Custom my A$@
Complaint
Disappointed Fiance
Country: United States
Buying an engagement ring is said to be one of the most exciting experiences in your lifetime – but for me it has been nothing short of terrible.
A longtime family friend recommended the J.B. Robinson in Springhill Mall to make one of the biggest purchases of my lifetime. My mom, brother in law and sister had all made purchases there in the past and I walked in the door trusting that I too would have a great experience. However, that blind trust was where I made my first mistake.
My girlfriend and her best friend went ring shopping a couple months prior to my visit to JB and had come up with a ring that she liked (it was a pieces from a few different rings – swirls on the side, princess cut, white gold etc). Her friend had sent the picture to me and I brought it with me to the store.
I showed the picture to the sales woman and she said that custom making a ring like that would be no issue. This was my second mistake. I should have looked around the store more, asked more questions, went to the competition and made sure I was being told the truth. Neil Lane, a designer through your company, makes a 1 1/16 carat ring that was exactly like the ring my girlfriend had liked – it was a bridal set and was at the store the day I came in. Instead of showing me the setting, I was told that I needed to design a ring. I was told that due to the size of the center stone I wanted, none of the settings in house could fit the diamond and “custom” was the only route I could take.
Seeing that I am new to engagement ring shopping, I believed the woman when she told me this information.
The band cost me $2892.12 for ??? carats (none of the paperwork we have breaks it down). The list price on the Neil Lane ring was $3100.00 and was 1/2 ct tw with 82 round stones and had a matching wedding band that was 1/5 ct tw with 35 round stones.
Not only was there was a long waiting period for this “custom” ring, but there were many trips made back and forth to Springhill mall to approve things etc. Looking back and knowing that the ring I would end up purchasing was basically the downgraded version of Neil Lane’s beautiful ring (with poorer quality) makes me sick to my stomach. When re-looking over our paperwork it even states “Neil Lane for display” – yet, there is no stamp on the inside of the ring, so it definitely isn’t his. It looks as though you used his design and did a bad job of trying to replicate it (its like I bought my wife to be a knock off).
Fast forward to a couple months ago. My fiancé and I are now ready to purchase a wedding band to match her engagement ring. We drove out to Springhill mall from Westmont, IL because at this time we still trusted that we were getting good service and that JB Robinson was a good company. Another reason we went back to the store the engagement ring was purchased from was because two stones from her band had already fallen out and she needed them replaced. Being newly engaged, people would ask to see her ring wherever we went and she was self-conscious about the missing stones and wanted them fixed right away. She never wore the ring in the shower, to the gym, washing dishes etc and STILL two diamonds were missing in a mere 3 months. I definitely questioned the quality of my $16,813 purchase…
We started looking at the different band options in the cases and this was the moment where we saw the Neil Lane 1 1/16 carat ring, an exact replica. My fiancé looked shocked to see that her “custom made for her” ring was sitting in the case. We saw that there was a matching wedding band and had them pull it for us – well, it didn’t fit with our ring – it was slightly off. The women pulled many different bands and none of them would match. The manager came out and told us that a custom band would need to be made and that we would have to pay an additional $600 molding fee (AGAIN). We decided that we would have them make an anniversary band at the same time so that we wouldn’t have to keep paying “custom” fees over and over. They quoted us another $2800.00 and my fiancé looked sick to her stomach so we decided to hold off and think about the purchase. We did, however give them her ring to be fixed – it was sent out and my fiancé was without her ring for two weeks…
We left the store and both had a bad feeling about the entire purchase. My fiancé was concerned that our design was stolen or that they made me buy a custom band so they could make more money off of us (molding fees – custom wedding band etc). I knew I had been ripped off and now everything that surrounded the ring that was supposed to symbolize my love for my fiancé was negative.
I picked up the ring after it had been fixed and didn’t noticed yet another issue… when I purchased the ring I had “I Love You” inscribed in the inside… well, the inscription was basically rubbed/shaved off and the inside of the ring was scratched to hell. This is something my fiancé noticed right away – I am even more livid – now I have a damaged ring with no inscription. That was my message to her so that she would always remember how much I love her … now, that has been taken as well.
Last weekend we decided to take another crack at wedding ring shopping as the wedding date is rapidly approaching and my fiancé needs a ring… we went to Jared in Lombard, IL. The sales women we worked with there was great. She took my ring and immediately pulled the Neil Lane replica thinking that it was the same ring. When the wedding band didn’t line up she looked confused. She asked where we purchased the ring from (we told her JB Robinson) and she pulled up our sales order. She could not believe that they “custom” made the ring when the Neil Lane ring was so similar. She brought both rings to the back and asked the tech if he could make the Neil Lane wedding band fit my ring… he said he would have to add a few diamonds and rework the bend but it could be done (the charge – an additional $150 in addition the band cost). Now the only problem was that the Neil Lane ring was visibly more brilliant than my fiance’s ring. The sales woman admitted that she wished she could remove the center stone from our ring and put it on the Neil Lane setting to make everything fit perfectly and look amazing. She said that because too much time had passed since the purchase of the engagement ring she could only do a trade in (which meant spending double, $5600 and then subtracting the $2800 trade in value of the band we purchased just 6-1/2 months ago). We looked at wedding rings for myself – liking a 1/6 ct tw round cut 14k white gold band with a list price of $999 and she said she would get back to us on the price of the Neil Lane wedding band as a standalone (we have looked it up online and saw that Kay has it for a list price of $800 – 1/5 ct tw with 35 round stones) as we would want an anniversary band as well. We haven’t heard back yet, but plan to soon. Although this seems to be a good option for us, we are hesitant to trust anyone – especially since Jared is under the Sterling and Signet umbrella along with JB Robinson. Regardless, we need the situation rectified and quickly (our wedding is June 3).
The moral of this story is this– we feel completely taken advantage of by JB Robinson because we were forced into a custom band (and an additional $600 fee) that is of subpar quality in comparison to the Neil Lane ring, our purchasing experience has been nothing short of terrible and stressful, we are disgusted by the quality of the ring (missing diamonds in 3 month, inscription gone, scratched inside) and we still have no resolution. To have so much negativity surround a ring that is supposed to symbolize my love for my fiancé is beyond words.
A longtime family friend recommended the J.B. Robinson in Springhill Mall to make one of the biggest purchases of my lifetime. My mom, brother in law and sister had all made purchases there in the past and I walked in the door trusting that I too would have a great experience. However, that blind trust was where I made my first mistake.
My girlfriend and her best friend went ring shopping a couple months prior to my visit to JB and had come up with a ring that she liked (it was a pieces from a few different rings – swirls on the side, princess cut, white gold etc). Her friend had sent the picture to me and I brought it with me to the store.
I showed the picture to the sales woman and she said that custom making a ring like that would be no issue. This was my second mistake. I should have looked around the store more, asked more questions, went to the competition and made sure I was being told the truth. Neil Lane, a designer through your company, makes a 1 1/16 carat ring that was exactly like the ring my girlfriend had liked – it was a bridal set and was at the store the day I came in. Instead of showing me the setting, I was told that I needed to design a ring. I was told that due to the size of the center stone I wanted, none of the settings in house could fit the diamond and “custom” was the only route I could take.
Seeing that I am new to engagement ring shopping, I believed the woman when she told me this information.
The band cost me $2892.12 for ??? carats (none of the paperwork we have breaks it down). The list price on the Neil Lane ring was $3100.00 and was 1/2 ct tw with 82 round stones and had a matching wedding band that was 1/5 ct tw with 35 round stones.
Not only was there was a long waiting period for this “custom” ring, but there were many trips made back and forth to Springhill mall to approve things etc. Looking back and knowing that the ring I would end up purchasing was basically the downgraded version of Neil Lane’s beautiful ring (with poorer quality) makes me sick to my stomach. When re-looking over our paperwork it even states “Neil Lane for display” – yet, there is no stamp on the inside of the ring, so it definitely isn’t his. It looks as though you used his design and did a bad job of trying to replicate it (its like I bought my wife to be a knock off).
Fast forward to a couple months ago. My fiancé and I are now ready to purchase a wedding band to match her engagement ring. We drove out to Springhill mall from Westmont, IL because at this time we still trusted that we were getting good service and that JB Robinson was a good company. Another reason we went back to the store the engagement ring was purchased from was because two stones from her band had already fallen out and she needed them replaced. Being newly engaged, people would ask to see her ring wherever we went and she was self-conscious about the missing stones and wanted them fixed right away. She never wore the ring in the shower, to the gym, washing dishes etc and STILL two diamonds were missing in a mere 3 months. I definitely questioned the quality of my $16,813 purchase…
We started looking at the different band options in the cases and this was the moment where we saw the Neil Lane 1 1/16 carat ring, an exact replica. My fiancé looked shocked to see that her “custom made for her” ring was sitting in the case. We saw that there was a matching wedding band and had them pull it for us – well, it didn’t fit with our ring – it was slightly off. The women pulled many different bands and none of them would match. The manager came out and told us that a custom band would need to be made and that we would have to pay an additional $600 molding fee (AGAIN). We decided that we would have them make an anniversary band at the same time so that we wouldn’t have to keep paying “custom” fees over and over. They quoted us another $2800.00 and my fiancé looked sick to her stomach so we decided to hold off and think about the purchase. We did, however give them her ring to be fixed – it was sent out and my fiancé was without her ring for two weeks…
We left the store and both had a bad feeling about the entire purchase. My fiancé was concerned that our design was stolen or that they made me buy a custom band so they could make more money off of us (molding fees – custom wedding band etc). I knew I had been ripped off and now everything that surrounded the ring that was supposed to symbolize my love for my fiancé was negative.
I picked up the ring after it had been fixed and didn’t noticed yet another issue… when I purchased the ring I had “I Love You” inscribed in the inside… well, the inscription was basically rubbed/shaved off and the inside of the ring was scratched to hell. This is something my fiancé noticed right away – I am even more livid – now I have a damaged ring with no inscription. That was my message to her so that she would always remember how much I love her … now, that has been taken as well.
Last weekend we decided to take another crack at wedding ring shopping as the wedding date is rapidly approaching and my fiancé needs a ring… we went to Jared in Lombard, IL. The sales women we worked with there was great. She took my ring and immediately pulled the Neil Lane replica thinking that it was the same ring. When the wedding band didn’t line up she looked confused. She asked where we purchased the ring from (we told her JB Robinson) and she pulled up our sales order. She could not believe that they “custom” made the ring when the Neil Lane ring was so similar. She brought both rings to the back and asked the tech if he could make the Neil Lane wedding band fit my ring… he said he would have to add a few diamonds and rework the bend but it could be done (the charge – an additional $150 in addition the band cost). Now the only problem was that the Neil Lane ring was visibly more brilliant than my fiance’s ring. The sales woman admitted that she wished she could remove the center stone from our ring and put it on the Neil Lane setting to make everything fit perfectly and look amazing. She said that because too much time had passed since the purchase of the engagement ring she could only do a trade in (which meant spending double, $5600 and then subtracting the $2800 trade in value of the band we purchased just 6-1/2 months ago). We looked at wedding rings for myself – liking a 1/6 ct tw round cut 14k white gold band with a list price of $999 and she said she would get back to us on the price of the Neil Lane wedding band as a standalone (we have looked it up online and saw that Kay has it for a list price of $800 – 1/5 ct tw with 35 round stones) as we would want an anniversary band as well. We haven’t heard back yet, but plan to soon. Although this seems to be a good option for us, we are hesitant to trust anyone – especially since Jared is under the Sterling and Signet umbrella along with JB Robinson. Regardless, we need the situation rectified and quickly (our wedding is June 3).
The moral of this story is this– we feel completely taken advantage of by JB Robinson because we were forced into a custom band (and an additional $600 fee) that is of subpar quality in comparison to the Neil Lane ring, our purchasing experience has been nothing short of terrible and stressful, we are disgusted by the quality of the ring (missing diamonds in 3 month, inscription gone, scratched inside) and we still have no resolution. To have so much negativity surround a ring that is supposed to symbolize my love for my fiancé is beyond words.
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