Rings issues - what to do?

Not in the same position as we havnt paid anything but mildly similar... we found a little bespoke designer who would hand make our rings and talked about design (which we have seen) and sizing etc... and everything was fine and then I asked if it was possible to add a sapphire to the design and how much more that would cost (as the designer shows many previous rings with a sapphire center stone) and we have never heard back from them... now im worried ive some how offended them but I still really want the rings but dont know what to say to them

Did you pay by credit card? I would write to the jeweller, stating that you are treating this as time of the essence. Give her a deadline to reply - as her site states the shop is closed until 15th July, you may want to set a deadline for 7-14 days after that. If she doesn't reply, go about getting your money back through the credit card company and order the other rings.

We paid through paypal. Can I still get the money back through that? It was a bank transfer.

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Yeah, you can raise a dispute through PayPal. There should be guidance on their website about how to do that. They've got quite a good reputation for resolving disputes and getting people their money back.

Does she have physical premises you could visit, and/or is she appearing at any other events soon that you could see her at? Face-to-face always makes things more immediate I always think.

Failing that, make it clear that if you don't hear back from her you will be opening a dispute and taking your business elsewhere.

It's always possible, of course, that she's just gone on holiday and has been bad at communicating that to clients.

The shop is quite a way away. It's also only open twice a week when I am at work. I don't know if she'll be doing any more wedding fairs soon. She wasn't at the last one last week, I had hoped to see her there, and the wedding fair organisers have also been chasing her on Facebook.

We loved the rings we ordered from her, but are now really worried.

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This may be harsh - but I'd cut your loses now and raise the paypal dispute and go elsewhere.

She may have genuine reasons but I think once you lose confidence in a supplier it is time to move on. Rings are too important to be left to chance, if it were a cheaper, more trivial item then I might be more generous.

My husband (ha - still makes me giggle to type that!) runs his own company and he is the only employee - and he is never truly on holiday, he always replies to urgent messages. Wherever we have been in the world he has been able to spend an hour or so checking email and voicemail. The way the economy is you can't afford to keep customers guessing, so I don't buy it personally.

I have raised a dispute through paypal. We have tried several times to contact her, no answer and no return calls. Her facebook page is full of people panicking. Thing is, Paypal say I have gone past the 45 days mark to raise a dispute, so now I don't think we'll get our money back. I am devastated. I could cry. I can't afford to lose that much money! Especially when I will have to buy rings now from somewhere else.

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My gosh, that sounds awful- going away and leaving no one to reply to emails whilst in the height of wedding season is not good business practise! Really hope you get this resolved, keep up updated.

I don't think she's on holiday. To me it sounds like she's gone into liquidation.

I'd contact her in writing (email or letter) saying that you wish to cancel the contract and she has 7days to return the deposit. I'd also call the local CAB and report her to trading standards.

Check with your wedding insurance whether they would cover you if she has gone into liquidation. They may also be able to give you some advice.

I hope you can recover some of your money. What a horrible situation for you.

I'd contact Trading Standards to see if they know anything. Hope yiu get it sorted. Not what you want x

Going to go against the grain for a minute here, I've liked a business on facebook that i am planning on ordering from, and they have recently had to close their business due to the lady's mum passing away.

The lady posted that she had emailed anyone who's orders could be affected but that she would get back to everyone else asap. I appreciate you've had no contact at all, but there may be a genuine reason she's closed for a little while. I'm not sure how long you've got, but if you've already passed the paypal time limit, is there any reason you couldn't wait another week or two to give the benefit of the doubt. If you do find out she's just not bothered/gone bust then you can work out where to go from there.

Hi,

It might be worth checking the current status of the company on Companies House http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/ (assuming they are registered) I'm not sure how often the database is updated but its worth a shot.

HTH

Checked with insurance company, they will pay out if she has gone into liquidation. Checked companies house and couldn't find a company with her exact company name, although there was one that was similar which had gone bankrupt or whatever they call it. I don't know if that's the right company because I can't figure out how to check the address.

So, I have now emailed her (after several phone calls this week with messages left) and asked her to contact me within 48 hours to tell me what is happening with our rings. I have said that if I don't hear from her in the specified time, then I will be cancelling my order and will want a full refund.

I'm hoping we hear from her. I agree with what one poster has said that perhaps something has happened, but we paid our deposit in May and have had no contact since then. She really should have contacted us by now. She was around in June, she was posting on Facebook, although, people started chasing her mid June.

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Hey hun, I used to have to do a lot of "investigating" on the Companies House website as part of my previous job. If you want to pm me the details (her company name and the one you've found which is similar), I'd be happy to see if I can find out whether they're the same company.

Thank you MadamRed - I clicked on your name, but there was no option to send you a message.

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I may have sent you a message now, I'm not sure.

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Doesn't look like it worked :/ . I've tried changing a few of my settings, if you want to give it another go?

I am now reasonably certain that I sent you a message!! I need Forum training.

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