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Diamond Shopper beware Finkle Jewelers in Albany

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marty804

Rough_Rock
Joined
Apr 29, 2005
Messages
2
You guys are all thinking about popping the question but this story pertains to you...

My wife and I were married in October, 2004. We tried to buy two wedding bands at Finkle Jewelers in Albany, NY.

To make a long story short...we put down 50% of the total for both rings. I ended up keeping the ring that I picked out but my wife didn''t get what she ordered. The ring she wanted had just been sold so they ordered a blank to load some channel set diamonds into. The ring came and it was wrong. Mary Finkle, the owner, tried to tell me that I was under contract to buy the second ring. He also said that he''d give my wife a loaner ring for our wedding ceremony. The bottom line is I wanted to take my ring and get back the remaining balance of what we put down. He insisted that I was under contract and wouldn''t sell me the ring. I ended up walking out of the store with my ring. It was a very difficult decision to make. It happened 5 days before my wedding. When you guys are at D Day minus 5 take a minute and think to yourself if this is what you''d want to be doing. At 5 days to the big day there''s about 500 things going through your mind at the same time.

Marty Finkle knew the kind of pressure my wife and I were under and he tried to use it as leverage against me to make a sale, in my opinion.

To top it off I had the ring appraised by a GIA certified gemologist for insurance and it appraised at 25% less than what I paid for it. My wife''s ring purchased at another jeweler came out to 4.5% less than what I paid for it. That is a very acceptable margin. A difference of $100 on a $2200 dollar ring.

If you want to see a more detailed accout let me know and I''ll post a two page document I wrote up describing the whole event.

Thanks,
Paul
 

NoonersMom

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Dec 14, 2004
Messages
353
Paul, sorry to hear that things didn''t go as planned. I would be upset as well. Hopefully this will be a nice reminder to others to get purchase the bands well in advance so that if something does happen, there is still time to come up with alternative options.
 

Boston Diamond Guy

Rough_Rock
Joined
May 2, 2005
Messages
5
I’m sorry to hear that, but I’m also going to have to agree with moonermom. While the jeweler should have taken responsibility for providing you exactly what you agreed to purchase, 5 days from the date is a squeeze. So many unknowns with jewelry b/c there are usually so many "hands" involved. Buyers, cutters, setters, designers... imagine if it was a custom band, and the jeweler needed her engagement ring to form fit… and the showpiece stone fractured during the process!! Now you have to factor in insurance companies. Definitely want to leave room for Murphy’s Law.
 

MissAva

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Mar 6, 2005
Messages
8,230
I am sorry to hear that you are having such a hard time. Have you shown him the appriasial? Perhaps he will make up the differnece to you....stillI feel like we are missing something here.
 

marty804

Rough_Rock
Joined
Apr 29, 2005
Messages
2
The whole story...

I Was Robbed at Finkle Jewelers

The Beginning

My wife and I were married in October, 2004. We had a nightmare experience shopping for wedding bands at Harold Finkle Jewlers. I created this site to share that experience.

My wife and I were engaged in February, 2004 and marriedin October, 2004. We started shopping for wedding bands in August, 2004. I had a hard time finding something I liked so we pretty much went to every store in the area. My wife on the other hand, wanted channel set diamonds in a platinum band. This is a very common setting. Every jeweler we went to had several bands of this style. We figured that we would get her band where ever we found mine since I wasn’t going to be able to go just anywhere.

I’m not saying that if you shop at Harold Finkle Jewelers you will be treated the way my wife and I were but of course we didn’t think we’d be treated badly either.

Shopping at Harold Finkle Jewelers

Our experience with Finkle Jeweler’s began on August 30, 2004. I found a band that I liked. My wife tried on bands and did not find the exact band that she had in mind. At about this time during the transaction Marty Finkle took over for the woman that was helping us. Marty explained to us that they had the exact band that my wife wanted but he had just sold it. He even showed us an empty ring holder in the case where he said the ring was on display. He said that since it was such a common style that he always had one in stock. He apolgized for not having one readily available. He said that he could get one.

We decided that I would go with the band I selected and they would order a blank for my wife and a jeweler on the premises would set the stones. We had about 7 weeks until the wedding and Marty assured us that would be plenty of time. He said that having the blank produced would be the only part that was out of his control, but it shouldn’t take long. He said setting the stones would be done the day the blank arrived or the next day at the latest. We put down half of the total and left satisfied and relieved that that part of our wedding planning was done and we could focus on other things. We had a short engagement and still had a lot of planning to do.

We heard from Finkle Jewelers sometime during the week of October 4th. Our wedding was on October 23rd. With the wedding about two weeks away we were glad to go to Finkle Jewelers sometime on October 8th or 9th to pick them up. When we arrived we saw that my ring was done. It was the ring I had chosen and it had been sized and engraved. My wife’s ring, however, was wrong. They ordered the wrong channel type. A sales associate informed us that we could fill in the channel with diamonds. I’m sure that is true but I wasn’t about to buy more diamonds to fix their mistake.

Instead of a closed channel, which is what she looked at in the case and is what we ordered, the ring had an open channel. Marty Finkle explained the differences in channel type to us. Marty acknowledged that the ring was not what was agreed upon and he also agreed to order a replacement right away. He said if the ring wasn’t ready in time that they would loan my wife a ring for the ceremony.

I asked for Marty’s assurance that the ring would be ready in time. He said that he couldn’t give an assurance but he would do the best he could. I thought he was kidding. After we left my wife and I thought to ourselves that surely he realized the significance of us having those rings on time and that he would come through for us. We were kind of bewildered at this point. We left kind of in shock. We were OK with borrowing a ring at this point but as time went on we were against it. We agreed that we wanted her ring to be ready on time. We waited.

Dealing with Marty Finkle

It was eight days to our wedding and we had no wedding rings. I called Marty Finkle on October 15th and this is wher e the bad situation go a whole lot worse. He was extremely rude on the phone. He was very annoyed that I called to see if my wife’s ring would be ready in time. (Imagine the nerve of me being concerned about something like that.) I am paraphrasing but he pretty much said, “I can’t say that your ring will be ready in time because it is out of my hands. I am a man of my word and I will not say that it will be ready unless I know for sure. Would you want me to give you my word if I didn’t know for sure?” Personally I thought that he should be able to give me his word and have our ring expedited.

My wife and I decided to go to Finkle Jewelers that evening to make sure my ring was correct. We wanted to save time in case corrections needed to be made. When we walked into the store Marty became extremely belligerent. He said, “Paul I just talked to you!” He actually yelled at me. He then continued to berate and belittle us. He gave us the same line about him being a man of his word and how he couldn’t tell us for sure that the ring would be ready. He ranted about how he would loan us a ring. All the time his voice was raised, his nostrils were flairing and he was very animated. He was not only completely insensitive to what we were dealing with he was extremely rude and beligerent. I was spending abut $2900 at his store and he was treating me like crap.

During this exchange I asked Marty if he could sell us my ring and just cancel the sale of the other ring in the name of good customer service. I actually offered to pay more than the price we had agreed on. We paid him half our balance, which was $1451.11. The total on my ring was $1288.18. I offered to let him keep the additional $162.93 and give me my ring. He said that my wife’s ring was a “special order” and he couldn’t do that. He said we had to take both rings. He said we were under contract. He said that our down payment recepit was a contract. Marty emphasized his point by showing us that the receipt did not say that it did not say that “close downs” were allowed. At this point we both left there dumbfounded and bewildered by our harsh treatment and the fact that we didn’t have wedding bands a week before our wedding.

The truth of the matter is our receipt was just that, a receipt. We owed him the remaining balance on delivery of the merchandise. Marty was full of shit and he knew it. He was using my wedding as leverage against me. I would call that dispicable.

I actually owned my ring and Finkle Jewelers owed me money! Marty was replenishing his stock and we were buying the merchandise. It’s as simple as that. We were under no obligation to let Marty fix his mistake and take the second ring. He tried to make us think we were.

Claiming My Property

I arrived at Finkle Jewelers on October 19, 2004, five days before my wedding, to pick up my ring. I walked into Finkle Jewelers on Tuesday October 19th bleary eyed and exhausted after only getting about 8 hours the whole weekend. I put my ring on my finger and explained to the clerk that I was paid for the ring and I was there to pick it up. She asked about my wife’s ring, “But where will you get another one?” I told her I had a ring on hold at another jeweler. They thought they had me by the balls and I wouldn’t be able to get another ring on time. I apologized for putting her in the middle of this dispute and asked that she go get Marty.

Marty Finkle came downstairs and I explained the situation to him. I told him that we put half of the value of two rings down as a deposit. I told him that we no longer wanted the second ring and we overpaid for my ring by $162.93. I asked him for my change. Marty said he wasn’t going to give it to me. I asked again and the reply was the same. Marty Finkle again tried to pressure me into thinking I was under contract and my receipt for a down payment was a contract. Like I said before, Marty was full of shit. I left with my ring. Marty didn’t try to stop me because he knew I was right. He didn’t call the police because he knew I was right. Marty Finkle owes me $162.93.

He didn’t even offer me a box.

My wife and I went to another jeweler and paid for her ring later the same day and picked it up the following day so I could have both rings appraised for insurance.

The Appraisal

I had both of rings appraised for insurance by a Graduate Gemologist trained at the Gemological Institue of America and a member of the National Association of Jewelery Appraisers on October 20, 2004. . The appraiser also holds a Registered Master Valuer diploma. My ring cost me $1190.00 and was appraised at $890.00. I had my wife’s engagement ring and wedding band appraised by the same gemologist. My ring was appraised at a replacement value of 25% less than what I paid for it. In reality it was even more than that if the $162.93 they still owe me is factored in. Harold Finkle is not my jeweler.

I think to myself that he would have gotten me twice had I purshased two rings from him. My wife’s ring appraised at a replacement vaule of within $100.00 of what I paid for it. I’m glad I bought it where I did.

The Ending

My wife and I enjoyed our wedding and honeymoon and have since put this experience behind us. Despite everything I like my wedding ring. I don’t associate it with bad memories. I associate it with my wife and our wedding.

Dealing with Marty Finkle was one of the single worst experiences in my entire life. It may have been the worst.
 

MissAva

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Mar 6, 2005
Messages
8,230
I am sorry you had such a rough time. You need to report him to the Better Business Bureau and the Jeweler’s Association. They keep track of these things I believe.
 
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