MoissaniteCo.com Misrepresented product, poor communication, difficult returns, restocking fees... what a rip off. Las Vegas, Nevada
Thinking about buying Moissanite? Thinking about buying from MoissaniteCo.com? You might want to read about my experience before making your decision.
The accompanied pictures can be seen on my website (www.ihatemoissaniteco.com)
I have two versions for you... long and short.
The short version
I got screwed. It is my opinion that MoissaniteCo misrepresented their products. Poor communication made it difficult to get my refund.
Upon refund, they charged me an $88 "restocking fee" for which I have to dispute with my credit card company. What a hassle! Not to mention the $50 it cost to ship this junk back.
Beware of this company. When buying rings, go to a reputable, local source where you can see the ring. Forget the internet for this. Buy local!!
The long version
Because of personal convictions, my girl and I were looking for a good diamond substitution for her engagement/wedding set. After a good amount of research (as I am sure you are doing right now) we found a few beautiful pictures of rings at MoissaniteCo.com.
She absolutely loved the 3-Stone Moissanite Trellis Wedding Set [wed439] and after looking everywhere else... nothing seemed to compare. She wanted this ring.
The following picture is how this ring was represented on their website. A colorless, meaty, brilliant, shiny white gold ring that might stop traffic. Just look at that ring!
I was hesitant to order as this company had no phone number and my emails were not immediately returned. Nevertheless, I placed my order.
What happened next?
It took this company over a week to ship the ring. Once received, the first thing I noticed was the shoddy packaging. The 'gift bag' looked cheap and reused. Nothing would prepare me for what was inside this mediocre exterior.
Upon opening the jewelry box, the "colorless, meaty, brilliant, shiny white gold ring" was replaced by a wimpy, cheap looking ring with yellowish stones. It was so far from what they advertised that I immediately boxed the ring back up and emailed for the return RMA.
I felt cheated.
Terrible communication from MoissaniteCo
These people did not communicate with me. Emails went unanswered and there is no phone number to call anyone. It took several emails and 3 business days to get a response from MoissaniteCo regarding the RMA.
Once the RMA was received, the ring was shipped back on Wednesday via UPS. The ring arrived on Monday but I didn't get any confirmation regarding receipt from them.
A couple unanswered emails later, I finally received an email from them:
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Yes, the package has arrived. Packages are inspected and refunds issued within one week of delivery.
Chris
Customer Service
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I was patient.
7 days later, I emailed them in regards to my refund and 'Mike' said:
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The refund was issued earlier this week according to our return policy and within a week of receiving the package as promised. However it might take a few days for your bank to reflect the refund which is completely out of our control.
Mike
Customer Service
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Earlier in the week? This seemed a little too vague for me. I sent Mike this email:
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Mike,
My bank says that no refund was posted in the last week. I have sent you 3 emails asking what day you posted this refund and you refuse to answer. Please respond as I am beginning to think this may be Internet fraud and will contact my bank accordingly.
Please respond.
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Had to send it several times before getting this response:
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We do not own our own bank. We do not own our own credit card processor. What we do have is a credit card processor and a merchant bank account. When we submitted the refund on Tuesday evening, we notified our credit card processor to refund your account. They then have to notify our bank who has our merchant account of the refund. They in turn contact your credit card company. The whole process takes at least a few days in the case of credit cards, even longer with debit cards. This is not unique to our company, and simply the way it is. This is not an internet fraud, because if it was, you wouldn't have received actual merchandise from our company.
Please do yourself a favor and wait a couple more days for the credit to appear.
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Do myself a favor? Is that a threat?
Once the refund finally hit my account (almost a week later) - I realized they shorted me $88. I emailed Mike:
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You have to be kidding here, I PAID 1372.75 for a product you misrepresented. I have been patient while you jerked me around through the refund process and now you are trying to rip me off $88.64
I am sure this is just and oversight and will be rectified by Monday the 21st. If not, I will charge the amount back and handle this in the forums.
12/11/2009 ATM C&C MOISSANITECO.COM LAS VEGAS NV $1,284.11
11/09/2009 DEBIT C&C MOISSANITECO.COM 702-334-7895 NV $1,372.75
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Here is his reply... oh and by the way, this may be YOUR reply too if you deal with these people.
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Here is an excerpt of the terms and conditions that you stated that you had read and agreed to when you when you created your account and went through checkout:
http://www.moissaniteco.com/return_policy.html
We are sorry if you decide to go the route of charging this back despite agreeing to it, but be aware that we will present to your credit card company this information and your acceptance of it. There has been no misrepresentation of our products.
If you decide to go on a public smear campaign, please make sure to include the full story including the fact that you agreed to this return policy, and the fact that there is a link to it (and in most cases multiple links to it) on every page of our website. If not, we will ensure to comment with this information so that others can see the full story. Restocking fees are very common with jewelry purchases, especially with jewelry that is made to order. Moreover, a 5% restocking fee, all things considered, is very small for the jewelry industry.
As far as the refund process is concerned, there has been no "jerking around" as far as we can see. You requested return instructions, and return instructions were sent. We received the merchandise and we submitted the refund to our credit card process within a week, as promised (and in spite of the fact that these are the busiest weeks of the year). We do not feel we need re-explain why the refund didn't appear immediately upon being processed. Please see our previous email for that information
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Not Misrepresented? Really?
He actually says they did not misrepresent this product on their website.
Hmmm... you decide.
Buyer Beware
You decide if you want to take the chance with these people.
Misrepresentation, no phone number, emails unanswered, 'restocking fees', even hiding behind their policy to justify taking your money. You took the risk, you received junk, you shipped it back at your expense and they withhold your hard earned money as a penalty.
Buyer Beware!!
6 Updates & Rebuttals
Lawrence
United States of AmericaBusiness Contact Info.
#7Consumer Comment
Wed, July 21, 2010
Business Contact and Profile
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Las Vegas, NV 89146
brenissa
USANot the same ring...
#7Consumer Comment
Wed, December 30, 2009
There is no way that these two rings are the same item. If I were charged a restocking fee for something that I didn't order in the first place, I'd be angry too.
Plus, Moissanite's customer service seems to be very rude, based on the responses.
Ripped Off in Ohio
USAOMG are we STILL talking about this?
#7Author of original report
Tue, December 29, 2009
Guess what? You ARE going back and forth. And thank God this will be your last statement!
You wrote: "Not that it really makes a difference, but he did use profanity in his emails which he denied and admitted in the same paragraph."
Boohoo... I called you an A$$hole. That is what you are/were being. I used no other profanity and it was never directed at your employees (as you said) - just you.
AND it wasn't until you completely exhausted me with your arrogance that I conceded ONCE to my emotions.
You are a liar.
You DID suck ALL the color out of those pictures to simulate a COLORLESS image. What do you call that? I call it misrepresentation. Another LIE.
You keep talking about the 1000s and 1000s of happy customers... all very satisfied. Are you lying again?
Let's allow the reader to be the judge.
MoissaniteCo
United States of AmericaLast Response
#7UPDATE Employee
Mon, December 28, 2009
We do not have any desire to go back and forth here as we believe the facts are clear, so this will be our last statement.
We have had literally 1000's and 1000's of happy customers over the last few years purchase our Moissanite jewelry. Our satisfaction rate is 95%+ which is significantly higher than the industry average. You can check our ebay feedback which is 100% or you can read dozens of testimonials from happy customers on jewelry forums such as betterthandiamond.com's jewelry discussion forum.
We are sorry that this particular customer was not happy with his purchase, but it is just a matter of personal opinion. We have sold nearly a dozen of this particular style wedding set since we started offering it a few months ago, and have had only one return (and ironically we have since resold his wedding set and the customer left us a glowing testimonial on our website. Therefore, as you can see, it is a matter of personal taste and opinion).
All Moissanite does have some color to it, but it faces up very white in a well lit room. The pictures on our website were taken in a well lit jewelers studio using equipment valued at $1000's, not under the lighting of a yellowish incandescent light bulb with an inexpensive digital camera that makes the white gold look brown and human skin look reddish orange. Even the most expensive of diamonds can be portrayed horribly under similar conditions. We took an actual picture of the ring in question when it arrived back to us. It has been attached. It is undoctored except for the fact it was cropped and resized so that it could be uploaded here.
Not that it really makes a difference, but he did use profanity in his emails which he denied and admitted in the same paragraph. This wasn't included in his original complaint. Therefore clearly not all of the communications between him and our company have been included in this complaint, just the ones he wanted the potential reader to see.
Ripped Off in Ohio
United States of AmericaAre we still talking about this?
#7Author of original report
Wed, December 16, 2009
Excellent... so MIKE is naming me personally. What's next? My address too? Nice job MIKE.
Ok... so MIKE has his story and I have mine. You be the judge. You don't have to deal with me.... I won't be taking your money... MIKE will. Yes... MIKE is the d****e that you will be dealing with.
Choose to deal with this company and MIKE will be sending you a ring that will NOT look like the doctored photograph on the website.
At least I posted the email communications (both sides) - I didn't lie... but MIKE says I was threatening and profane with his staff. Show my profane emails! This is an outright LIE. I did call him an A$$hole... just him... and that was because he was being one.
They NEVER asked me to "please be patient" - MIKE'S words were "do yourself a favor and wait a couple more days for the credit to appear." - this after he refused to help me locate the credit by providing the date it was issued.
Arrogant.
MIKE is a liar... and this is no "smear campaign" - I got screwed by an Internet company, gave them ample opportunity to make it right and they refused. This is MY story and this is an Internet complaint forum.
They have no right to take my money as a restocking fee. They mislead ME. Those pictures look nothing like the actual product. In fact... the picture I produced was more honest regardless what MIKE says. At least I didn't suck all the color out of the image rendering it COLORLESS!
Choose to believe me... or don't.. buy from MIKE and you might just be back here with your own rant.
MoissaniteCo
United States of AmericaMoissaniteCo Response
#7UPDATE Employee
Tue, December 15, 2009
All of our jewelry is made to order. Because of that there is a small restocking fee on all returns. Moissanite is a near colorless gemstone. If you research on our website and online, this is a known quality of Moissanite. But YELLOW they are not (we do sell canary yellow Moissanite, but this is not what Mr Burgess purchased).
We understand that Mr Burgess was not happy with his purchase and so we provided return instructions. He was told that the refund would be processed within one week of receiving the merchandise. We received the ring back, and the refund was issued within one week as promised.
All of his questions were answered, but when multiple emails are sent, many the same day, it makes it difficult to respond as quickly as he demanded during the middle of the busy Christmas season.
He sent half a dozen emails demanding to know why he could not find it on his online statement. We replied urging him to please be patient as we have no control as to when his credit card might reflect the refund.
After the refund was issued, Mr Burgess threatened that if we didn't reverse our return policy, he would commit to smearing our company online. 48 hours later, this post was made.
Our return policy is easily found on our website and there is a link to it on every page, and in many cases multiple links to it. In addition, we ask that the customer to state that they have read and agreed to the terms and conditions prior to going through checkout. If a consumer doesn't agree to the terms, it is generally not a good idea to say that he does.
We offer a 30 day returns period for our jewelry. 95% of our customers are completely satisfied with their purchases. But there are a small minority that are not and to these customers we offer a refund upon request.
In the case of defective merchandise, we do waive the restocking fee. However in this case, the ring was found to be without defect, therefore the 5% restocking fee was applied to the order. We are sorry that Mr Burgess was not satisfied with his purchase but sending emails containing inflammatory, threatening and profane remarks directed at our company's staff does not void the return policy.
Concerning the attached image, it is obviously very low quality. If you just look at the color of the person's finger it looks red / orange and the white gold looks brown. It is hardly an accurate comparison when shown side by side with a high quality image taken by a professional jewelry photographer.