Blue Nile — Attraction in Salem

Do yourself a favor and avoid Blue Nile at all costs. Here’s why.

I initially visited Blue Nile while shopping for my own diamond engagement ring and wedding band. Their in-store collection was extremely limited, with no actual diamonds—only CZ replicas. That was a red flag for me, so I took my business elsewhere.

Fast forward a year, I decided to buy a wedding band for my husband and reached out to Margaret, the associate who had previously assisted me.

When we visited the store, they didn’t have the bands we had shortlisted online for my husband to try on in person. Still, we used their ring sizer, determined he was a size 7.5, and placed the order. This detail is important.

A week and a half later, we received an email saying the ring was ready for pickup. We drove 50 minutes to the store, only to immediately notice a scratch/imperfection on the ring. Margaret offered to clean or send it for buffing, but since we had 30 days to try it out for fit, we decided to take it home.

A few days later, my husband realized the ring was too loose. When we returned to the store to exchange it for a smaller size, Margaret wasn’t there, but Ariana, another associate who had helped us previously, assisted us. She checked the ring and discovered it was actually a size 8—not the 7.5 we had ordered. This meant Blue Nile had given us the wrong size without bothering to QC (quality check) it before handing it over.

Their solution? We had to send the incorrect ring back to Blue Nile corporate, wait 2–3 weeks for the exchange to be processed, and then another 2 weeks for the correct ring to be shipped. This was entirely their mistake, yet we were the ones inconvenienced.

After some back and forth, they finally allowed us to purchase a new ring at the original discounted price while the incorrect ring was sent back for “evaluation.” (Why an evaluation was needed when they had clearly given us the wrong product, I have no idea.) While processing the new ring, Ariana also mentioned, that she noticed the ring was too big for my husband’s finger when he initially tried it on while picking it up- why did she not say anything then?

Now, after placing a new order and paying again, my husband went to pick up the replacement ring. As soon as he left the store, he noticed black marks on it. The store’s lighting had hidden these flaws, but in normal lighting, the ring looked used. He immediately returned to the store to request a refund.

Margaret’s response? Indifference. No apology. No attempt to make it right. She simply offered to send the ring to corporate for buffing—another 4-week wait. This was a brand-new ring. Why would it need buffing straight out of the box?

There was zero accountability, no proper quality control, and absolutely no regard for customer experience.

Save your time, energy, and money. Blue Nile is not worth it.

Margaret herself admitted, “The process and QC get harder as the company gets bigger.”Well, Margaret, if this is what happens when a company grows, I don’t think anyone should be shopping at Blue Nile anymore.

Edit - I’m adding the owner’s comment here (in case they make changes later). They’ve asked me to contact the store immediately to resolve the issue. However, the store already has all of my information, and when we visited multiple times with faulty items, no one made an effort to address the problem. It’s clear they have no interest in fixing their mistakes. Now, the owner can't even be bothered to locate my details in their own records to reach out to me directly. This is a prime example of how little they care. Apparently, it’s my responsibility to call and beg for their assistance. I’ll be taking my business elsewhere, even if it means paying more. This level of service is simply unacceptable.

Owner’s comments-

Blue Nile (Owner) 30 minutes ago We are sorry to hear that your experience did not meet your expectations and we would like to address your concerns. Please call our showroom at your earliest convenience so we can assist. We look forward to...

If you are a new buyer you have to see this. I purchased an engagement ring online Oct 30 2023. On Nov 26 2023, we picked up in the store but the setting is too high for the stone. Then we decide to return it on the same day, and Ariana said they can send it back to make it lower and it will reset the 30 days policy when it shipped again( we triple checked this information because we want to make sure we still have the option to return its a 28k ring, and the manager confirmed too)Now it takes forever to get it done, but I received email on Feb 5 2024, said it’s ready to pick up, but we decide to return it which falls into their 30 days policy. But guess what they said they can only refund the setting not the stone!!? I called everyone they just said they changed the policy. Think it though before you buy it, they just lie to you. I will keep posing the update. Update on Feb 7th: the showroom blocked my phone number since Feb 7 th, and sent me to the 800 number never call me. I called 800 and they said they will call me from customer service with 24 hours, but no one called until on Feb 9th I called again. Client relationship Karla said she will worked with me and I forwarded the email chain to prove they misrepresent the policy. She said she will work with upper management to get approval. No update yet. But just saw the reply from blue Nile reply made me anger again. Stop pretending you are helping me to show others, show room blocked my phone number. Will keep updating the result. Update on May6 the service team claim they are working on the refund, but because I dispute the transactions they are not be able to refund right away. I think they are just waiting for the credit card company to issue me the fund and they will do nothing. I forgive them by not send dispute to the state customer bureaucracy but I may need to act on that. It’s almost 8 months maybe we will receive it on our anniversary!...

I went last Monday to look at wedding bands. I had a wonderful experience with Ariana she did not push me for a sale or something more expensive than I was looking to spend, she provided me with great customer service. She is very kind, knowledgeable and well versed in the merchandise she is selling. I really enjoyed working with her. I did not buy anything that day because I wanted to think about the purchase. I returned 5 days later to try on the ring one more time before purchasing it. I had brought my fiancé along because I was so happy for the great customer service I received that I thought he may also want to buy a ring from there. Unfortunately, margaret was the sales person who tended to us. She was very rude, unfriendly, unprofessional, and treated us like we were a burden to her, and she had a bad attitude. When I walked into the store I stated that I wanted to try on the ring one last time and purchase it. I would have thought that she would have been delighted that she would be making a sale but that is the opposite way she treated us. I didn’t even approach the topic of my fiancé trying on a ring because of her attitude. Due to this poor interaction with Margaret both my fiancé and I turned around and walked out of the store without purchasing anything.

I don’t write reviews often if ever but I felt strongly about my experience that I thought I should warn others.

Before writing this review I looked at the other reviews and notice that there are quite a few complaints about Margaret that are in line with my experience. It makes me wonder if this company cares about customer service or if they understand that poor customer service will impact...