Jeff Spicoli
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2008
- Messages
- 19
Long time lurker, first time poster. Sorry it has to be under these terms, but I really feel the need to inform people of my experience with absolutetitanium.com. I have learned such great & useful information here, from recommended ring vendors to blue sapphire details I needed, my first chance to give back is to help others potentially save the grief I went through on an already tough, taxing and nerve racking experience for the first time, and hope last, e–ring/wedding ring buyer working hard to make an awesome surprise impression on his soon to be fiancé and meet a crucial deadline. I will respect the board and do this in the most positive way I can, but tell the true story as it is pretty shocking I feel....
I found the exact style of ring design, a tension setting, on the absolutetitanium.com site. We plan to be going to Italy in late September and it was at that time I had planned to romantically propose to my girl as a surprise in Rome – and do so with a custom ring with a custom select stone. Early in July – over 6 weeks ago -I sent an email about getting some ring information. No one ever answered. The following week – 5 weeks – I just opted to call middle of the week. I spoke with the sales person, but this person had no real ability to answer my questions and gave me wrong details (e.g., all their stones, including blue sapphires, were synthetic). I was informed later she was new – but not so good when helping a customer get crucial ring details. So, I was handed over to Maria – the rings designer and apparent business owner. I was told then, 6-8 weeks to make a ring set – despite they are machined rings. 6-8 weeks, wow!!! But, Maria felt it was possible to get it done no problem, BUT they could not start that week as people in her company were on vacation. We would pick it up next week and she would follow up. The next week – 4 weeks – I was never contacted and so when I called back at the end of week, we could not proceed as now they had industry people – the gem person - on vacation. Another week lost. So, we proceed next week and she would follow up. The next week – 3 weeks out – she never followed up and so I made the call and she proceeds to tell me they are moving! Moving! Don’t you think this is a crucial bit of info to tell a waiting customer if it affects timeline, not to mention me having to follow up[ Amazing. So, we proceed next week and she will follow up. So the next week – 2 weeks - no on contacts me again and again I contact them near end of the week only to find that they have not sent the promised gem photos I should have gotten the previous week. After some fussing, they promised to send that day, BUT would have to follow up 2 hours later with stone details as they are “on a different computer” and “she is expected to email you when she reaches her office” and get those details. Now, what did I get? I got 2 very poor photos of 2 stones. Our agreement was for minimum 1 carat blue sapphires and one stone was less than 1 and one was just at 1. So, essentially, I just had 1 stone to select from! Wow, another dropped ball. So, I waited for the details to be emailed about the single useful stone (origin, dimensions, treatments, cost, clarity, certs, etc). Nothing. I called back – as they never call me - and was told… “Maria is having computer problems and will not be able to get to it this week” and that “she is expected back in the office next week”! What – just like that? We had agreed just hours earlier to have details sent and it all worked out and the order processed that very Friday. Now she is gone for the weekend? Another week – as this was a Friday - lost and the next week is a holiday Monday and so then what? So, we proceed next week and she will follow up as per the emails I got from her assistant. But this time I decided, 5 weeks now of endless delays and mounting excuses, to just sit tight for the week and see how they handled it while making new last minute scramble side plans (thanks to Pricescope) as I could see time was ticking and it was clear they were hanging me out to dry as who does this kind of stuff? Well, what happened? They never followed up this week!! That brings me to today. I gave them to full week and told myself, I must move on by Friday to try to salvage this.
During this time, I never, not one time, ever, received a call back to my several voice mails left specifically for Maria on her personal line over these weeks. Her assistant only ever contacted me and did so only via email and only in the last 2 weeks when they finally got my email correct – that is a story in itself as I had to explain and respell my email no less than 5 times for them to get it right! I was told, on 2 occasions, and I quote from Maria, “the ball is in my court”. I also paraphrase, from Maria, that at week 2 above she had “no concerns” that they would get this done and she had already slotted me in for a slot for production “next week” (the final week they never followed up). Worthless words when no one contacts me or follows up as, for example, I have no ideas about the stone I am looking at. On a few emails and conversations with her assistant, I spelled all this out – and even pleaded “so I beg of you please…”, only to be told I was having, and I quote, “bad luck” and “bad timing” and that “be patient as they were doing everything they could” and “please be advised we are doing our absolute best to ensure a timely response” Clearly, I am being bamboozled.
So, in the end, she wasted +-6 weeks of my precious time with delays, excuses and no customer service or follow up. I did all the work to make this happen. I was clear I was ready to move as soon as she could and it was crystal clear the ball was in her court to do the follow up to make it happen. This caused me innumerable amounts of stress as I now had no stone and no ring and lost over 6 weeks of time! I had to go into mad scramble mode – and I do have a life and run my own business.
IMHO, this is supposed to be her/their job; to make an e-ring and wedding ring come together for a client stress free. Period. Inspire confidence and take command and make the customer feel in good hands on something so important as this one time event. I have never worked so hard to spend my own money, been questionably delayed so many times, and had so many unfulfilled promises and such poor, poor customer no service. We are not talking about a shirt I ordered off the web, we are talking about a set of rings (was to be 3 as mine would come from there also) that will last a life time, that will be given in an once in a life time convergence of moments while in Italy.
So, in the end, thanks to you guys here, I have since gotten back on track with new vendors that can/did/will deliver as promised in a very tight time frame since I had my time eaten up by Maria of absolutetitanium.com. Sorry this was so long, but I felt compelled to give details so the story was clear and I was making a claim and backing it up.
Can/would I recommend the Absolute Titanium company for something as precious and important as an e-ring and wedding ring, no. “Bad luck” and “bad timing” are not the answers nor do they last over 6 weeks.
I found the exact style of ring design, a tension setting, on the absolutetitanium.com site. We plan to be going to Italy in late September and it was at that time I had planned to romantically propose to my girl as a surprise in Rome – and do so with a custom ring with a custom select stone. Early in July – over 6 weeks ago -I sent an email about getting some ring information. No one ever answered. The following week – 5 weeks – I just opted to call middle of the week. I spoke with the sales person, but this person had no real ability to answer my questions and gave me wrong details (e.g., all their stones, including blue sapphires, were synthetic). I was informed later she was new – but not so good when helping a customer get crucial ring details. So, I was handed over to Maria – the rings designer and apparent business owner. I was told then, 6-8 weeks to make a ring set – despite they are machined rings. 6-8 weeks, wow!!! But, Maria felt it was possible to get it done no problem, BUT they could not start that week as people in her company were on vacation. We would pick it up next week and she would follow up. The next week – 4 weeks – I was never contacted and so when I called back at the end of week, we could not proceed as now they had industry people – the gem person - on vacation. Another week lost. So, we proceed next week and she would follow up. The next week – 3 weeks out – she never followed up and so I made the call and she proceeds to tell me they are moving! Moving! Don’t you think this is a crucial bit of info to tell a waiting customer if it affects timeline, not to mention me having to follow up[ Amazing. So, we proceed next week and she will follow up. So the next week – 2 weeks - no on contacts me again and again I contact them near end of the week only to find that they have not sent the promised gem photos I should have gotten the previous week. After some fussing, they promised to send that day, BUT would have to follow up 2 hours later with stone details as they are “on a different computer” and “she is expected to email you when she reaches her office” and get those details. Now, what did I get? I got 2 very poor photos of 2 stones. Our agreement was for minimum 1 carat blue sapphires and one stone was less than 1 and one was just at 1. So, essentially, I just had 1 stone to select from! Wow, another dropped ball. So, I waited for the details to be emailed about the single useful stone (origin, dimensions, treatments, cost, clarity, certs, etc). Nothing. I called back – as they never call me - and was told… “Maria is having computer problems and will not be able to get to it this week” and that “she is expected back in the office next week”! What – just like that? We had agreed just hours earlier to have details sent and it all worked out and the order processed that very Friday. Now she is gone for the weekend? Another week – as this was a Friday - lost and the next week is a holiday Monday and so then what? So, we proceed next week and she will follow up as per the emails I got from her assistant. But this time I decided, 5 weeks now of endless delays and mounting excuses, to just sit tight for the week and see how they handled it while making new last minute scramble side plans (thanks to Pricescope) as I could see time was ticking and it was clear they were hanging me out to dry as who does this kind of stuff? Well, what happened? They never followed up this week!! That brings me to today. I gave them to full week and told myself, I must move on by Friday to try to salvage this.
During this time, I never, not one time, ever, received a call back to my several voice mails left specifically for Maria on her personal line over these weeks. Her assistant only ever contacted me and did so only via email and only in the last 2 weeks when they finally got my email correct – that is a story in itself as I had to explain and respell my email no less than 5 times for them to get it right! I was told, on 2 occasions, and I quote from Maria, “the ball is in my court”. I also paraphrase, from Maria, that at week 2 above she had “no concerns” that they would get this done and she had already slotted me in for a slot for production “next week” (the final week they never followed up). Worthless words when no one contacts me or follows up as, for example, I have no ideas about the stone I am looking at. On a few emails and conversations with her assistant, I spelled all this out – and even pleaded “so I beg of you please…”, only to be told I was having, and I quote, “bad luck” and “bad timing” and that “be patient as they were doing everything they could” and “please be advised we are doing our absolute best to ensure a timely response” Clearly, I am being bamboozled.
So, in the end, she wasted +-6 weeks of my precious time with delays, excuses and no customer service or follow up. I did all the work to make this happen. I was clear I was ready to move as soon as she could and it was crystal clear the ball was in her court to do the follow up to make it happen. This caused me innumerable amounts of stress as I now had no stone and no ring and lost over 6 weeks of time! I had to go into mad scramble mode – and I do have a life and run my own business.
IMHO, this is supposed to be her/their job; to make an e-ring and wedding ring come together for a client stress free. Period. Inspire confidence and take command and make the customer feel in good hands on something so important as this one time event. I have never worked so hard to spend my own money, been questionably delayed so many times, and had so many unfulfilled promises and such poor, poor customer no service. We are not talking about a shirt I ordered off the web, we are talking about a set of rings (was to be 3 as mine would come from there also) that will last a life time, that will be given in an once in a life time convergence of moments while in Italy.
So, in the end, thanks to you guys here, I have since gotten back on track with new vendors that can/did/will deliver as promised in a very tight time frame since I had my time eaten up by Maria of absolutetitanium.com. Sorry this was so long, but I felt compelled to give details so the story was clear and I was making a claim and backing it up.
Can/would I recommend the Absolute Titanium company for something as precious and important as an e-ring and wedding ring, no. “Bad luck” and “bad timing” are not the answers nor do they last over 6 weeks.
and I am back on track to meet my Sept deadline!
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