Banter by Piercing Pagoda — Local services in Springfield

Original 7/19/23: I wanted to like this place: most reviews were surprisingly good, but ultimately had a bad experience and will not return.

I came by without an appt and didn’t have to wait too long. When it was my turn, I picked out my earrings and was a little surprise by the cost of the require cleaning solution since it wasn’t advertised in the “free ear piercing with purchase of earring.” It was fine, I paid and moved on to the piercing. During my piercing the first side went fine, the other ear got stuck in the piercing gun and hurt sooooo bad, I could barely stay still while she got it to detach from my ear cartilage. She (Nixie or Noxy, or something like that) did not apologize or seem to understand and how much she hurt me. I left afterward and for the rest of the night both my ears hurt but especially the one that had been pinched. It was swollen and there was clearly soft tissue trauma. Because they were hurting sooo bad, even though I knew it would invalidate my warranty, I had to take them out of my ears. That’s when it became clear to me why they were hurting so badly…I had purchased 14K yellow gold earrings and these were clearly not. The earring and post were gold but backing was obviously sterling silver, which I had told her I was allergic to. However, if I had followed the rules and not removed it, there would have been no way for me to know that.

My ears were so angry, but I had to put the earrings back in so the hole wouldn’t close up. The next day I went back and after some defensiveness, was able to exchange them for some that were 14k gold with a gold back…at least that’s what she claimed, but my ears have continues to react like they do when metal is not 14K gold. So I’ve had to buy new actual 14K gold earrings and almost immediately after changing them they don’t make my ears feel like they are dying and now my ears feel fine. (To further support this, I moved the Banter earring to an established cartilage hole, and that area developed a blister and swelling too.)

I can’t be certain that they are misrepresenting the all metals that they are selling. If they are 14K gold, they are not hypoallergenic and if you have sensitive ears, 0/10 would not recommend.

Update 9/2/24: I waited several months before removing the earrings, in hopes of keeping the piercings open, but ultimately there was some much inflammation from the piercing gun and more likely the metal backing I’m allergic to that both holes closed up. More than a year later, after my ear healed from the trauma of the original piercing, I used an 18 gauge needle and gold jewelry to re-pierced both the holes and have had a...

I spent what I felt was a large amount of money on a chain that the clasp broke on almost right away. My boyfriend took it up to the store to person number 1 who was rude and sent him on his way (he is no longer with the company from what we were told). Fast forward to this past Saturday 6/14/25 the assistant manager told us that it would be covered for a year and to bring it up. We came up today 6/16/25 and were told it isn’t covered and were sent packing yet again. This is a basic thing to have knowledge of and is very frustrating as a customer to make multiple trips for nothing with all different...

Purchased a set of earings for ear piercing at a cost of $85.00 on Saturday Dec. 30, 2023. Sunday evening Dec. 31 noticed the stone had fallen out of one earing. Called Banter on Jan. 1, 2024 to let them know and their first question was did you buy the extended warranty. I said yes and after them speaking with a manager I was told I would have to wait the three weeks for my ears to heal before they would replace the earring. Out to dinner on Tuesday evening, Jan. 3, 2024, turned my earring and the second stone fell out. I was able to find it. Will be calling today . Am not...