Smithworks Fine Jewelry — Attraction in Spartanburg

UPDATE: The response given to this review by the store truly shows the attitude I experienced at this shop. I cannot understand any frustration when someone is paying for a service that you offer. The store associate spent less than 5 minutes with me before complaining about another customer coming in and passing me off to be checked out, nowhere near 30 minutes. Additionally, the size that ended up working for me from the second fitting was not the size suggested by this associate. Both times that I visited, associates told me that I needed a smaller size than what I knew would be comfortable. Based on this response, it seems that an issue is that I brought in a ring that was not purchased from this store. My ring was purchased out of state and could not be sized from the jeweler. I definitely would not recommend that others in this situation go to Smithworks. Revisiting this store and dealing with this attitude towards customers is not even worth a refund. Thank you.

Original Review: The quality of work at Smithworks is good. If you’re confident about exactly what you want, I would recommend it. This poor review is for the customer service. I came to have my engagement ring resized based on positive reviews online. The first time I came in, an associate sized me. I wanted to have a conversation about the sizing and my concerns (finger swelling, sizing options, etc), and the person helping me seemed more interested in me leaving than having a conversation. Another customer came in, and the sales associate actually complained to another associate about having to help them. She left me with another associate to ring me up. I was visibly unsure and actually took the ring sizers myself to continue thinking through my size options. We decided on one, and I left. After having a negative customer service experience and not feeling listened to during this trip, I felt nervous, and actually called the next day to tell them to make it bigger than what we had discussed as my wedding day is soon and I feared having a ring that was too small. I came in and got my ring the next day (they do have fast service) and wore it for a week. The sizing didn’t feel right, so my fiancé took it in to have it sized to the size I now know I needed. They wouldn’t accept it without me there. On trip four, I brought the ring in. The sales associate who worked with me was extremely cold and at some points rude. We asked if it would be full price to have it sized smaller since we had just had it sized there, and they said they’d “see what they could do.” I would have liked to know the pricing up front to make an educated decision on what we should do, but we decided to just leave it so that this process would be over. We came back to pick it up the next day (again, fast service), and they charged us the full price again. If I had known that would have been the case, I would have taken it somewhere else where we will be doing our future business. I understand why they would charge full price for a second sizing, but not being open about it from the beginning was frustrating and felt dishonest. Overall, not happy with customer service and will not be returning. I’m not a person who has ever shopped at a jewelry store or has any knowledge of jewelry, so I’m looking for somewhere with friendly and helpful...

Update: I'm afraid the seller missed the point of the critical parts of my review in their response. My overall thoughts were "The ring looks gorgeous. The store cares about customer service. They just need to work on communication and follow up on one incident. So you don't end up with 2 or 3 issues. ".

When we had a issue with the first rendering, someone should have double, triple checked with my sales person to make sure that the second was done correctly. I know this wasn't done since the final ring didn't match the approved design. This has nothing to do with the level of custom detail of the ring, but everything to do with communication. Your sales staff has been friendly and helpful every visit. You make a great product. You just need to work on communication. I am hesitant to go back or recommend you because you don't seem to grasp that. Your response alone makes it apparent that you still are not understanding. The mistakes made on my order, that really sank my experience, could have been avoided if you had simply double checked with your sales staff or myself to make sure it was the design I approved. It again has nothing what so ever to do with the level of difficulty of the order. Please understand that.

I ordered my custom engagement ring from here, it had to be a pearl, rose gold, very symmetrical. I wanted to wait and let the dust settle before I posted my review.

The good:

The sales staff is very helpful, knowledgeable, and willing to go the extra mile to help get something perfect.

The ring has a lot of engraving and shows off the talent of their craft that this place holds.

You will be very happy with any jewelry you receive from Smithworks once it's completed.

Which brings me to...... The bad:

You will wait. A lot.

After I payed for my order and selected everything on my ring then waited a few weeks the first rendering was completely wrong and absolutely nothing like what I picked. Which is okay, honest mistake.

The second rendering looked exactly like the ring I wanted, but apparently the first order I was quoted and payed for was for the incorrect rendering so the correct one was going to cost a little more.

At the very last day of week 4 I went to pick up my ring. Very excited! Only to find out they had mixed up my approved rendering with the first and placed the wrong pearl on the ring. When I brought it to there attention I was told it wouldn't be a issue to fix, but just a very few more days, but those were days I did not have.

I left rather negative feedback with them and was contacted by the owner the same day. He told me he managed to get a hold of the correct pearl and I could pick up my ring right then. The ring looked great and had only one minor issue. The pearl isn't exactly centered, but pearls are naturally occurring so you cannot expect perfection from every piece. These are my words not anyone from Smithworks. So I left.

Bottom line. I got more than what I payed for within the deadline they provided of 3-4 weeks.

The ring looks gorgeous. They store cares about customer service. They just need to work on communication and follow up on one incident. So you don't end up with 2 or 3 issues.

By the way SHE SAID YES and loves the ring! So either...

I had my wedding rings reset at Smithworks and unfortunately did not have the same great experience that I see in many of the other reviews. We dropped my rings off along with some gold that they agreed to buy at a scrap price to put toward the overall cost. Elise didn't do much design planning with me - I had to go to the store a second time to initiate any kind of design discussion. She also couldn't tell me what gold karat weight they were going to use in the rings. I figured that I would receive some kind of rough draft of the ring design to approve, but I did not. We didn't hear from Elise for 3 weeks, and when we called for an update, she couldn't give us any updates on where they were in the process, how much they bought the gold for, etc. All she said was "I don't know." Almost every time we reached out for information and were told she would call us back, she didn't. We continuously had to reach out time and time again to get any information. We were finally told that the owner of the store had a family emergency and customs were delayed. We totally understand the delay; we just wish that we were told about it from the beginning and Elise had taken the initiative to call us and let us know that there was a delay. One week later, we were told that my rings were ready, but they were not soldered together like I asked for them to be. When I went to pick up my rings they had been soldered together, but after returning home I realized that they were soldered together crooked. I was also told that the two rings would sit flush together, and they don't. There is a slight gap. I truly don't mind the gap, but it's something that was communicated incorrectly and could be a big deal to others. Overall the rings look beautifully made, which is why I am giving them 3 stars. However after the lack of communication and crooked soldering, we would be hesitant to work...