Brilliant Earth — Local services in Washington

After breaking in the middle of dinner, I dropped off my engagement ring to send for repairs for the SECOND time since November 2023, 6 months after the last repair for the SAME THING (loose gemstone). After promising me they could get it done in the 2.5 weeks before I left the country FOR MY WEDDING, they sat on the ring for almost two weeks and didn't even start repairs, because the only "consult" they could offer was available after I'd already be on an international flight. It took multiple requests for me to get the phone call that could have been an email (lol) in email form, at which point I told them I could no longer wait for them to make repairs and to send it back ASAP. After swearing up and down they were overnighting it to the store on Friday, I call back Sunday, only to find out they hadn't even STARTED shipping it. Call back Monday to ask when I can pick it up from the store since it's closed Tuesday and Wednesday, only to be told they STILL haven't started shipping it, and they have no idea how to get it to the store same-day. On my fourth call about this issue, I'm finally escalated to a manager, who claims they can overnight it to my door, with me as the only one authorized to sign for the package. I then ask about the email I received asking for $500 to remake the ring, as, at this point, it is clearly a manufacturing defect, as I don't even wear my ring to work, so it's on my hand less than 50% of the time. Manager responds that if I want my ring repaired when I'm back in the country I'll have to send it back to them and pay, as their "professional" team determined that "my wear and tear isn't consistent with the ring's age." Mind you, I don't know a single woman who has ever had this many issues with their engagement ring, including other HCW's who DO wear their rings to work and have been married for DECADES. Pointing out that it makes sense that the repair team would be defensive and not want to admit fault--so maybe the review should be escalated--got me nowhere. Bye bye @brilliantearth --thanks for the added stress right before my wedding.

Update a month later: The saga continues—received calls and emails from someone from corporate; explained that we were out of the country (which they were told about multiple times, as it was why I had concerns about how long my request was taking). Tried to follow up with said manager once back stateside—crickets. I did receive a comment reply from an employee on Yelp, who seems to just be paying lip service in order to look like they are addressing the issue, as they have not actually contacted me (there is no way to reply to comments on that site), nor did they leave me any contact info.

Update in AUGUST 2025: Truly unbelievable—I STILL don’t have my ring back! Checked in and was told it would take until August 7th, which means they had the ring for MONTHS. Sent a follow up email to the manager to see what was going on after, shocker, August 7th came and went without hearing anything. Why the customer had to be the one to initiate that conversation, I will never know. Finally called to follow up after zero response to my email, and was told it was at the showroom.

We’ll see if they actually have it back in good condition for me this time, since the last time they sent it back in pieces after being unable to make the repair.

So, to recap: engaged November 2023, needed repairs and was without the ring for weeks in June/July 2024, ring broken this last time since February 2025, so OVER 6 MONTHS out of 21 without it, including not having it for my WEDDING in March of 2025.

DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200, AVOID...

I am sharing my experience so that other customers make an informed decision when selecting which company to go with for a diamond. My partner and I were looking for a loose diamond to send to a jewelry designer who is working on an engagement ring for us. We chose Brilliant Earth for their ethical diamond sourcing and relatively fair prices. What happened was a bit of a nightmare that turned what was supposed to be a happy/pleasant experience into a quite literal headache. We bought the diamond on 1/2/2022 and had an estimated delivery date for 1/7/2022. We notified our designer about it and during the week kept checking for delivery updates. Everything appeared to be on track until Friday (the actual delivery date) when a brilliant earth customer rep contacted us to say that the diamond we had bought 5 days ago wasn't actually in stock but a system glitch allowed us to buy it. The customer rep tried to search for alternatives, all of which were of same carat weight, but worse specs otherwise (color, depth, ratio, etc.). We did not agree with such replacements and did a search of our own on their website. We found a comparable diamond to the one we initially purchased, but that was a bit more expensive. We asked brilliant earth what sort of discount they could offer us on this new diamond to approach the price we paid for the other one, considering the inconvenience they had caused us and that this was the only diamond of comparable quality that they had in stock. Customer rep said she would ask supervisor and advised we called to check in the following day. We did and were told a supervisor had rejected our request. Because they didn't provide any other alternative (we were currently without a diamond, credit card charged, designer waiting on us to work on the actual ring), we asked to speak with a supervisor to find a solution or get a refund as soon as possible. After about an hour on the phone during which anyone with decision making power refused to talk with us because they were busy and told us to wait, we finally got in touch with a supervisor. We were told they can't replace the diamond we were supposed to receive with a more expensive one because they're not a charity. We asked if they're able to provide any sort of discount so that the one diamond they had in stock that was comparable to what we ordered and didn't receive would approach the price we were willing to pay. Again, they're not a charity. They even said that they actually usually charge $2k to look for a diamond for clients and as a courtesy they were not charging us that. So, it was a courtesy they weren't charging us anything extra to help us find a diamond to replace the one we didn't receive due to their fault and we should be grateful for that; how dare we ask for a discount or a speedy resolution to our issue (at some point during the call, supervisor also said it was actually FedEx who lost our diamond, so who knows what the truth is, all we can tell is that our diamond was not received). We understand tech issues/FedEx issues (whichever was the case) happen, but we are also of the opinion that the vendor must assume responsibility for such issues and provide a satisfactory resolution. This was a luxury good we bought and you expect decent customer service to come with it (at least show some compassion, even if you fake it). In the end, we cancelled our order and went to one of their direct competitors instead. I do not recommend Brilliant Earth and I will not seek their products in the future. I wish their ethical diamond sourcing practices will at some point extend to their...

DON'T THROW YOUR MONEY AWAY

This review is about Brilliant Earth in general, not the DC location in particular.

After months of viewing rings, this beautiful design caught my attention immediately in the showroom; the design on this ring is unique and beautiful.

We also got the Noveau band that went beautifully with it. However, you get what you pay for. If you don't know much about jewelry and want something affordable and don’t mind the quality, go with Brilliant Earth. You can tell these rings are mass produced, therefore the lower prices compared to a more established Jeweler.

The ring I tried on the showroom differed a lot in quality from what we received. The prongs on this ring were very scratchy and sharp edges, caught on everything, and injured my finger. Also, the rings we received were ridiculously thin, they dance around my finger.

I consulted with various jewelers and they advised that my sizing was correct, that the only solution was to make the rings thicker, so that's what we asked Brilliant Earth to do, to make it a standard 1.8 -2 mm ring that would resolve the issue, and fix the scratchy/pointy prongs - easy enough, right?

Originally, the ring was advertised as 1.8 mm thickness on the website (if I would’ve known all the trouble this caused, I would have screen shot the specifications to prove Brilliant Earth later changed their description), the ring later was removed from the catalog on the website, now the ring is back on the website with an advertised thickness of 1.4 mm- my ring was 1 mm thick (I’ve never owned a ring this thin, not even stackers).

We started the exchange process for this ring and were told it would take much longer than normal because the repair shop in California was closed due to COVID-19, we were very understanding and waited for months to accommodate Brilliant Earth. Fast-forward some months of waiting- after receiving no update from Brilliant Earth, we contact the company for status.

Now we are told the ring can’t be fixed, for some reason they are unable to smooth out the rough prongs or make the rings thicker because we are OUTSIDE OUR WARRANTY PERIOD! Even when they told us the warranty would be immediately extended- understandably- because of COVID-19 and their repair shop being shut.

Now we are on an endless back and forth with multiple people, they refuse to acknowledge our warranty (whatever that means), refuse to make any kind of repairs or refund our money.

PLEASE AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS! Spend a little bit extra and get something of quality and company with reputable customer service.

What was supposed to be a pleasant experience for a newly engaged couple, has just dragged out and turned sour- we want it done and over with... the cherry...