Back story: I had a custom engagement ring made with a local jeweler. He never created a CAD for us and simply told us to trust him; that ultimately everything looked better once finished. We trusted him and I ended up with a ring that I was unhappy with. That ring cost us $1200.
A few months later I find Quercus. I noticed she had a ring online that looked like what I wanted, so we go over and have a consultation with Lauren. She's super friendly and seems to understands what we're going for. She quotes us (although she'll go to hell and back denying it) at $1200, stating that would be the most it'd cost. I remember because it was the same price as my ring, but it didn't include the stones. My husband and I go to lunch, talk about it, and decided to go for it. We pay $300 for the CAD and don't hear back until maybe six to eight weeks later. The design looked fine, I thought; nothing special, but definitely closer to what I wanted. She schedules us to go over two and a half or so weeks later (the day after our wedding, to be exact), and it was then I showed a bit of ambivalence about the design. She reassures me it would look better once finished. Even though I'd heard that line before, I decide to go for it. She's about to charge us when she suddenly raises the price to $1500. I told her that wasn't the original price she'd quoted us, and her face suddenly goes stern. She said it was, and that if she'd given us another number it was on the lower end, which doesn't make any sense because I assume you'd never want to surprise a customer with a higher price than originally stated. I reassert myself and she refuses to lower the price or admit to the change. I was so incredibly disappointed, but we weren't about to blow our budget on an ok design.
Ultimately, I was able to get my ring through an Etsy jeweler designed for a third of the price, which I loved as soon as I saw the CAD; no need to wait for the finished ring.
My suggestion: if you're ok paying WAY more than you should for a ring, then sure, give her a try. That being said, for a custom ring there are more talented jewelers out there that won't charge you an arm and a leg for a beautiful design. read more