Complaint Review: Rock Martin Custom Jewelry - Laguna Beach California

 For years I was not only a loyal customer of Rock Martin Custom Jewelry, but I was also a close personal friend of the original owner, Rocky. Somewhere, somehow along the way however management or ownership changed....Michael McFadden As did the exceptional quality & customer service. The new manager/owner Michael McFadden, personable man at least, has received several custom ring orders on my behalf. The work was to be honest at least adequate if not OK. DEFINITELY NOT the quality & customer service as original owner Rock Martin. After mgmt change, I continued to send friends and family there, primarily as a loyalty towards the business and the previous owner, Rock Martin(Rocky).

I'll keep this short, yesterday January 20, 2017, I dropped off a simple ring adjustment job for Michael McFadden of Rock Martin Jewelry at approximately 2:30 in the afternoon. Michael McFadden took my ring size, said he would size/cut the ring and repair. The cost was $35 (which I felt was a bit steep, for a 10 minute job), but being loyal, I did not complain. Michael McFadden said he would be there until five . As well, I asked him to call me when he was through ...to which he SAID HE WOULD, took down my phone number. To be safe, I remained within walking distance, just a few blocks away at a local coffee shop, awaiting my phone call for a 2 1/2 hour job sizing one ring by Michael McFadden of Rock Martin Jewelry Laguna Beach. That phone call never came in. I rushed down Forest Ave exactly 90 seconds past 5 PM. Not only was the store CLOSED without me receiving a courtesy phone call, the bars had been placed on the door, jewelry had all been put away from the cases, and the front window, and Michael McFadden and his assistant were making a mad dash out the back door?? I found this odd considering if you close at five, how can all that closing work be done in 90 seconds? Perhaps it was an exceptionally slow day, and they chose to close early? Perhaps it was so slow as as they quite often appear to be since the change/retirement of Rocky...maybe they actually close at 4:45? (An issue Rocky never appeared to have to deal with, people came for miles for Rocky's jewelry expertise & incredible customer service ). Either way, as a customer for over 15 years, I truly feel like I deserved at least a phone call, especially after waiting nearby 2 1/2 hours, and telling Michael McFadden I would be waiting locally. Adding that I would return to pick up the ring... and to please call me upon completion. Michael McFadden agreed.

So I was frustrated & incensed to show at90 seconds after the local church bells stopped ringing at 5 PM, see the store completely shut down, and it's management & staff slipping out the back door? Again all of this "close down" of the store done in 90 seconds? I knocked on the door were Michael McFadden turned around in the rear of the store, came to the front door. He told me through the barred front door, "we are closed, and your jewelry is in the safe." I told him I wished he had called as I asked, as he had written down my phone number, to which he replied: "there's nothing I can do, it's in the safe, you'll have to come back tomorrow" !! I even offered to go around the back alley where they were leaving, the back door, pick up the ring and pay in cash, because my time is valuable and I truly didn't have time the following morning to return for what was promised me that afternoon by Michael McFadden of Rock Martin Jewelry, Laguna Beach.

To summarize, the customer service with poor at best, and has been getting that way over time. It's obvious, when management or ownership changes, quite often poor customer service is soon to follow. After emailing Michael McFadden that same evening, expressing my feelings of disappointment, the best he could come up with, the best effort he could put forth in a reply, was the following: "I can't open the safe at night once it's been locked. Sorry you feel so disappointed. Michael" Honestly, I must've easily passed over 50 jewelry stores to go see Michael McFadden at Rock Martin Jewelry. Apparently I wasted my time. I know for a fact that the previous owner, Rock Martin would've definitely called me, or at least found a way to get me the ring as promised that afternoon. But now the new manager Michael McFadden(son in law???), apparently does business differently. For the record, one of the rings I had made by Michael McFadden cost over seven hundred dollars, I had it appraised at just under $500? So not only is his word questionable, jewelry definitely overpriced. I will pay overpriced for some items, but in that pricing must come exceptional customer service. I will pick up my ring this morning, and no longer do business at that establishment, with Michael McFadden of Rock Martin Custom Jewelry.

**From now on, I will bring my business and REFER my friends, family and all other community members to another long-standing community favorite simply doors away, Ken's Jewelry on Forest Avenue. Ken is not only friendly, personable, his prices are more reasonable, his work is exceptional, and he does what he says, (his word is gold, no pun intended). My review is accurate, not meant to harm in anyway, but rather to inform the public exactly what they're getting when they go to what once was Rock Martin Custom Jewelry. Somewhere along the line, the words "custom jewelry", simply slipped away? Perhaps it left when Rocky did? Informed Consumer