The Antique Jewellery Company — Local services in London

Myself and two friends booked an “engagement rings for dummies” appointment for Friday at 6pm, and we were astounded by just how disappointing the experience was. We arrived for our appointment and were ushered upstairs where we were met by three ladies and a tray of five rings on the table. A good start, as these were rings that my friend (who the appointment was for), had chosen when booking the appointment.

However, upon sitting down, that was where any interest from these ladies concluded. There were no introductions, no offer for refreshments, and no questions about what my friend was looking for. Instead, they gestured towards the tray, and then sat across from us on the table, typing furiously on their laptops. No one told us anything about the rings, and any questions I asked about them was met with unenthusiastic or uncertain responses. Instead, we had to just sit in awkward silence while the two ladies pretended we weren’t there.

My friend then asked to see some coloured stones, and instead of asking anything about her preferences, she was just handed three trays with about 60 rings on each, and were essentially left to just figure it out for ourselves. There was no effort to make the rings feel special and you would not think they were expensive considering how they were handled. Thankfully, we have a decent knowledge of jewellery between us, but if this session is marketed “for dummies”, I struggle to understand how anyone would leave this appointment having learnt anything.

While we tried on the rings, the third lady then loudly exclaimed that she was going to leave and get an early train, and asked if we were done with the trays so she could lock them away. It is worth noting that our appointment was booked from 6-7pm, and there was the option to book a 7-8pm slot on the same day. She started packing everything away at 6:35 while we sat there feeling completely disrespected and ridiculously uncomfortable. It was clear they did not want to be there at all - and this energy was contagious as now, neither did we.

My friend actually wanted to see some other gemstones, but given the total lack of enthusiasm, professionalism and any kind of interest whatsoever from the ladies, she couldn’t face enduring the experience any longer. We left feeling completely stunned - this totally ruined what was supposed to be an exciting experience.

From the second we arrived to the second we left, we felt like the ladies only seemed concerned with what was on their laptops. I wish they had shown the same attention to us as they did to whatever they were typing about. Surely this could have waited until after we had left.

As for the rings themselves, they were fine. Nothing special, but we literally wouldn’t know because we were given no information about them. This was supposed to be a helpful and fun appointment to help her narrow down the engagement ring style she wanted. However, what this session did achieve was helping her narrow down the company from which she would be purchasing it from.

I sincerely hope that this experience will not taint her pursuit for her perfect engagement ring. This was supposed to be a unique experience, and in a way it was - just not in the way we were expecting.

I see this is a family business and the other reviews are great - I post this review because this was our experience on the day and this is how it left us feeling. Perhaps we just caught them on an off-day, but these behaviours should definitely be addressed for future visitors to have a better experience...

My fiancé bought my engagement ring here and initially I was over the moon - totally unique and a beautiful ring. Unfortunately however, a couple of weeks after he proposed the center stone fell out (it was a half hoop diamond and sapphire ring, Edwardian). I was devastated as I hadn't knocked it or done anything particularly strenuous with it, and only by luck did we find the stone. I emailed AJC telling them how upset I was and what had happened and Zuleika agreed they would repair the ring at the same time as resizing it. The initial response I have to say was not one of "of course, we're so sorry this happened", more "this doesn't usually happen without a good knock, and as a gesture of good will we will repair it"...she also agreed they would check the settings of all the other stones. I received the ring back and I thought all was well.

Cut to less than a year later and I look down at my hand and another stone has fallen out, this time one of the smaller diamonds. Again, devastated, I email AJC saying I'm so disappointed as I was under the impression the settings of the stones had all been checked and how could this have happened again in such a short space of time? I work in an office, I don't garden and remove it when going to the gym, so for another stone to fall out I was just amazed. This time however Zuleika's response was less than helpful, saying they would repair the ring but only at my own cost as I had had it in my possession for a year. I found this response incredible - surely if you're selling an engagement ring (quote "would make a perfect engagement ring") you can reasonably expect it to last the lifetime of a marriage, if not just until the wedding? We're not even married yet!

Cutting a very long story short, after an independent review of the ring by another jeweller, it transpires the ring was likely never in a very good condition (as advertised) and the repairs that had been done were a "bare minimum". I can't tell you how many times I've cried over this, and to make it worse it seems another reviewer has had the same experience as me with a center stone falling out. Eventually (after weeks of emailing and pushing) we managed to return the ring for a refund, but the whole experience was just awful.

I feel ill even writing this review, to be honest I want to forget that the whole thing ever happened - but the sad fact is that the ring that my fiancé proposed with is now gone. All the memories of that time and day are tied up in that ring, and I no longer have it. It's something that's gone forever and can never be replaced.

It is with regret I write this review, but in short I would urge people to avoid...

We had an incredibly wonderful experience at The Antique Jewellery Company. Olly, Jemma, Zuleika & Molly were wonderful to work with and helped us source an engagement ring and two beautiful gold wedding bands.

After some internet searching, my partner landed on the Antique Jewellery Company's website. He decided that he wanted to buy me as ethical a ring as possible, hence his decision to purchase something that was pre-loved. He went in for a consultation and met with Olly and Zu who gave him fantastic advice and helped him pick a ring. He decided to purchase a beautiful sapphire and diamond ring which I absolutely loved when he proposed to me with it. The ring was slightly too large, so we went back to have it resized - the ring stayed with ACJ and once it had been resized, we went back to collect it. It took a matter of days and the service was impeccable.

We wanted to keep all our rings 'in the family' so we went back to ACJ to purchase our gold wedding bands. Molly was our consultant on this occasion, and presented us with a number of gold bands in various shapes and sizes. We knew pretty early on which were our favourites but Molly took the time and effort to talk us through our options so by the end of our consultation, we were confident with the rings we had chosen (she even triple checked the weight and carat of the rings!)

We are really happy with the service we received at ACJ! Not only is the jewellery beautiful, representing great value for money, but the customer service and care has been exceptional. Buying such expensive life-long (hopefully) items can be a stressful experience but Olly, Jemma, Zuleika & Molly were great to work with from start to finish. We could not recommend buying from ACJ any more! We'll certainly be encouraging our friends...