I came to Michael with my most precious piece of jewelry: the ring I presented to my wife for our renewed vows. The ring, purchased in Israel is a one-of -a-kind design: a circle with Hebrew words on four sides encased in a square with cutouts for the words. The square itself has words on two adjoining corners. If you can picture the challenge: a square ring with a round ring inside, foreign letters on every side and the inner ring freely turns. The circle is 9k gold and the square is sterling silver. I requested it be sized down from a 10 to a 5 without altering its integrity or cutting off any letters. It's a preposterous request really and the reason we've had the ring for over 2 years, we were just too scared to take it to a jeweler - who could we trust to take on such a challenge?
My wife chose Michael because he's local, a small businessman with a sign which reads "Master Jeweler".
In the first half of the story, Michael sized the ring down but I felt it lacked refinement. I'd been so scared to take it to a jeweler and when the result was less than perfect I was really shaken up and upset. I brought it home to my wife apologetically and naturally instead of complaining to Michael directly I went to Yelp and vented my frustration publicly.
About a week later I received a call from Michael saying he read my review and although disappointed I hadn't approached him first, would do everything in his power to see to it I was satisfied. I was skeptical and more than a bit embarrassed speaking to the person I left a scathing review but I agreed to meet with him. I never followed up though, I had some good excuses at my disposal (due baby then new baby) but mostly I was just embarrassed.
To his credit Michael reached out to me again - by email this time, again earnestly expressing his concern for complete customer satisfaction, offering to do just about anything - even having the ring completely remade if I was still unhappy . Again I agreed to meet and even deleted my review considering his good-faith attempts to satisfy me. I stalled again but maybe a week later I finally sucked it up and wrote "how about Wednesday"? What happened next is what sets Michael, a small business owner apart from any other type of business. He replied that he was on vacation, would be back on said date and would get in touch upon is return.
A few weeks later I got a call from Michael "I just returned from vacation" and I was shocked to see the date - he actually called me the day he got back. So I did meet with him and he was cordial, kind and didn't even mention the review. The two of us sat down and went over every detail, comparing my wife's re-sized ring to my own identical ring. I explained the importance of each letter, the angles, the direction, where I wanted each word to appear and how exactly I wanted the finished piece to look. A few weeks later he called to say the ring was finished. I went in to pick it up, nervous with anticipation and was absolutely stunned. The ring was nothing short of a work of pure art and genius. It is flawless, immaculate and looks better than my own ring. Michael didn't miss a single detail and delivered on everything he promised.
It's been a month or so now and every time I think of my wife's ring I smile - it is beautiful, unique, and fits.
I commend Michael for both his tireless efforts to satisfy a disgruntled customer and for his talent, skill and craftsmanship. My wife and I are so grateful to have this important part of our life proudly on display. For my part, I've learned a valuable and humbling lesson - if you're not satisfied with the service provided why not try the old-fashion route? Speak with the proprietor and give a business the chance to make right - you may just find yourself happier than you could ever have imagined. read more
