Why you should avoid Bond Jewelers
Hello, my name is Scott and I would like you to take a few moments and read a story about my experience with Bond Jewelers of the Tampa Bay area. Some may ask why go to this length to tell people about it? My reason, if I can get just one person to not buy from Bond Jewelers then all of this is worth it.
At the time these events took place I was in the process of getting married (Apr-23rd-2006) and ran into a problem with a well known local business, Bond Jewelers. My story may not be very compelling, but it does give a great insight into the operations and service of this company.
This story is rather long so please bear with me.
To begin, My fiancé and I bought our wedding rings from Bond Jewelers where I had been a customer for about a year beginning with my purchase of her engagement ring. The sales representative who ordered my wedding band made a simple mistake and ordered the wrong size. When the new ring arrived, I brought the mistake to the attention of the store manager and instead of working toward a resolution she immediately accused me of "swelling" at the time the ring was ordered therefore causing the problem with the rings size. In my almost 30 years I have never experienced any type of swelling in my hands or fingers but she insisted that given my large stature, my body most likely swells. I have been wearing a ring on my right hand for about five years and a ring on my left for almost two and I have never felt a difference in how they fit.
At that point I knew I wouldn't get anywhere with her so I just asked her to order a new ring. A few nights later my fiancé spoke with the manager and was belittled by her as well. Our wedding was in three weeks of that time and Bond was saying that a new ring would not arrive for 4-6 weeks. My fiancé called me to tell me what had happened. At that point I decided to go beyond the manager since she had insulted both me and my fiancé. I called the corporate office and spoke to their regional manager, who informed me that they were having a problem with their supplier in China and they can't guarantee a replacement in time for our wedding. I expressed to her that if they were having trouble with a supplier they chose to work with, these problems should not be passed along to the customers.
The manager from Bond had tried to tell me she called every store they could and were unable to locate the ring anywhere else. I took it on my own to start a search for what I guessed would be a holy grail of a ring and after about 10 minutes and 4 phone calls, I found 3 places that could have the ring delivered to me within 3 days.
For 3 business days after that I tried to contact someone higher than the regional manger I had spoken with and did not get anything. I was told the person I should speak with was Marvin Shavlan, the owner of Bond. I tried to contact Mr. Shavlan but the number I was constantly given for him does not work. The office number commonly given out for him is ext. 400 and this goes directly to voice mail. I was assured that this number went straight to his office yet all of the numbers for the other employees are in the 300 range. From knowing the workings of common telephone systems I came to the conclusion that the number I had been given for him was just a general voice mail account that didn't actually go to his office. Some time later found the correct extension for him after examining the companies PBX system, it's in the 300 range like I had thought.
After several calls to various people in the company I was able to get in touch with a woman who claimed to be his secretary. She informed me Mr. Shavlan was in a meeting and offered me an e-mail address for him. She assured me that once he was out of his meeting he would contact me. The address she gave me was the same as the general inquiry address listed on the Bond website. I asked her about this and she assured me that the e-mail address went straight to Mr. Shavlan. I figured no matter who received the e-mail I could at least get a documented message to their office to report the problems I was having. Since I was told this was the owners e-mail account, I addressed the letter to him.
Here is the letter that was sent:
From: Scott XXXXXX
Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 12:02 PM
To: 'bonddiamonds@aol.com'
Subject:Problems with a purchase
Marvin Shavlan,
I would first like to start by thanking you for your time. I understand you are a very busy man, as am I, so I will try to keep this as brief as possible.
My fiance and I have been customers of your Countryside store for a little over a year, beginning with the purchase of a 1ct engagement ring for my fiancé. After much shopping around and research, I chose to buy from your chain of stores based solely upon your reputation and quality standards. Over the years, many of my friends and family have purchased jewelry from your stores and you came highly recommended. When it was time to purchase our wedding rings, I again chose your store because I enjoyed my original buying experience and wanted to continue a relationship with the chain.
While at your store, my fiancé and I selected wedding bands, and also decided to purchase a pair of diamond earrings for her to wear with her dress. When we were selecting my band, I was unable to try one on since there were no rings in the store that were in my size. I currently wear a ring on my left hand ring finger, and I gave that to the sales representative for sizing. I specifically notified her that the ring is a tad too large and that I would need the wedding ring to be sized-down by a half-size. They took the ring in the back, measured it, and informed me that a size 12.5 would be the ring size I needed. I agreed with their decision and ordered the ring. Last week I received a call that my ring was ready to pick up and I headed to the store after work. I tried it on and found that it was much too large for my finger and was sliding off. I asked the associate to verify the size and they assured me it was a correct 12.5. I handed her the ring I currently wear (that they originally sized) and asked to have the size rechecked. She came back and said it was the right size. I then asked for her to bring the device used to check the size out to the front of the store where I was standing. The ring I currently wear is a size 12.5 therefore the ring should have been ordered as a size 12. I advised the associate that the ring would not work and that I needed a ring in the correct size. She advised me that she would reorder the ring and call me with the details.
Friday afternoon my fiancé received a call from the store informing her that a new ring would not be available for four to six weeks. My fiancé expressed that this time frame would be unacceptable since our wedding is scheduled for the morning of April 23rd. The store manager, Joy XXXXXXX, expressed that there was nothing she could do. My fiancé asked if the ring could be overnighted, as this was a store error and that it could be corrected. Ms. XXXXXXX told her that the vendor does not overnight shipments. She told my fiancé that she was supposed to charge us for the shipping of the new ring but that my fiance "would probably throw a fit about that."
Given my prior experience with the reputation of your stores, I would think that a manager would fair better at handling this situation and a compromised customer than to use a phrase such as that. Although my field in the media industry is admittedly different from the jewelry business, I would not look very favorably upon an employee who made such an accusation to a customer.
At this point, my fiancé contacted me to let me know of the events that transpired. Since the manager of the store had already claimed there was nothing she could do, and accused my fiancé of "throwing a fit," I felt it was time to speak to someone else. Friday afternoon I spoke with Frankie, in your office, who explained to me that the ring I had purchased was supplied by a company in China. She explained that your store has poor communication with this company and can not guarantee that the ring will be here on time. The only option with which I was left was to keep the size 12.5 ring at the store while the new one was being ordered. If the new ring does not arrive then I will have to wear the 12.5 with an obvious ring guard and return that ring when the replacement comes in. Essentially, at the risk of appearing sentimental, I will have to wear a ring in which I was not married for the rest of my life.
The problem that we are facing is that this mistake was made by the associate at the store. Now I have to be inconvenienced by this error because your company chose a supplier that can not deliver products in a timely manner. I have never before been married, and I would prefer to have a suitable ring available to me for this event that I can continue to wear. The explanation of an inadequate vendor is completely unacceptable at this point. I have already spoken to three of your competitors who can have the exact same ring delivered to me by the end of this week for the same price. That is including an overnight shipping charge. One store can even give me the ring at a cheaper rate. Your company is part of the Continental Buying Group, and out of the over 300 stores that are represented I find it hard to believe that no one has access to this ring. On my own I called four of your competitors and three of them had it in stock. The fourth advised it would take them 4 days to deliver, which leads me to wonder why your company can not do this.
As it stands, your company is not trying very hard to correct this mistake or ensure my continued business. If the supplier that your company chose can not get my ring, then I suggest you find an alternate means of obtaining it. This is not a rare ring by any means. If your company wants to live up to its reputation, then I suggest you find a way to have a replacement ring available very shortly. Right now we are focusing on, and would be satisfied with, simply getting the ring we paid for. We will discuss the actions of your store manager's customer service skills at a later time.
Please contact me as soon as you can in regard to this matter. Your receptionist said that you are currently in a meeting, so I will expect to hear from you some time this afternoon.
You can reach me via e-mail, on my cell phone at 727-XXX-XXXX, or at the numbers listed below.
Scott XXXXXX
*SIGNATURE LINE EDITED*
After sending this letter I was again contacted by Frankie at their corporate headquarters. I was told that if I didn't want to wait for the ring then I should go to another company. I expressed to her that I would like to settle this matter with Bond and continue to be a customer of theirs but I was basically left with the option, go somewhere else for the ring or have a ring that doesn't fit for my wedding. I explained that if they couldn't guarantee me a ring I would take my business to someone who could. I asked her for a refund but she refused. Later she offered me a 50% refund on my purchase. 50%, and no more than that. So now I was without a ring less than three weeks before the wedding and was without half of what I had paid because they made a mistake and couldn't fix it. The money isn't really that much of an issue with me as much as the service I received and the resolution given by the company. My fiancé and I were just a few weeks from our wedding and this should have been a happy time for us, not a time for a run around and hassle from a poorly managed company.
This is a company that advertises how great their service is but when a problem arises they fail to live up to their claim. Surely I'm not the first customer to have a problem with this company, nor will I be the last, but as a local business I think others deserve to know just what happens when the deal goes sour. Mistakes are made in business every day, it's how those mistakes are handled that make an impression of a company.
I had spent well over $5,000 with this company in just under a years time. Not a lot in the jewelry industry but more than most people can pay for out of pocket. I had a list of over $9,000 worth of other jewelry that I was planning on buying from them over the next couple of years for birthday, Christmas, and anniversary presents for my fiancé. Not including the tennis bracelet we were planning on buying the maid of honor for our wedding. But after all of this, they won't see any more money from me. Besides, they still owe me the other 50% from the wedding ring.
Please feel free to send me an e-mail at Comments@Bond-Diamonds.com and share your opinions or stories of your interactions with this company. If you would like I will also post those stories here for others to see.
If you would like to help this site and spread my story please copy the below text and place it onto any site in which you post.
<a href="http://www.Bond-Diamonds.com">Bond Jewelers</a>
I was able to get my ring.
I finally got my refund.
Attention: This site is not associated in any official way with Bond Jewelers, its subsidiaries, or its affiliates. The official Bond Jewelers site is available at www.BondDiamonds.com. This Web site provides independent information about Bond Jewelers from the perspective of a past customer. All information contained on this site is true to the events that transpired.