Marlen Jewelers — Attraction in Rocky River

TL;DR version: My husband and I ended up driving 6 hours between Cleveland and Chicago, June 2022 gas prices and all, and paying for a hotel, to have our original jeweler fix my custom engagement ring and do regular maintenance on my entire bridal set and STILL saved money (not to mention time) instead of letting Marlen Jewelers charge an arm and a leg to hack my beloved rings to death.

Full story: I noticed less than a week before my 7th wedding anniversary that the center diamond in my engagement ring seemed loose and I started to panic, particularly since our original jeweler is in Chicago, where I used to live, and we all know how expensive travel is right now. I heard about Marlen from a good friend who took her engagement ring there to have the main stone reset and was happy with the result, so I thought I’d give them a try, since their website says they work with custom pieces and I trusted my friend.

After a short conversation with a saleswoman, another woman who said her husband was the jeweler and owner, rudely inserted herself into the conversation. First, she insisted that this was nothing routine and was, in fact, a very serious repair that would take months to fix. Additionally, she began insulting my rings, saying that the reason the diamond was loose was because it had always been that way due to my ring being “made wrong”...even though I’d been wearing my engagement ring every day for 7 ½ years at that point and I had only just that week noticed the diamond was loose. After insulting nearly every aspect of the construction of the ring, she refused to listen to me when talking about the design (which is very unique, hence why I wanted a place familiar with custom pieces), and insisted the only way to fix my ring was to save the diamond and scrap the entire setting and rebuild it, and she couldn’t even guarantee I’d be happy with the finished product—no kidding, considering she wouldn’t listen to a single word I said about what the design was and kept insisting she didn’t see things that were there and she saw things that weren’t there (even looking through the loupe, which I did, because, believe it or not, I’m not completely ignorant concerning jewelry).

This woman also kept beating around the bush whenever I asked her to estimate what a major overhaul repair like that might cost. She mentioned one number, and when I asked her to clarify that, she backpedaled and started saying that number was just for the materials for a certain part of the setting, not the actual cost of the entire job. She never did give me an estimate. At this point, I started crying out of fear and frustration, and her response was, “Why are you crying? Don’t cry. It’s my job to give bad news all the time.” She also refused to listen to me when I told her the story of my ring’s provenance, insisting that this was just the unfortunate reality of when you find a jeweler online and don’t meet them in-person...despite the fact that we DID know and work with him in-person and I did actually live in the Chicago area when my now-husband worked with him to design my rings.

The one useful thing this woman offered was that we contact our original jeweler and see if he could fix it, though she managed to make very unprofessional, snide comments about doubting whether our jeweler would have real business insurance and could even ship things properly. I left Marlen absolutely in a panic and crying (still—my intelligence, decision-making, and most sentimental piece of jewelry had all been sufficiently beaten down). My husband and I drove to Chicago about three weeks later and still managed to save money by having our original jeweler tighten the setting while also giving my entire bridal set a good cleaning, polishing, and fresh rhodium plating, and did it all in one afternoon--as opposed to the months it was going to take with Marlen. He also gave us an updated appraisal for our insurance so my rings will be safe if this woman from Marlen ever comes near enough to breathe...

This was one of the most horrific experiences of my life. Liz, if you are reading this, you still owe me an apology. I took my 3 carat oval pavè band engagement ring to them 3 weeks before my wedding to have 2 small stones replaced that had fallen out. This ring was originally handmade in Beverly Hills by a jeweler I have known for over 10 years. My ring is GIA certified, I have all the paperwork for the insurance etc. When we picked out my ring in Beverly Hills, I was literally standing next to a Laker’s player. I say this, because I don’t think the jeweler would do anything to risk his reputation.

My fiancé and I now live in Lakewood and went to go pick out my wedding band at Marlen. My first mistake. I asked if they would repair the two small stones that fell out and I left my engagement ring with them. After two days they call me and tell me the small stones on my ring are all fake. Liz then tries to convince me to buy a whole new setting through her. It’s pretty obvious she was trying to hustle me. I went to pick the ring up after calling my jeweler back in LA, who assured me he never would do something like this. He even called my mom and swore on his life. It was completely embarrassing. I took the ring to Sheiban’s in Strongsville to have them look at it. They assured me with 99% certainty that the stones are real (the only way to truly tell is by taking them out of the setting and sending them to GIA to be tested.)

At this point they still had my wedding band which I went in and tried on - it’s too small. They offer to resize it; something that takes literally 20 min. It’s been over 10 days and no one has called me. I finally called on Friday and they say “oh your ring is ready to pick up.” Like...my wedding is now in 1 week. How long has my ring been ready? Was no one going to call me? I go in again to pick it up. The ring is still too small! After I initially insisted on sizing up to a 5, Liz made me size is to a 4 3/4. This woman has no idea what she’s talking about because she literally can’t tell what a real diamond looks like or how to size a ring properly. To put a bride through this 2 weeks before her wedding is disgraceful. To accuse someone’s diamonds of being fake you should have been 100% sure of your accusation. And then to put me through more additional stress because of my wedding band. So unprofessional, tacky, and...

Very disappointed in the staff and store. Dropped a ring and diamonds off to be set into a ring. Diamonds where from my deceased father and was making the ring for my daughter. They closed through pandemic and i understand that. I called last Friday and the "manager" said they are officially opening, Tuesday, but my daughters ring was 90% done and his gold smith was coming in on Monday! I called Monday and left a message on answering machine, NEVER called back. Tuesday I called and spoke with the "manager " and secretary and they said it would be ready at the end of the day. So I called today early morning left a message and again NO CALL BACK. I called again during business hours and spoke to the receptionist (maybe) she stated that the goldsmith did something to the stone and he needed to fix it. So again no ring. I am just trying to give my daughter a memory from her grandfather and have had nothing but a horrible experience with Marlen! Staff is extremely rude. Still no ring and it is still not done! I sure miss when Frank ran the jewelers we had such a great relationship with him and my family bought so many original pieces from him! His son and staff need to learn how to treat customers.! And I do get that it was during a horrible pandemic, but the manager should not have promised for it to be ready Monday, (Or Tuesday for that matter) it is now Wednesday...