Unhappy LAD/Chloe customer

[flyingpig]

I thank OP for sharing her experience with LAD.

While I agree that sending nearly 200 emails can be disruptive to LAD team, there are customers who are simply demanding and anxious.


Arguing with a payed customer on an internet forum is not what I consider appropriate or professional, even if you are 100% right.
In addition, this is not the first time a forum member had to bring his/her issue with LAD to PS, because the issue could not be settled offline.

 

[azstonie]

.......
These kinds of reactions are the reason I have never disclosed two horrifying experiences I have had over the years with PS favored jewelers...........

I wish you'd post both.

Andelain, I haven't posted my two experiences because I didn't want to experience any bashing from others on top of the money, time and energy that went right down the drain with the two jewelers. I like PS and I don't ever want to feel unwelcome around these parts. I've learned so much here and had a lot of vicarious thrills to all the gorgeous jewels here.

 

[JDDN]

.......
These kinds of reactions are the reason I have never disclosed two horrifying experiences I have had over the years with PS favored jewelers...........

I wish you'd post both.

Andelain, I haven't posted my two experiences because I didn't want to experience any bashing from others on top of the money, time and energy that went right down the drain with the two jewelers. I like PS and I don't ever want to feel unwelcome around these parts. I've learned so much here and had a lot of vicarious thrills to all the gorgeous jewels here.

I'm sorry you had such terrible experiences regardless if it was a favored PS vendor/jeweler. That's never a fun situation to be in.

I too wish you'd post because I don't think any vendor is 100% awesome all the time and it can help others, but I completely understand why you choose not to and respect that decision. I would probably feel similarly. Hopefully you were able to figure something out in the end with your pieces.

Sorry/end of thread jack.

 

[LLJsmom]

i think its important NOT to be aggressive towards the OP. It does not encourage people to be forthcoming with their experiences with the vendors, ISNT THAT AN IMPORTANT PART OF PRICESCOPE. You may disagree with someone..but please show respect.

Very, very true. Well said Wendy.

There are so many nuances to every situation that unless I have walked in the shoes of either, I don't want to judge (at least not in this situation.)...

 

[gm89uk]

I thank OP for sharing her experience with LAD.

While I agree that sending nearly 200 emails can be disruptive to LAD team, there are customers who are simply demanding and anxious.


Arguing with a payed customer on an internet forum is not what I consider appropriate or professional, even if you are 100% right.
In addition, this is not the first time a forum member had to bring his/her issue with LAD to PS, because the issue could not be settled offline.

What is a vendor to do in a situation like this, where all efforts have been made to ensure a happy customer and still proceeded to a negative review. I believe a vendor should have the opportunity to explain things, and in this case, it did clarify things.

While there was a post a few months back, it thankfully had a happy ending, which I hope for this one too.

 

[Niel]

It's the nature of the beast. Some of the same people here who have said "leave the poster alone!" Have done similar things when the vendor in question is one of their favorite vedors.
God forbid anyone speak ill of, say, VC.

but op, your feelings are your feelings. I'm sorry it hasn't turned our exactly how you wanted. It. Sounds like you're biggest concerns are the prongs, which you say yourself you laid little attention to on the cads you approved. I mention it only to say that hopefully that means a they irl, like the cads, won't be noticeable.

 

[AdaBeta27]

...
Arguing with a payed customer on an internet forum is not what I consider appropriate or professional, even if you are 100% right.
In addition, this is not the first time a forum member had to bring his/her issue with LAD to PS, because the issue could not be settled offline.

Personally, I see nothing wrong with a vendor who has been dragged into Trial by Internet being given ample opportunity to present the vendor's side of the story. I see nothing unprofessional about posting a response in a public forum. Once the customer has taken the issue public, why should the vendor just sit there and take it? Maybe I just like a good fight, but I think Erica's response was factual and not abusive in any way.

...
I'm at a loss as to why the OP is getting hammered. She ordered her ring in Sept is that peak? Doesn't she have a right to post her experience?...

...
All this blame the consumer stuff, "Its a busy time of the year." Boo hoo to that, any businessperson can refuse a project they cannot finish no matter whether it is close to Christmas/Hanukkah, Valentine's Day, 4th of July, whatever.
...

Replying to both, the executive summary is:
-- CADs were signed off on Tuesday, Sept 29.
-- The ring was cast on or before Monday, Oct 5. (Presuming Sat/Sun are not workdays, 3-4 days to mold and cast.)
-- The finished ring was available on Nov 4.

The ring was essentially ordered in October (because only 30 days hath September), and it was ready in approximately 4 - 5 weeks, a rush job completed within 5 weeks as promised. Presuming a custom ring takes 6-8 weeks, and a prudent person who wants it for Christmas has placed that order at least 8 weeks before Christmas, then yes, October / November would be included in the Christmas peak.

I don't know Erica personally, and I have never been her customer. We are not related. All I know about CVB is I've seen those rings on the Internet.

 

[motownmama]

I might not have absorbed EVERY word here, but today's the 9th - do you hAVE your ring?????? I personally love everything about the ring including the prongs, but, of course, I'm not the wearer.

 

[Arcadian]

OP, I generally don't post in RT but I feel like I need to add something. Rings are emotional, Jewelry in general is emotional. If I'm reading correctly the vendor did everything you had asked. There's nothing they can do about timelines especially this time of year, and especially with one so short. I feel that maybe while you may be upset about it, I also feel you have to be realistic about what you asked for. Sometimes you have to take emotions out of the equation and just let the process take its course.

Rushing a job is bad not only for you but also the vendor. When I had my last ring made with ERD, I told them to take the time you need. I didn't want to rush them to do the job, I wanted them to take their time and do it right. Sure I wanted it like RIGHT NOW but I also wanted the very best job they could deliver.

After I saw the ring, I only asked for one thing, the pointy prongs. They did them. They are splayed a bit because of the cut of the stone, and I really enjoy it. In person no wonk on the prongs, in pictures I see it a little on one side. The stone isn't perfect, even though its a precision cut stone, which I knew going in and because I knew that, I also understood why the prongs looked as they did zoomed up close.

In images, you're zoomed all the way in. In person nobody is looking at the darn thing THAT CLOSE! When you have a custom job, IMO you have to expect some variations due to the cut of the stone.

FWIW, the setting is beautiful and works with the stone. I like the splayed prongs look as I feel it works for the stone, but maybe I'm biased. Even you yourself said you didn't pay close enough attention to that particular detail. Still, it's a very beautiful ring, one I hope you're happy with once received.

I'm not going to say its not ok to be upset, I've been there and let loose myself on this forum, but I will say you should be upset for the right reasons.

IMO a vendor has the right to defend themselves if they were slighted because their reputation is on the line. Erica did so in a very respectful manner, and with factual information. I for one appreciated that. No one likes to be threatened, and Kenny, I will agree with you, I've fired plenty of customers because of that fact too.

In cases like this, no one wins.

 

[Jambalaya]

OP, I generally don't post in RT but I feel like I need to add something. Rings are emotional, Jewelry in general is emotional. If I'm reading correctly the vendor did everything you had asked. There's nothing they can do about timelines especially this time of year, and especially with one so short. I feel that maybe while you may be upset about it, I also feel you have to be realistic about what you asked for. Sometimes you have to take emotions out of the equation and just let the process take its course.

Rushing a job is bad not only for you but also the vendor. When I had my last ring made with ERD, I told them to take the time you need. I didn't want to rush them to do the job, I wanted them to take their time and do it right. Sure I wanted it like RIGHT NOW but I also wanted the very best job they could deliver.

After I saw the ring, I only asked for one thing, the pointy prongs. They did them. They are splayed a bit because of the cut of the stone, and I really enjoy it. In person no wonk on the prongs, in pictures I see it a little on one side. The stone isn't perfect, even though its a precision cut stone, which I knew going in and because I knew that, I also understood why the prongs looked as they did zoomed up close.

In images, you're zoomed all the way in. In person nobody is looking at the darn thing THAT CLOSE! When you have a custom job, IMO you have to expect some variations due to the cut of the stone.

FWIW, the setting is beautiful and works with the stone. I like the splayed prongs look as I feel it works for the stone, but maybe I'm biased. Even you yourself said you didn't pay close enough attention to that particular detail. Still, it's a very beautiful ring, one I hope you're happy with once received.

I'm not going to say its not ok to be upset, I've been there and let loose myself on this forum, but I will say you should be upset for the right reasons.

IMO a vendor has the right to defend themselves if they were slighted because their reputation is on the line. Erica did so in a very respectful manner, and with factual information. I for one appreciated that. No one likes to be threatened, and Kenny, I will agree with you, I've fired plenty of customers because of that fact too.

In cases like this, no one wins.

You know, twice I've said exactly that in custom projects and each time it was taken to mean that I was saying "Put me as a very low priority." Like you, I also reasoned that I'd get a better piece if I didn't rush them. The first jeweler proceeded to totally forget about my project after taking half the money so it took double the length of time. The oversight only came to light when I wondered where my item was after the deadline and it turned out they hadn't even started. And the second just messed it up after taking my money upfront - wrong setting, wrong design. The first was a local bench and the second was a PS vendor who I discovered before I discovered PS. It was ages ago so I'm not wanting to post about either experience in detail - the things were fixed and done right in the end.

I just wanted to say that if you are too nice about it, you can get taken advantage of. I have said the bolded above at least twice for the same sound reasons as Arcadian - might have said it three times but it's been a long time since I've had a custom piece - and it got me nowhere.

I guess there's a middle way -I wouldn't want to push too much, but also when you say "No rush, take your time, I can wait" - that approach has not gotten me the best service, either. Far from it!

 

[BlingObsession]

Honestly, I'm still struggling to understand why the OP would post such a negative review before she has even seen the ring in real life. Just sayin'

 

[Arcadian]

OP, I generally don't post in RT but I feel like I need to add something. Rings are emotional, Jewelry in general is emotional. If I'm reading correctly the vendor did everything you had asked. There's nothing they can do about timelines especially this time of year, and especially with one so short. I feel that maybe while you may be upset about it, I also feel you have to be realistic about what you asked for. Sometimes you have to take emotions out of the equation and just let the process take its course.

Rushing a job is bad not only for you but also the vendor. When I had my last ring made with ERD, I told them to take the time you need. I didn't want to rush them to do the job, I wanted them to take their time and do it right. Sure I wanted it like RIGHT NOW but I also wanted the very best job they could deliver.

After I saw the ring, I only asked for one thing, the pointy prongs. They did them. They are splayed a bit because of the cut of the stone, and I really enjoy it. In person no wonk on the prongs, in pictures I see it a little on one side. The stone isn't perfect, even though its a precision cut stone, which I knew going in and because I knew that, I also understood why the prongs looked as they did zoomed up close.

In images, you're zoomed all the way in. In person nobody is looking at the darn thing THAT CLOSE! When you have a custom job, IMO you have to expect some variations due to the cut of the stone.

FWIW, the setting is beautiful and works with the stone. I like the splayed prongs look as I feel it works for the stone, but maybe I'm biased. Even you yourself said you didn't pay close enough attention to that particular detail. Still, it's a very beautiful ring, one I hope you're happy with once received.

I'm not going to say its not ok to be upset, I've been there and let loose myself on this forum, but I will say you should be upset for the right reasons.

IMO a vendor has the right to defend themselves if they were slighted because their reputation is on the line. Erica did so in a very respectful manner, and with factual information. I for one appreciated that. No one likes to be threatened, and Kenny, I will agree with you, I've fired plenty of customers because of that fact too.

In cases like this, no one wins.

You know, twice I've said exactly that in custom projects and each time it was taken to mean that I was saying "Put me as a very low priority." Like you, I also reasoned that I'd get a better piece if I didn't rush them. The first jeweler proceeded to totally forget about my project after taking half the money so it took double the length of time. The oversight only came to light when I wondered where my item was after the deadline and it turned out they hadn't even started. And the second just messed it up after taking my money upfront - wrong setting, wrong design. The first was a local bench and the second was a PS vendor who I discovered before I discovered PS. It was ages ago so I'm not wanting to post about either experience in detail - the things were fixed and done right in the end.

I just wanted to say that if you are too nice about it, you can get taken advantage of. I have said the bolded above at least twice for the same sound reasons as Arcadian - might have said it three times but it's been a long time since I've had a custom piece - and it got me nowhere.

I guess there's a middle way -I wouldn't want to push too much, but also when you say "No rush, take your time, I can wait" - that approach has not gotten me the best service, either. Far from it!

I will agree with this; I was never left feeling forgotten during the process, and I did check in a couple of times and there may have been a handful of emails, some of which might have happened in a single day (likely during finalization). But I let them do the work I paid them to do. Like you said there's a middle ground that has to be struck.

 

[Rockinruby]

Op, I'm very curious to know if you've seen the ring in person yet? I am hopeful that the ring meets your expectations and you can put this experience behind you.

 

[badabling]

I had posted this in response to ericas post but it got buried:

True I left out critical info like how I asked you to ship just the stone if setting would not be ready and you assured me it would be ready and that's how I didn't get my stone in November. I also left out the bit that shipping notice for Dec7 was sent out right after I sent an email threatening legal action if the stone was not shipped to reach my niece by Dec 7. At that point I was willing to cut my losses and have just the stone minus the setting. I was alarmed when the GIA certificate was not shipped out with the ring and again shipping notice was sent after I emailed you asking for it. Maybe you did send it earlier but I did not receive any email informing me so. It is true I threatened with a review on PS because that was the only way I could get you to honor your words. I did give you the chance to explain and solve things by email but found a myriad of excuses like jeweler couldn't confirm number inscription on girdle, prongs splayed because of crown height and basket, jeweler's father had cancer (which I am truly sorry to hear about), GIA cert not shipped with ring for duty purposes etc. I have tried to keep my review as neutral as possible and I do appreciate you offering to pay for prongs being fixed (I might take you up on that). I also agree I love everything about the ring besides the prongs (yet to receive it from my niece).

To everyone else:
My issue is not so much with the ring splayed prongs and all its more with the deadlines and attitude of the vendor. I had two deadlines for the LAD one was Nov 5 which was missed and I was disappointed but not panicked though I did ask for the diamond to be shipped if setting was not going to be done on time and second deadline was dec 7 (well past the five weeks deadline for setting) and that's when I panicked because it seemed both stone and setting were not shipped. I then sent an email threatening legal action if the stone was not sent to me by dec 7 and received a shipping notification label on Friday, Dec 4 12:01PST (ring was dropped off later that evening) and then received another email Dec 8, 4:18am (my time) with GIA cert shipping notification.

... Why email everyday though, things do not change that fast? ...

1+ busiest time of year hello

+2
Emailing every day?
OMG, I would have returned her money and told her to take a long walk down a short pier.
I hope as a professional I never have to deal with anyone like the OP.
What a nightmare customer.
In my business I DO fire customers.

... I did not notice the prongs on the CADs ...

Really!?!
Then you should not have started this thread.
It may harm LAD ... unfairly!

May I advise you to ask admin to delete it?

I would gladly have forgone the setting. In fact I did tell LAD keep the setting and the money just send the stone which was much much more than the setting. Admin is free to delete this post if he/she thinks it's unfair I'm happy as long as I get my diamond which I have.

.......
These kinds of reactions are the reason I have never disclosed two horrifying experiences I have had over the years with PS favored jewelers...........

I wish you'd post both.

Andelain, I haven't posted my two experiences because I didn't want to experience any bashing from others on top of the money, time and energy that went right down the drain with the two jewelers. I like PS and I don't ever want to feel unwelcome around these parts. I've learned so much here and had a lot of vicarious thrills to all the gorgeous jewels here.

I did consider not posting and I did try and resolve internally and I did wonder if I was the one with the unrealistic expectations but then figured maybe someone could learn from my experience besides I'm in the stick and stones camp. All that being said it's definitely nicer being a lurker and admiring all the baubles on here.

 

[badabling]

Op, I'm very curious to know if you've seen the ring in person yet? I am hopeful that the ring meets your expectations and you can put this experience behind you.

I'm still waiting on my ring it gets to me on Dec 19. I hope so too!

 

[dontaskme]

maybe a forum setting isn't the best place for a review, I am thinking if maybe there should be a separate review sub forum where the OP can post and then only the vendor can respond. I don't really see how it's constructive to have other people giving their 2 cents. I hope you like your ring when you get it.

 

[Rhea]

I had posted this in response to ericas post but it got buried:

To everyone else:
My issue is not so much with the ring splayed prongs and all its more with the deadlines and attitude of the vendor. I had two deadlines for the LAD one was Nov 5 which was missed and I was disappointed but not panicked though I did ask for the diamond to be shipped if setting was not going to be done on time and second deadline was dec 7 (well past the five weeks deadline for setting) and that's when I panicked because it seemed both stone and setting were not shipped. I then sent an email threatening legal action if the stone was not sent to me by dec 7 and received a shipping notification label on Friday, Dec 4 12:01PST (ring was dropped off later that evening) and then received another email Dec 8, 4:18am (my time) with GIA cert shipping notification.

If I understand correctly, you live in another country and so to avoid expensive shipping charges and potentially any import duties you are trying to have LAD send your ring at a time when you know that a relative will be able to carry it back for you. Is this correct? I'd be suspicious of that as well if I were a vendor. Not sending something to the address where it was originally meant to go to, especially such an expensive item, can look like fraud.

I understand that you're upset but it seems like a lot of the upset is because you were pushing a vendor to meet your timeline and changing your timeline so that you could avoid import duties. The way that you've done this has also backed LAD into a corner where they can't fix the prongs should you be unhappy with it due to fees and international shipping restrictions.

I had two deadlines for the LAD one was Nov 5 which was missed and I was disappointed

I don't see where your deadline of 5th November was missed as you claim. I'm assuming that you're either in Australia or Europe. Both are multiple hours ahead of the US's Eastern coast where LAD is based. I'm in the UK - 8 hours, a full business day, ahead. If you needed your ring completed by 5th November your time, that's 4th November LAD's time and that should have been discussed and made clear. If it wasn't and LAD sent you what they agreed by close of the 5th their time, that's their deadline met.

and second deadline was dec 7 (well past the five weeks deadline for setting) and that's when I panicked because it seemed both stone and setting were not shipped. I then sent an email threatening legal action if the stone was not sent to me by dec 7 and received a shipping notification label on Friday, Dec 4 12:01PST

Most of the jewellers seem to use 1 or 2 day FedEx shipping. Even according to Erica's policy page they use 1 day shipping, www.loveaffairdiamonds.com/policies/.. For you ring to arrive on your specified day she couldn't have shipped it any earlier. Threatening on the 4th likely did nothing but stress you both out.

I'm sorry that you're unhappy with the level of customer service. It sounds as though you and LAD were not a good match for each other. Most vendors do seem to need a hands off approach so that they have time to create rather than spending all that time responding to queries.

I've not worked with any vendor on this board other than Wink and Images so know nothing of the vendors you're posting first hand.

 

[ericad]

OP, we can do this dance all day and still just go in circles. You wanted your ring completed by November 5th. At some point towards the end of the project you changed the delivery date to October 28th, which we couldn't meet. At that point you told me to remove the rush and hold the ring - which I did. Though it was still completed on time to meet your original completion date, just not the revised travel date.

Then you asked me to ship for delivery on or before December 7th, so I told you the ring would ship on Friday Dec 4th. We always hold shipping jobs until the end of day closer to cutoff. You started emailing me on Friday afternoon, hours before the cutoff time making assumptions that the ring hadn't shipped and threatening legal action. The ring was always scheduled to ship on Friday, the label was created before noon, and I forwarded you the tracking number once I had the email confirmation. It usually takes a little time to hit my inbox, then I forward that to my client at some point during the day or evening because I'm not on email every minute. Check the time stamp on the fed ex tracking email I sent, the fed ex email was generated at 12:01pm. Yet you are now representing it as if it's your threatening email that CAUSED me to ship the package when you requested it, which is impossible because that would require time travel since you emailed me at 2:43pm. I have never had to deal with this kind of behavior in all the years I've been in this business.

Regarding your GIA report, since the ring shipped from the jeweler directly I needed to ship the report to you in a separate box. I offered you 2 options - I could ship it to your niece to have with the ring, or I could ship it to you directly. Of course, that also backfired (I was trying to be helpful) because you then voiced your suspicions over the report and ring not being shipped together, despite me explaining it to you. So on Saturday I drove 40 minutes to the closest Fed Ex with a Saturday drop off and shipped the ring box and GIA report to your niece for Monday delivery and told you to please stop emailing me and harassing me until you receive your ring.

 

[Ittybittykittykat]

i think its important NOT to be aggressive towards the OP. It does not encourage people to be forthcoming with their experiences with the vendors, ISNT THAT AN IMPORTANT PART OF PRICESCOPE. You may disagree with someone..but please show respect.

Very, very true. Well said Wendy.

There are so many nuances to every situation that unless I have walked in the shoes of either, I don't want to judge (at least not in this situation.)...

Many posters have bashed the OP for giving a "bad" review and that truly is discouraging for many new posters. Pricescope is suppose to be a "safe" place for consumers to do research, ask for advise and share their experiences( good or bad). I know that LAD is a favorite vendor on here and MANY members back her but it doesn't give anyone the right to diminish OP's experience.

Every client is different whether OP emailed everyday shouldn't matter to anyone. What matters is she wasn't happy with her experience. Your personal preference doesn't matter.

If she was reviewing another vendor ex. LM and he came on here to continue an argument in the manner LAD has PScopers would have pitchforks ready for him!! (this has happened when a new poster defending LM was assumed to be him or someone working for him). Regardless of where your alliances lie it is unprofessional for a vendor to "defend themselves" this way. A brief explanation or a public request to keep this off the forum would've sufficed.

This isn't HS. It's very unappealing to constantly see members and cliques gang up and bully other members because they don't have as many posts, or don't favor the same vendors.

Last year there was a member who wrote a post with stat's of emails exchanged with multiple vendors, average email response times, design styles, personal reviews of his interactions and reactions gauged from the multitude of emails he sent vendors in a very short period of time. This member micromanaged vendors while only asking for quotes! The amount of emails he sent the vendor he chose to to work with IMO was ridiculous. Yet most PS were impressed with his "leg work" and thanked him for his "valuable" information.

Praising one person for micromanaging and then bullying another for "sending emails every day" is wrong. This post should stay up so any future members can see that there was an unsatisfactory experience with LAD whether other members agree or not.

Thank you Badabling for sharing your experience and don't be discouraged from posting your experiences. If it's any comfort the ring looks beautiful! I hope that you will put all this past you once you receive the ring and it's as beautiful as the images. Don't let this less than ideal experience ruin more for you.

 

[gm89uk]

The OP has made this public. I don't understand the POV that is so overtly protective of the OPs feelings. The OP posted presumingly to share an experience and part of that process is feedback from other users regarding the situation. This may or may not be helpful to the OP but it's a public forum. The constant reminder that the OP should not receive any negative feedback on their situation is not helpful to the OP and goes against sharing an experience in the first place.
Any comment that criticises the OPs actions in this accord does not amount to bullying. I still fail to understand why the vendor is unprofessional to 'defend themselves'. Clearly the vendor has tried everything to satisfy the customer. Had I not heard of Erica before I would think twice after reading this to deal with LAD. Thanks to Ericas efforts to explain the situation, I can understand that this is a unique situation and isn't at all as first implied by the OP who later admitted to not disclosing essential details to the story. If the OP should not be criticised for sharing an experience, a complete and accurate account of what happened should be shared.

Criticism is happening because the account from the vendor is so remarkably different from the OPs, not because of vendor favouritism.

One of the most favoured vendors here is WF where a customer had a negative experience while trying to upgrade. Many users sided with the customer objectively and some with WF, thankfully this was all sorted out, but I like this forum because of its objectivity and not its subjectivity. Needless to say no one is happy the OP has had a bad experience and I sympathise, but I think it's just as important to be able to share why this is happened and how to avoid it later, once the OP posted and shared with us, rather than offer words of sympathy, achieving nothing and asking the vendor to sort it behind closed doors (which is a regression back to where they already were)

 

[Andelain]

Last year there was a member who wrote a post with stat's of emails exchanged with multiple vendors, average email response times, design styles, personal reviews of his interactions and reactions gauged from the multitude of emails he sent vendors in a very short period of time. This member micromanaged vendors while only asking for quotes! The amount of emails he sent the vendor he chose to to work with IMO was ridiculous. Yet most PS were impressed with his "leg work" and thanked him for his "valuable" information.
...

Got a link to this?

 

[lovedogs]

Last year there was a member who wrote a post with stat's of emails exchanged with multiple vendors, average email response times, design styles, personal reviews of his interactions and reactions gauged from the multitude of emails he sent vendors in a very short period of time. This member micromanaged vendors while only asking for quotes! The amount of emails he sent the vendor he chose to to work with IMO was ridiculous. Yet most PS were impressed with his "leg work" and thanked him for his "valuable" information.
...

Got a link to this?

I think it's this thread: [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/how-i-struck-out-with-3-ps-vendors-and-found-joy-with-cvb-id.210996/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/how-i-struck-out-with-3-ps-vendors-and-found-joy-with-cvb-id.210996/[/URL]

Apologies if I'm wrong, but it sounds fairly similar.

 

[Niel]

Last year there was a member who wrote a post with stat's of emails exchanged with multiple vendors, average email response times, design styles, personal reviews of his interactions and reactions gauged from the multitude of emails he sent vendors in a very short period of time. This member micromanaged vendors while only asking for quotes! The amount of emails he sent the vendor he chose to to work with IMO was ridiculous. Yet most PS were impressed with his "leg work" and thanked him for his "valuable" information.
...

Got a link to this?

I think it's this thread: [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/how-i-struck-out-with-3-ps-vendors-and-found-joy-with-cvb-id.210996/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/how-i-struck-out-with-3-ps-vendors-and-found-joy-with-cvb-id.210996/[/URL]

Apologies if I'm wrong, but it sounds fairly simmicromanaging

Oh bless his hear lt I remember him. He deleted a thread he had about his journey which ended up being 10 pages before he took it down before some sass he felt he was getting.

He tried to work with VC and VC flat out told him he wouldn't work with him due to his micromanaging

This is not to knock him, as I know he's around here from time to time. But he had unrealistic expectations about the custom process and the is damn lucky they put up with all his needs at the end.

Great result Though!

 

[Sphene]

Next time Erica do not try to accommodate any clients out of the ordinary ship requests (they maybe just trying to circumnavigate paying appropriate taxes or import duties - any tax peeps on here) send straight to their billing address like ebay do - this may have saved you this hassle of an OP who has not even seen the goods yet complaining about basically nothing

 

[pyramid]

I notice quite a lot of posts here where newbies and members discuss not paying taxes or shipping elsewhere. There used to be people who warned that they knew the customs authorities read this site but I don't know if that is the case still.

 

[bobby2175]

I'm a long time lurker, infrequent poster, but huge fan of PS and the amazing community here.

This thread hits home for me because I'm going through some major challenges with an often recommended vendor on PS as well.

The Internet has done so many great things. It's brought power to consumers in so many ways - websites such as PS as well as giving people the ability to voice an opinion or provide reviews in nearly real time.

I have no problem with the OP voicing their opinion. And I have no problem with the Erica being able to openly discuss the situation.

Although, I've never worked with Erica, I've seen the sincerity in her work and other posts and I would not hesitate to work with her.

Also, I don't know the OP, but completely respect her view of what happened as well.

In the end, most of these situations come down to a small crack in communication somewhere.

Finally, I could not agree more with Jambalaya's comments. As I mentioned earlier, I've been working with a highly and often recommended vendor on PS. I used the knowledge I've gained here and purchased an amazing stone in May. I told them to take their time and focus on quality and this was likely my biggest mistake. But here I am now in December with nothing in hand except for a pile of emails just announcing more delays with no good reasons after I've already paid for the project in full - over $40,000. And now, I miss on the day I planned to propose during a beach vacation with my gf this week (her dream proposal) that I also put thousands of dollars into.

Will I post my experience? Interesting question. I have continually begged for info. Inquiring about what's really going on. But I'm continually stonewalled by top level people at the Company. I feel like I have no place left to go but the Internet - where someone may have an idea to help me.

What else is a consumer to do?

OP and Erica, I hope you guys are able to work this out amicably.

Happy Holidays to all!

Bobby

 

[derbygal]

Wow, Bobby. Sorry to hear about your experience. Hope you get it worked out ASAP. With that kind of budget, I can't wait to see the ring when you finally get it.

 

[16ocean]

to the original poster . . . I do hope your ring gets to you soon.

I too feel as if it is important to hear all sorts of experiences clients have with vendors here on PS. It gives us, the consumer a more complete picture of different vendors.

As for Bobby . . .I hope to read your review/experience when your project is complete.

 

[Rhea]

Bobby, please do share. As with any story, you and the vendor as likely to see things a bit differently and I think we all expect that. If you didn't see things differently there wouldn't be a problem! The problem for me comes when the story which is told doesn't contain facts. We all know vendors mess up. I don't think there's been a single one on here who hasn't had a bad review. The problem for me lies in either the customer or vendor are stretching the truth to look better.

I hope that you get your ring sorted out quickly and that it's just as beautiful as you planned it to be!

 

[chrono]

Bobby,
It doesn't sound like any of the PS vendors I've used in the past. I've never paid in full until the item is completed (I am told it is done and have seen pictures proving that it is done). I am sorry that is not the case for you and hope it will be resolved very soon.