NEVER BUY FROM OXFORD DIAMOND CO.!!!!!

#1
This might be a bit long so please bare with me....

I bought an engagement ring from Oxford Diamond Co. last June. After already having a bad experience with another company online, I decided to bite the bullet and order it. I paid just under $2000 for it. When it arrived, much to my relief, it was absolutely stunning! Diamonds were good quality and it was exactly what I had paid for, my FI was extremely happy with this ring.

This past March, I contacted Steve again to ask him if he had a matching wedding band to go with the engagement ring I had originally purchased. He sent me a picture of the ring, which did NOT have a HOLLOW BACKING (this is important later). Steve told me the ring would be around $379. I asked him if it was possible to increase the width of the band from 1.7mm to 2.7mm, so it could stand out a little from the engagement ring. Steve wrote back saying this would be possible, for an extra $200. I had no problem with this and he sent me a paypal invoice, which I paid March 2nd.

About 5 weeks go by and I contact Steve and ask him what's up with the ring. He says it's ready and he will ship it. After paying $50 for shipping and another $75 duty (I live in Canada), I got the ring. When I took it out, I was happy with the look of it on the outside. It was indeed exactly what I had ordered.

HOWEVER! The inside/backing was HOLLOW. You could see each individual hole where each diamond has been placed. I thought this was very strange considering the picture he sent me showed that backing, and it was filled in.

First off, I would NEVER buy a hollow ring. Secondly, I basically paid $200 MORE to have the ring made larger, with what looks like the same amount of gold, or LESS, than the ring in the original picture he sent me. After talking to a few other jewelers in this city, they all said that it's basically UNHEARD OF for a diamond eternity band to be made with a hollow backing. It could cost me up to $500 to have it filled in, which is almost how much I paid for the ring in the first place!

According to paypal's policy, you can only make a claim for an item within 45 days of the purchase. I received the ring on day 43 after the paypal invoice went through. That day I emailed Steve about the cheap substitute he sent me, no response. The next day (Day 44) I sent ANOTHER email. Again, no response. My guess is, Steve knew that after 45 Days was up, I would be shit out of luck for trying to get any of my money back. Luckily for me, I knew about paypal's policy, and on day 45 sent Steve an email for the THIRD TIME, and told him if he didn't respond I would file a dispute with paypal.

Sure enough, no response. So I filed the dispute with paypal. MAGICALLY he comes out of nowhere to fight me against the dispute, a hell of a lot faster than he was emailing me. He claims that the ring was EXACTLY as it was pictured when he sent it, and that they don't do refunds on custom items, and offered $50 as a COURTESY to me. At this point I'm thinking "What a smug SOB!!!!".

After a few more lies of his in the paypal resolution center, I escalated the dispute to a claim. I'm not even asking for the full $600 back, I was only asking for $300 so I could get the ring filled in before our wedding, which is more than fair at this point, I SHOULD'VE demanded a full refund, and since it's "custom", they won't let me return it! I'm currently waiting for the outcome and will provide the end result once notified.

To sum it all up, Oxford Diamond will try to scam you if given the opportunity. The only reason I think it never happened the first time was because I did it through ebay.

Since this item was not listed on ebay and custom, I couldn't even leave negative feedback. So I came on to here.

I have screen caps of the email conversations and original photo of the ring, as well as what was sent, cause it seems he comes on here and tried to lie his way out of his accusations. NOT THIS TIME STEVE! If anyone would like to see them I will post a link on here.

Thanks for reading!

UPDATE: I lost my paypal claim, and was scammed. AVOID THESE PEOPLE AT ALL COSTS!!!!
 
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poppyseed

The Florentine Diamond
#2
Sorry about that, I had a bad experience with them too, although I was saved from buying from them. They had quoted me a price for a ring, I agreed and paid. Then the next day they tell me to send $200 approx, more to them as the price of gold had gone up. Sounded fishy to me so I asked for a refund.

Usually paypal rules in favor of the buyer, surprised you did not win your claim.
 

MissCassie

The Pink Orchid
#3
I'm sorry to hear you lost the paypal claim. Could we see the pictures of the ring you thought you were purchasing and the ring you received?
 
#5
Slightly unrelated question as I'm a noob... is it bad for the ring to be partly hallow on the inside? Both my e-ring and band have spots that are partially hallow where I can see where they placed the side diamonds and where a bunch more could have been placed (i went for the simple 3 stone instead of the whole top)

Thanks!
 
#6
Hollow rings, full or partial, have a higher chance of becoming damaged or the stones falling out, as was my understanding talking to a local jeweler here.

In my case, I never ordered it hollow, which was the whole dispute in the first place...
 
#8
If I recall correctly both my original e-ring and wedding band (from Kay) are hollow...I wore them for 5 years with no problem...but again that's not what you paid for.
 

elf925

The Pink Orchid
#9
Did you call paypal or just do it all through email? I know a lot of times, especially with just emails, the paypal people just dont get it. I have had disputes before where I was set to loose but after I called and actually explained what I was talking about, I won.
 

Cricketgrrl

BTD Crown Jewel
#10
MilesH said:
Hollow rings, full or partial, have a higher chance of becoming damaged or the stones falling out, as was my understanding talking to a local jeweler here.

In my case, I never ordered it hollow, which was the whole dispute in the first place...
Sorry to hear about the problem with Oxford.

I have two very narrow, bead-set diamond and 18kt white gold eternity bands with wee azures (holes) behind each diamond. The rings are worn nearly daily and I've never had any issues with them.

I was told that cleaning them in an ultrasonic cleaner might be problematic (as in cause stones to become loose or fall out), so I didn't do it for the first couple years I had them. Instead, I cleaned them with dish liquid and a toothbrush, etc. I noticed one day that the rings weren't as bright as usual, and when I louped in the inside of the rings, noted that most of the azures were completely blocked. Ick!!! Hand lotions, even when the rings were not on my hands, caused the blockage.

After soaking the rings in soapy water, Gemcare, etc., and a THOROUGH removal and cleaning of them, I decided to get the last of the "stuff" out with the ultrasonic cleaner. Voila! Perfect! Super sparklie eternity bands again.

I've also looked at many antique eternity bands that have open space behind the diamonds, and these are rings which are 100 years old, still going strong.
From a strength and use standpoint, perhaps it's not as big a problem as your jeweler told you. Maybe get as second opinion or third opinion, even? However, as you paid extra, for extra gold/weight, that's definitely an issue.

I hope it's not too late to resolve with PayPal...
 
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#11
I'm sorry to hear that you lost your dispute. :-(

Back in 2002-2005 or so, Oxford Diamond was still a good company to buy settings from, especially if you wanted a good value to mount a sim in. But they got too big, and too careless. I bought a mounting from them back in 2006 or so, and promptly paid for it. My payment was returned, mysteriously, and when I contacted Oxford, they said that item was out of stock and now discontinued and can't be reordered. I was really miffed, because I really wanted that setting and had been planning a nice ring using it.

So, now their prices are 2x what they used to be, and I'd probably never buy from them again.
 
#12
Highly disappointed. Although ring is beautiful, I never would have expected to have rude customer service when my boyfriend purchased an item online. Not only did he not receive what was ordered, ( it was the wrong color stone.) It was severely late. This was meant as my anniversary gift, and I didn't receive it until a week later. Not only did it ruin the wonderful gift that my boyfriend had planned, it has been a back and forth battle of trying to get the correct item. Why should we have to pay extra to get what I ordered. There is a big difference between a ROYAL BLUE SAPPHIRE and the LIGHT AMETHYST stone that I received in my halo promise ring. I am certainly not a happy camper at all. This has basically caused me to not want to purchase anything from this company again.
 
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