Working with Kroman was not a positive experience at all. These are the kindest words I have about…read moreit all. It took over two months total to get the project done. They take as long as possible for every step they do. It took a week to solidify the design, which is ok. When I asked for a very small tweak, which was making the drawing slightly larger, he took another entire week to do that. The time to complete after you give the go ahead is three weeks. It was for me anyway. Until it became longer because they're what they want. After the quoted three weeks, it still wasn't done and the photos sent weren't even correct. I was given a CAD as well as a 3-d print out and was told the print out was so you'd know EXACTLY what the piece would look like finished. Well, it wasn't. So, I'm not sure what the point of the print out was. Of note: Mr. Kroman isn't actually the jewelry "maker". He designs the ring. That's all. The people who work for him make the ring. There's obviously a lack of communication amongst them, given how my piece wasn't made like the print out or even like the CAD. So, after getting a photo check in of something that wasn't correct, I asked that it be made according to what we had agreed on in several meetings. More days waiting. After 3.5 weeks I get the piece and it's still wrong. Upon meeting to get it corrected, the owner was visibly mad and annoyed at having to fix the piece, so that it was correct. It was a very uncomfortable awkward and confusing meeting. I had no idea why he was acting as if I did something wrong. And instead of expediting it and fixing it in a few days since they had messed it up, (which they could absolutely do if they wanted to) he said it would be two more weeks. We kindly asked if they could expedite it given the circumstances. He said he'd try. I finally emailed asking about it after a week and a half, no answer for several days. I emailed again to say I needed to get the ring within the next couple of days. His response was that "the goal is for it to be done by the end of the week". This was on a Monday. In other words, there will still be no effort to get this done for you soon. Just know once you hand them any jewelry or start a project with them, you're at their mercy and they can keep you hanging for as long as they want and take as long as they want to make it. In addition, when I was telling him what needed to be corrected, he never wrote anything down, hence things not being communicated to the bench jeweler. I wish I would have insisted on a specific date of completion in writing. True to his word, he managed to keep my ring for an additional two weeks instead of expediting it to a few days, as would have been good customer service. Honestly, I wish I would have asked for a partial refund for the job that wasn't done properly and moved on to someone who would be helpful and professional and knew what they were doing.
The other thing was I had a stainless steel necklace I asked them to take some links out. It looked very simple to do, I just didn't want to accidentally ruin it. I asked for 18 links out. They insisted it had to be soldered and so would be 80 dollars to take out links. When I came back to get it, instead of taking out 18 links, they'd made the necklace 18 inches long, (another example of their lack of communication and how nothing is written down and handed off.) I asked if they could please take the remaining links out. They took it back to the jeweler who took them out in 2 minutes time, no soldering needed. So in other words, they lied and ripped me off the first time around. Either you "must use the soldering tool so the rings aren't weak" or you don't. They're just plain dishonest.
All in all, I was without my jewelry for over two months. The ring turned out ok but they did cover a lot of the diamond with the bezel setting, which makes the diamond look noticeably smaller. I specifically asked them to correct this in the revision though it was disregarded entirely. There are places where the craftsmanship isn't good, like where the head meets the shoulders there are nicks that weren't polished out and nicks on the band under the diamond where it doesn't get touched by anything. . At this point, there's zero way I'd ask them to correct anything again so, I just have to live with it until or when I decide I want to brave having someone else fix it. Again.
If they would have done the job correctly in the first place, I would have recommended them. If they had been kind and apologetic when they messed it up and made ANY effort to expedite the already long process, I might have still. But acting mad at the customer about a job you and your people messed up and then refusing to expedite the remake while dragging the time out as long as possible, and then still not doing the things I asked, is just not professional or necessary and is completely unacceptable. For these reasons, I definitely won't be back nor will I recommen