The Jewelry Exchange

Reviews 3

A

A Private User

I would give Jewelry Exchange 0 stars if I could. My fiancé bought me a beautiful ring from Jewelry Exchange; however, 3 months later diamonds started falling out. When I brought the ring in to the store I was told that almost all of the diamonds were loose. They assured me that the settings would be reinforced and I should not experience any more problems. However, within 11 months I ended up losing a total of 3 diamonds. Each time I brought the ring in I was told that all of the settings were reinforced and that I shouldnt have any more problems. After the 2nd diamond fell out I asked a sales associate if my ring was losing diamonds because the setting was more delicate than other settings. After looking at my ring, she told me that my ring is NOT delicate and that does not explain why diamonds are falling out. After the 3rd diamond fell out I was furious. I brought my ring in to the store the next day and had the unfortunate experience of working with Mae, a manager. I demanded that my fiancé receive a refund or at the very least, a warranty extension, since my warranty was almost over. Mae refused both requests without any hesitation and dealt with me in a very uncaring and unsympathetic manner. She made me feel as if she didnt care about my situation and was very flippant. She eventually agreed to send my ring to corporate so that they could determine if the setting was defective. Corporate had my ring for 4 weeks and determined that nothing was wrong. When I picked up my ring I had another terrible experience when I met the Asst Manager, Niko. When I asked him what corporate did to my ring he told me that it was completely re-tipped and that I should not have any more problems, then he told me that I should wait for a 4th diamond to fall out, and then he told me that he didnt know what they did and I would need to come back and talk to Kathy, another manager. Nikos demeanor was rude and unsympathetic and he made me feel as if I was wasting his time. He clearly just wanted me to leave the store. After dealing with him I truly felt that no one at that store cared about my ordeal. When I met with Kathy to find out what was done, I found out that the reason diamonds were falling out was because my ring is a micro pave setting which is highly delicate (keep in mind I asked this EXACT question the 2nd time a diamond fell out). My ring NEVER should have gone to corporate because someone should have recognized this when the 1st diamond fell out. I also need to add that my fiancé was never told that micro pave settings were delicate and not meant to be worn every day when he bought my ring. For these reasons, Kathy offered to exchange my ring for a new one. When my fiancé and I went to exchange my ring I was HIGHLY emotional. When I met with Kathy I told her about how awful my experience was and I told her about the way Niko treated me. Kathy walked away and the next thing I knew, Niko was approaching me and shouting, "Hey! You got a problem with me??" He got in my face and demanded to know what he did wrong. He began yelling at me and when my fiancé demanded that he walk away he refused. I felt completely attacked. My fiancé continued to tell him to back off and Niko proceeded to suggest that my fiancé was threatening him. At that point I completely lost it and burst into tears. I felt so humiliated that I had to leave the store. Niko walked away when I started crying and did not apologize. Due to this experience, I decided to forego the exchange and keep my original ring because I never want to walk in to that store again or deal with any of their rude and incompetent employees. I also need to mention that the next Monday, Kathy called me and told me that my fiancé was rude to her. Considering he spent thousands of dollars on a ring that was falling apart I think he has every right to be rude to her and the rest of her employees.

A

A Private User

I was looking up something and was amazed to see all the negative posts. Heres my own story for whatever its worth: In November of 2008 me & the fiance went into J.E. after hitting a few other places. We werent actually in the market to purchase that particular day, more or less just window shopping and I was trying to get a gauge of what I could expect to spend. Well Id gotten a pretty good idea already between some web research Id done and the couple of other stores Id been to earlier in the day already. She found 3 settings she liked and 2 in particular, and whereas one of the other stores Id been too actually ridiculed us for having the audacity to want to see a less popular (pear) cut instead of following lock step with the mASSES who all seem to insist on princess or round cut, which is just dull and boring in our opinion. Anyway they not only had some in stock, they had the clarity and carat I was interested in from a size/cost perspective. They showed us multiple stones in varying grades in the settings we liked. I sent her away to discuss pricing and I felt I got a good offer. I beat them down a bit till I thought Id gotten them closer to what I felt was a better price and well I ended up doing the deal. A few months later I had an independent appraisal done for insurance purposes.....now Ill admit unlike their commercial claims it didnt appraise at "more than double" what I paid, but it DID appraise for well over what I spent. She gets stopped by complete strangers all the time who are amazed by her set, and 2 ex-jewelers have just happened to have loops on them have looked at the primary stone and told us, thats an excellent cut and clarity diamond there, congratulations. Anyway....I dunno I had a great experience personally, I guess it just depends on a series of factors. It probably didnt hurt that I didnt walk in expecting to get an eye popping piece for the cost of a bubble gum machine ring pop. I went in with a real budget, and I think I got a much larger and nicer stone clarity/cut wise then I could have for the same $ spent at most competitors I walked into then or since.

C

C L

The Jewelry Exchange has great prices on beautiful jewelry, often at half the price of mall stores. You can pick from trays of loose diamonds. Then choose a custom white gold, yellow gold, or other setting. The on-site goldsmiths can create your engagement ring, anniversary ring, or diamond earrings while you watch. There is a wide price range from inexpensive to GIA and EGL certified high quality diamonds. Once you see how much fire you can get for not much more, it’s hard to resist. They also have watches and everything else you would expect. A friend lost her tennis bracelet her husband had paid a fortune for at a mall. The Jewelry Exchange replaced it with the same bracelet for $1,100. That’s why your insurance company may want you to replace jewelry here. But know this before you get there. There’s no crystal chandeliers and no wood paneling. This is in a strip mall in Villa Park with a drop ceiling. The only thing fancy is the jewelry. Get there early. The store often gets busy. There is no pressure, no salesman will swoop in on you. We area repeat customer who have been coming to the Jewelry Exchange since it was in Elmhurst. We have always been happy. See their jewelryexchange website for what youll see in the store.