Would you risk a Leon?

[kenny]

Humor, if it was humor on Leon Mege's part, is no excuse.

A guy with a warped sense of humor could stand up at a wedding and as a joke yelled out, "Hey, she's not a virgin."
That he intended it as humor does not make it okay.

There are times and places where everyone must watch what they say regardless of their "creative" sense of humor.

 

[Lula]

I know what you mean, Kenny, about professionalism. But Leon is a vendor, a jeweler, as he says, and there is no Code of Ethics or law or regulation that I know of that covers surly/strange behavior and/or bad "jokes" on the part of small business owners. He has a right to be as odd as he wants, and as rude, as long as
a) he's not cheating the government out of tax revenue;
b) he's not sexually harassing customers;
c) he's not discriminating against a protected class of customer (race, religion, gender, etc.);
d) he's not violating other laws related to the diamond business.

Customers do have a right to recourse under most states' BBB or consumer protection laws/regulations, but, again, those laws don't protect a consumer from poor salesmanship unless fraud or failure to deliver as promised is a part of the transaction -- e.g., if the finished ring does not match the work order.

While I feel for Boom, and am sorry she's worried and anxious about her ring not being what she wanted, as several posters have pointed out, Leon's contract and method of doing business give him a lot of leeway and the customer has very little recourse.

But apparently enough customers are willing to put up with his rigid business practices, his odd personality, and the fact that he doesn't do waxes or CADs (or photos!) to keep him in business.

There's nothing wrong in Boom posting her experience with him for others to learn from it, and to ask for others' opinions, but does it rise to the level of him being removed from the PS vendors list, I don't think so.

We'll see what the admins. have to say, though.

 

[icekid]

The bottom line in this- if you are not comfortable with Leon, do not work with him. If you need 100% control, do not work with Leon. If you do not like his sense of humor, do not work with Leon. If you do not like his aesthetics, do not work with Leon.

Others are free to do as they please. There is no need to boot Leon off pricescope. Consumers are free to make their own, educated decisions.

I would not hesitate to work with him (and will, when I leave this residency gig and get a real job.)

 

[decodelighted]

Date: 10/4/2009 12:41:15 PM
Author: kenny
There are times and places where everyone must watch what they say regardless of their 'creative' sense of humor.

And I'd argue that in a PRIVATE EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE with a long time customer would NOT be "one of those times and places".

 

[Mara]

personally i think that leon wrote exactly what he meant to in that email, and it was interpreted exactly the way he meant for it to be.

but does he really care? no, i don''t think so.

bottom line is that PS exists so that customers can make their own educated decisions on diamonds/jewelry/stones/whatever being discussed. everyone is an adult and they can spend their money how they wish.

i told my husband about the hullabaloo and the history, and his comment was that he thinks that Leon is that way on purpose because it helps him weed out who he does not want to work with. he prob has a fair idea when talking to someone how the transaction will go down, and maybe he just says mentally ''oh heck no, we are not working together''. do i think he always deals with it correctly? no. i think if you are in the biz of dealing with the general public then you have to have some sort of customer service bend. but regardless of all the threads on here, people STILL go to him and they STILL give him their money and he is STILL busy. so it seems to be working for him.

threads like Boom''s are wonderfully educational in the PS sense of ''draw your own conclusions'' and do what you wish to with your money. everyone is an adult.

 

[kenny]

Mara I agree that he knows what he's doing.
He is good and knows it and can pick and choose his clients.

If he didn't have that cherished PS vendor status I wouldn't care.
I thought one of the things that came with PS vendor status was good customer service.

 

[Madam Bijoux]

After reading all the replies, I am wondering if this thread should be put on hold until Boom gets the ring and tells us if she is satisfied with it and whether she had any further correspondence with Himself.

 

[Lynn B]

Date: 10/4/2009 4:50:55 PM
Author: Madam Bijoux
After reading all the replies. Here, I am wondering if this thread should be put on hold until Boom gets the ring and tells us if she is satisfied with it and whather she had any further correspondence with Himself.

That made me LOL, MB!!!

 

[Harriet]

Yes, if I want a setting made using a technique in which Leon specialises. I don''t care for the adhesive nature of his contract, but I appreciate his quality and like his price points. Aside from my wedding set, I have never pointed to a model in Leon''s catalogue, nor sent him a collage. I give him a detailed sketch and state my requirements clearly on the work order. So far, there has been no deviation. Leon does have a unique sense of humour, which was unfortunately visited on Boom. For the record, Boom herself is not lacking in the humour department.

Kenny,
If you have Boom''s and Leon''s potential clients'' interests at heart, please stop stoking the fire. You''re not the injured party and have no standing to file any sort of complaint.

 

[kenny]

Date: 10/4/2009 6:59:13 PM
Author: Harriet
Kenny,

If you have Boom''s and Leon''s potential clients'' interests at heart, please stop stoking the fire. You''re not the injured party and have no standing to file any sort of complaint.

Okay.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

My sincere hope in all of this is that Leon never, ever sends out another highly magnified photo of a ring before it has been received by the customer. I do not think there would have been such a negative reaction to this ring if the pictures had not been seen.

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

We wear jewelry because it''s beauty evokes emotion. We love the feeling we get looking at it and savoring that feeling. Now if the jeweler ridicules and mocks you will you love the creation that you paid for with your hard earned savings? No.....I expect this ring will be buried in a jewelry box or resold. And as always beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Would I buy a Leon? No. But in all honesty I would never spend so much money on a ring setting.

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Date: 10/4/2009 10:19:20 PM
Author: diamondseeker2006
My sincere hope in all of this is that Leon never, ever sends out another highly magnified photo of a ring before it has been received by the customer. I do not think there would have been such a negative reaction to this ring if the pictures had not been seen.

But on the other hand, if Boom does get the ring and finds that her concerns are justified, isn''t it better that she did get the picture and had a heads up that something was off? I would imagine that with most other jewelers, they would be willing to listen to her and fix what she thought was wrong prior to sending it...and it would be so much more of a hassle if it was sent and she got it and found that there was something wrong with it, and had to send it back, etc.

Also other vendors send pictures...BGD and WF for example. For the most part it''s a nice gesture to the antsy customers

Of course there will be an occasional incident like this, when the customer realizes upon seeing the picture that it''s not what she had asked for (I''m also recalling DianaBanana''s Leon, and how Leon made the wrong ring for her and agreed to redo once she saw the pictures and realized). But because there is an occasional situation like Boom''s doesn''t mean that sending out pics of the finished product prior to mailing it was the cause of the problem, y''know?

Personally, I would want to know before the ring ships what it looks like, so that there would be less hassle about getting it fixed. And I think with many vendors they''d be willing to listen to the customer''s concerns and work with them in fixing it...rather than being so adamantly confident in their artistic vision that they would tell the customer that they wouldn''t change a thing, even though the customer is obviously unhappy.

 

[cindygenit]

Probably not. I am perfectly happy with the work that my jeweller does and would probably not notice the difference between his work and leon''s work.

I don''t see what the big deal is. He can do pointy claws and perfect pave. So what?

 

[onvacation]

Date: 10/3/2009 4:28:31 AM
Author: justginger
AJ, I found corresponding with Leon from Perth to be quite good. He and Rachael both respond to emails very quickly, I''ve called him at least 5 times now (!), and at the risk of being branded a liar, I found him to have better communication than BGD. I was in correspondance with Lesley, but days passed with no returned emails, and eventually she just didn''t write back at all! I never actually got a quote from them. I think I might have just slipped through the cracks, so to speak - I initially thought it was because I was being difficult, but now I realize that''s what most of their customers are like. Anyway, I wouldn''t discount using BGD in the future; I don''t feel affronted or as if they have poor service, but in this case Leon was actually easier for me to liase with if that''s one of your chief concerns.

I am absolutely appalled at Leon''s recent letter in the CS thread, but I ditto every word of justginger''s experience. I had very much the same experience, TWICE, with Lesley back when she was at Whiteflash. I would rather get a curt or even rude answer than none at all. (And I really don''t believe I was being difficult at all; I asked for three specific, similar quotes in one email.) I understand that there can be trouble with email regarding spam and what not, but my calls were not returned either. On the other hand, Leon was surprisingly prompt and informative in his emails. Here''s the first message I got from him, so you can get an idea:

Dear XXXX,

Thank you for your interest.
if 5 stones used - X.X ct total
3.0 mm diameter G/VS diamonds
Style: Ring Five-stone “Classic”
Design similar to catalogue sample r1050
_______________________________________________________________________
Price of completed piece with stones included: $x,000
Estimated timeframe: 4 to 6 weeks

I personally like this direct no-fuss style.

As for commissioning Leon for projects, I would be inclined to call on him for projects that fit his design style so I can let him do his thing (thus hopefully avoiding messy communication or service issues). I guess I would still like to give him the benefit of the doubt, since I haven''t had a bad experience yet. But still, based on what I have read on PS I do feel he is unnecessarily ill-mannered sometimes.

 

[Phoenix]

Date: 10/4/2009 6:59:13 PM
Author: Harriet
Yes, if I want a setting made using a technique in which Leon specialises. I don''t care for the adhesive nature of his contract, but I appreciate his quality and like his price points. Aside from my wedding set, I have never pointed to a model in Leon''s catalogue, nor sent him a collage. I give him a detailed sketch and state my requirements clearly on the work order. So far, there has been no deviation. Leon does have a unique sense of humour, which was unfortunately visited on Boom. For the record, Boom herself is not lacking in the humour department.

Kenny,
If you have Boom''s and Leon''s potential clients'' interests at heart, please stop stoking the fire. You''re not the injured party and have no standing to file any sort of complaint.

Harriet, could this be because you had face-to-face meetings with Leon and were thus able to more accurately convey and discuss the details with him?

I''m an ardent fan of Leon''s. He''s made one teeny tiny fault on my first order, one that I was able to overlook however. I can imagine though that long distant orders and communications and any adjustments/ detailed specs could possibly be misinterpreted or forgotten about, and not everyone can overlook details that were not done to their specs no matter how small.

On the subject of Boom''s interaction with Leon, I think he was unnessarily impolite, which is very unfortunate. I do think however that Boom should wait until she receives the ring first before expressing any reservations. Both my pear ring and my earrings from Leon have been amazingly gorgeous and I wouldn''t hesitate in using him again. Again, I am sorry Boom has had such an unfavourable experience and I thank her for posting her experience so that everyone is better informed, but at the end of the day, it''s an individual choice whether or not to go with him.

 

[Harriet]

Kenny,
Thanks.

Phoenix,
Perhaps. But I''ve also worked long-distance with him as I don''t live in NY year-long anymore.

 

[kenny]

No problem Harriet.

I know I can be a loudmouth at times.

 

[DianaBanana]

Some of you may have heard that Leon is re-making my sapphire ring due to a pretty major communication problem that resulted in a beautiful ring but it wasn''t at all what I thought I''d ordered.

I think it''s important to note that if you''re going to work with Leon, you''re working directly with the factory. No fancy showroom, no sales rep holding your hand, no customer service department if something doesn''t go quite right, just a work order to communicate your wishes. You''re going to work with a jeweler who''s first language isn''t english - one with a wicked sense of humor, he''s going to ask you to send out a 50% deposit prior to starting the work, you won''t receive a drawing, CAD or wax to approve. You''ll get an invoice for the balance owing and then he''ll ship you the ring. His policy states that custom orders cannot be returned or refunded. If the description above scares the bejeezus out of you, then you most definitely should not work with him.

With all that said, would I work with him again? Yup.

Since communication is a two way street, I take some of the responsibility for the ring not coming out as I thought it would. Hindsight being 20/20, I would use notes similiar to Blinginator''s if I was to do it again (Thread here), this kind of detailed communication resulted in a work order that truly reflected the customer''s wishes. Mine did not.

 

[crown1]

in a word, NO!

 

[LadyBlue]

Sure!! I really like his work.

 

[VRBeauty]

Date: 10/5/2009 1:55:36 PM
Author: kenny
No problem Harriet.


I know I can be a loudmouth at times.

Is it pie time yet?

There's a nip in the air here, so please make mine pumpkin with gobs of whipped cream.

Whether 1) you've decided you'd sooner walk a block on hot coals than work with Leon, or 2) you'd still love to have a piece by Leon but want to make sure you approach the project in the right way, or 3) you're savoring the challenge of taking on Himself...

I think this has been (and will no doubt continue to be

) an informative thread!