James C.
Lost Trust and Poor Service: A Disappointing Experience at Artinian Jewelers
My fiance and I visited the Artinian Jewelers in Lexington, MA hoping for simple ring resizing services, based on positive past experiences going back 25 or more years, when they had a location at the Jewelers Building in Boston. However, the service was disappointing. After leaving two rings for resizing and a ring enhancer to be adjusted, we were told we'd be contacted with an estimate. Days passed with no communications from anyone at Artinian, despite multiple calls and promises of callbacks with the estimate. My fiance, now feeling uncomfortable without her engagement ring and growing frustrated, wanted to visit the store and get the rings back. While I had previous positive experiences with Artinian, she had never dealt with them before and was less forgiving of the poor service. She felt it was best to part ways with them and find another jeweler. When we visited the store, we were met with rude behavior from the goldsmith, who told us to 'find another jeweler'. He accused us of 'barging in' and asked us to leave the store, refusing to give us the name of the owner when I asked for it telling me "You don't need to know who he owner is." I informed the goldsmith that I would be sure to share my negative experience with my friends and family, and asked how this bad behavior benefitted his business. He had no response. In a highly competitive industry, where people aren't spending money on luxury items as they used to, pushing customers away like this is a surefire way to harm the business in the long run. Its evident the goldsmith was stressed and overworked, taking out his frustrations on us, the customer. This is not a recipe for success. My initial visit to Artinian was based on a positive experience from many years ago, but it is clear that the business has changed since then-and not for the better. The current staff seems disengaged and has lost sight of why they are in business: to provide a service that makes people happy. Jewelry is purchased for special occasions, to celebrate important moments, and this experience soured me and my fiance on Artinian. I will never return, not that I'm welcomed there anymore, and I encourage others to read this review and others that share similar negative experiences, including those that claim shoddy work was performed, and consider whether you want to trust your valuable jewelry to a business that has demonstrated time and time again that they don't prioritize customer service or satisfaction. Upon reviewing other negative feedback, many of which share my concerns about poor customer service, I noticed that the Owner of Artinian has responded. However, rather than taking responsibility for the issues, the response focuses more on offering an explanation for why the problems occurred. When a customer reaches the point of leaving a review out of frustration, an explanation often feels irrelevant. Disenchanted customers like myself have already moved on, as there are plenty of other skilled jewelers in the area who value their customers' business. Instead of focusing on justifying the issues, the Owner might consider reflecting internally and addressing the root causes of these recurring customer service failures. Taking steps to improve the business could help prevent these easily avoidable mistakes. Based on my experience, I will not be returning to Artinian and urge others to consider alternatives.