Chapel Hills Jewelry — Local services in Aspinwall

THIS IS PART 1 OF 2.

TL;DR: Quality product, good initial design consult, but awful, frustrating communication thereafter. Don’t expect CHJ to stick to their time estimate and be prepared for getting info out of them to be like pulling teeth. I really had been hoping to find a reliable jeweler for all our future repairs, purchases, etc., but at this point I think we have no choice but to look for wedding bands elsewhere.

PART 1 My fiance and I purchased my engagement ring from Chapel Hills Jewelry this past summer, but I’ve waited until now to write a review in order to let some of the emotion subside and provide the most honest account possible. We first became interested in CHJ after hearing good things from a friend who had stopped in to the showroom and spoke with Jack about designing a custom engagement ring. My first contact with Jack was via the message function on their website, when I asked if they were willing to work with moissanite (as a diamond alternative). He replied promptly and enthusiastically saying it would be no problem to create what I was looking for, so we eventually booked an appointment to come and see him in person. Our first meeting was fantastic. Jack was receptive to our ethical concerns about gemstones and spoke to us in detail about the design process and his professional recommendations. We left feeling really confident about what we had picked out, and he never tried to upsell us to a diamond apart from telling us how much a lab-grown diamond of similar size would cost. There seemed to be no hard feelings about us choosing a relatively inexpensive ring. Jack told us it would take about three weeks (maybe four, since they had a few other orders) and we happily put down the ~30% deposit.

Unfortunately, everything went downhill once the deposit was paid. I’m fully aware that my fiance and I were not spending much in the grand scheme of fine jewelry, but it was the largest joint-purchase we had ever made, and obviously an engagement ring is an emotional item. For these reasons we were extremely disappointed with the following weeks of terrible communication.

Our order was placed on Friday, June 15. On Monday, June 18, I emailed Jack (by replying to our already established conversation thread) to ask about the source of the stones to be used in the ring’s halo. No reply. I followed-up again after returning from a trip out-of-town on July 2. No reply. This prompted me to start making phone calls instead. I was told that my emails had erroneously ended up in Jack’s spam folder. They assured me my email address (which they had already asked for to store in their system when we first ordered) would be added to their list of contacts to avoid future delays.

After three weeks had passed since placing our order, I started calling to ask when I’d be able to see sketches of the design (as we had been promised). At least once I was told that Jack would call me right back, but he never did. On another occasion, I was told they were on vacation. We would have absolutely no issue with this, but why not let us know that a week or so would be added to the timeline?

On July 11, Jack finally emailed drawings of the design. I responded early the next day with a couple minor questions and to ask when he thought it would be finished. No reply. Five days went by before I followed-up to ask if he had received my email. Jack responded to my email later that day, again gave me the line about my messages going to his spam folder, and failed to answer most of the questions I had (now twice) sent.

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PART 2...

PART 2 OF 2. CONTINUATION OF REVIEW FROM MCTIERNAN.A ACCOUNT DUE TO CHARACTER LIMIT.

TL;DR: Quality product, good initial design consult, but awful, frustrating communication thereafter. Don’t expect CHJ to stick to their time estimate and be prepared for getting info out of them to be like pulling teeth. I really had been hoping to find a reliable jeweler for all our future repairs, purchases, etc., but at this point I think we have no choice but to look for wedding bands elsewhere.

I know this might get removed but here's Part 2 anyway.

On July 25, I asked (again) via email for an updated estimate of when my ring would be finished. (At this point I had given up on getting answers to my questions about the sketch.) No reply. I think I called after a couple days and was probably told to check back early the next week because the setting needed to be recast. I called again on July 30 and was finally told that the ring was ready for pick-up. If I hadn’t called, how much more time would have gone by without CHJ contacting me? The next day at pick-up, there was absolutely no acknowledgement of the fact that we were at double the initial timeline estimated or that numerous emails and calls had gone unreturned.

Here’s the final straw: I requested an appraisal for insurance purposes on August 13. After ten days passed with no response at all, Jack sent a certificate with my nickname (spelled incorrectly) on it. I immediately replied asking for it to be updated with my legal name (which was the name in the CHJ system, on my credit card, and several other places). Still no reply to this day!

TL;DR: Quality product, good initial design consult, but awful, frustrating communication thereafter. Don’t expect CHJ to stick to their time estimate and be prepared for getting info out of them to be like pulling teeth. I really had been hoping to find a reliable jeweler for all our future repairs, purchases, etc., but at this point I think we have no choice but to look for wedding...

I had never heard of this absolute gem of a business until my neighbor suggested that I look for my engagement ring there. My now fiancee and I were treated so very well by the owner and his wife. They are lovely people. The whole process was a pleasure. My fiancee identified the ring she wanted and within a few days it was ready for us. Beautiful ring from a well known brand for a reasonable price. Forget all these larger chain jewelry stores around here. Chapel Hills is A MUST VISIT even if you do not decide to buy anything. Go talk to the owners and support some true Pittsburgh entrepreneurs and business owners. Both are full of knowledge and are honest to the core. They even fixed some cracks in my late grandfathers ring that I wear and have the gold shining probably even better than it did when he got it in 1959. A PLUS for Chapel Hills Jewelry. I will be a repeat...