Julie Stark of PointNoPointStudio Poor Service, Poor Quality, Inability To Make Returns, Misleading Listings, Policies Seattle Internet

Like many people, we like to support small businesses. This is a cautionary tale with a few tips on what to look for and what you should try to avoid. Like anyone ready to drop some change on some pretty bling, we did our research. The first thing we did was look at reviews. They looked good. Too good. That should have been our first warning.

We thought if we ordered all our rings for our wedding from the same shop there'd be consistency and quality in the materials. We were wrong. Despite contacting the shop within the designated time frame for returns, she did not honor her own posted policies, and we ended up with mismatched items we were unable to return.

Now, for the full story. 

We ordered two rings in white gold both 14K. They did not match. We sent images and contacted her asking for a refund. Despite contacting her within the designated time frame for returns, she refused to honor her own return policy. We were left with an expensive item that we didn't want to own.

Then there was his ring. It wasn’t made to order and was resized poorly. It had a very visible seam and a large chip of white gold was missing. When we asked her about this we were told it was normal. We were visiting jewelers the next day, so we took it in to get their opinions. The consensus was that it was poorly made and we were quoted hundreds of dollars to get a new one properly made. I shared these informed options from the jewelers with her and noted that the display images didn’t show any of these (supposedly) normal flaws. She refused to make a second ring or admit there was anything wrong with it.

We left reviews noting these honest issues and the poor customer service. She flagged them for removal. Etsy was contacted about this issue and did nothing. Basically, the shop owner flags all review she doesn't like so, when shopping, people think they're shopping from a reputable jeweler with high customer satisfaction and quality materials. In reality, that's just not the case. Only 17% of her sales were reviewed. That's one of the lowest percentages on Etsy. Etsy, when contacted about these issues, refused to take any actions against her shop or her flagging of negative reviews for automatic removal. 

When you’re shopping on Etsy, be aware. Run the numbers of reviews to sales to get an idea of if the shop you’re ordering from is using the same practices. Also, avoid this shop. We really wish we'd never ordered.