James Allen Washington DC — Local services in Washington

UPDATE Since my review below, my fiance had some dealings with James Allen, specifically one of their supervisors. Without going into detail, JA was very reasonable, accomodating, and overall the service we received was much better than before. Updating from 2 stars to 4. End update

First off, the ring and diamond I chose look amazing. For my girlfriend I chose the Pave setting with a 0.7 carat round cut diamond centre. I had all the diamonds and the setting independently appraised to ensure I got what I paid for and was told the diamonds were excellent.

Unfortunately, the service I received was poor. Right from the onset of purchasing, I had numerous conversations with James Allen's online diamond experts regarding possible diamonds. When I had selected the diamond I ultimately ended up purchasing, I was chatting with JA's online diamond "expert" just prior to making the purchase. I reviewed the certificate that comes with the diamond and asked if there were any clouds and if the expert could shown them to me. The expert proceeded to circle the entire diamond stating it was cloudy all over. I couldn't believe this, as the AGS certificate did not indicate much, if any, cloudiness. I'm not a diamond expert though so I reached out to a couple local experts who reviewed the certificate and told me there was no cloudiness at all, contradicting JA's online expert.

After making the purchase, the online tracking provided indicated that the completed ring was estimated to ship 2 weeks later. As the days passed, the tracking never moved past "Pre-Production". I reached out 3-4 times to JA's online support who told me the date was still valid and the tracker was not working. One support person even told me I needed to take a "selfie" with my credit card and ID and email the picture to JA. I questioned them further on this and they retracted their statement saying it was not required and the order was in production.

As I suspected, the date of expected shipping past, so I called the following day and the person on the phone was at least more helpful than the online people. They said they would contact a supervisor and get back to me. Shortly after a supervisor did return my call and advised me that there was a "miscommunication" and the diamond was never shipped to James Allen from the supplier. They assured me they would expedite the process and ship the ring ASAP. The ring did ship the following Friday, 4 days after the initial ship date. Overall the timeline was fine, but the fact I had to keep emailing and phoning for information on the order and kept being told false information was incredibly frustrating. Considering JA is an online retailer built upon customer service it is extremely concerning to me the lack of service I received in making the purchase. I am worried how their service will be for warranty and future maintenance on the ring.

Overall the diamond ring I give 5 stars. James Allen's customer service I...

I recently embarked on a journey to find the perfect diamond and was determined not to get ripped off. After extensive research and watching numerous YouTube videos, I decided to make my purchase online. Although I was a bit nervous about the process, my daughter reassured me that James Allen was a legitimate company. My partner gave me free range to select the ring, which added an extra layer of excitement. I spent time comparing diamonds and prices on the James Allen website but still felt uncertain. What stood out to me was the option to visit a showroom and view the diamonds in person. This added a layer of trust and comfort to the process. The first couple of diamonds I considered were not ideal, as advised by a James Allen representative. I appreciated their honesty and asked for their top three recommendations. I was initially torn between a lab-created and a natural diamond but eventually chose the natural diamond, trusting my instincts that it was the right decision. After narrowing it down to three diamonds, I set up an appointment to visit the showroom. While the process felt a bit intrusive at first, my partner and I complied with the protocol and met with a gemologist in the city. Viewing the diamonds in person made all the difference. Each diamond had distinct qualities, and I chose the one that spoke to me the most. About two weeks later, I received a 14K White Gold 2.5mm Comfort Fit Solitaire Engagement Ring and Marquise 0.90 crt J SI1 VG VG stunning and sparkled brilliantly beautifully packaged was. I couldn’t stop admiring it. However, the ring setting felt tight and uncomfortable. I struggled with the decision to return the ring for resizing, but ultimately opted for an exchange. James Allen allowed a courtesy visit to the showroom to have my finger sized and arranged for a setting exchange. During the meeting, I learned that the ring was not the size I had ordered, which explained the discomfort. Overall, my experience with James Allen was positive, from the initial selection process to the final product. I am thrilled with my beautiful ring. I appreciate the excellent customer service provided throughout the journey. I highly recommend...

They deleted my first review on their website! Buyer beware. The ring itself, the diamond we selected..GORGEOUS. The customer service, however, severely lacked and led us ultimately to cancel our order and request a refund. We traveled TWICE to the DC store location (4-5 hours round trip from Richmond) to avoid any sizing issues and to make sure what we were seeing online was what we wanted since this is a BIG and very important purchase. We loved what JA offers in terms of protection and found it is one of the best in the industry. We found a different ring than this one in store (they did not have this one in store and in fact did not have much there), and that was gorgeous but WAY TOO BIG. We returned that one for this ring, along with the smaller size. Mind you, I was sized IN THE STORE to avoid this issue. This ring should have been a size 7.25 and on paper it was. It was still too big, so we were going to return it for a 7. However, after we mailed it back to JA for a resize, we received an email stating that this ring was already a size 7 and would not explain or take responsibility for their mistake. Our concern was, how will we know what size we are being sent and, what if, this new size ALSO does not fit? We had the protection package, and so they said we could just keep sending it back, which made no sense because why does this have to be so arbitrary? I understand ring sizes differ between ring designs, manufacturers, and that even my finger can be bigger or smaller based on several factors (this is not rocket science). When we expressed our concern, they could care less. They were completely unbothered that we were confused and concerned and out of frustration and lack of transparency we hesitantly canceled our order. JA does not care about their customers since they have so many. Who are we to them? But for us, this was a major letdown after three months of back and forth. My hope is you have a much better experience...