Baraka Gems reviews

1620668175

Ann Culligan

google

Oh Ann, this is such a sad and unwarranted review on so many levels. Ill just point out a few important things here 1) Aside from the hallmark (explained below), what you are suggesting we did to your ring isnt anything any repair person would ever do to a ring when they replace a gem and retip it. Why would we waste our time and money changing the width of your ring? We gain nothing out of doing something like that. It makes no sense and it would never happen unless you requested it, which you didnt. 2) We gave your ring back to you on July 24th, 2020. Thats ten months ago. If you had a problem with your repair work, you should have been in contact within a couple days and we would have addressed any legitimate concerns you had. But instead, you waited seven months to contact us via email in February. When you did, you accused us of switching the band, shaving parts of it off, creating a brand new metal allergy for you, and other things that are absolutely erroneous; then you demanded we do something to fix a problem we didnt cause. Again, we wouldnt benefit on any level in any circumstance by doing any of the things you said we did to your ring. 3) After you contacted us back in February I, Jamie the Owner, replied back with my desire to help address the situation, even though most of your concerns didnt make any sense. The only concern that did make sense was the missing hallmark, and I clearly explained to you what may have happened. If a manufacture laser engraves a light hallmark on a ring, it can be buffed off when the ring is being polished. A ring needs to be polished after repair work if you want a shiny ring. However, if your hallmark is missing on your ring, its not because we did something wrong. Its because the manufacturer did such a light laser engraving that it was bound to come off during polishing regardless of who worked on it. If your hallmark was buffed off, we could have easily replaced that engraving for you if you would have dealt with this situation appropriately. 4) Most importantly, back in February I invited you to come back to the studio to talk about the situation. At the time, I was legitimately concerned about what you were experiencing, because it didnt match up with any repair work we did on your ring. Unfortunately, I never heard another word from youuntil now. Now its another three months later and you just gave us a 1-star review for something that we never did. Im not sure what youve got going on in your life, but its sad and unfortunate that you decided to take it out on a highly respected local small business that cares deeply about its clients. Please take care of yourself. We wish you wellness. For those reading this review and reply, we hope youll read the hundreds of other legitimate 5-star reviews on Google, Yelp, Facebook, etc, that are an accurate representation of how we operate as a company. We hope it will be clear to you that we work hard to take care of our clients and would never operate in the way that Ann has falsely accused us of.

1620750733

1

Brought a ring here to have a stone and tips (that hold the stones in place) replaced. The work done on the stone was fine, however, my ring came back with a smaller band. Because I happened to have photos of my ring from the jeweler who made it, I was able to compare and see that the band was narrower (top to bottom) and that the stamped-in jeweler's hallmark was entirely missing. I had paid for additional gold to have the tips fortified, so there was no approved reason to take gold from the band. I contacted the owner and was given some excuses, but the pictures tell a different story. If you plan to take jewelry here for repair, take a LOT of pictures of it first, including with a ruler to confirm its dimensions. You may want evidence if your ring also comes back unexpectedly different.

1625194627

2Tonic Zen

google

7/5/21 - Updated addition from a Baraka Team Member My name is Taylor. I am a jeweler and designer here at Baraka Gems. I am immensely disappointed to have to respond to this review, but I volunteered of my own free will to speak up on behalf of Baraka in the face of such blatant lies and hostile misinformation. As a queer black woman, a top priority in my personal and professional lifestyle is to work with and within organizations that practice, continuously learn, and engage in inclusivity. The individual who left the above review is operating in a malicious and dishonest fashion. After leaving his angry review, the owner (Jamie) left a thoughtful and detailed response clearly explaining our repeated attempt to assist this person despite his unreasonable expectations. We then had the misfortune of discovering that this angry individual added an amendment to his review now stating that the reason we have not been able to work together has been of a discriminatory nature. Growing up a person of color in a mixed-race family, with a father who has a disability, hearing our place of business be victim of such a nasty and false accusation is incredibly disappointing. I'd ask anyone considering working with us to check out our hundreds of other 5-star reviews, and not be swayed by the words of an angry and unreasonable individual. Thank you for taking the time to read! 7/5/21 - Amended response from me, Jamie, the business owner Due to Google's character limits on review responses, and because Brett continues to change his review to maliciously attack my business with false accusations and misinformation, I have chosen to delete most of my original response in order to make space for Taylor's voice above. She has some important words to share in response to Brett's most recently amended review falsely accusing us of discrimination. If you are interested in seeing the context of my original response, please refer to our Yelp business page for a more comprehensive response, as Brett has chosen to change his review there and now slander us on Yelp as well. For anyone reading this review and response, our consistent and reliable 5-Star reputation will hopefully make it obvious that we take far better care of our clients than Brett has falsely accused us of. While we won't be working with Brett again, if you are a respectful client, we promise to be a respectful staff and help meet all your fine jewelry needs.

1623990948

1

EXERCISE CAUTION: This business may disrespect you based on your nationality, dialect or or disability. At first I did a $1,000 in business with them. The second I engaged them for a similar sized follow up transaction they wouldn't give the time of day. There's only a few plausible explanations for why a customer in good-standing can't get 10 minutes of time to continue to enhance the profitability of the relationship. In conclusion Baraka turn away repeat customers when the customer is not to their liking insofar as the proper nationality or struggles with a disability. I tried many times in the 4 months since 2/20/2021 to get a follow up appt because this company is close to my home and I care about my neighbors and neighboring businesses health. Baraka never had availability within 48 hours for me. The first time I did business with them I successfully walked in their front door and things went fine. I walked out happy and left a 10/10 online review for them. Something changed since then. I love patronizing nearby small businesses. It's odd to have this be the only business for a 3 mile radius (at least) where I've had a very good experience at first and a NON-CUSTOMER FOCUSED APPROACH THE NEXT TIME. It's odd because the lifetime value of a customer really matters. In my years of running small businesses I've had to focus on repeat customers, I've never once seen such a situation as Baraka. The simplest explanation is fitting.

1613590826

Janice Jimenez

google

Thanks for your fantastic review Janice. We're so glad you had such a positive experience at Baraka, and that we could come in below the original estimate and earlier than expected! Please let us know if there is anything else we can do to help you with your fine jewelry needs down the road.

1613597483

5

I have an heirloom ring from my late grandmother that's about 60 years old, there's part of the band that are very thin and fragile and that part broke! I scheduled an appointment on a Saturday evening for the upcoming Thursday. Went to see Taylor and she was so so so so so FRIENDLY and lovely! She gave me an estimate along with about a week for a timeline. They delivered amazing work for a reasonable cost AND ahead of schedule. Thank you! Thank you! Being without that ring for a week made me feel like I was missing a part of me.

1615238097

jackie avellar

google

Thanks for such an amazing review Jackie. You were a real pleasure to work with. We're glad you felt like we had a relaxed environment, and that you could take your time to figure out what you really wanted. We also appreciate your support of our work in Kenya. Your purchase makes a difference! We look forward to helping you with your fine jewelry needs in the future.

1615267194

5

Baraka Gems is a beautiful local store, staffed by lovely people. The second I entered I fell in love with Taylor (a super helpful member of their team). She was informative and enthusiastic. Unlike other jewelry stores I visited while shopping for a ring, Baraka's approach was never pushy. Shopping there was relaxing. They give a portion of their sale to communities negatively affected by gemstone mining. Just another beautiful thing about this store. Dont bother going anywhere else!

1616537636

Danielle LeVee

google

Danielle, Im sorry to hear you feel like you had a bad experience with Baraka. However, were a little confused. There are a number of inaccuracies in your statements, as well as some very important details missing. Hopefully my response can help clarify some things. First, and most importantly, when your fiancé came and picked up your ring yesterday, it was only AFTER paying for the repair that he asked Taylor if she would explain the charge further. He made a point of telling her he waited until after he paid because ultimately he wasnt concerned with the cost. He was merely asking because someone else expressed disappointment in the charge. Taylor assured him that if a client ever has questions regarding pricing or service, they are always more than welcome to ask them before payment so that if there are any problems or concerns, they can be addressed. He reassured her that there was no problem. Given that fact alone, we find ourselves very confused by your negative review. For the record, we dont charge for resizing on rings when someone comes in to be sized and we make the size recommendation. However, we will charge if a client wants a certain size and we recommend against that size, only to find out in the end we were correct in our recommendation. I could have made a mistake in sizing your finger originally, but its very odd that I would have suggested a size 4 if a size 3.75 was a better fit. Ive been sizing fingers for over a decade now, and I always suggest tighter rather than looser, unless you want room for finger swelling. None of us want to risk the possibility of you losing your ring. You are correct in that we dont have standard ¼ size ring sizers. We need to estimate ¼ sizes for standard rings, but we are typically able to do that just fine using half and whole sizes. To address some inaccurate information, most jewelers dont have professional cast steel ¼ size ring sizers. We have comfort fit sizing rings that break down to ¼ sizes, but your ring isnt a comfort fit ring, so that kind of set wouldnt be accurate for sizing your finger. I dont know any other jeweler, and I asked a few again as a result of your review, who has ever known someone in the industry who owns professional cast steel ring sizers in ¼ sizes. That doesnt mean they dont exist. It does mean most jewelers dont have them, so I dont know where you are getting your information to make that kind of comparison. Along the vein of correcting inaccurate information, I never had any conversation with you about having four clients with sizing problems the same day we sized your finger. While on very rare occasion we need to redo a sizing job, wed be surprised to see four in six months, let alone four in one day. In response to the timing of your repair, typically repairs take a week, unless you come in after we see our bench jeweler that week. Then repairs can take two weeks. This is something we communicate with all our clients when they drop off, and I know you were no exception. Its also worth noting that we called and left your fiancé a voicemail that the ring was ready for pick-up five days ago, so you could have had it sooner. Ultimately, had you called the studio, or arranged an appointment to come in and talk with me; or had your fiancé mentioned there was a concern with the charge before picking up the ring, we would have been able to review the facts and address the situation. Unfortunately, and much to our confusion, we were told very directly that there was no need for concern. Apparently thats not actually the case, and now we have a two-star review to show for it. For others reading this review and response, please be sure to read the rest of our hundreds of five-star online reviews for an accurate representation of how we operate as a business.

1616650637

2

My now fiance custom designed a beautiful engagement ring here. I am reluctant to even give 2 starts because of our experience with resizing. I got my finger sized here prior to the process of designing the ring. Jamie, the owner, nudged us to a larger size (4.0), because my finger was between the 3.5 and 4. Jaime does not carry a ring sizer tool with .25 sizes, which I later discovered, most jewelers do. The larger size ended up being too big for my finger so we went back to Jaime to get it downsized by .25. He charged us $150 for resizing even though we purchased a very expensive ring from him and HE WAS THE ONE WHO SIZED IT AND RECOMMENDED THE SIZE. I think it was incredibly inappropriate for him to not take any verbal or financial responsibility for the incorrect sizing. We also overheard when we went to resize the ring that 4 other customers that day also had sizing issues. I recommend that you do not get your ring sized here because when they incorrectly size it, they will charge for their mistake. It also took 2 weeks for us to get the ring back, but that's besides the point.