How long is too long for delivery?

[proto]

Bought a ring last month. Wire cleared 1 march. Ring shipped without pictures. Not ideal but okay. I trust the vendor.

Ships on 16 march. I prepay customs duty on 19 march. FedEx is now saying estimated delivery 20 April???

This is supposed to be 2 to 5 days via FedEx. I can't speak to FedEx because I don't have an account for the parcel, the vendor does. Have asked vendor to chase a few times.

What can I even do here? Just wait? Request a refund and see if my VAT import fee gets refunded ever and quickly buy another ring?

Does FedEx just suck for everyone? I feel like they replaced all customer service with an AI that can't help me.

Vendor is Whiteflash surprisingly. Their customer service was great but their shipping partner is making such that I'm probably never buying with them again.

 

[MissGotRocks]

Not sure what the shipping time frame is to wherever you are. Call them tomorrow and ask them to contact FedEx. They have a vested interest in you receiving the ring as well.

@Texas Leaguer, any insight for him?

 

[Texas Leaguer]

@proto,

I’m sorry you are experiencing frustration receiving your delivery. Our logistics manager has been working with FedEx this morning to resolve a couple of situations such as this. Please contact Holly directly for updated status on your particular shipment.

[email protected]

Feel free also to contact me if I can be of any help.

 

[MissGotRocks]

@proto,

I’m sorry you are experiencing frustration receiving your delivery. Our logistics manager has been working with FedEx this morning to resolve a couple of situations such as this. Please contact Holly directly for updated status on your particular shipment.

[email protected]

Feel free also to contact me if I can be of any help.

Thanks @Texas Leaguer!

@proto, rest assured that Whiteflash will help you work through this delivery. Their customer service is top notch!

Please come back with pictures when you receive the ring!

 

[Texas Leaguer]

Hello @proto ,
Just following up. According to our contacts with FedEx the package has been ready for pickup since 3/28. There can be discrepancies between tracking info posted to their website and the actual status.
Could you please contact us so that we can help resolve any remaining issue you might have with your order?
Thank you again for your patience!

 

[proto]

Hi Texas Leaguer and thank you for following up.

Holly got in touch 3 Apr to confirm it is ready for pickup (she was OOO for a week I understand) and to ignore the Fedex status updates which are continuing today to tell me my package is delayed and expected 28 April. Will try to collect tomorrow and hope they arent shut for bank holidays as I can only collect on a saturday due to work, distance to local fedex centre and their opening hours.

Havent been able to figure who to email or call and connect with a human to arrange an appointment so will just have to hope they are open when I get there tomorrow morning and that I dont need anything other than my tracking number and ID as suggested. Otherwise will try again next Saturday.

In terms of feedback for your shipping partner Fedex, it is a huge fail. It really feels like they cut all the customer service jobs and replaced with endless automated menus which answer none of my questions. This might be okay for most other deliveries but enagement rings stuck in this situation is pretty stressful.

Anyway sorry for venting and thank you for looking into this. I will get in touch with Holly and see if i can get alternative local contact details for that fedex centre as every time I call, I get automated lines which dont go anywhere.

kind regards

Proto

 

[Texas Leaguer]

@proto,
Thanks for your report and I hope things go smoothly with pickup.

I think Fed Ex is still experiencing staff shortages and supply chain disruptions in certain regions.

Thank you for your understanding and keep us posted.

 

[proto]

Collected and have let Holly know.

Will take some pictures later.

Thanks everyone!

 

[proto]

Diamond looks nice but prongs seem a bit off to me. Not planning to go through shipping back and forth again anytime soon but if I stop over in Texas in the next 5 years or so, I assume whiteflash can adjust for us free of charge?

Also she said yes

 

[MissGotRocks]

So glad you were able to collect the ring. The diamond looks beautiful and congratulations to both of you. Not sure what you mean by the prongs seem off? They look uniform to me - care to elaborate?

 

[DejaWiz]

Diamond looks nice but prongs seem a bit off to me. Not planning to go through shipping back and forth again anytime soon but if I stop over in Texas in the next 5 years or so, I assume whiteflash can adjust for us free of charge?

Also she said yes

Beautiful diamond - and congratulations to you both!

 

[proto]

So glad you were able to collect the ring. The diamond looks beautiful and congratulations to both of you. Not sure what you mean by the prongs seem off? They look uniform to me - care to elaborate?

This is zoomed of same picture rotated to make North South align. You see East West are not aligned on either picture.

Am I unreasonable to expect symetrical prongs? You say they look uniform.

 

[MissGotRocks]

This is zoomed of same picture rotated to make North South align. You see East West are not aligned on either picture.

Am I unreasonable to expect symetrical prongs? You say they look uniform.

I honestly probably wouldn’t have noticed that with the four prongs. However, if you don’t like it I am sure they will make it right for you. Does it bother your fiancée too?

 

[kenny]

One single second is too long.

I want it NOOOOOW!!!!

 

[musicloveranthony]

This is zoomed of same picture rotated to make North South align. You see East West are not aligned on either picture.

Am I unreasonable to expect symetrical prongs? You say they look uniform.

It looks like the leftmost prong is more claw shaped while the rightmost prong is rounded. They also look asymmetrical

 

[proto]

Pay 180 dollars to ship it back and forth for WF to fix or fix at my own cost and void the warranty. I even asked if they have any partner jewellers in the UK who could fix on their behalf.

If this was ritani I would be like whatever given how cheap it is but this is just not what I expected from white flash.

@Texas Leaguer is this normal?

 

[marymm]

WF should fully cover the shipping, since the prong work is a defect and entirely their mistake -- plus, they shipped without sending you any photos -- really, it is a shame when any vendor isn't on the ball, but particularly with international customers I would expect WF would take care to inspect for Q&A issues and to provide photos prior to shipping -- oh well, let's see what WF says aka @Texas Leaguer

 

[sledge]

Hey @proto can you elaborate on the conversations with WF? This isn't a response I would expect from them. I agree with you that it looks like one of the prongs is out of orientation and also that one looks more like a pointed claw.

But I also know how taking pictures with good intent at various angles can sometimes provide an optical illusion of sorts. For instance, taking the photo you shared and laying some line work on it I was able to notice the following things:

1. Snapping a line from the center of the setting on "top" to the center of the setting on "bottom" creates a false center line.

2. In reality, the green lines are a more true center line in regards to the setting. Notice how they are a different angle than the blue lines?

3. The vertical pink line connecting from green line to green line appears to be a good representation of the centerline of the stone, but again differs from the orientation of the green lines. If you view them together, you can see how there are 3 segments with slight disorientation to one another.

4. I then used the black lines to snap from center line to center line of each prong. They don't hit the between both sides of the arrows perfectly but they are close to what I would expect to see.

5. Ideally I would like to see the intersection of the pink lines align with the intersection of the black lines. They are close but a smidge to the right of the X axis.

The real question remains: what does all this tell us? I'm not 100% sure. I see how the angle at which the picture was taken has caused some skew in my alignment exercise. I also recognize the 1 prong still looks more pointed regardless how they align. Lastly I understand you see asymmetry with your naked eye which is why you brought this up.

I am curious what are the exact dimensions of the stone as noted on the lab report? Round stones are rarely perfect but we've seen some in the past that has a little higher variance between the X and Y axes which may be contributing to this visual effect. Not saying that is happening here. Just asking in an attempt to gain more understanding.

Hopefully all this jargon makes some sense and will get you and WF closer to an acceptable resolution.

 

[Texas Leaguer]

Pay 180 dollars to ship it back and forth for WF to fix or fix at my own cost and void the warranty.

@Texas Leaguer is this normal?

@proto,
Our return policy provides paid returns only on domestic shipments as international shipping costs are highly variable and sometimes unpredictable.

That said, we want to make sure the ring gets any attention it needs for you to feel fully comfortable with the quality.

One of the team will be reaching out shortly with an accommodation for you that we trust will resolve the situation to your satisfaction.

Thank you for you patience. We understand how important this is.