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| Tourmaline and diamond earrings |
Customer: Hi. I just got this ring and I need it sized and I'm kind of in a hurry.
Danny: Is it a new ring?
Customer: Yes, I just bought it.
Danny: Well if it's a new ring the place you bought it from should size it for you for free.
Customer: But I bought it online and I would have to ship it back to them and I don't have time for that (or it will cost too much to ship it). I thought you could do it for me in a day or two.
Danny: (Audibly sighs, maybe two or three times for effect). My repair time is about two weeks right now. And really the place you bought it from should be responsible for making it in the right size for you.
Customer: They said they would size it but I have to send it back.
Danny: Well I think you should send it back. You can overnight it to them and ask them to overnight it back to you. If it was my ring you bought I would size it for you so you could have it on time.
Customer: Well, um, okay. Are you sure you couldn't do it right away?
Danny: As soon as I get done with all the other repairs I have in house ahead of you I can get it done.
Usually that's the end of the conversation although a few people will continue pleading.
Some of you might ask what are you irritated about (although I suspect most of you know already). It's just more work for you. So let me tell you:
When someone goes online to "save money" on a piece of jewelry, it isn't my job to fix what the online company does wrong. If the only thing I'm good for is to fix the mistakes of a company you work with sight unseen then I have to get a new location where my rent is only going to be a hundred dollars a month (of course then I wouldn't be nearby and you wouldn't be thinking I'm the person to call---despite my 40 years of experience).
If you want excellent customer service than work with someone local!! If you buy a ring from me and it's the wrong size you can be damn sure I'm going to make sure it's sized right for you when you pick it up and if it isn't I'm going to size it overnight for you to make sure you can give it or wear it on time. Sometimes I even do it on the same day. And I never charge for it.
So why do I do this for the customers who buy my rings and not ones bought elsewhere? Because I make money on selling you the ring. If I sell you an engagement ring for $2-3000 it's worth it for me to push other things aside and make it right for you. If you buy a ring somewhere else and want me to size it for you I only charge $70 for a downsizing. It just isn't worth it for me to stop all of the other work I'm doing (like making that engagement ring order up) so that you can give a ring you bought elsewhere to your intended.
Now I understand that I don't sell a lot of the more commercial designs that many of you buy online, but I can assure you that just about everything bought on line is available at a local jeweler. It may not be me, but there are plenty of others who will sell you that exact same design AND take care of sizing it or fixing it locally and quickly. So maybe it's worth thinking twice before deciding that the only criteria is how much money you can save by buying it online from some company that you will never, ever have a personal relationship with.
And that's my rant of the day.
P.S.: I don't look askance at people with heirloom pieces they bring to me. If your family is passing down something to you to use I'm always happy to try to assist (although sometimes the time frames may be longer than you want) in whatever way I can. This truly just applies to NEW purchases.
