In February we contacted Harry Winston in Beverly Hills and spoke to Lynda via telephone (we live in New Zealand), and discussed our desire to upgrade our previous Harry Winston 2011 purchase of a 7ct yellow diamond ring to a pair of diamond stud earrings, using HW's upgrade program that had been promised to us as part of the original yellow diamond purchase. After a lengthy period of almost six weeks to negotiate terms of the upgrade, which allowed us to trade in the ring at original purchase price value and also be offered an approximately 20% discount on the new earrings purchase price, we were advised by Lynda that the terms had been accepted in principle, pending inspection and condition of the yellow diamond ring. Given the agreement in principle of these terms, we committed in good faith by travelling to Los Angeles in March 2020 to provide the yellow diamond ring that was required to be sent to New York for quality inspection, with the understanding that upon confirmation the yellow diamond ring was in excellent condition, the deal would proceed as per the agreed terms. Even this aspect caused worry and frustration, as one sales associate at the Beverly Hills store initially tried to claim that the diamond may have been chipped, even though Tania is extremely cautious with all her jewellery and knew she'd never knocked it. Lynda also tried to set lower expectations by suggesting the ring probably would need to be polished, which would reduce carat weight below 7ct and cause the trade-in value to be diminished. Due to the Covid lockdown period, it wasn't until mid June 2020 that this claim was refuted when we finally received word from Lynda that New York confirmed the ring was in excellent condition, and didn't need any polishing whatsoever given it has been carefully looked after and maintained. It should be noted that during this period of time, it took a lot of work from my side to find things out, instead of Lynda personally reaching out to me or at least having the common courtesy of providing periodic updates.
At this point (June 2020) we decided on a pair of earrings located at HW's Rome boutique that met our specification, which fell within the parameters of the terms of our agreement. Lynda advised the earrings would be transferred from Rome to New York for inspection, before being sent to Beverly Hills for our trade-up transaction, and in the meantime the deal would be finalised from Harry Winston's side. However, after waiting a further month and a half with no updates or communication from Lynda, I checked in to ask if the earrings had arrived and all was going to plan. Lynda advised that she had already heard back, but took it upon herself not to contact me directly and let me know that HW had now 'simply' changed their mind with regards to the prior agreed trade-up transaction. Lynda even admitted she was too scared to contact me, which is extremely unprofessional.
What makes it further annoying is that Lynda attempted to immediately cease all contact with me and nonchalantly ask if I had someone who could simply pick up our diamond ring that was in New York, knowing full well we are located overseas in New Zealand. We are totally shocked at the lack of courtesy and complete lack of customer loyalty Lynda has shown to us and how we have found her mannerism very poor and negligent. Lynda has been extremely unprofessional, constantly berating Harry Winston management and protocols, stating the company is "very old fashioned, stubborn and slow to respond", which I guess is actually true given our experience. Previously, during our first few purchases with Harry Winston, we originally dealt with Ilan, who was extremely professional, hence why we made three expensive purchases with his sales expertise. Ilan would always go out of his way to communicate with us non-stop, personally and proactively reaching out to us ensuring customer satisfaction was guaranteed.
Due to Lynda's complete lack of customer service and clear intention to close off all contact with me, I decided to phone and speak to the HW Beverly Hills Manager, Michael. During this discussion it came to light that Lynda had been making false statements to Michael, advising him that I'd "demanded a response" and had to know back then in July to instantly close the deal, which was never the case, as I only called asking if she had an update. Due to Covid, considering the New Zealand border was closed and still is, why would I feel the need to have the transaction completed immediately back then? It's simply common courtesy and customer service - giving feedback to the customer on the latest developments.
Michael therefore advised that he would deal with us from now on, and apologised for Lynda's disturbing behaviour, however, he has since apparently walked out of HW and never returned. We're so dismayed at the unprofessionalism shown at HW, and completely put off, as HW's not responding to emails/phone calls! read more