Has anyone heard from Elana / FF since June 30 ?

[HHPmom]

Oddly... there have been several people who say they have recently... within last week or two...personally spoken with her. And no explanations offered. TBH, if she's had a breakdown, feasibly, would have have recently started and be posting on her chicken blog? She was VERY active herself on that forum until July, then MIA and now banned. My own opinion is that she may have just burned out. Maybe she has just decided that raising children and chickens is simply a less stressful way to live...? I cannot argue that, but I have some concern as to they way it has all transpired.

My concern is her current website and the ebay store. And there is now a legal judgment against her biz. IMO, the stores need to be shut down until such time as current matters can be addressed and rectified. My opinion.

Someone did file a complaint w/ the BBB, as recommended on this site.. and the complaint was closed as "no response". And that has been consistent all around.. no response.

I don't know her personally. I do know persons who are having issues. And again, no resolution, no response.

Thank goodness I never purchased from her despite reading reviews here and the other forum. I didn't quite like the way her pearl strands look compared to the descriptions, which the gradings are very lenient, the Tahitian pearl color charts with fancy color names that don't even exist on GIE Tahitian Pearls website, and the posts on the other site,and her blogs, just seemed like there was something missing, or it was just me being weird. Then I read about her claims regarding another online sellers merchandise. That even made me more skeptical. The other items, such as diamonds, I had a feeling they are on memo from elsewhere (not inventory she actually owns), because the pictures look familiar, like I've seen by other online sellers. After reading a post from another forum about right-clicking the pictures, I knew I was right about memo items.

Sometimes in our lifetime we may discover another calling. It's good for her that she finds a less stressful way to live. But to take money from customers and suppliers is wrong, period. How can she sleep at night without something gnawing at her conscience? The money she owed customers are someone else's hard-earned money. The money she owed her suppliers are expenses that pay for labor, Baggins' employees, who also have families to feed. If you bought merchadise worth $10K from a supplier, where did it go? If you sold the merchandise, certainly you made profit or breakeven, then pay the supplier. If you can't pay them, return the merchandise. Like the other poster said somewhere else, eBay business is still going on, like no remorse at all.

 

[HHPmom]

Her pearls are probably not that much overstated. But it was reported elsewhere that a fan took her diamonds to be appraised in the last week and was completely stunned at the report. Pieces that were advertised as hand-made in WI come from China, are worth much much less.

Her akoya chandelier earrings posted on facebook wall in May '10 is a joke. She's also selling it on eBay. The wire-wrapping is really bad. That was one of the signs that made me skeptical from considering a transaction in the past.

The other forum just banned her recently. But they used to share profit made off of that forum's selling by Elana, read from another "haute" forum. Of course, all the links and pages related to Elana are now deleted from the forum that she posted as Japster.

 

[Ellie EHF]

Many links and pages about/by Japster remain, as do some of the threads promoting FF to the general membership. FF was promoted on that site many times and allowed to sell openly. And from the responses, it seemed that her business flourished there. I was really surprised that she did not return and make some statement. She appears to have had a considerable clientele there, and certainly many friends.

 

[anne_h]

Okay, it's me again, original poster of this thread. Anyways, after my bad experience, I generally stay away from the FF website... but every few months I do like to look to see if the merchandise has changed or what's going on...

Anyways, when I bought the strand I ended up with, I was choosing between several she had listed at the time. I considered them for a number of days and ended up choosing a certain strand. But when I went to order it, she said it had just been sold. She told me her father sold jewelry too and had just sold my first choice to someone else *that day*. Wow, what a coincidence. Something about her father sometimes taking her merchandise out without her knowing... in this case, she said he had taken that strand out to show a client that day and wow - that client *just* bought it.

Anyways, guess which strand I just saw on her site again today? Yes, that very one her father "sold"! lol

And yes, I am 100% sure it is the same one. Or at least, the photos are the same ones. I know because I obsessed on those pictures forever while I was making my decision. They are actually the ones that made me shortlist FF in the first place.

So more antics on her part. I have no idea what *really* happened with that strand, or why it's back now.

Anne

 

[iLander]

WOW! This woman is a psycho. . .

I think what a lot of people don't realize is that sociopaths exist: these are people that lie routinely and without remorse. We had an employee once that was a sociopath. Nicest guy in the world, told great stories, everyone loved him. But he just plain lied. Constantly and without blinking an eye. You CANNOT detect these people, they have no "tells", their verbal skills are usually very high and they are charming. They will lie and tell you what you want to hear. But when caught in a lie, they tend to become aggressive. We eventually had to fire him, because he was compromising our business.

I don't know if Elana is a sociopath, but her actions certainly point to that.

I noticed that on her ebay listings she has a lot of "designer" bags that she is selling for thousands of dollars. Some as high as $8,000!! The fakes, in all merchandise categories, are getting so good now, that Tiffany won't even verify their own jewelry. Fake bags are a huge business and are smuggled into the US like drugs.

Gee. . . I wonder if Elana's bags are "authentic"?

 

[Ellie EHF]

Ilander... are you seeing CURRENT bags for sale? On rubinjewelers, I see only jewelry...? There was a neg on this one for an Hermes, but I did not note any other bags, and a few other H items sold prior.
As to the authenticity, I do not know. I've a hard time at this point disputing anything as "possible".... considering.

 

[Ellie EHF]

Okay, it's me again, original poster of this thread. Anyways, after my bad experience, I generally stay away from the FF website... but every few months I do like to look to see if the merchandise has changed or what's going on...

Anyways, when I bought the strand I ended up with, I was choosing between several she had listed at the time. I considered them for a number of days and ended up choosing a certain strand. But when I went to order it, she said it had just been sold. She told me her father sold jewelry too and had just sold my first choice to someone else *that day*. Wow, what a coincidence. Something about her father sometimes taking her merchandise out without her knowing... in this case, she said he had taken that strand out to show a client that day and wow - that client *just* bought it.

Anyways, guess which strand I just saw on her site again today? Yes, that very one her father "sold"! lol

And yes, I am 100% sure it is the same one. Or at least, the photos are the same ones. I know because I obsessed on those pictures forever while I was making my decision. They are actually the ones that made me shortlist FF in the first place.

So more antics on her part. I have no idea what *really* happened with that strand, or why it's back now.

Anne

Anne... The address listed for returns on her website in that of her relatives. Neither of them are listed publicly as jewelry dealers.
Again, as a newbie here, I do not know what can be posted and what cannot, and I certainly don't wish to stir up a bruhaha.
If you have a way to contact me privately, I will share with you what I know.

 

[iLander]

Okay, it's me again, original poster of this thread. Anyways, after my bad experience, I generally stay away from the FF website... but every few months I do like to look to see if the merchandise has changed or what's going on...

Anyways, when I bought the strand I ended up with, I was choosing between several she had listed at the time. I considered them for a number of days and ended up choosing a certain strand. But when I went to order it, she said it had just been sold. She told me her father sold jewelry too and had just sold my first choice to someone else *that day*. Wow, what a coincidence. Something about her father sometimes taking her merchandise out without her knowing... in this case, she said he had taken that strand out to show a client that day and wow - that client *just* bought it.

Anyways, guess which strand I just saw on her site again today? Yes, that very one her father "sold"! lol

And yes, I am 100% sure it is the same one. Or at least, the photos are the same ones. I know because I obsessed on those pictures forever while I was making my decision. They are actually the ones that made me shortlist FF in the first place.

So more antics on her part. I have no idea what *really* happened with that strand, or why it's back now.

Anne

Anne... The address listed for returns on her website in that of her relatives. Neither of them are listed publicly as jewelry dealers.
Again, as a newbie here, I do not know what can be posted and what cannot, and I certainly don't wish to stir up a bruhaha.
If you have a way to contact me privately, I will share with you what I know.

I don't think there are many restrictions, mostly you can't make a direct solicitation to sell your goods or services. I think private contact is discouraged.

So Spill It!

 

[that_someone_special]

Her pearls are probably not that much overstated. But it was reported elsewhere that a fan took her diamonds to be appraised in the last week and was completely stunned at the report. Pieces that were advertised as hand-made in WI come from China, are worth much much less.

Her akoya chandelier earrings posted on facebook wall in May '10 is a joke. She's also selling it on eBay. The wire-wrapping is really bad. That was one of the signs that made me skeptical from considering a transaction in the past.

The other forum just banned her recently. But they used to share profit made off of that forum's selling by Elana, read from another "haute" forum. Of course, all the links and pages related to Elana are now deleted from the forum that she posted as Japster.

Re: akoyas earrings... I KNOW!!! The price on those for the shotty wire wrapping.... No thanks!

 

[Ellie EHF]

Okay, it's me again, original poster of this thread. Anyways, after my bad experience, I generally stay away from the FF website... but every few months I do like to look to see if the merchandise has changed or what's going on...

Anyways, when I bought the strand I ended up with, I was choosing between several she had listed at the time. I considered them for a number of days and ended up choosing a certain strand. But when I went to order it, she said it had just been sold. She told me her father sold jewelry too and had just sold my first choice to someone else *that day*. Wow, what a coincidence. Something about her father sometimes taking her merchandise out without her knowing... in this case, she said he had taken that strand out to show a client that day and wow - that client *just* bought it.

Anyways, guess which strand I just saw on her site again today? Yes, that very one her father "sold"! lol

And yes, I am 100% sure it is the same one. Or at least, the photos are the same ones. I know because I obsessed on those pictures forever while I was making my decision. They are actually the ones that made me shortlist FF in the first place.

So more antics on her part. I have no idea what *really* happened with that strand, or why it's back now.

Anne

Anne... The address listed for returns on her website in that of her relatives. Neither of them are listed publicly as jewelry dealers.
Again, as a newbie here, I do not know what can be posted and what cannot, and I certainly don't wish to stir up a bruhaha.
If you have a way to contact me privately, I will share with you what I know.

I don't think there are many restrictions, mostly you can't make a direct solicitation to sell your goods or services. I think private contact is discouraged.

So Spill It!

OH MY.. *sigh*.. to keep this generic... Per google and public property records in Milwaukee, the Appleton address listed on her FF website in Milwaukee is held of record by her parents. One parent owns a business categorized as "art dealer/restoration/appraisal". The other is a DR....professor of criminology. As indicated by a google search of the names given per the Milwaukee property ownership records at the address on the wesbite.
The address for the Rubin Ranch in Mequon, WI, and the lawsuit is on Fox Hollow. The address on Fox Hollow is listed as held by her husband and another person .

 

[HHPmom]

[quote="Ellie EHF|1289490487| MY.. *sigh*.. to keep this generic... Per google and public property records in Milwaukee, the Appleton address listed on her FF website in Milwaukee is held of record by her parents. One parent owns a business categorized as "art dealer/restoration/appraisal". The other is a DR....professor of criminology. As indicated by a google search of the names given per the Milwaukee property ownership records at the address on the wesbite.
The address for the Rubin Ranch in Mequon, WI, and the lawsuit is on Fox Hollow. The address on Fox Hollow is listed as held by her husband and another person .[/quote]

Really? Parent is Professor of criminology and husband is psychiatrist. Do they not see what's going on?

 

[Ellie EHF]

[quote="Ellie EHF|1289490487| MY.. *sigh*.. to keep this generic... Per google and public property records in Milwaukee, the Appleton address listed on her FF website in Milwaukee is held of record by her parents. One parent owns a business categorized as "art dealer/restoration/appraisal". The other is a DR....professor of criminology. As indicated by a google search of the names given per the Milwaukee property ownership records at the address on the wesbite.
The address for the Rubin Ranch in Mequon, WI, and the lawsuit is on Fox Hollow. The address on Fox Hollow is listed as held by her husband and another person .

Really? Parent is Professor of criminology and husband is psychiatrist. Do they not see what's going on?

I don't know...

 

[Ellie EHF]

You can try leaving a review on Yelp or iVouch.

Those sites are becoming increasingly popular. A lot of people use those to review internet vendors, and I think that will be the wave of the future. Ebay made it popular to leave a review and people see the value of that. Epinions is so hard to navigate it's almost useless. iVouch is very popular with the jewelry trade, an NYC jeweler asked me to leave an iVouch review for them.

http://www.ivouch.com/

http://www.yelp.com

ALSO.... for consumer complaints, Complaints Board and Rip-off Report and both popular sites.

 

[Ellie EHF]

I just read on another site that "Callire" found out that Elana had been lying to members (on that site) in July. Callire was going to post about it and before doing that sent some PM's. She was banned the same day. She wrote all about it on another forum.

Can anyone explain to me what this was about, plz?

 

[y2kitty]

Ellie, we are not allowed to discuss other message boards here.

 

[Ellie EHF]

Ellie, we are not allowed to discuss other message boards here.

Thank you for that info... My apologies.

 

[Gailey]

It seems she's happily raising chickens and blogging about it as late as 21st October:

http://rubinranch.webs.com/

 

[Gailey]

Swapping pearls for chickens doesn't stop the lawsuits though:

http://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetails.do;jsessionid=2E652B2D958E5DF53FAD7AA991F6D372.render6?caseNo=2010CV011886&countyNo=40&cacheId=E8E9D73BBA31251BC014C9693C13B6D8&recordCount=11&offset=1


http://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetails.do;jsessionid=2E652B2D958E5DF53FAD7AA991F6D372.render6?caseNo=2010TJ000086&countyNo=45&cacheId=E8E9D73BBA31251BC014C9693C13B6D8&recordCount=11&offset=0


FOR THOSE TRYING TO CONTACT ELANA:
Apparently there is a different phone number listed on the chicken site.

 

[Gailey]

This information may also help those people who are still out of pocket from one of their transactions with Elana:

Note: the folloiwng information is from someone else on another forum. I'm not sure if this is allowed or not. I would hope so in this case as it will help those de-frauded seek restitution. If not, please remove.


Wisconsin Secretary of State 's Department of Consumer Protection. Consumer complaints may be filed with their office (online complaint form below)

1-608-224-4976

http://datcp.state.wi.us/cp/consumerinfo/cp/complaint-form/CPComplaintForm.jsp


They have the authority to investigate, to revoke a business license, to turn matters over to the WI District Attorney's office, if they deem necessary. And they might have the authority to shut down FF website and/or ebay store, I do not know.


**************************************************************


The Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, the bureau that oversees credit card transactions, and could possibly suspend FF's charging priviledges, if they deemed same were being abused.

1-608-264-7969

http://www.wdfi.org/contact_us/complaint.asp

 

[Ellie EHF]

Looking for some explanation as to the following: and assuming I can post these links..? If not, plz remove....

I don't know how current this site is... but Elana has/had an FF site on jewelryreserve.com

http://www.jewelryreserve.com/home.cfm?start1=1&JewelryID=0&Material=0&vintage=0&Price=0

According to sunbiz.org, jewelryreserve.com is a division of Gray & Sons Southside Gold & Silver Exchange, Inc in Surfside, Fla.

http://www.sunbiz.org/scripts/ficidet.exe?action=DETREG&docnum=G03114900141&rdocnum=G99182900051

Gray & Son's appears to be an actual B&M store in Miami Beach. I did search them here and found reference to their biz, no red flags.

On the jewelryreserve.com FF page, I did select an item and add to cart, click checkout. Which then asked for a name, email, phone (only, no payment info) and says SUBMIT ORDER. When order submitted, says "you will be contacted shortly".

It does not appear that merchandise can be bought directly from the site. SO... what is this about?

TIA!

 

[cushioncutnut]

Looking for some explanation as to the following: and assuming I can post these links..? If not, plz remove....

I don't know how current this site is... but Elana has/had an FF site on jewelryreserve.com

http://www.jewelryreserve.com/home.cfm?start1=1&JewelryID=0&Material=0&vintage=0&Price=0

According to sunbiz.org, jewelryreserve.com is a division of Gray & Sons Southside Gold & Silver Exchange, Inc in Surfside, Fla.

http://www.sunbiz.org/scripts/ficidet.exe?action=DETREG&docnum=G03114900141&rdocnum=G99182900051

Gray & Son's appears to be an actual B&M store in Miami Beach. I did search them here and found reference to their biz, no red flags.

On the jewelryreserve.com FF page, I did select an item and add to cart, click checkout. Which then asked for a name, email, phone (only, no payment info) and says SUBMIT ORDER. When order submitted, says "you will be contacted shortly".

It does not appear that merchandise can be bought directly from the site. SO... what is this about?

TIA!

hmm... the plot thickens?? I feel really bad for those who are in the middle of all this. How does one go from running a jewelry website to a chicken website is bazaar to say the least. ??? She has definately flown the coupe.... so to speak....

 

[Ellie EHF]

Looking for some explanation as to the following: and assuming I can post these links..? If not, plz remove....

I don't know how current this site is... but Elana has/had an FF site on jewelryreserve.com

http://www.jewelryreserve.com/home.cfm?start1=1&JewelryID=0&Material=0&vintage=0&Price=0

According to sunbiz.org, jewelryreserve.com is a division of Gray & Sons Southside Gold & Silver Exchange, Inc in Surfside, Fla.

http://www.sunbiz.org/scripts/ficidet.exe?action=DETREG&docnum=G03114900141&rdocnum=G99182900051

Gray & Son's appears to be an actual B&M store in Miami Beach. I did search them here and found reference to their biz, no red flags.

On the jewelryreserve.com FF page, I did select an item and add to cart, click checkout. Which then asked for a name, email, phone (only, no payment info) and says SUBMIT ORDER. When order submitted, says "you will be contacted shortly".

It does not appear that merchandise can be bought directly from the site. SO... what is this about?

TIA!

hmm... the plot thickens?? I feel really bad for those who are in the middle of all this. How does one go from running a jewelry website to a chicken website is bazaar to say the least. ??? She has definately flown the coupe.... so to speak....

I don't know... but she's gaining popularity w/ the chicken folk, which is concerning, considering.
There is record of her legally changing her birth name in 1999.
And the address on her FF website appears to be that of her parent's name/biz. And there are several tax lawsuits recently filed of record against that name. So, if she were running her FF business under the parent's biz name, it is possible that the tax lawsuits may hinder further FF dealings.
It just amazes me that so many people trusted and promoted her and knew nothing about her.
I truly hope that anyone who is still owed money or merchandise paid w/ a CC, as that may be the only hope for recuperation, at this point. As to those who find themselves left owning overpriced jewelry...?

 

[HHPmom]

It's been told in another forum that a Cultured Pearl Association of America's member wrote to the association recently. The member, FF's supplier, and another pearl dealer are filing collections papers against FF/E Rubin.

 

[HHPmom]

Jeremy Shepherd posted this. JBT is Jewelers Board Trade, I believe. And JVC is Jewelers Vigilance Committee (?).

Here is what Jeremy said: "I imagine the letter can be posted elsewhere. It was sent in an email blast to all CPAA members, so it is out there now I'm sure. As for the JBT, I am familiar with one of the pending cases and I know it began with collections from JBT, so they do know about the situation. I'm not sure whether they accept consumer complaints. The JBT is here to protect jewelers. The JVC, on the other hand, may accept consumer complaints."

 

[HHPmom]

But they used to share profit made off of that forum's selling by Elana, read from another "haute" forum.

Reword: I read from the "haute" forum, someone posted that they used to share profit made off of Elana's selling. I did not mean to say this as a fact, merely pointing out that I read it off from somewhere else.

 

[anne_h]

OMG, what is FF *doing*?! That letter pretty much says it all. Thanks for sharing HHP Mom.

Anne

 

[anne_h]

OP here. Maybe this is old news to some of you, but for fun, I just tried to visit what I knew to be the previous FF URL. That website no longer exists.

I also noticed that if you type "future fashionista" into google, currently the fourth most popular auto-complete word is "complaint". lol!

Anne

PS - I wore my FF Tahitians to the office today. I do enjoy them despite all the drama associated with receiving them.

 

[cushioncutnut]

What a shame... she had alot of fans. I really wonder why she let it all go??? Glad you are enjoying your pearls though.

 

[ededdeddy]

She is still selling on ebay and etsy. The inventory now is very minimal. I wonder if she pulled the site or her server/billing company pulled it. She is now raising/selling chickens and has a blog that she actively updates.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/FutureFashionista

http://stores.ebay.com/Future-Fashionista

After everything she has put people through....