H.SAMUEL IS THE WORST JEWELLER EVER!!…read more
My boyfriend was on vacation in England for the first three weeks of February, so to make up for missing Valentine's Day with me he decided to get me something really special from his travels. He wanted to get me a ring since he knew that I loved collecting jewelry from every place I visit, so he asked his UK friends who the best jeweler was in England and they all told him H.Samuel (I guess, for us Americans, we can relate it to going to Tiffany's).
Well, so, he stops by the Blackpool location and spends hours picking out the perfect ring for me (I know, "awwwww", right? ^_^). He ends up choosing a "Sterling Silver Diamond and Garnet Crossover Ring", which was really unique. It had two heart-shaped garnet stones that came together at a band of tiny little diamonds. It was really sweet because the garnet is his birth stone and the diamond is mine, and obviously the two hearts are ours. :)
The gift totally made up for him being absent on the Day of Love; I was so ecstatic about receiving it..... Until it BROKE!
Yes, that's right... within 2 DAYS of wearing my special gift one of the beautiful garnet heart stones FELL OUT.
WTF?!?!
My boyfriend felt so embarrassed since he wanted to impress me with the "best of the best", and I felt so sad because my international Valentine's present was literally heartbroken! :(
I took the ring to a local jeweler ("Philips Jewelers" in Poway, CA... that guy is *THE BEST*!), and right off the bat he told me, "You don't want this ring! Send it back, and get a refund!"
I asked him why and he elaborately described how the heart-shaped stones are the trickiest to hold in a ring, and that a jeweler really needs to take his time & be precise about setting these kinds of stones or else they will fall out.
Well, apparently my ring is of poor design & low quality because the jeweler told me it would cost me $75-100 to fix and even then it would most likely continue to break & fall out. The jeweler seriously told me that he "didn't want to touch it" since he knew it was a faulty ring.
How bad is that?? The freaking JEWELER doesn't want to touch this ring and take my money...!
WOW... just... WOW!
I told my boyfriend the bad news, and sadly told him to return the ring.
He called H.Samuel's SEVERAL times and each time they were reluctant to help in any way. They told him he could call their customer service number, which he did SEVERAL times and yet the number wouldn't work. He even had to call AT&T and not even THEY could connect him!
Which is ridiculous... since when do sales associates NOT handle returns??? You just sell the merchandise and that's it? You don't deal with customers after that? You detour them to some "customer service number" that doesn't even work?? So frustrating!
I went online to their website and shot them an e-mail describing our situation, hoping for an answer ASAP since we only have 28 days to return the item and he bought it over two weeks ago... Well, I get an automated e-mail back saying they will get back to me "within 5 business days"?!
Why so long? Perhaps because their merchandise is so faulty they can't keep up with responding to all their complaints? Or are they just as snobby and uncaring as their sales associates?
Either way, H.Samuel has definitely made a reputation for providing the poorest quality jewelry with the worst customer service.
My boyfriend asked one of his UK friends if she could talk to the manager of the store for us, and she wrote back an e-mail describing what went down...
"I got a call from H.Samuel and I spent a long time breathing fire at them, but they will NOT reimburse the postage costs or any other costs! I talked to the manager of the store who was manipulative enough to make it seem like it was your fault for not having taken out insurance on the ring. Haha! Insurance?! What the crap, there's a 12-month warranty on it!! They said they can of course exchange it if you send it back to them, but they won't pay the postage since it would have a custom's charge of £35 on it (+ £10 to send it back)."
£35?? Are you serious?? Plus, £10 to send it back... they expect *US* to pay £45 to exchange a £60 ring??? YOU HAVE TO BE JOKING! THAT IS RIDICULOUS!!!!
I would hate for us to file an international lawsuit, but this is just outrageous! I've never experienced a more uncaring company in my life!
I will write an update as soon as we have a definite outcome, but so far H.SAMUEL is *THE WORST* jeweller in England! DO NOT waste your time or money on this company, you will be horribly disappointed and upset!
THE DEVIL WEARS H.SAMUEL!