HORRIBLE experince trying to buy wedding rings from AbsoluteTitanium.com

[JeffSpicoli]

I have used this site before to get the low-down on merchants I considered doing business with. But this will be a first pst here for me.. I really feel the need to inform people of my experience with absolutetitanium.com. I have gotten useful information here, so here is my effort to give back to help others potentially save the grief I went through on an already tough, taxing and nerve racking experience for the first time, and hope last, e–ring/wedding ring buyer working hard to make an awesome surprise impression on his soon to be fiancé and meet a crucial deadline. I will respect the board and do this in the most positive way I can, but tell the true story as it is pretty shocking I feel....

I found the exact style of ring design, a tension setting, on the absolutetitanium.com site. We plan to be going to Italy in late September and it was at that time I had planned to romantically propose to my girl as a surprise in Rome – and do so with a custom ring with a custom select stone. Early in July – over 6 weeks ago -I sent an email about getting some ring information. No one ever answered. The following week – 5 weeks – I just opted to call middle of the week. I spoke with the sales person, but this person had no real ability to answer my questions and gave me wrong details (e.g., all their stones, including blue sapphires, were synthetic). I was informed later she was new – but not so good when helping a customer get crucial ring details. So, I was handed over to Maria – the rings designer and apparent business owner. I was told then, 6-8 weeks to make a ring set – despite they are machined rings. 6-8 weeks, wow!!! But, Maria felt it was possible to get it done no problem, BUT they could not start that week as people in her company were on vacation. We would pick it up next week and she would follow up. The next week – 4 weeks – I was never contacted and so when I called back at the end of week, we could not proceed as now they had industry people – the gem person - on vacation. Another week lost. So, we proceed next week and she would follow up. The next week – 3 weeks out – she never followed up and so I made the call and she proceeds to tell me they are moving! Moving! Don’t you think this is a crucial bit of info to tell a waiting customer if it affects timeline, not to mention me having to follow up[ Amazing. So, we proceed next week and she will follow up. So the next week – 2 weeks - no on contacts me again and again I contact them near end of the week only to find that they have not sent the promised gem photos I should have gotten the previous week. After some fussing, they promised to send that day, BUT would have to follow up 2 hours later with stone details as they are “on a different computer” and “she is expected to email you when she reaches her office” and get those details. Now, what did I get? I got 2 very poor photos of 2 stones. Our agreement was for minimum 1 carat blue sapphires and one stone was less than 1 and one was just at 1. So, essentially, I just had 1 stone to select from! Wow, another dropped ball. So, I waited for the details to be emailed about the single useful stone (origin, dimensions, treatments, cost, clarity, certs, etc). Nothing. I called back – as they never call me - and was told… “Maria is having computer problems and will not be able to get to it this week” and that “she is expected back in the office next week”! What – just like that? We had agreed just hours earlier to have details sent and it all worked out and the order processed that very Friday. Now she is gone for the weekend? Another week – as this was a Friday - lost and the next week is a holiday Monday and so then what? So, we proceed next week and she will follow up as per the emails I got from her assistant. But this time I decided, 5 weeks now of endless delays and mounting excuses, to just sit tight for the week and see how they handled it while making new last minute scramble side plans as I could see time was ticking and it was clear they were hanging me out to dry as who does this kind of stuff? Well, what happened? They never followed up this week!! That brings me to today. I gave them to full week and told myself, I must move on by Friday to try to salvage this.

During this time, I never, not one time, ever, received a call back to my several voice mails left specifically for Maria on her personal line over these weeks. Her assistant only ever contacted me and did so only via email and only in the last 2 weeks when they finally got my email correct – that is a story in itself as I had to explain and respell my email no less than 5 times for them to get it right! I was told, on 2 occasions, and I quote from Maria, “the ball is in my court”. I also paraphrase, from Maria, that at week 2 above she had “no concerns” that they would get this done and she had already slotted me in for a slot for production “next week” (the final week they never followed up). Worthless words when no one contacts me or follows up as, for example, I have no ideas about the stone I am looking at. On a few emails and conversations with her assistant, I spelled all this out – and even pleaded “so I beg of you please…”, only to be told I was having, and I quote, “bad luck” and “bad timing” and that “be patient as they were doing everything they could” and “please be advised we are doing our absolute best to ensure a timely response” Clearly, I am being bamboozled.

So, in the end, she wasted +-6 weeks of my precious time with delays, excuses and no customer service or follow up. I did all the work to make this happen. I was clear I was ready to move as soon as she could and it was crystal clear the ball was in her court to do the follow up to make it happen. This caused me innumerable amounts of stress as I now had no stone and no ring and lost over 6 weeks of time! I had to go into mad scramble mode – and I do have a life and run my own business.

IMHO, this is supposed to be her/their job; to make an e-ring and wedding ring come together for a client stress free. Period. Inspire confidence and take command and make the customer feel in good hands on something so important as this one time event. I have never worked so hard to spend my own money, been questionably delayed so many times, and had so many unfulfilled promises and such poor, poor customer no service. We are not talking about a shirt I ordered off the web, we are talking about a set of rings (was to be 3 as mine would come from there also) that will last a life time, that will be given in an once in a life time convergence of moments while in Italy.

Sorry this was so long, but I felt compelled to give details so the story was clear and I was making a claim and backing it up.

Can/would I recommend the Absolute Titanium company for something as precious and important as an e-ring and wedding ring, NO. “Bad luck” and “bad timing” are not the answers nor do they last over 6 weeks.

[JeffSpicoli]

BTW, I wanted to rate them here on the site, but cannot since I do not have an invoice number. But I do not have an invoice number.. well, you can see why I do not. However, I feel I am very well qualified to rate this seller as much as anyone else, and wish I could.

[jamerican413]

That does indeed sound like a debacle. My question to you is, did you have a backup? At what point did that little alarm sound off in your gut that you might not get what you wanted when you wanted? From reading your story, I would have moved on when that 4 week period came around. You can't make people want your business. When they didn't call back I would have been thankful (they really did you a favor by showing you that you couldn't depend on them for something so time sensitive) and moved on to someone who wanted my business. I'm in no way unsympathetic to your plight but your responsibility to yourself was larger than their responsibility to you (when you stressed how important it was to get this done before your trip.) I hope that your engagement setting is successful and that you find someone who wants your business enough to ensure that your needs are met.

[homeplate51]

When they do not call you back before you do business, be sure not to expect any help after. When they took so long to get back to you, you should have moved on right then - not in their defense but rather addressing your culpability - I do a great deal of corporate purchasing - and a vendor who does not respond quickly to start with is left behind, better to not start doing business with. Low cost is not always low cost in the long run.

[JeffSpicoli]

Originally Posted by jamerican413

That does indeed sound like a debacle. My question to you is, did you have a backup? At what point did that little alarm sound off in your gut that you might not get what you wanted when you wanted? From reading your story, I would have moved on when that 4 week period came around. You can't make people want your business. When they didn't call back I would have been thankful (they really did you a favor by showing you that you couldn't depend on them for something so time sensitive) and moved on to someone who wanted my business. I'm in no way unsympathetic to your plight but your responsibility to yourself was larger than their responsibility to you (when you stressed how important it was to get this done before your trip.) I hope that your engagement setting is successful and that you find someone who wants your business enough to ensure that your needs are met.

Hindsight is 20/20.. and easy to look at it from your pointed out perspective about the responsibility to me first. BUT, it was a custom designed ring I really wanted, I believed the rhetoric & promises and that we still had time - so they claimed

I did have a backup, though should not have had to, and started to scramble early last week. At this stage, I already have in my hands an awesome stone - from a gem provided in NY - and a custom jeweler making me the new rings of same material and 90% same design. I sensed what was going on a few weeks back and started to formulate a plan, hoping to not have to do use it and believing Maria should would come through as she promised me not to worry.

So, all is well as far as I can tell as I have the stone, it is a beauty, and the jeweler/designer comes highly recommended off some other sites and says meeting my deadline is no problem at all.

I got lucky in that respect BUT it cost me extra time, extra money and a lot a lot of extra stress. I even had to take time off work - I run my own business - to do more research to find the gem.

[JeffSpicoli]

Originally Posted by homeplate51

When they do not call you back before you do business, be sure not to expect any help after. When they took so long to get back to you, you should have moved on right then - not in their defense but rather addressing your culpability - I do a great deal of corporate purchasing - and a vendor who does not respond quickly to start with is left behind, better to not start doing business with. Low cost is not always low cost in the long run.

I would tend to agree. Also, never said anything about low cost or any cost really. But I assumed the time I had was plenty AND that exact custom ring design is very unique (I only found 1 other place doing something similar on all of the web in weeks of searching - and that is the person who will make it now) so you tend to maybe put up with a little greif to get exactly what you want, but never expecting it to go to this level.

again, hind sight is 20/20 and I am sure we all have put up with a little more BS than we want to attain the item we seek.

a company that makes the claims they do, in the industry they do has a lot more culpability for their actions than I ever will in this. I was lead to believe something, with promises, and until the last few weeks had no real reason to doubt as I understand things come up. as well, you really do not think people in that industry would really do this to you for no real reason. at least as a business owner, I would never have expected it.

[frostbitetwice]

Originally Posted by homeplate51

When they do not call you back before you do business, be sure not to expect any help after. When they took so long to get back to you, you should have moved on right then - not in their defense but rather addressing your culpability - I do a great deal of corporate purchasing - and a vendor who does not respond quickly to start with is left behind, better to not start doing business with. Low cost is not always low cost in the long run.

Delighted to have you hear, Homeplate. Excellent advice, indeed..Generally, when I am using a new vendor, I will send an email with three questions along with a phone call..This process helps to eliminate a lot of problems.

[JeffSpicoli]

If I could have found this design elsewhere, believe me, I would have walked much earlier. It is not my normal MO to take this kind of stringing along. But the simple fact - and this is important fact to keep in mind - that that tension design is not that often found and it has a very unique matching companion ring that slots together with it in a very unique way, made for slim pickings when it came to options to just shop elsewhere.

think about this.. we want to trust people here that the advice they dispense is good and legit. some would dispense the advice to move on quickly after the first few weeks of BS and why would you not? Yet, others would say, like the owner of the store, "we can get this done, no worries". both are bits of info you are asked to believe and act on, yet no ones knows any of these people and they are just random internet encounters. yours, theirs, no ones is any more credible in the beginning than the next guys. as I said.. hind sight is 20/20.. easy to think now what I would/should/could have done and no matter what, the onus falls on the retailer giving me promises and making claims. lets not forget that simple fact. their bad, not mine.

[frostbitetwice]

Originally Posted by JeffSpicoli

If I could have found this design elsewhere, believe me, I would have walked much earlier. It is not my normal MO to take this kind of stringing along. But the simple fact - and this is important fact to keep in mind - that that tension design is not that often found and it has a very unique matching companion ring that slots together with it in a very unique way, made for slim pickings when it came to options to just shop elsewhere.

I guess you valued this product more than the offered misc. service..Fine, that is your choice..Since this item is so important in your life, then you should be prepared to suffer any and all indignities, from this merchant, so as to fulfill your desires..

For me and many others, human interaction becomes a part of any commercial transact and hence bad service will, in most cases, trump the value of goods and services..

Human dignity has a greater value than any man made object..

[JeffSpicoli]

Originally Posted by frostbitetwice

I guess you valued this product more than the offered misc. service..Fine, that is your choice..Since this item is so important in your life, then you should be prepared to suffer any and all indignities, from this merchant, so as to fulfill your desires..

For me and many others, human interaction becomes a part of any commercial transact and hence bad service will, in most cases, trump the value of goods and services..

Human dignity has a greater value than any man made object..

this is true to a degree. you also want to give a person the benefit of the doubt as true life means things come up, the unexpected happens, a little leeway is needed. Many times in life it would be easy to jump to the first conclusion and bail out ASAP. But, life has shown me at times that great things have and can come from showing a little perseverance & dealing with a little extra BS at times when it would have been easier to bail out.

However, in this case... these things failed to pay off

But the key here is.. I had a secondary plan, put it into action and this fact does not change how the vendor handled their situation and their responsibility. period.