James Allen Showroom — Local services in New York

I've waited a long time to write this review because I was hoping James Allen would right their wrongs but so far this has not happened. In a nutshell this is what happened with my engagement ring. It's an engagement HORROR STORY! My husband purchased a ring from JA back in 2015, in 2020 I decided to send the ring in for the complementary stone tightening and rhodium plating since the yellow of the gold was starting to show through. This is a lifetime service that JA offers their customers so I thought I was in extremely good hands. Not long after having sent my ring in I received a phone call that my ring was severely damaged, this was extremely shocking to me because the ring had been checked several times throughout the years and nothing had ever come up, furthermore I am a goldsmith so I am extremely careful with how I treat my jewellery. James Allen couldn't quite explain the exact damage but told me the whole ring had to be remade from scratch. At this point I asked for written evidence of the damage and photographs, I also asked JA to send the ring back to me as it was so that I could get a second opinion from one of my many contacts within the jewellery industry. The representative I was dealing with told me it would be no problem to send the ring back and then decide whether I wanted the setting remade or not at a later date. I received the ring several days later and noticed it was not the same ring!!! The band was tighter and chubbier, the stones around the halo were fewer, the centre diamond sat much higher than before and the setting in general was incredibly un-refined and very, very different to my original engagement ring. I was incredibly shocked by this so proceeded to contact JA and ask for an explanation. They explained that the ring had actually been destroyed by them (during a routine service!) and as a gesture of goodwill they had remade the ring for me free of charge! Except that this ring looked nothing like my original! After many rounds of emails and cross words, they agreed to remake the setting for me again and assured me they would be able to achieve the exact look of the original ring that they had destroyed. Several weeks later a second ring arrived, this version even worse than the previous. Still the wrong number of stones around the halo, the setting even more chunky, one of the micropave around the halo was loose (and fell out later), the centre stone held by huge, unsightly prongs that didn't even sit flush to it (the diamond is visibly at an angle). Again, I discussed the issues with them and offered many solutions to help them achieve the correct look, including using one of my trusted jewellers to remake the setting since they clearly did not have the right talent in house, or a handle on quality control. All the suggestions were disregarded and I was told there was nothing more they could do to help, that they had gone far and beyond and I just had to accept that these things happen. I escalated the issue and they put me in contact with legal counsel so that we could perhaps work towards a solution. Legal counsel to date have offered us $1000 to recreate the ring and they will have no further discussions with us. Quotes to recreate the original setting have come in between $3000/$7000. James Allen will not even consider the lowest quote for us to remake it which means we would be considerably out of pocket. They have been so rude throughout the entire process and have made things so difficult every step of the way even if the fault lies ENTIRELY with them. We just don't know what to do anymore so this review was my last resort, A) To warn you that they are using really terrible third party manufacturing and B) that if anything ever goes wrong you are NOT going to have a lifetime guarantee with them because they just DON'T uphold their policies, and if you do send in your ring you may never get it back! We are heartbroken by a company that is meant to celebrate love but instead destroyed the single most prised material possession we had and the memory of a...

My experience with James Allen began on 5/2 when I ordered my engagement ring after looking at various online vendors. James Allen drew me in with its 360 views and reasonable pricing. I placed my first order by phone on May 2nd before a 2-week trip to Japan starting on 5/24. James Allen assured me that the ring would arrive at least a week before my trip but set the tentative delivery date to be 5/13.

On 5/9 the nightmare began. I received an email telling me to call in regarding my order status. I called in and they told me they were unable to complete my order because the diamond I had chosen was no longer "in stock". They blamed the diamond vendor they worked with for not updating their database. James Allen gave me a selection of 4 additional diamonds that the representative had picked out. Together we picked out another one that matched the 4 Cs and was similar to the original diamond in price. I was worried about the shipping date but was assured that since the setting was already made, the ring would arrive with the diamond by 5/19. A rush and priority note was placed with my order.

On 5/13, I checked on my order online and noticed that the photo of the diamond was changed. No notice was given to me. This diamond no longer had the nice 8 points emerging from the center. I called their customer service and was transferred to the manager Josh. He assured me that the diamond was the same one I had originally placed, but because the diamond vendor had sold the diamond to different vendor, a new 360 video was placed after I had placed the order. The diamond was apparently the same. I was upset because the new picture depicted a diamond that was of lesser quality compared to the previous picture. At this point I was less than 2 weeks out from my overseas trip and had no choice but to accept the diamond.

Since 5/13 I tracked my order every day and called in every two days to get a progress check. Even on 5/20 I was told that my order was to be delivered as expected by their team. However, I asked to talk to Lorraine, a manager on 5/21 when the tracking status still showed online that the diamond was due for "inspection" prior to placing into a setting. It was then that the manager looked into it and told me that they would not be able to get my diamond on time. My flight was due to take off 5/24. Lorraine at that time offered to set a CZ (fake diamond) into the setting so I could at least propose on my trip. I was turned off by this idea but what choice did I have? Luckily, the ring with the CZ was shipped and arrived on 5/23.

On 6/3, I got an email telling me to call them after my trip. The call was to let me know that the second diamond was "lost during shipment" and I was to choose another diamond from their selection. However, although James Allen carried other diamonds with the IDENTICAL features they would allow these to be used as the replacement diamond because the price was 10% higher. Instead they offered me a choice of 5 diamonds that matched the price within $200 dollars of a $14K+ purchase and told me I had to select among them. Each of those 5 choices had at least one lesser grade in either weight, carat, color, clarity, etc. Bottom line is JAMES ALLEN WON'T EVEN PRICE MATCH THEIR OWN DIAMOND. I got so fed up with this experience that I returned the ring with the CZ diamond and got one with identical pricing from Blue Nile.

The ring from Blue Nile arrived in 5 business days. The craftsmanship of the ring from Blue Nile is also superior in my opinion as the Pave diamonds were set much deeper in the ring and felt much more flush to the touch. Blue Nile also promised a lifetime guarantee to replace any fallen out side diamonds in their Pave setting.

Pros: Customer service 24/7. Always got to talk to someone within a few minutes of calling. The 6 reps including manager Lorraine were very nice and polite.

Cons: Literally everything else.

An easy online purchase turned out to be an enormous hassle and stress.

Manager Josh was unprofessional and very...

Updating my review to 3 stars. Ultimately, I am grateful that James Allen was able to help make sure that we got our diamond returned prior to our engagement shoot and I'm pleased with the appearance and quality of our rings. I'm disappointed that it took poor reviews to get things moving when I reached out to customer service for help more than once and they had an opportunity to exhibit compassion and try to fix it. I was open about my disappointment when I chatted with customer service, and also open about considering returning both rings. Even so, the response was "we'll see what we can do." I value companies like Nordstrom or Costco that treat customers well and do whatever it takes to help, even during Covid.

To me, James Allen seems to have a capacity issue, as detailed in the email excerpt below. When your throughput is throttled for any reason (like social distancing during Covid) but your demand continues, it's time to take a look at levers like staffing, space, and process. It boggles my mind that it could take up to 4 weeks to remove a diamond from a simple setting and send it back to me.

My name is Tia and I am reaching out to you in regards to your order and the review that you left on Yelp surrounding your frustrations with your order. I'm sorry that your experience with us has been less than positive. After reviewing your order, I think the issue that I'm seeing is the time frame. Unfortunately, all of our orders, including exchanges, resizes, service, etc. are taking four weeks for completion. It's very difficult for us to rush this even by a few days, let along several weeks. We certainly try to work within all time lines that are presented to us, but it's not always feasible simply due to creation of the ring and the time it's taking right now.

Buyer beware: James Allen customer service leaves much to be desired. For a company selling diamonds, the customer service should be at least as good as Amazon's customer support and it sure isn't.

I'm ready to cry. And my best advice is to go with Blue Nile. Even in a pandemic, their customer service is strong and they've offered to make sure we have nearly-identical replacement rings by this weekend. They recognize that they need to make arrangements as a business to support ongoing customer demand. JA is operating standard 50% capacity and doesn't care.

My fiancée and I spent tens of thousands on our rings at JA. She decided she didn't like her band, so I sent it back and requested that the diamond be returned. Despite James Allen receiving it last week and me following up twice to request timing and explain the importance of receiving the diamond back by Friday, no dice. Our engagement photos are supposed to be this weekend and if left to JA, she probably won't have her ring.

We have been trying like mad to just get the diamond sent back to us to have it reset. We're out of town this weekend for my future MIL's bday (don't worry, we're social distancing and staying separately!). We had planned to have my brother wait at my place for the diamond, take it to a local jeweler to have it reset, and then drive two hours to get it to us. The local jeweler knew the situation and committed to helping. James Allen can't guarantee a date, despite escalating this to a supervisor. I don't know what to say other than "what the heck?!"

Don't buy from here. Seriously. Don't. No matter how perfect you think the ring is, it's likely that you're going to need to have something changed. A quarter size difference or a different setting or a change of diamond...any number of things could come up. When you're newly engaged, the last thing you want is to send your ring away for weeks. Trust me when I say that your fiancée will be much happier with the customer service you get elsewhere. Literally,...