Buyer Beware - Chinese Manufacturing Company

[Tate25]

Thanks MollyMalone, it looks like the gems are on there way back to me. Just hope they are in the same condition as I sent them. The Changxing Jewelry website actually provides a custom made service which was why I contacted them about it. You'll note at the top of the page it says 'custom designs':

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/405105

Also I tried to copy the picture describing the custom service and the process they follow but had technical difficulties so instead I've attached a link of a ring. If you go about half way down the page, it talks about the custom design process.

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/NEW-SOLID-18ct-Yellow-GOLD-1-5CT-Round-cut-Diamond-Wedding-Band-Ring/405105_533903919.html

Looks like I had a lucky escape on sending the gems to China as per your post. I wasn't aware of this. I was told to mark the them as 'zircons' but thought this was due to not advertising expensive gems, although think she meant cubic zirconia's not zircons as they can be pretty expensive.

It's interesting though in the second link USPS it says jewels are prohibited 'unless sent as an insured post.' which they were. I doubt they have been insured on their return trip though. All up a very good learning experience and the upside is that I've found this forum which is awesome! Its good to know that if I have any questions in future I can ask the experts

 

[Tate25]

Thanks for posting CharmyPoo

 

[chloeishere]

Based on a few purchases I made at Aliexpress, I would not advise anyone use a vendor through that portal for a custom jewelry project. I was reassured by all the assurances on the website about safety (thinking it was as regulated as ebay), and made a few inexpensive purchases to test the waters.

When everything I received was not as described (and I read item descriptions and reviewed photos very carefully) I contacted the seller and requested a refund, and said that I would be happy to send the items back at their expense, as it was not as described or pictured. In essence, I was told to go screw myself. I escalated the dispute to AliExpress and was told they couldn't help me, as the cost of return shipping would be greater than the item value, so I would just have to try and seek resolution with the seller. I ended up filing with my credit card company regarding the transactions. I wouldn't normally worry about it (the total was ~$20), but I was so angered by the situation and deceptive descriptions and handling of the situation that I didn't want the company to keep their ill-gotten gains, and I wanted them to be flagged by the credit card company in the hopes for better service in the future.

In short, I don't think anyone here will ever have "PS acceptable" customer service at AliExpress, even if it's a good vendor according to feedback from eBay. AliExpress doesn't care and the policies are not enforced. There are no repercussions for the sellers on AliExpress unless you are able to dispute the charges on a credit card.

I am really sorry that you had such a bad experience, Tate, and this thread has encouraged me to not send any stones to a vendor based in China.

 

[CharmyPoo]

You are lucky your stones didn't get lost! Every time I send things in "english address" ... it gets lost.

 

[moobasgirl]

You are lucky your stones didn't get lost! Every time I send things in "english address" ... it gets lost.

Charmypoo, how did you manage to get your stone set in your bezel setting? I love bezels and would love to try out one of the Chinese sellers, but don't know if getting a stone set into a pre made bezel setting is something that can be done easily?

I'd love your advice.

 

[pregcurious]

Charmypoo, I would be interested to know also.

 

[Arcadian]

I've done premade bezels and you have to be sure that whomever sets your stone is VERY good with bezel settings. The very last thing you want is a wonky looking bezel.

I know of 2 places small independent jewelers local to me who do very good bench work, so if I need something like this, I go to them. The price is dependent on what type of work I want done.

 

[pregcurious]

Arcadian, do you live in the DC area by any chance? I am looking for a good bench to do this type of work.

 

[Arcadian]

Arcadian, do you live in the DC area by any chance? I am looking for a good bench to do this type of work.

Unfortunately no, but I do visit there for work! I'm in Massachusetts.

 

[pregcurious]

I'm from MA originally and still visit every year. Could you divulge who you use in MA? Do they accept outside stones and/or settings?

 

[Arcadian]

Benchcraft Jewelers in Belmont, MA They can do some types of stones but nothing too soft. I like the owner, he's a real character.

The other that I use is connected to a restaurant and nail saloon...lol yes I now but its just that type of thing. Also in Belmont and I can't recall their name off the top of my head. They're probably 5 blocks south of Benchcraft and do excellent bezels. The charge can differ depending on the type of stone I've found but they're good. I was turned on to them by another member here actually!

when I can get it together and recall the business name I'll update this thread.

Anyway both are call ahead, Belmont is like a good 20 minute drive for me but easier than going into Boston, and way better than Barmakian (hate that place, ugh!) Oh Barmakian will also set your stones, but they're expensive and pain in the rears though. They're in Framingham and Boston I believe.

 

[pregcurious]

Thanks, Arcadian. I will have to check them out the next time I am in the area. Belmont is a nice town and it makes sense that they could support good craftsmanship.

 

[GregS]

Arcadian, do you live in the DC area by any chance? I am looking for a good bench to do this type of work.

I use Five Star Jewelers in Burke Va., they are very good.

 

[pregcurious]

Thanks, Greg! Have you posted and if the work that the do? Will they accept outside setting and stones? Thank you!

 

[GregS]

Thanks, Greg! Have you posted and if the work that the do? Will they accept outside setting and stones? Thank you!

I bring my stones and they set them, they did my Mahenge Spinel and my boulder Opal. The Spinel was a Stuller setting and the Boulder Opal was custom from their Goldsmith.

Their off site Goldsmith lives locally, so custom projects take about a month and there's no need to mail off your stones. You tell them what you want, they talk with the Goldsmith, a week or so later they present you with a wax mold before completion. Toby the owner has set stones same day when I used a stock setting.

 

[pregcurious]

Thanks, Greg. I think I remember you pendant being jewel of the week. Stunning.

 

[Agnesg]

Hello, can I know if you managed to get your stones back? I seem to be experiencing the same issue with them now...

 

[minousbijoux]

Okay, if Agnesq continues to have troubles with them and its not resolved satisfactorily, that will make one newcomer, one member of longstanding (Charmypoo) and now another PSer who has had difficulty with them. Depending upon the resolution with Agnes, it may be time to remove them from the stickied thread on recommended vendors.

Please note: I am not taking action to remove them, as no one should without the full vetting and discussion of the group. This is something we decide together after at least 3 negative experiences from 3 PSers, hopefully some PSers of longstanding. I was just reminding us of where we are with this particular vendor.

 

[chrono]

This is troubling to read but such updated reviews are unfortunately, both painful and necessarily. I agree that this should be on the watch list. It may be that they are fine for off the shelf ready-made items but not for custom work? In general, I am leery of sending stones off to any mass setting manufacturer unless it is a stone I can afford to lose or replace easily.

 

[LD]

I would be very unhappy having them removed from vendors for the following reasons:-

1. Most PSers have contacted that family of jewellery providers through Ebay.

2. Alibaba is notoriously dangerous to use and gives no measure of comfort (and I wonder how often a seller checks Alibaba as opposed to Ebay where they have a great deal of business going through their various shops).

3. They have always responded within 48 hours to me and I suspect to the majority of us contacting them through Ebay.

4. I had to ask for a refund on one occasion and it was given without quibble and was timely. (The setting was not quite what I had asked for - misinterpretation due to language difficulties I think).

5. Changes in order costs because somebody assumed they were talking in one currency and the vendor was talking in another is a miscommunication but not an attempt to be fraudulent. I say this as I'm in the UK and have had to asked what currency we are talking in to ensure I get the correct cost.

6. Diamond quality - this has always been an issue but generally if you paid to upgrade. the stones were normally very good so you do get what you pay for with them. I normally had to ask them to upgrade though and I don't think there's a standard button to press.

7. Admittedly, I have never sent them stones to set (and never would) as this is waaaaaay too risky for me. I know when asked we have always advised to use local setters rather than send the gems overseas and I'm sure this has contributed to the worry and concern which is must be worrying.

8. The blocking of customers is very worrying and not a good way to do business. Such a shame as Charmypoo has had a good and bad experience with them and she surely didn't warrant that! This aspect worries me more than anything else actually.

I do feel incredibly sorry for the OP because it appears to be a whole host of disappointments with the same vendor but to have them removed when lots of us have used them without problem for years, seems to be a knee jerk reaction. Having said that, as Chrono has said, it might be an idea to monitor in case they have gone off the boil.

 

[LD]

You are lucky your stones didn't get lost! Every time I send things in "english address" ... it gets lost.

Charmypoo, how did you manage to get your stone set in your bezel setting? I love bezels and would love to try out one of the Chinese sellers, but don't know if getting a stone set into a pre made bezel setting is something that can be done easily?

I'd love your advice.

I set gemstones and can tell you that setting a stone into a pre-made bezel is easy peasy IF I've made the bezel for the stone (ie have had it in my hands). The difficulty is making sure that the bezel is an exact fit and if you don't have the stone in hand the measurements have to be within 1mm (possibly less). If the fit isn't perfect you can easily get some warping of the bezel.

 

[upcyclist]

Charmypoo, how did you manage to get your stone set in your bezel setting? I love bezels and would love to try out one of the Chinese sellers, but don't know if getting a stone set into a pre made bezel setting is something that can be done easily?

I'd love your advice.

I set gemstones and can tell you that setting a stone into a pre-made bezel is easy peasy IF I've made the bezel for the stone (ie have had it in my hands). The difficulty is making sure that the bezel is an exact fit and if you don't have the stone in hand the measurements have to be within 1mm (possibly less). If the fit isn't perfect you can easily get some warping of the bezel.

I agree--if you're going to bezel set something, your best option is to craft the bezel to the stone. Especially when you're dealing with precision-cut (or any non-calibrated) stones. Sure, I can make an 8mm round bezel without having a stone in-hand, but your stone better be really darn close to 8.0mm if you don't want any buckling or stretching.

--Eric

 

[jewelryhoo]

Dear all
I am the owner of jewelryhoo, jewelryhoo2,changxingjewelry,leejewelry.
I cost the whole afternoon to finish reading this post(a little hard for me as my poor English) I think a lot when reading it.
First, I am sorry for all the people had bad experience at our stores, so sorry about it!

When touched our bottom-line benefits, or find it very difficult to communicate with, we will choose to block them. And now I need to think more seriously when I am ready to block someone, because I know it's really not a good behavior now

For Tate25, I want to say sorry again for you. At that time I was really very busy and always went out off office can not reply you very quickly. But I should ask my the other co-worker to follow your work, if I did I think we can finish your work in time. Sorry again. this is the CAD of your ring. Acturally it's really a little hard for us to estimate the gold weight of the large stones. First time I estimated the gold weight is 10grams only, finally gold weight is a big differenet . I had to increase the price, we can earn a very very tiny profit from orders but we can not lost money and finally we......
We definitely will return your stones if we can not finish the project, we won't steal customer's things.
And for the price, because we are doing global business and we only will use USD dollar. It's complicated to change the money to different dollar, I hope you can understand this point.

For our custom design service, I think it still have many deficiency. We will seriously think over it and improve our service. Or anybody have any idea on it? we will think over it! Everyone of our CAD designers need to cost at least one day or some of complicated design will cost over one week to finish it, so We always will charge $30 back if the projects have been canceled.

For the oversea shipping, I can not 100% promise everyone it won't get lost or something. And I know it's more safety to ship stone by DHL/FEDEX/UPS, but it's very very difficult for us to clear the Customs. it has 99% to get stopped by Customs and the tax fee in China also very high, we can not afford it So in our experience, we would like customers to use Express Mail Service which will cost around $50-$60 and cost 7-10business days to delivery to us.

By the way, Changxing Jewelry is a brand owned by Caimao Jewelry. From now on we only will use Caimao Jewelry
Thank you very much for all your consideration on it and I hope all of you can trust us again and we will improve ourself to do more better service!!

Best regards
Nicole

 

[chrono]

Jewelryhoo,
I think the first step is to step back and see where you can quickly improve your business model. Since you do a lot of international business, I would consider having someone very fluent in English handle all your email correspondence. This person will then communicate the requirements to the shop/bench, leaving the shop free to focus on what they do best (jewellery work) instead of getting frustrated trying to understand the customer. As you said, estimating the amount of gold required is tricky but a customer representative fluent in English can make it less painful to the customer by explaining as you did below. If the explanation is plausible and sound, there will be no hard feelings on the part of the customer. This is the easy and quick fix. Custom CAD work is trickier and more expensive, but unfortunately, I have no ideas for you at the moment.

 

[arkieb1]

All items on Alibaba (which I agree is a really unreliable site) are in US dollars, so I am not sure how the OP could assume otherwise unless misled in emails, or they made a number of incorrect assumptions about listings on the site.

 

[NonieMarie]

Did you get your stones back?