James Allen is taking me for a ride

[Jski11]

Similar thing happened to me with them last month and I had to delay my proposal. There weren't any payment issues with mine, I just got an email the afternoon it was supposed to ship saying it'd be late. Was told it had be recast. It shipped a week later. Looks OK but the band is a little discolored in a couple spots.

 

[EvaEvans]

Bad customer service of James Allen! This review drive me back from the plan to purchase directly from them! That is why I like the very personal attention that I always receive from the local jewelry store where I am a customer for many years.

 

[whitewave]

I'm glad you have a local place that gives you asets and IS and has diamonds below 2 on HCA (and knows what that is). My jewelry store-- i went there to see about making my original engagement ring into a pendant. They told me to come back in one hour since he (the owner/jeweler/bench jeweler) was at lunch (they took my name and number). I went back 1.5 hours later and specifically drove 20 minutes to the next town to go see him. Guess what, he wasn't there. He did come back for lunch but decided at 1:30 pm that he wanted to play golf instead. So he left for the day and didn't bother to call me. He did me a favor to show me that he lacks a professional work ethic.

 

[esttx]

Thanks for all the advice yesterday. We had a wonderful Valentine's together, and she's on the same page with everything going on with JA's issues. (She picked the ring out and is very understanding).

Right now, it's been 2 days since JA's voicemail to me about payment and production going through, but no actual progress updates on their site as to what stage my order is in on my account page. It's remains in the same stage as it's been in when they thought I hadn't paid yet over a week ago.

Going to give it another day and see if the status changes from "Your order is ready for production, but is awaiting payment processing or diamond verification.", where it's been stuck.... then going to call them and demand some sort of compensation. And if they're still dragging their feet and not going to be straight up and honest with me, I'm disputing the purchase and getting a refund.

This is so bad.

 

[whitewave]

Really terrible.

So are you officially engaged?!?

 

[the_mother_thing]

No other advice from what has been posted, except to say I'm sorry your plans were thwarted by poor customer service. I'm glad your intended is understanding, and that you have a rational plan for next steps. I hope they don't make you ask to be compensated for their errors, and instead offer to compensate you somehow, maybe a discount on bands or something. THAT would be a sign of good customer relations IMO.

 

[esttx]

Just got off JA chat, was told that it's being shipped from overseas. But the NEW estimated shipping date of the ring to me is 2/20. I'm going to call them tomorrow as planned and have a talk with them.

Really terrible.

So are you officially engaged?!?

And we are not engaged yet. I rescheduled everything as well as the surprise party for her the day of the engagement. This is why I want the actual ring on her hand when she sees everyone.

No other advice from what has been posted, except to say I'm sorry your plans were thwarted by poor customer service. I'm glad your intended is understanding, and that you have a rational plan for next steps. I hope they don't make you ask to be compensated for their errors, and instead offer to compensate you somehow, maybe a discount on bands or something. THAT would be a sign of good customer relations IMO.

Thanks. Yeah, we can only hope.

 

[Allisonfaye]

Wow, that would definitely make me rethink any business with JA. Not acceptable.

 

[whitewave]

Very food. (You sound like a catch)

 

[jamesallenrings]

Hi guys,

This is Shelly from James Allen.

Quick update here – we are never happy to hear about a bad experience with our company and are working offline with @esttx to try and get his purchase shipped ASAP. We're hopeful that we can resolve the issue to the customer's full satisfaction and that @esttx will come back to this thread and provide an update.

Best,
Shelly

 

[tyty333]

I'm just curious when you picked out your stone and paid for it was that about Feb 6th? What was the ship date on the stone for JA
to get it? What was the ship date on the ring? It would have to be by the 13th to get it on the 14th (which is a little late but hopefully still doable).

I dont see how on the 6th they could have EVER said they would have your ring ready to be shipped on the 13th if it was a stone
from overseas. That leaves only 7 days to get the stone from overseas, get the setting ready, set the stone and then get it shipped
out. I mean that is hardly a reasonable time frame when its not Valentines...

Did their website say that your order could be done by Valentines when you picked the stone/setting and paid for the ring or did it just
say that some rings were available for Valentines day?

You typed this in your first post..."This is was in confidence that JamesAllen's site had said they'd have these rings bought by people before a certain date shipped to them by Valentine's day"...do you remember the date they wanted you to purchase by?

Just trying to figure out if JA is over committing or where the disconnect took place?

With only a week timeframe to get a ring (which is basically a rush order in my mind) we would have sent you to a vendor that had
stones in house (still would have been tough though).

 

[kb1gra]

This has happened before when James Allen runs these sales. They will promise a date and then just say "sorry, won't be here in time, we have a lot of orders"

It's happened to more than one person on this board, including me.

 

[esttx]

Hi guys,

This is Shelly from James Allen.

Quick update here – we are never happy to hear about a bad experience with our company and are working offline with @esttx to try and get his purchase shipped ASAP. We're hopeful that we can resolve the issue to the customer's full satisfaction and that @esttx will come back to this thread and provide an update.

Best,
Shelly

Thanks for responding, Shelly.

But besides the one phone call that I got from JA a few days ago about payment finally showing up and the confirmation email of my payment (that I should've got the day of paying), there's not been any offline work with me initiated by JA. Everything else has been on my behalf, and even then, the phone representatives weren't even on the same page and ran me in circles.

I'm just curious when you picked out your stone and paid for it was that about Feb 6th? What was the ship date on the stone for JA
to get it? What was the ship date on the ring? It would have to be by the 13th to get it on the 14th (which is a little late but hopefully still doable).

I dont see how on the 6th they could have EVER said they would have your ring ready to be shipped on the 13th if it was a stone
from overseas. That leaves only 7 days to get the stone from overseas, get the setting ready, set the stone and then get it shipped
out. I mean that is hardly a reasonable time frame when its not Valentines...

Did their website say that your order could be done by Valentines when you picked the stone/setting and paid for the ring or did it just
say that some rings were available for Valentines day?

You typed this in your first post..."This is was in confidence that JamesAllen's site had said they'd have these rings bought by people before a certain date shipped to them by Valentine's day"...do you remember the date they wanted you to purchase by?

Just trying to figure out if JA is over committing or where the disconnect took place?

With only a week timeframe to get a ring (which is basically a rush order in my mind) we would have sent you to a vendor that had
stones in house (still would have been tough though).

When I bought the ring, my order on their site said "estimated ship date 2/14/2017", which looked fine to me, as it said "Free FedEx Priority Overnight Shipping". Most online retailers estimate longer than what is needed to give themselves a time cushion, so I thought it may even come in earlier, and that was part of the draw for the purchase. I thought, Oh, they could have the ring up until the day before and probably be fine to get it to me. But now that they're saying it's coming from overseas?... Sounds like a pretty unreasonable time frame advertisement to give to customers.

This has happened before when James Allen runs these sales. They will promise a date and then just say "sorry, won't be here in time, we have a lot of orders"

It's happened to more than one person on this board, including me.

I'm sorry to hear this. When dealing with merchandise like this, people sometimes have very specific time frames in which they need the product. And for JA not to come through on what they tell the customer isn't right.

 

[whitewave]

I'm just curious when you picked out your stone and paid for it was that about Feb 6th? What was the ship date on the stone for JA
to get it? What was the ship date on the ring? It would have to be by the 13th to get it on the 14th (which is a little late but hopefully still doable).

I dont see how on the 6th they could have EVER said they would have your ring ready to be shipped on the 13th if it was a stone
from overseas. That leaves only 7 days to get the stone from overseas, get the setting ready, set the stone and then get it shipped
out. I mean that is hardly a reasonable time frame when its not Valentines...

Did their website say that your order could be done by Valentines when you picked the stone/setting and paid for the ring or did it just
say that some rings were available for Valentines day?

You typed this in your first post..."This is was in confidence that JamesAllen's site had said they'd have these rings bought by people before a certain date shipped to them by Valentine's day"...do you remember the date they wanted you to purchase by?

Just trying to figure out if JA is over committing or where the disconnect took place?

With only a week timeframe to get a ring (which is basically a rush order in my mind) we would have sent you to a vendor that had
stones in house (still would have been tough though).

To add: if it said ship by 2/14/17 on 2/6/17 I think any customer would assume it is at least in the states and not overseas. If it was overseas on the 6th (it's obvious it was, even eliminating the payment issue) James Allen was giving a date that couldn't possibly be achieved. That's 5 1/2 +/- business days.

 

[lambskin]

I am curious. Is the setting and diamond unusual? What are the stats on the diamond? Why did it come from overseas if it was posted as available for sale?

 

[esttx]

I am curious. Is the setting and diamond unusual? What are the stats on the diamond? Why did it come from overseas if it was posted as available for sale?

Not at all.

14K White Gold 2mm Comfort Fit Solitaire (Six Prong) and a very common size round diamond.

 

[lovedogs]

I've been following this thread and don't have anything helpful to add other than that I'm really sorry for your negative experience. I'm glad you posted here for help, and really hope everything works out for you in the end.

 

[WillyDiamond]

OP

I have to give you credit, you are more patient than me and I think most people on this forum.

I read the post from the JA employee and in my opinion it is pathetic. After all your hassle, they are treating you like some fool off the street. Your diamond is not in the US? It is being shipped now from overseas? Are you kidding me? This entire purchase is out of control.

As I said in an earlier post if you want action, speak to Mr. Schultz, and if he wont talk with you or return your call you sure have your answer.

This process should be "fun". Is this fun? I don't think so.

Best of luck

 

[E B]

It's being shipped from overseas meaning...it isn't even here yet? 3 days after the whole ring should have been to you? If that's the case, I'd go with a vendor that has an in-house diamond. You'd be starting from essentially the same point, maybe a step ahead, even.

 

[whitewave]

Any change of status on the order? Should we take bets as to when you will have the ring?

 

[WillyDiamond]

Did you apply for a refund and walk away from the deal yet?

 

[whitewave]

Is Shelly indeed working with you offline to take care of business? Are they driving the remedy? It sounded like you were still having to force the issue of moving the ring along...

ETA: oh, I see you said there is nothing happening offline. You are a more patient person than I am. I would not give this company my money in this situation!

 

[YoungPapa]

Hi folks,

I've been traveling aggressively all week, so please excuse my belated response to the thread.

First and foremost, I want to personally apologize to esstx. You obviously have not had the impeccable diamond experience that we try to deliver all of our customers, and I will be reaching out to you personally in a few days as a follow up. I appreciate that you decided to stick with us, and have been informed that your completed ring has shipped this evening.

Reading through this thread, I see a lot of speculation that somehow morphed itself into fact. In reality, the root cause of this problem had nothing to do with scheduling, diamond location, or our ability to source. It came down to an order that was placed with one name and email address, and a PayPal payment from a completely different name and email. That certainly isn't the fault of esstx, but threw our team for a loop that took a couple of days to sort. That mismatch of data, combined with less than stellar communication, ballooned into the conversation we're having today.

We're not a perfect company folks, and with our rapid growth these last few years and the popularity of Pricescope, our mistakes can quickly become public spectacle. With that said, our dedication to service, value, and cutting edge technology has not changed, and I am still in the office every day - driving those core values across the team.

Esstx - I'm cautiously optimistic the ring will exceed your expectations, and look forward to speaking with you soon.

 

[quaddio]

So sorry to hear of this! Hope you get a refund and go elsewhere, apologies are no substitute for service. Hope you have a great proposal and find an amazing ring from one of the many other vendors!

 

[esttx]

Thank you all very much for the support and words. Good community is here.

Did you apply for a refund and walk away from the deal yet?

I was just about to, but received another call today stating its being shipped and a tracking number was provided. We'll wait to see.

Is Shelly indeed working with you offline to take care of business? Are they driving the remedy? It sounded like you were still having to force the issue of moving the ring along...

ETA: oh, I see you said there is nothing happening offline. You are a more patient person than I am. I would not give this company my money in this situation!

I'm a pretty patient person, and things like this typically wouldn't bother me so much. But this isn't some $20 purchase on amazon. I have a tracking number as of a few hours ago. We'll see how this turns out.

James Allen Schultz|1487378958|4130340" data-source="" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch">

Hi folks,

I've been traveling aggressively all week, so please excuse my belated response to the thread.

First and foremost, I want to personally apologize to esstx. You obviously have not had the impeccable diamond experience that we try to deliver all of our customers, and I will be reaching out to you personally in a few days as a follow up. I appreciate that you decided to stick with us, and have been informed that your completed ring has shipped this evening.

Reading through this thread, I see a lot of speculation that somehow morphed itself into fact. In reality, the root cause of this problem had nothing to do with scheduling, diamond location, or our ability to source. It came down to an order that was placed with one name and email address, and a PayPal payment from a completely different name and email. That certainly isn't the fault of esstx, but threw our team for a loop that took a couple of days to sort. That mismatch of data, combined with less than stellar communication, ballooned into the conversation we're having today.

We're not a perfect company folks, and with our rapid growth these last few years and the popularity of Pricescope, our mistakes can quickly become public spectacle. With that said, our dedication to service, value, and cutting edge technology has not changed, and I am still in the office every day - driving those core values across the team.

Esstx - I'm cautiously optimistic the ring will exceed your expectations, and look forward to speaking with you soon.

Thank you for the response, Schultz.

I probably don't need to elaborate my grief any further, and I can understand where JA said they were coming from. However, I've never had this problem using paypal as my medium in 15+ years. I still received a confirmation email of payment from Paypal and JA stating that the money was successfully sent instantly with my order number in the email at the time of purchase. JA should have had the same exact confirmation information. Yet I had to send it back in via email forwarding a couple times for things to connect on JAs end.

Anyways, I'm provided with a tracking number as of a few hours ago, without compensation of anything. Maybe JA doesn't see it fit to do so. But we'll wait to see when the actual product I paid for comes in. And if it's exactly what I bought (or in Mr. Schultz's words, exceeds my expectations), great. But overall, this hasn't been a good buying experience for me.

 

[whitewave]

I'm not understanding the pay pal thing. I don't see any speculation that has morphed into fact. I see speculation on why esttx is having a bad experience with JA.

Do vendors overnight diamonds from overseas?

 

[whitewave]

This is the timeline and happenings as I read it, and I see this as a customer service issue:

7th: he orders ring, says "estimated ship on/before Valentines Day". Credit card declined for fraud alert. Sets up paypal payment with JA.

Wee hours of the 8th. Email requesting payment. He pays through pay pal.

Days pass no information from JA

12th: no word on ring. He gets an email from JA that says putting ring back if no payment is made. He calls JA; informed they never got payment.

12th: emails Eileen with proof twice with confirmation. Eileen does not reply

13th. No reply from JA. He calls back, speaks to man who tells him he(the man) will call back in 30-45 mins. JA rep (the man) doesn't call back

He emails Eileen again. no response from JA

He calls back and is told it takes 1-2 business days to get back to him.

15th receives email saying the ring was shipped from overseas.

17th ring has been set and has been shipped to him


Misc: two other posters comment this has happened to them with JA.

 

[kb1gra]

To be clear, this payment issue has not happened to me. However, delays in shipping HAVE happened to me.

 

[Karl_K]

Do vendors overnight diamonds from overseas?

There are more than one highly efficient pipelines available.
Then value of the overall shipment plays a big part determining which is used.
Generally from any large diamond trade area to NY in 24 hours during the holiday times of year.
The rest of the year its not much longer.
In slower times it may take a little longer for the shipping company to get a large enough shipment together to make it economical.

I really cant say much because I am in the trade but I will say that Jim emailed me back within 15 minutes from the airport where he was waiting to board a plane to let me know he had been in contact with the office and working on it.

 

[WillyDiamond]

OP
I hope you love the finished product
If not 100% happy, return it.
Let us know about the proposal