Support your local jeweler - do not buy from Midwinter co.
*prefacing with the fact that this story has a happy ending - we got a surprise email indicating a full refund, after emailing that we would get no refund whatsoever, because they decided to show us some "mercy" and now we never have to think about Midwinter again*
In October 2020 my partner proposed to me with a ring he'd purchased online from Midwinter. I'd admired Midwinter's Instagram for years and was so excited. On February 2nd, the band broke under one of the small Diamond beds when I took the ring off my finger, less than 4 months later. After speaking with multiple local jewelers with decades of experience (we're based in Portland, ME) we learned that a ring doesn't break like that unless it's *made with inferior metals or *resized without properly heating it up. I spoke with Barb, Midwinters delightful customer care rep, who said that the ring they sent me was a size 7, that was what their paperwork said, and the reason it broke was because their nebula ring wasn't designed to be resized to my small size, 4.5. The problem is that they didn't send us a size 7 (see the photos below). At a size 5, the 7th small Diamond lines up with the gray Diamond (you can see this in their photos from 2018, 2019, and 2020 as well as my photo on the day we got engaged). At my size, 4.5, the 9th small Diamond lines up with the gray Diamond (shown in their photos on a ring sizer and with tweezers after we'd sent it back to them). I was shocked that this small business truly had no idea what size engagement ring they had sent to my partner. How does that happen? With a product they're selling for almost 2k? Was this from a casting house? Was it even made in Delaware? Do they know the sizes of any of their products? I was full of questions because this is highly unusual. Their website is packed with disclaimers and red flags for what will disqualify the warranty on the rings, including if they have to resize your ring before sending it. They call resizing a "customization". My local family jeweler made it clear that this is very strange.. to disqualify someone from a warranty because the size needs to change, a simple and extremely common request? Why is that? Are they not doing their re-sizing or re-casting themselves? The kicker is that before it even arrived in Maine, their paperwork suggested the ring had been re-sized, disqualifying us from a warranty before it even arrived in the mail. Wild.
The fact the the nebula ring was not designed for every day wear and still advertised as an engagement ring, with it bending and changing shape if I made the bed, carried our groceries in, or I simply put my shirt on and the ring snagged was frustrating. To have it literally break after less than 4 months was reasonably unfathomable and probably more upsetting for our local jeweler knowing that we were having yet another issue with this ring from Midwinter (they actually encourage Caelen to give them a call. When Midwinters ownership calls us back, as we've requested, we're happy to share our jewelers contact info).
However, the most upsetting and shocking experience we endured with this company was not the fact that they irresponsibly did not know the size of the ring they sent, or that they screened my partners/their clients calls when he had reasonable questions, or even when they stopped emailing their clients back - it was the belittling and gaslighting I experienced over the phone with midwinters co-owner Caelen Bird. As a woman, being gaslit by a man, being belittled because their ring broke and THEY were upset, insulting my local jeweler for advising and tacking the ring so it would stop bending, and showing me how little he actually cares for his customers was heart breaking. For me - but for all the other customers they've had who have had or could possibly have an issue in the future. Knowing that kind of horrifying treatment was a possibility for potential customers was truthfully enough for me to feel a review even necessary. I wouldn't wish this experience on anyone.
I'm in the business of customer service and while it's a delight to have happy customers, to err is human and how we handle upset customers is a testament to the character of the business and to us as humans. I've never felt so degraded, gaslit, or belittled as a customer. My hope is that no other newly engaged or married couple goes through such an upsetting experience. Go to your local jeweler and always read the fine print. read more