Maker Mends - thoughts?

[tony5101]

Hi All,

I've just had my first item returned after being resized by Maker Mends.

Have to say that I'm not overly impressed.

OK - it was a fairly cheap ring, that I had bought my daughter for Xmas - I think I got it for a tenner or something daft like that. It was resized from N to Q. The shank looks like it's been stretched rather than had anything added, as it's now appears to be thinner than I remember it being when it first arrived, and on top of that - it's also mis-shapen with a slight bulge at one side.
I'm going to take it to a local jewellers to get him to put it on his sizing stick to get it back into shape, as so far the P&P of sending the ring to be resized and paying the P&P back has cost me more than I paid in the first place, and I'm certainly not going to pay to send it to them again!

Unfortunately R&C, it looks like you've been let down by your supplier - I bought the whole package from YOU - but will certainly think twice about using your re-sizing service again.

Tony

 

[klara]

I'v only used them once for a ring from one of the other channels and I have to say that I was impressed with them, although I had my ring taken down 2 sizes not up. The reason I chose them was the cost factor as I had been quoted £30+ to resize the ring - it is 18k white gold and the jeweller said that I would have to have it re-plated. I would on that basis have said to use them but like I say mine was down not up. The finished ring is superb and fits really well, was going to get an 18k yellow gold one done with them but ran out of time (for the free resizing service), however may contact them and get an ordinary quote.

 

[Penny Pincher]

Hi Tony, I just wondered how long it took for your ring to come back. I have bought quite a few rings from R & C, lovely items, but all to big. I decided to send off the cheapest just to check that they are getting the resizing right. Sent it 2 weeks ago still not got it back yet. I completely agree about the cost. When I enquired from C S they told me the cost was £5.95 per package. Not so it turns out to be £5.95 per ring, plus the cost of sending it by special delivery. I saw a lovely silver and garnet twist ring last night. Went for £10 I thought great that would do for my daughter. Then I totted up the actual cost. R & C p+p £5.95, sending it off to Maker Mends £1.50 + their P + P £5.95.
Suddenly my £10 ring costs £23.40 !! so I didn't go for it. Shame because it was really nice. I have been buying quite a bit in the run up to Christmas, it would be great if R & C could hold items in your basket for say 48 hours or more as a way to reduce the costs it mounts up when you buy several items on different days.

Any thoughts ?

 

[Fruityloops]

You know the old saying "you get what you pay for" .....

Well in the case of ring resizing courtesy of TJC, Rocks and Co and the Sit-Up channels who use Maker Mends and charge their customer "only £10 which includes postage there and back" or whatever their deal is, that's what you are paying for.

I have paid independently to have some 18ct gold rings resized by Maker Mends (approximately £15 each) and have had an excellent job back where the gold is the same thickness it always was (I have my rings made 3 sizes larger, on average, by the way).

I have also paid the price of having my rings resized for the deal offered by the channels and have found that the gold is stretched so thin it resembles cheesewire. One of my rings shank has snapped completely and is currently back with TJC for repair - at their expense!

If I really like a ring and think it is a great price, I'd rather fork out a bit more and have it resized so the gold is a decent thickness.

 

[tony5101]

Hi PennyPincher - it took probably 12 days to get the ring back - I suppose the easy way to check whereabouts you are in the 'Q' is - has your payment been cashed or taken yet?

Hi Fruityloops - I agree - I would rather pay for a better service, but at the end of the day, I would imagine that it's a 'quality service' that R&C have contracted MakerMends for? Surely it's got to be in their best interests to have some sort of quality control over the resizing service that they promote?
At the end of the day - the cost of jewellery (cost not quality mind you!) doesn't vary that much across most of the various channels, so I think you have to look at the whole package when you are considering your purchase - especially when you know in advance that you are going to have to have any rings you buy resized?
Personally, this means that I probably won't be going for the cheaper items, I'll probably end up buying less items, but of the maybe more considered buys, as taking into consideration the resizing costs/postage etc. the cheaper items start looking less attractive - unless there is a REAL bargain to be had! (I'm sure the ladies of the house won't complain at that though!)
Just as an aside - how come on most of the channels size 'N' is considered average for ladies, but on TJC it's size 'O'. Just wondered how or where this sizing has been determined?

Cheers,

Tony

 

[Fruityloops]

Hi Tony,

I agree with you - if they are going to offer the resizing service I wish they'd either tell people that their rings will be stretched if being made larger, or offered two levels of service so you could pay to have it done "properly." People might think that poorly resized rings are a reflection of the channels concerned and won't buy again....maybe they never thought of that!

However, I don't expect they'd offer a higher cost service as that as it would raise people's questions as to why there were two levels of service in the first place.

I do tend to buy my rings from TJC rather than anywhere else, as they come in size O and my finger is size Q. I will also only ever buy rings with a gold weight of more than 4g and I tend to buy 18ct rather than 9ct.

I have no idea why TJC think the average size of a woman's finger in the UK is a size O and everyone else seems to think it's N. The sit-up channels rings come in a size P so they are even better for me but I'll only ever buy rings with no diamonds as you have no way of telling the quality of their diamonds.

N uses less gold than even size O so it's even cheaper for them, I expect.