Kevin’s Jewelers – biggest disappointment in my life with online shopping!
Summary: we have purchased some jewelry on November 26th 2015 and got back our money today (01/19/2016) for the returned items. Diamond and gemstone jewelry with a huge CHINA stamp on the back?! Not paying the return shipping costs? Taking away the discount while using our money for 2 months?! Please, do not shop there.
Details:
We are having our church wedding in July this year. I have started to look at white gold, diamond and gemstone earrings for our moms and could not find the same design that was affordable and not custom made for a very high price.
Thanksgiving sale hit big and somehow I have found Kevin’s Jewelers webpage, where for my biggest surprise I saw the two different gemstones with the same design! I was so happy, I have shown it to my husband and we decided to buy them. Extra discount: $50 off if your purchase is over $250.
Ok, our siblings will be our witnesses, so let’s find something for them too. Nice citrine earring for the sister and a silver money clip for my brother.
November 26, 2015 – all set, discount applied in cart, wife is happily waiting!
We buy stuff from Amazon on a regular basis and I must admit, we have a very good experience with them. You always know where is your package, it delays max. 1-2 days if the driver can not find you at home, they always show the origin of the product and in general, they pay for the return shipping and exchange the damaged items or give back your money if you do not like your order.
So based on this, I was expecting a notification from Kevin’s about our package.
December 5, 2015 – no news so we sent an e-mail, when should we expect our order.
December 8, 2015 – customer service reply: „We are sorry about the delay, here is your tracking number…” and it turned out that they shipped it on that day!
December 10, 2015 – items arrived in a paper box, every jewelry was in a plastic bag although they would have space to use some nice jewelry boxes instead. Does not matter, I thought, I can buy something nice for them. But… The moms earrings were way smaller as I expected from the pictures and I was very-very surprised when I turned them and I have seen the huge „CHINA” (and „TAIWAN” on the sister’s) stamp on the back of the earrings.
kevinjewelers.com/9352_14k_white_gold_5x3_oval_genuine_garnet_diamond_earrings-details.aspx
kevinjewelers.com/9360_14k_white_gold_5x3_oval_genuine_sapphire_diamond_earrings-details.aspx
I mean… It is a big company, „40 years in businness, top rated an reviewed” and bullshit like that. (Trust me, they will be well reviewed by me after this…) So the last thing you expect is a CHINA stamp on a diamond and white gold jewelry, right?!
December 11, 2015 – I have written to the company, that these would not work as a wedding gift so I want to return the items and we are requesting a refund for the package.
We have purchased a morganite-rose gold earring on Overstock back in November. When it has arrived, it turned out that it was a fake with no morganite at all. Huge, 90 % sale… We took pictures and contacted Overstock. First they said, that we should send back the product, they will create an RMA number for that, but after 2 days another agent wrote us and said that they are sorry for the inconvienience and we can keep the item for free.
After a while we have found a morganite ring on Overstock again from Miadora. They clearly state in the description box (as for e.g. Badgley Mischka on Amazon for the expensive shoes), that the origin is China, but surprisingly you can not see a huge China stamp anywhere on the product and the quality is great!
Kevin’s answer was for my letter:
„As per trade laws, we have to stamp the origin where the products are manufactured. If you are unsatisfied with the product you can return it for a full refund within 30 days.”
I was like: of course I am unsatisfied! Our parents will think we bought them a cheapy crap!
December 15, 2015 – we shipped back the items after the weekend for more than $10, because – of course – you have to insure it, an average shipment is not good enough. I sent the tracking number that day so that they will be avare of and we can have our money back as soon as we can.
I adviced to show the origin on the webpage in the product details and indicate the longer shipping process. No answer.
December 21, 2015 – the items arrived to Kevin’s.
No answer.
December 29, 2015 – I asked them for confirmation of receiving the package. Answer: yes, it has arrived and
„We do not hide the origin of the products as most are completed in the USA. Gold is often imported or cast in other countries then ship to the USA as unfinished pieces. They must be stamped in accordance with trade laws. So while the gold portions of the products originate in other countries, the pieces are finished, set, and shipped from the US. We import Gold from all over the world as do many companies. We apologize for the misunderstanding.”
January 11, 2016 – I know, I know… They have 30 days for examining the products… But tell me: what can you examine for 21 days on a perfectly packaged item which did not have any time to wear it!? In my job, having a deadline does not mean that we have to wait until the last day of it and we can not complete the task before! And come on… They have the products and have the money. We have nothing. Sounds cool, right?
So I asked again, what to expect as for the refund and how about having the discount % for the money clip in return for the inconvienience.
No answer. This was the point (unlukcy me, lately) when I checked the reviews of other customers online. I started to worry that we would not have our money at all…
January 18, 2015 – my husband told me that he can see the pending transaction on his account so maybe it will arrive today, but they have charged the whole price of the money clip and did not honor the shipping costs.
I have written them if they would be so kind to honor the above mentioned costs. Answer:
„We do not refund shipping costs which is clearly stated on our returns policy page which can be found here:
kevinjewelers.com/return_policy-content.aspx.
„The items were not misrepresented as all product details are listed on the product pages. The processing times for returns is also stated on our returns page.
You placed your order using a discount coupon for $50 off of $250. The item you chose to keep was $41.99 so the coupon no longer qualifies toward your purchase. This coupon does not act as a credit once you return your purchase as it is a one-time use only coupon. The coupon becomes invalid once you return your items.”
The Badgley Mischka pumps we have ordered for the wedding on Amazon was too small as it turned out. We asked them for a bigger size but unfortunately they could not exchange it right away – we had to re-order the bigger size while they created the RMA number. As soon as they saw that the shoe was on it’s way they refunded the money and the shipping was paid by them!
My advice: do not order or buy from Kevin’s Jewelers, rather pay a little more at a trustworthy company.
As you can read on Yelp, etc. they are not nice with the customers and are very bad at repairing, resizing, etc. either.
#2Author of original report
Fri, January 22, 2016
Dear Robert,
We actually work for our money and I wanted to help others to avoid such an "inconvienience". I thought this is the purpose of this website: support each other and help protect our money. (Think about those who were not that lucky and never got back it or the prescious item.) BTW you are wrong on the coupon - we did not want to earn money, but they are not a bank to use our money for two months.
Robert
Irvine,#3Consumer Comment
Thu, January 21, 2016
You can't be serious, this is the "biggest" disappointment in your life? Even if it is just with online shopping, you have got to be kidding. At best you have a couple of minor inconvienences.
Let me sumarize your "RipOff".
You bought several pieces of jewlery on Thanksgiving, and oh the horror, it took 2 weeks to actually receive your items. Now, on the plus side, you were gracious and patient enough to wait until December 5th to inquire about it. Never mind that the 5th of December is a Saturday..right? After all they should have someone sitting at a computer 24/7 ready to pounce on an e-mail the moment it comes in.
Then we get to the "Quality" of the item. I do like how you stated that the last thing you would expect is to have a "China" Stamp on the item, because it makes it look cheap? Well guess what based on the rest of your report this was cheap compared to other places you have looked at. So unless the description of the item stated that the entire piece was made in the USA, not sure what your "RipOff" is. As for the size, Again I really wonder what size you thought it was going to be? Unless the description(not picture) had a bigger size the only "RipOff" appears to be your assumptions.
But then we get to the heart of your "RipOff"...the coupon. Based on what you wrote here, you had originally spent over $250 so you used a coupon for $50. You then returned all items except for one which as a total of about $40. You then complain that they won't let you still have the coupon...in effect which would give you the one remaining item for free and givng you $10 back. Pretty sweet deal for you, wouldn't you say? Oh, and if you say if they still honored the coupon as a credit you would have gone back and spent over $250 again. Based on the comments in rest of your report we all know that is a load of BS.
Their is one other constant in your report...you compare everything to the big "A" or "O". So here is a question, since those sites are the best thing since sliced bread why did you even look at other sites? Why didn't you go there to make your purchase?