Law Offices of Baron J. Drexel

Complaint: *** I am rejecting this response because: My main issue with this complaint is in the technical proficiency of your jeweler. I don’t want to go off on too much of a tangent by focusing on the associated paperwork. I am a disabled veteran on a fixed income, so in truth, I continued to use this jeweler in part as a result of financial constraints. I also hoped to provide the jeweler with an opportunity to correct his work. The fact that I was unaware that a signature indicated satisfaction with service is my error. Nevertheless, the fact that there is no signature on the ticket for the second visit and my girlfriend’s reaction clearly should have been an indication that we were not satisfied with the repair performed. I also dispute that the second visit was all in one day, but this once again drifts the focus of the complaint from craftsmanship to paperwork, so I won’t draw a line in the sand here As I mentioned in my previous rebuttal, I was not absolutely certain that the loose stone was due to the repairs performed as I am not a jeweler, but I had a strong suspicion based on the research I had performed. As I previously mentioned, I returned to Gold Masters for continued repairs primarily due to financial reasons. While the jeweler claims working on rings with invisible settings at least once a week with ease, it also does not state that the repairs are without error. In my last rebuttal, I attached pictures of the ring and it is fairly evident that there was a distinct change in the ring’s appearance and it was not for the better. I did consult with two other jewelers post-repair, as my options were limited. I did not mention Gold Masters Jewelers to the second jeweler who ultimately fixed the ring, but at no time did I feel that either Jeweler was bad-mouthing or bashing your shop. The final point I want to bring up is that there have been no issues with the bands of the ring falling apart or loose gems after I allowed the second jeweler to correct the shoddy workmanship performed by your shop This is the third letter I have written and I hope that it is painfully obvious that I was not pleased with the repairs performed by your shop. As you mentioned yourself, there is no signature on the second receipt so that should have been a flare on your radar that your client was not pleased. The fact that after every visit, something else was loose, fell off, or that the repair did not hold is a testament to your level of craftsmanship. I have had no such problems with the ring after a more skilled jeweler was allowed to properly perform the repairs. Once again, I ask for a refund of the initial $repair fee and $to cover the cost of properly repairing the ring
Regards,
*** ***

As the client mentioned in his rebuttal, he states that he was "not aware that signing the receipt indicated that I was satisfied with the service provided", this is an absolute fabricationHe is right with the sentence that follows that where he states "it was explained to me that a signature indicated physical receipt of the item listed", we ask for a signature on the FRONT of the receipt when our clients leave the items with usso he is correct in stating that it indicated physical receipt of us receiving the itemHowever as you can clearly see on ALL of the paperwork we sent over, there is a BIG, black, bold stamp above where we ask for his signature at pickup on the back of the repair ticketThis stamp states "Customer Agrees Work and Items(s) are Satisfactory"Which this client did sign, on more than one occasion, except for the second visit when the girlfriend stormed out of our storeSecond he states paperwork was not filled out on the second visit as he states the clerk said " he knew who we were"Then can the client please explain why paperwork was filled out and signed by him that it was dropped off on the 10th which was his second visit? As stated in our letter and in the client's letter, he is right; we do NOT have his signature nor his girlfriends signature on the ticket showing that it was PICKED UP, that is dated for the SECOND visit (on the 10th) which is why I did not include it because the customer satisfaction signature was blankThe second visit was all in ONE day in the 10th, he dropped it off and signed for it that he left it and she picked it up the same day and did not sign for it as she stormed out of our storeSo you can look back and see the second visit I scanned in, the date received in the top right corner and the date promised was the same dayThe so called "discharge paper work" that he states in his rebuttal was in fact, his THIRD visit paperwork which is dated on December 1stWhich he states in his letter that he did sign on the THIRD visit, and he did on December 1st, as I included in our previous email and faxWe have no signature for the November 10th visit, which again, is why we did not attach it to the 2nd visit repair ticket in our original response, because it is a blank backSo we would like to thank our client for making that even more clear for us all and since our client has "misfiled or thrown my receipts away" we can understand how the visit and dates can be so confusing for him. This client also Clearly states that he was " not certain that the diamond loosened due to the repairs performed" in his rebuttal, so can our client then explain why he came back to our business if he did not even know how the diamond was loose? The client also contradicts himself yet again, when he states " we were hesitant to return to Gold Master Jewelers as we were not too impressed with their technical prowess as the initial repair failed" So, the client is saying he was not sure HOW or WHEN the diamond loosened, and questions our work, yet he kept returning to our store to get work done? Even though he was not sure how the was loosened? The first letter he sent us on April 13th clearly states that he believed " suspecting that the diamond had became loose secondary to your repair, I once again returned to your ship whereupon you agreed to reattach the loose stone." Then the first time contacted the Revdex.com he states " I returned the ring to the shop suspecting that the repair may have been the cause of the diamond becoming loosened"See how the client is continually contradicting himself and now somehow the entire story is changed in his rebuttal when again he states he was " not certain that the diamond loosened due to the repairs performed."When it comes to the two other jewelers he consulted, we must point out three thingsThe first being that many other jewelers will not work on invisible set rings, so he is completely right about thatHowever we do, we actually work on invisible set rings at least once a weekWe do work for huge retail chains like *** *** *** and *** Most of these companies send us rings just like the clients, that are invisible set rings weeklyDue to our jeweler's experience and laser techniques he is able to size them, soder them, set stones in them, and fix them with complete ease(Please note in our first response we never addressed the fact that we were not able to work on because we can and we do.) the second point is that the client sought out competition, and unfortunately as im sure you know at the Revdex.com, people like to bash and bad mouth other businesses instead of building them up and unitingIt is just the kind of world we live in todayWe are a successful award winning business in Corpus Christi, and I can assure you we did not get the title for no reasonWe, out of every store in our area have one number one jewelry store and gold buyers multiple years in a row in our communitySo this advice he received from another local store in our area could have been because he went in, upset, explained his story to them, and of course they were going to fuel his fireBecause, again, is unfortunately how many others do business, especially when it comes to competitionThe third point is the other jeweler he consulted, one of whom he stated in his previous letter was " a personal friend", leads us to believe now, that the client may have visited us initially to simply discredit us or is maybe just finding any which way to attack our credibility considering how he keeps blaming us for his diamond going missing, that is clearly seen and factually proven to be his own faultAs I must ask why they did not go to the personal friend to get the ring soldered back together in the first place? And again ,I will point out that when this client brought his ring to us, it had unsoldered Again like we stated in our last letter we informed the client that his diamond was loose and we also informed him that there was a sliver missing, and they continued to wear it which should have never happenedWe also informed the client that his girlfriend must have smacked the ring or hit it into somethingSo we did inform this client we needed to be done to the ring to the ring to get it into a wearable condition, he accepted the cost and repairs, left the ring with us, and then came back in to pick up his ring to go elsewhere. Complete response attached

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:Gold Master's Jeweler's repairs to my ring were not suitable for the ring's setting and led to the loss of one of its center stones See attached memo I have also included pics of the ring pre-Gold Master (GM) repair, GM repair, and porepair done by another jeweler
Regards,
*** ***

Thank you for contacting us, we had in fact received a much more exaggerated form, and slightly different in facts, letter that you received from this client. We chose to not respond to his letter to avoid he said she said and hoped he would contact the Revdex.com so that we could resolve this...

issue. we actually remember this client very well, as his girlfriend came in with a large boa snake wrapped around her entire arm on their first visit, which we do not see everyday. The client visited our store on November 4,2016 with his girlfriend, and brought in his 14K ladies trio set ring with two bands, he asked for us to solder them back together, and clean and polish the bands. As he states in his letter to you, the bands had separated, that is why he visited us initially, this was the first time we saw this ring from this client, he had the solder done somewhere else, or the rings came soldered like that. Which undersoldering is usually an indication that the rings have been dealt with roughly by the client. Client brought them in for us to solder them back together, because they had somehow come apart, even though we were not the original ones who soldered them to begin with. We did so and he picked up the repair four days later and signed that everything was satisfactory. He then returned two days later on the 10th, his second visit to our store, (as shown on his repair ticket attached), and asked us to redo the solder, as it had come loose again, so this time our jeweler explained that he would now do the repair with the torch, which is the "old fashioned way", instead of the laser to see if it would hold better. he then sent his girlfriend in to pick up the ring, when we took it out to her for her to sign for pick up she immediately screamed and said "Woah, wait a minute this is not my ring, it does not look like my ring I'm going to show my husband", and she ran out of our store and zoomed off in her car. Now, in his letter to you he states that within two days one of the smaller diamonds on the band fell out, however you can see in the items I scanned in, he did not return to our store for his third visit until December 1st (almost a whole month later). he asked us to replace the diamond, our jeweler in good faith, set the diamond back in at no charge. Also, he says in your letter that the ring was dirty, smudged, and had residue in the surface, and that the shape was contorted;(which our staff would have immediately seen and written down if it was) yet they did not bring it back to us until almost a month later. I know personally that if I was picking up my ring, or for example my car, and I was accusing a place of business of the things this client is accusing us of, I would be back to that business the same day, or would not leave the place of business until they made it right. However, he returned over 20 days later, and never mentioned the above issues, and returned because a diamond fell out. I must also make note he never tried to contact us before this third visit weeks later. Now, it is important that I explain, as you may know already what is done when we solder the bands together. We do not touch the top of the ring whatsoever. It is almost like going into a car repair shop for a flat tire, and then blaming the mechanic for the battery going out. When we repair items we focus directly and only on the spot provided to fix, let's put it this way, we do not touch another part of the ring or so extra work for absolutely no reason, as in this case, we only resoldered the 2 bands back together and never once touched the diamonds at the top. Also, we must point again that the fact he returned over 20 days later, anything could have happened to that ring, she could have hit it, banged it, or it could have dropped. On a wide and high set ring with this setting, a simple hit on anything will indeed knock the diamond out. However for lack of an argument our jeweler agreed to make this client happy and replace it at no charge. The client then picked up the ring the next day on December 2,2016 and signed that everything was satisfactory, (as shown on the ticket attached). So contrary to his letters, where he states that the diamond repair was " disappointing", and that there was " dried glue", and the bands were loose (again, diamond work here has nothing to do with bands , they were not even touched this time, just the diamonds that our jeweler set), he never once stated any of this when he picked up and inspected the ring, and he even signed (as shown) that her was satisfied with the work. So now fourth time he entered our store, on December 22,2016 (as shown on repair scanned in) he came in and said that the larger center diamond had become loose, and there was a silver missing from the diamond, (as stated in his letter) he spoke with our jeweler, again with no mention of the so called "condition" of the ring. Our jeweler went on to explain to him that the only way that a sliver could be missing from the diamond is of the ring was hit very hard, also the prong of the diamond which is missing a piece, which is in the shape of a V, was bent very badly. Our jeweler explained the the client that this indicates the ring indeed been hit very badly. At this point our jeweler said he did not even want to touch this ring anymore for a few reasons, one is that is was badly beaten up, and a second being the accusations and scene his girlfriend had created weeks ago in our store about the ring not being hers, in front of other clients. This is when the clients attitude completely changed and he became very apologetic and was very nice with our jeweler and continued apologizing about his girlfriends comments about the ring and her attitude. So our jeweler, again in good faith agreed to work on the ring again, he told the client that it would be $250 to repair the prong that was smashed, and add five new ones, and straighten the diamond. The client agreed, left the ring for repair work to be done, and signed that her left the ring in our care (as shown at the bottom of the repair ticket dated 12/22/16). Then a few days later he called and told us not to do the work and that we would be by to pick up the ring. We were not sure what changed his mind until he stated in his letter that he spoke with another jeweler. We must state here, that if he had left his ring with us to repair correctly, that the center diamond would have never been lost. He left our store fully and 100% completely aware that the diamond looked as if it was about to fall out, as well as it was completely uneven but still in tact and not missing. So I must ask how did it go missing? When it should have been kept safe in a bag or protected of some sort, because the client knew the ring was damaged. If you knew your precious ring, that she "treasured" so much as the client states in his letter to us, was on the verge of losing a diamond would you still wear it?I know I certainly would not, especially since she , as stated in the letter is unable to "display her ring proudly",  I can not seem to understand why she wore it in the condition it left the store in after they refused the work days later. So if he left with it intact why should we be held responsible if the client and his girlfriend obviously acted carelessly and she still either wore the ring or just negligently placed it somewhere where the diamond could fall out and be easily lost. in addition based on the later part of his letter he states , " the cost of the repair was $1000" leads me to believe that he has indeed had the ring worked on since he has last visited us, and again, where he then further states " she used to display her ring proudly , and now hesitates to put it on" shows that even the new jeweler-and his workstill could not satisfy the clients. So at this point due to the factual evidence provided we will not be refunding the client any money for his repair done at our store or for the additional repairs he had done because if he had left it with us to be repaired, we would have guaranteed the center diamond would have not have fallen out. Thank you very much for your time and please let us know if there is anything else we can provide for us, I have attached all repair tickets when he left the item with us from his first to forth visit.