Having heard that Bailey's was the place to go in the triangle for engagement rings, my very smart then-boyfriend took me on a ring-scouting mission to Bailey's in Cameron Village. We were treated wonderfully...had a coke, tried on rings, went through lots of different styles until we'd narrowed it down, and then I got kicked out of the budget conversation and saw more of the showroom (beautiful things everywhere!) We left feeling very impressed and confident, and I knew that my boy had enough info to make a good choice when the time came.
So the time came, and after a lovely proposal my now-fiance handed me a beautiful diamond ring - cushion diamond in a solitaire setting. It wasn't exactly right, he said, but the folks at Bailey's had given him a ""loaner"" setting while they custom-made the head and prongs for ""my"" ring to hold the diamond I was now oooohing and aaaahing at. He explained that he'd ordered the ring later than planned and due to it being ""custom"" they hadn't quite had enough time, but they'd been SO NICE to put the diamond in a temporary setting, and would place it in its permanent home once we got back to town.
I went to drop the ring off on Monday after we returned to town, and that's where things started to go badly. ""Our"" consultant was off that day, and a manager told me he'd find me someone to help, then wandered off and left me standing there. Finally (at least ten minutes later), another salesgirl came up and asked if I needed help. I explained that I had my diamond in a loaner ring and was here to drop it off to be set in the real setting. She looked at me as if I was nuts. I explained it again, she rolled her eyes, and stalked over to the computer. When she looked up my fiances name she then went and found a baggie with a ring in it and said ""Ok, sign here that you're releasing the diamond, it'll be ready Saturday,"" Well they'd told my fiance ""one to two days"" so that was a long time. I asked again and she checked with the jeweler and said ""No, Saturday. Anything else?"" Well, no. I left.
Told my fiance, he called the store, and then they told him a few WEEKS! Nope, not acceptable. After finally getting in touch with our consultant she said she was sorry, but it would indeed not be ready until Saturday. Fine. He talked them into Friday and that was the best they could do.
(The ring, by the way, is stunning. Excellent craftsmanship, the diamond is top-notch, I have absolutely nothing bad to say about the quality of product coming from this store. Just the customer service.)
Now it's time to get the ring appraised. He has called and called and gotten many different people, all of whom said he had to speak to ""Jill"", the appraisals girl. Nobody else could tell him the costs (he got quoted three different numbers) or the time it took. Well he called Jill on the opening of the day she was in the store, and she told him her day was full, despite him having been promised that if he called first thing he could get the ring in. Then she told him just to drop by on Saturday, but he wanted an appointment time so he didn't get lost in the shuffle. Rather reluctantly, she agreed to meet him at a certain time but implied that this was a difficult thing to do.
We'll see how that goes, but we have already decided not to get our bands from the Cameron Village location. Frankly we're just sick of the people and the fact that nobody really seems to care whether you get good customer service after they've already made a sale. We're hoping to try the Crabtree location (like I said, I LOVE the ring, just not the service, so we'd like to stick with Bailey's if we can) since I've heard good things so far about their attitude.
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