Craft-Revival Diamond Jewelers — Local services in Grand Rapids

We had a TERRIBLE experience with having a custom ring created by Craft-Revival Jewelers. We were sold a diamond slice as an engagement ring, and told that it would be no issue that it had an inclusion, and that they guaranteed their work. Not 8 months into wearing the ring, it broke in the exact spot of the inclusion while I was DRIVING to an appointment with a client. Craft Revival would not make it right, made me feel like a complete idiot for asking them to do so and asked us to go through our insurance. When we went to the insurance company, they would not cover the ring because essentially, the ring self destructed and fell under the "inherent vice" clause. Essentially stating that the diamond was broken from the get-go, and un-insurable. I waited several months to post this review as we are in the stages of wedding planning, and the added stress of having to increase our budget to pay for a new ring was too much to handle, additionally, Jayson was one of the most condescending people I've ever encountered in a business transaction, and I deal with hundreds of local West Michigan businesses on a monthly basis.

When we started the process of having a custom engagement ring made we inquired specifically about the diagonal inclusion or cleavage within the diamond slice that we were interested in creating our ring with, you assured us it would not pose a problem, and that the engagement ring would be an everyday piece. You explained that keeping the setting low, would protect the stone from being banged or caught on things – and if we ever had a problem we could come to you and you would fix it. Your reviews, and reputation spoke so loudly to us, as well as a referral from a close friend, and we felt confident that this was advice we could trust. Unfortunately it seems that this was a mistake.

I spoke with Jayson on Wednesday (12/19/2018) and he compared my expectation to be provided with a replacement ring to “purchasing a new car, driving it for 6 months, crashing it, and expecting the manufacturer to replace the vehicle.” I was also told upon inquiring why you would not guarantee work that you had made within the last 12 months, that I would have had to be “negligent” with my ring, or otherwise – I must have done something to it purposefully in order for it to break. This is not only insulting, but probably one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard.

Based on a statement I received from a GIA Certified Diamond Appraiser, it was the equivalent of selling a car with a cracked block. The particular inclusion in the stone was destined to fail from the beginning it was already broken and just a vibration could have finished it off. While you may make several diamond slice rings, which have had no problem, it is clear that this particular inclusion should never have been sold as an everyday engagement ring – and this is on you to take responsibility.

A statement I received from ANOTHER jeweler in business since the early 1900’s mentioned that the particular diamond slice we were sold was cracked all the way through from the time it was created and that it had simply not yet surfaced – and that while you are within your right to have us go through our insurance company, you should be the one to replace our ring because it is the right thing to do after selling us a ring with an unsustainable inclusion.

And finally, we visited a family friend who is a jeweler in Saginaw and has owned his store for 35 years and has received multiple certifications from the GIA, let us know that while he believes that diamond slices are acceptable for every day wear, the diamond slice in our custom ring was NOT sustainable to be anything more than an occasional piece, because of the length of the inclusion and the fact that it broke in that exact spot. He believes also that you should take responsibility to replace the piece and said “you could just take our ring, melt it down, and regain...

I should have gone to Craft-Revival first. They made my custom wedding band experience, fast, easy and simply perfect. Our ring came back finished within in a couple weeks after submitting the design. My Fiancé is a very very picky person and when the ring came in we did not have to send it back to be re-worked; it was exactly the way he imagined it to be. Brandon and Jason’s wealth of knowledge when it comes to jewelry is what made that possible and it far surpasses that of any other jeweler in the city. They were able to tell within the first ten minutes of examining the design whether it could be done or not. If you want something done right, fast, and affordable you go here.

We first took the design to Jared, The Galleria of Disappointment, who claimed they could do custom design work, we were sadly mistaken. After THREE months of going over the design, getting the wax, re-working the wax, re-working the finished product, re-working the finished product 4 more times, we finally returned it and had to start all over. Brandon only took two weeks tops for this portion. Jared’s sales team promised they could make the piece and they did not have the custom jewelry knowledge needed to make those promises because they are not experienced jewelers, they are a sales team trying to make a quota. The piece was made entirely wrong since its inception and if we had been in contact with an actual jeweler they could have informed us about that before we wasted months. Jared made us pay for the ring upfront promising they could make what we wanted (Craft-Revival did not make us pay upfront), they also would not let us return the custom piece initially (lovely customer service...I think not), even though we never took it home, and absolutely despised the finished product each time we saw it.

If you want something custom talk to the experts (Brandon/Jason) and not the sales people who are trying to meet their monthly quotas. I think one thing people tend not think about when they are purchasing jewelry, especially for a wedding, is that they will be visiting that jeweler through out the duration of their marriage/relationship for cleaning, touch-ups, etc so the relationship with the jeweler is important. The great thing about Craft-Revival is they really make their customers feel like family and not EBIT. We learned our lesson the hard way, hopefully this review keeps other customers from making the...

Let me start by saying that if I could give Craft-Revival 1,000,000 stars I absolutely would. This has been, by far, the best customer care I have ever received in my life. It should be noted that I am a Salesman and customer focus/service is something I observe very closely.

After finalizing a date I wanted to propose to my now Fiance I started searching for a jeweler that was local to Grand Rapids, and not a jewelry chain. After reading outstanding reviews about Craft-Revival I decided to stop in. At the time, I was a little over 4 weeks away from proposing with NO RING - Lol. Jayson helped me through EVERY. SINGLE. STEP. of the entire process. I was completely clueless as to what was involved in purchasing a ring. Jayson went above and beyond and showed me everything there is to know about a diamond when it comes to color, clarity, size, etc. and he often used his industry experience to help me understand what I was getting into. After settling on a design Jayson was going to create a model of the ring for me to review and provide my approval. Fast forward 3 days and come to find out the design we settled on WAS NOT what my Fiance wanted. After contacting Jayson immediately he mentioned this was no problem and to stop back in so we can settle on a design she'll be happy with. After settling on the new design the ring was ready in a little over 2 weeks - 10 days prior to the day I was going to propose. My fiance LOVES LOVES LOVES the ring - she has not stopped looking at, or talking about it yet and we're coming up on 3 weeks since the proposal. We went back to see Jayson to have the ring sized up about 1/2 size which was accomplished in 1hr - just enough time to grab beers and an appetizer.

Our experience with Craft-Revival has been second to none. I feel that Jayson and his team went above and beyond to ensure expectations were met. Considering I was so clueless about buying Jewelry I NEVER, EVER, felt like I was being taken advantage of. Walking in here, I felt like family almost instantly - Jayson is seriously one of the coolest dudes I have ever met. Outside of the ring we spent time chatting and getting to know each other. They even allowed my dog to come in the store!

Thank you Jayson, Brandon, and Roxanne. You have earned a lifetime customer and we will definitely be back for our Wedding bands and future...