Sona Diamond Jewelry ,Sonadiamondjewelry.com Order extremely delayed, company refused to cancel order or refund charge. Hayward California
Sona Diamond Jewelry is the bar-none the WORST company with which I have ever dealt.
I ordered a Sona Diamond pendant and chain from them on 4/23/09, for the birthday of a loved one that was still 2 weeks away. Since the website didn't alert me to any delayed shipping, and did not force me to agree to the company's terms and conditions, I assumed that the item would arrive in plenty of time.
After filling out the "contact us" section on the company's website multiple times, checking the status of my order, I finally called Sona on Saturday 5/2/09 (9 days after I had placed the order) and got a weird canned recording saying I was the third caller in line and they'd call me back. I left a message checking on the status of my order. After that, a man called me back (the same man's voice who was on the recording, and the only person with whom I've ever had contact, which leads me to believe it's a one-man operation), saying he had the pendant, but the chain wasn't ready yet. So I e-mailed him saying that I needed a guarantee that I would receive the item by 5/6/09 because it was for a birthday gift. He e-mailed me back saying "it doesn't look like it will be a problem." I e-mailed him back and said that "it doesn't look like it will be a problem" was not an adequate guarantee, and demanded that he cancel my order and refund the charge.
I immediately placed an order with a different company that guaranteed timely delivery. In fact, the other company's order shipped the very next business day and arrived overnight, as promised.
Meanwhile, Sona refused to cancel my order, citing some "company policy" buried somewhere in its website that says all orders take 7-10 days, and he shipped my order anyway. The chain arrived separately, drop-shipped from Louisiana, so I'm not sure why it would have been delayed anyway. But I'm not familiar with the intricacies of what appears to be a one-man drop-ship operation trying to pass itself off as a major player.
So, I refused shipment on both of Sona's packages and have filed a dispute with my credit card company. Today, the Sona man sent me a scathing e-mail accusing me of being a "deceitful con artist," and saying he didn't understand why I had refused shipment on the orders when they had made it by the deadline I had imposed. I replied that I had, in multiple e-mails, explained why I was cancelling my order (because he could not guarantee its timeliness) and that I had ordered from a different vendor who did guarantee timeliness and that I had already received its package.
If you do business with this company, I wish you the best of luck. You may get your product eventually. If, however you have any sort of deadline, I recommend going with a competitor. And if you have any sort of customer service problem with Sona Diamond Jewelry, plan on being treated rudely, plan on being referred to some portion of their "company policy" that you've never seen or heard of before, and plan on being accused of being a "deceitful con artist."
Anonymous
Phoenix, Arizona
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Anonymous
Mesa,Arizona,
U.S.A.
Credit Card Dispute Ongoing
#2Author of original report
Sat, June 20, 2009
I filed a dispute with my credit card company, which is still ongoing. I wrote a letter to the credit card issuer explaining that Sona delayed my order and failed to guarantee a timely delivery, so I purchased a like-kind-and-quality replacement from a competitor. I also explained that since I refused delivery on Sona's shipment, I now have absolutely nothing, and Sona has my $224.
I have filed complaints with Sona's local BBB, and with my own Attorney General's office. Sona has ignored all contact attempts from both agencies, so the matter has been referred to Sona's local Attorney General office for handling.
On another consumer site, Cleve from Sona posted a reply saying that he tried calling me to see why I refused shipment (which I had already explained to him ad nauseum), and he reached an automotive repair shop that treated him rudely. He has my correct home and cell phone numbers, so this story is either a fabrication, or he transposed the numbers when dialing.
After further research, I found that the address to which Sona Diamond Jewelry's American Express merchant account is registered is a condo in Hayward, CA. This explains why sonadiamondjewelry.com is so elusive about giving its address, saying only that it's located in the Bay Area. At first blush, what appears to be a custom jeweler, is more likely a drop-shipper working from a home office, though I have not been able to verify these facts with absolute certainty. The county recorder's office verifies the condo is owned by the only individual with whom I have corresponded, so this leads me to believe that this is a one-man operation trying to pass itself off as a larger entity.
Furthermore, Sona Diamond Jewelry states that it's high Google Ranking is proof of past customer satisfaction. I did more research on Google Rankings and found that they have nothing to do with customer satisfaction, but are based upon the accuracy of keyword searches and referring websites.
If my credit card dispute is unsuccessful, I'll resort to all legal means available and necessary: including those in Rip-Off Revenge, and those available to me through the legal system. I absolutely refuse to let this company collect my hard-earned money and give me nothing to show for it.