Brilliant Earth — Local services in West Chicago Township

TLDR: Brilliant Earth severely lacks in basic customer care.

My fiance and I went in today for our scheduled appointment to try on wedding bands. Before the appointment, I filled out a survey with a list of rings that I liked, and I included my size in the info. I spent a long time scrolling through the site and getting this list together. I then received an email confirming that every ring on my list would be there for me to try on, aside from 1.

When we met the rep, her first question was if I had any styles I preferred. My response - yes of course I do, I already listed out for you everything that I liked (and spent a long time doing it!). This exchange led me to feel that she was unprepared for our appointment and it made me lose confidence in her right off the bat.

She then proceeded to give me a ring sizer to try on and find out my size, even though I was already wearing a ring that was comfortable and she easily could have sized that ring. One of the sizer loops got stuck on my finger and when I told her it was stuck, she replied "that's fine!" my reply: "is it? I don't think it's fine.... please help me?" I was dumbfounded. It was a very bizarre response. My finger ended up super swollen and I had to ask if we could just size the ring I was already wearing, which only seemed like common sense from the get-go.

Meanwhile, the showroom had a second couple who were also shopping for rings and learning about diamonds. I know this because their sales rep was bellowing their entire conversation - we could hear every single word echoing loudly through the room. It was extremely distracting, off-putting, and overstimulating during an appointment that should have felt intimate and special. My fiance had to step out several times for a volume break, and I was having a very difficult time focusing on the task at hand.

The rep we were working with ended up in tears after we made it clear that we were both frustrated with the situation and didn't feel taken care of. It wasn't her fault - I don't think corporate had given her the tools to succeed, and her loud coworker was extremely lacking in self-awareness. We walked in ready to spend a lot of money and walked out mostly just confused - what was that whole experience?!

I felt badly about how the whole thing ended. There should really be some better training around appointment protocol. Ring sizing feels like admin work and should have been done at the end - doing that first and making my finger swell up really crushed the whole vibe. When customers walk in, first show them the thing they are most excited about: the rings! And pull them onto a tray ahead of time so it doesn't feel like a scramble. Also - ask them questions about themselves and their wedding. Maybe even compliment the engagement ring. I mean this is Sales 101. Remember that you're a part of a once-in-a-lifetime moment for them. And if your coworker is yelling in the showroom, pull them aside and ask them to turn down the volume.

I did end up finding 2 rings that I liked. I took photos of them for inspiration and will be working with a local...

First off, our jewelry consultant Victoria was amazing. She helped us find our forever rings and was super transparent and communicative throughout the absolute ORDEAL Brilliant Earth put me through.

My ring needed a resize and we were assured this wouldn't be a problem but the second the back office got a hold of the ring, they started demanding $600 to "rebuild" the ring. $600 for a resize! Thankful, Victoria helped us clear this hurdle.

Unfortunately, the ring was still a little too big and since Brilliant Earth wanted $600 to resize it, I took it to another jewelry store to get it sized down again.

However, the new jeweler turned me away because my diamond is cracked, right down the middle! My wedding was FOUR WEEKS ago and the diamond is already so damaged that another jeweler can't work on it.

I'm not doing hard labor. I work at the computer all day. I don't take the ring to the gym. How could a diamond ring break after four weeks of wear and tear???

When I contacted Brilliant Earth, they told me they needed to rebuild the entire ring. This means the ring at my wedding would be destroyed and they'd give me a new one.

Before I could hear the price, I knew this was a nonstarter. My ring is special to me. It's the ring my wife put on my hand at my wedding. I would hope Brilliant Earth would understand the gravity of this, but they clearly don't.

And its a gold band with a small inlayed diamond - a rebuild is not required here! Yet they told me they're going to destroy my wedding ring and give me "just another ring".

It really is heart breaking. The day I bought the rings was one of the happiest days of my life, but Brilliant Earth has clearly seen this as a cheap way to make money and frustrate...

Shop local, this is an online store with employees that can’t help you at all. I tried to get my wedding band here, but the first ring that came a few weeks later was the wrong size—I was unsure and in between sizes, no big deal. The ring looked nice enough. I tried to reorder the correct size, but 3-4 weeks later the ring that finally showed up was not the size I ordered. Reordered again, and another 3-4 weeks even though they promised express shipment, and they still ordered the wrong size! This entire time I’m trying to talk to a manager since the employee’s only ability to problem solve is to talk to their company through an online chat, but each time they tell me a manager from two states away will call me within 24 hours—they never do. After weeks of trying to call a manager I go to a lovely local jeweler and buy a great ring, and finally get that call from a manager. I tell them there’s nothing they can do for me anymore, since my wedding is now in a week. I leave a bad review stating these facts and now the manager is interested. I agree to a discount on my wife’s wedding band if I take down my bad review. Then a few days later they call back to change the agreement. They saw my wife’s review and demand she takes down her review as well to get the already agreed upon discount. This is a new, separate agreement, but they refuse to honor my first agreement—also, it’s funny how interested this manager finally became.

Anyways, they didn’t honor their agreement, and I am so thankful their terrible service pushed me to go to a local jeweler. Also, know they are trying to pay people to take down bad reviews, and I would have agreed, but luckily my wife...