we both really liked, but it was the sort of thing that they weren't going to trade out their side stones for ours or source their own Yogos for.