Jewelry By Novel

Full review
In the fall of 2009 I ordered a diamond ring from Jewelry by Novel.
It took a lot of time and stress to order, because they did not accept paypal users from other contries then the US.
But after a month or two they finally fixed that, and after a long dialog by email, where I specified my order, I ordered the ring.

JewelryByNovel.com is a website that sells jewlery. All from diamond rings to
gemstone pendants. They have a store located in L.A. And it all looks very legit. In the solitaire ring category they offered brilliant cut, princess cut, maquise cut and pear cut. I was on the look out for a pear-cut diamond ring. When I contaced them about the pricing, that was a little lower then other internet stores, they answered that they bought their diamonds straight from the diamond mines and didn't have to pay the «middle man». They told me I could spesify my wishes for the ring, and I did.
I wanted a half a carat pear cut ring. Now the diamond-pear should be a thick one, and the ring not very wide. I sent a picture of the ideal ring, and they said they would make excatctly the same.
I was very pleased at that point. They were very friendly og helpful. That's why I decided to order from them.

Then, after two months of trying to order, and one month in the mail, my ring finally arrived. My expectations were high of course, but when I opened the box, I was gravely dissapointed. It was so big!

In their store they offer sizing down to a 4, which was perfect for me. What I actually got, was a ring so big it wouldn't even stick on my thumb. Don't know the exact size, but it must have been something like a mans size. Can't imagine any woman could were this ring.

Then, I soon discovered that the prongs around the diamond were all asymmetrical. One was bigger then the other and the lenghts from one point to another was not the same on the other side. It made the stone look loopsided. Like it was leaning towards one side.
I have to say that I have never seen this bad craftsmanship in my life.

On their webpage it sais : «All our product is created using the latest technology and state of the art equipment.  We can custom make virtually anything».

I cannot understand this.

Third, the diamond I had picked out, (he gave me a list of different sized pear diamonds he had, and I picked a thick one), was not the same. I had chosen thick one, but this one is a long and thin one instead. I didn't care so much about this, but I mean, not even this they got right.

I contacted JewleryByNovel right away, and explained this for them. Plus I reminded them to send the certificate. They had promiced that of course. All jewelry come with a certificate.

I had it resized and wanted to fix the prongs. Now the Norwegan prices are very high, that's the reason I ordered from the US. New sizing costed me 63 USD, and it would cost over 200 USD to rearrange the prongs.

I told this to Novel, and he just said that the prices in Norway was ridicoulus and he wouldn't give me more than 60 dollar to «fix» the ring. This was only enough to have it resized, so I objected.
I had the size changed, but waited with the prongs. I tried to contact Novel several times over the last months, to get them to offer me a solution. They never answered me back. Not once. Not until I didn't write what my problem is, just «Hi, I would like to hear back from you». Then they answered me right away and said «How can we help?» I, again, explained my problem for them. Fist and formost that I wanted my certificate. And then silence... They still haven't answered me back. Haven't even paid the 60 dollars.

So I went to a jeweler a few months later (yesterday) and again asked how much if would cost to fix the prongs. I have gone to several jewelers to get the best price of course. But this time, I would discover why they haven't sent me a certificate. The stone was the worst quality, and he would even think about trying to fix the prongs. It was so inculated that it would actually brake.
Now this was just a big slap in the face. Here have I paid for the best quality they could offer, a VVS diamond (very very slightly inculated, couldn't see flaws unless it was under a big microscope), and I get the worst. Jewlers in Norway wouldnt even sell this. The value is almosts nothing.

So what can I say? Don't ever think about buying items from David Novel. He gives the worst products you can possibly imagine. Everything was wrong with it. Does not even include a certificate. And when you'll try to get help from the previous loving customer service, they never answer you back.

I sent another email yesterday, but I really don't think they will anwer.

Is there anyone out there who's been through the same as I have? How do I get what I pay for?

Starting to wonder if they mixed up the orders. Maybe I got someone elses ring, because this was nothing like I ordered...

Please help me someone...