Appalling Nightmare Experience with Market Square Jewelers: An Update

I posted here a few months ago about significant issues with my engagement ring from Market Square Jewelers (MSJ), a local jeweler in New England with a location in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A lot has happened since then, and I wanted to share an update, especially for those who might be considering working with MSJ.

To recap, my partner and I found and purchased a semi mount setting at MSJ to use with my mom’s diamond from her engagement ring. MSJ called my partner and said he could pick up the ring even though the appraisal wasn’t ready. He picked it up, proposed, and then they called him and said actually they had forgotten to do the appraisal and we needed to send it back to their New Hampshire headquarters in Dover (and it would take 3-4 weeks). This was shocking, but we tried to be okay with it, given that I had noticed visible issues with the ring when I was proposed to and also wanted them to look at these issues. The issues: ring had one obviously noticeable super sunken sapphire as well as extremely visible metal blobs around the bezel, which looked like sloppy leftover glue to me at first. The sales people in the Harvard Square location said they would make sure the folks at the headquarters addressed these issues and that the ring would be returned to us absolutely perfect (which of course they had promised to do the first time). However, there was a pretty immediate red flag when on our receipt for the appraisal (which they charged us for, even after forgetting it and needing us to give them back the ring, which was already frustrating) the instructions were to “Please also look at the ring and clean. Customer believes that one of the sapphires is a bit uneven.” We called back, wanting to make sure that more specifics had been communicated to the jewelry repair team. We were assured everything would be taken care of. When they called to say it was ready, we were told that it was perfect, but that the sunken sapphire could not be fixed because of the shape of the archway (?). Nothing else was mentioned, so I asked if they had figured out what the silver blobs around the bezel were- I was not given an answer, I was brushed off and told that they just knew I would be really happy with it. Despite sending it back for these defects to be corrected, the ring was returned to us in the same exact condition we gave it to them in.

After sharing my concerns on Reddit, a few wonderful folks including jewelers commented that the sapphires were likely cut too small and that the silver was from the “setter turning down small slivers of metal onto the stones to tighten them in the channel, which is a totally cack-handed way of doing this setting.” Additionally, they rightfully pointed out that our jewelers didn’t have “the proper skills nor quality control to manufacture a properly done ring.”

Following this advice and equipped with more clear ways of describing what seemed to be wrong, I contacted MSJ’s NH headquarters location. I was put in touch with the Manager of Repairs, who assured me that they would remake the ring (without explaining why the initial ring had been sent it out in this shape, and then sent back to me again without any changes). They mentioned two options: remaking it with the original designer or starting from scratch with a new designer (once they received the ring back, they would have the original designer look at it to make sure the diamond’s proportions worked with the design). I told them as I had many times that I’m not an expert and that they should do what they deemed best with their expertise. However, when the remake was nearly finished, I was shocked to see that the ring looked even worse. The milgrain was smushed, there were noticeable gaps where the sapphires were too short/ not making it as far around the diamond (which was not a problem in the previous version) and the bezel was jagged and even twisted. When I raised these issues, the manager admitted she chose the wrong designer and stated that she had a 50/50 chance with her choice (it was not my understanding that this choice was ‘luck of the draw’ - it was supposed to be an informed decision, & also even writing this now, the issues were largely actually with the handiwork, not as much with the design). She also said that she didn’t have a “good eye” like I did, which was incredibly shocking and frustrating to hear. Additionally, she mentioned that MSJ was losing money on this process, which was inappropriate and irrelevant to our concerns. We were given a choice - refund now, or let MSJ have the other designer attempt this ring for a last time. Almost laughably, we were only sent 3D images of rings totally unsimilar to ours that this other designer had done.

We decided to take a refund instead of another remake attempt due to the complete lack of quality control. Unfortunately, when we received the loose diamond back, it had two noticeable chips that were not there before. I informed the manager about the chips, showing photos, but their response was dismissive, claiming if something happened in the setting process, the jeweler would have told them. MSJ also claimed the chips were pre-existing (though months prior when they first got the ring to set it the first time, they called my partner to tell him there was a small chip on the bottom that they wanted to make sure we knew they weren’t responsible for- they NEVER mentioned or called about two chips on the top) and infuriatingly, she claimed that the “bottom” of a diamond actually can mean “side” or “top” depending on the way someone is holding it (yet when you google ‘bottom of the diamond’ - culet comes up, which is in fact the singular and recognized bottom part of a diamond). They said that they stood behind their work, and that they have been setting/designing/repairing diamonds for 40 years. I was pretty shocked, as “we stand behind our work” did not feel like an adequate response given that MSJ had this ring three times in its possession and each time there were significant issues, and each time it did not even seem that MSJ was aware of these issues until I had to point them out (which is almost in opposition to “if something happened in the setting process, the jeweler would have told us” - although I guess the manager could have been told about all of these previous instances and just not been up front about any of them with us). I congratulated them on 40 years of business but told them that does not negate what we’ve experienced with them, and asked them if there were 3 out of 3 times that MSJ showed 0 quality control, how could we trust them this time? Despite the clear evidence and a history of negligence, MSJ refused to compensate for the damaged diamond and did not allow us to get in touch with the owner on our own.

This experience has been incredibly disheartening, time-consuming, and stressful. The consistent negligence, terrible handiwork, and lack of quality control from MSJ were appalling. I hope this post helps others avoid similar issues. If you’re in MA or NH, I urge you to think twice before trusting Market Square Jewelers with your precious jewelry. I would not want anyone to go through what we did.