Menu
CB Jewelry and Watches Review of Bill Barnes Jewelers
Bill Barnes Jewelers

Bill Barnes Jewelers review: Avoid this company 15

Author of the review
10:40 am EDT
Resolved
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

My fiance ordered a Tacori engagement ring in Mid-March. We haven't gotten the ring yet. Bill Barnes promises to call us back with information, and never does, leaving us to call repeatedly. on the 9th of May they told us the ring was being appraised. On the 19th they told us it would be sent by the end of the week. On the 28th of May they said they didn't have our diamond (sent it to someone else is what I'm guessing) and they'd have to contact a diamond cutter right away and get one rushed to them. Last night, online, we checked the inventory listed on their webiste, and they had nearly the exact same diamond there for $70 more, same color, cut, clarity, and carat and just a SLIGHTLY greater depth.

Yesterday I contacted Tacori. Today I recieved an email from Tacori stating that Bill Barnes signed for a Fedex delivery of our ring on April 8, 2008.

We still have no date for when we will recieve the ring, and no honest explanation as to why it has taken so long.

AVOID THIS COMPANY!

Resolved

The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

15 comments
D
D
Ducksinarow
Colorado Springs, US
Dec 22, 2011 5:40 pm EST

My fiancee ordered my wedding ring about six weeks ago using the Bill Barnes on line site. He received an email stating the ring was in stock and in fulfillment. We have not received the ring, we have tried to call and the phone numbers we tried were no longer in service. Emails we've sent came back as well.

C
C
Carol1957
Jackson Heights, US
Oct 18, 2010 8:38 pm EDT

I've ordered 2 rings from Bill Barnes and have no complaint about either ring. My experience with this company has been positive.

B
B
Beautiful2
St Lousi, US
May 19, 2010 9:06 pm EDT

Same thing here. I received the bracelet which was not as described in the web site. I returned it and i have not received my refund since 7/22/08. Every time I called, the phone gives me a message to use web site and they will be open back in early 2010. i have sent numerous e-mails with no response. I really want my refund. I have contacted the BBB today and I just found this board. DOES ANYONE HAVE A PHONE NUMBER FOR BILL BARNES THAT I COULD TALK TO SOMEONE? thanks in advance.

C
C
cindylouRN
Sherman, US
Aug 01, 2009 11:39 am EDT

Oh, how I wish I'd seen this complaint board before I ordered earrings from this company! Prettty much the same thing... never received the product, took my money right away, doesn't return phone calls or e-mails, can't get through during their ridiculous business hours.
My credit card company is a dream ( Barclay), they credited my card.

K
K
klmclane
Raymond, US
Mar 25, 2009 11:40 am EDT

Unbelievable! Wish I had known before ordring a replacement wedding band. I have called numerous times, sent emails, talked with Alfred twice, left voice mails and no response. Finally got a hold I am sure of Alfred today only to be told the shipping lady went home with the bug yesterday and surely my order will go out today! Beware of company!

A
A
Angry and Frustrated
, US
Mar 04, 2009 9:34 pm EST

I live in the same town as BillBarnes.com store. They had a ring of mine for repair for several weeks. I had been going by the store every day and calling the local number without being able to contact anybody. Finally today I found an employee who told me that the owner Jim Barnes had the phones, computers and electricity shut off. A phone number posted to the door is not in service. The employee was trying to contact customers to return a few pieces of jewelry that had been left behind by Mr. Barnes.
It appears that those of us with complaints and missing jewelry may be out of luck. Other than contacting the police, I am not sure what to do at this point. I sincerely hope that nobody is placing current orders, I can say for certain that the store no longer exists except in cyberspace. It is abandoned.

I
I
IrateBuyer
Denver, US
Mar 02, 2009 1:55 pm EST

My fiance ordered an ArtCarved ring in mid-Jan from BillBarnes.com. We could not get a firm delivery date from them after several calls. We were told that they were waiting on the ring from the manufacturer, etc. Finally having enough, we called Bill Barnes and canceled the order at the beginning of Feb. Bill Barnes has still not processed the refund. My fiance has called them weekly since canceling the order to be given excuse after excuse (the person who handles that is on maternity leave, etc). We have filed a compaint with the Texas Attoney General's office, www.oag.state.tx.us and with the Federal Trade Commission, [protected].
DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY!

S
S
stressedjewelrybuyer
Kalamazoo, US
Jan 25, 2009 10:28 pm EST

I have been getting the "run around" with BillBarnes.com since before Thanksgiving. The engagement ring I ordered has been delayed time and time again. Whether it was "cancelled" by accident during the order process or the busy holiday season. I put up with it long enough and finally went straight to the manufacturer. Thankfully Artcarved has done more in the past 4 days than Bill Barnes did in 2 months. I know for sure that I will never buy from them again and will not recomend them to anybody.

M
M
Michael Matthews
,
Nov 23, 2008 7:52 pm EST

I sent my wife's ring for repair on June 28, 2008 and as of November 23, 2008 we have yet to receive the ring back. The company is very unresponsive to phone calls. They gave me a story about having to match stone colors. The delays have been extraordinary. At the begining of October they asked for my credit card information and said the ring was finished. We could expect the ring before October 18, 2008. We have yet to receive it. They will not return phone callls. I would stay away from these people. I am very sorry I trusted them to fix my wife's ring. She is very upset. The ring belonged to her mother who has passed away. All this was explained to Bill Barnes. One would think that Bill Barnes would have the courtsey to return phone calls. The secetary allsays has an excuse what he can not come to the phone. No one there has any ethics.

J
J
Jeff Newman
,
Oct 03, 2008 10:29 am EDT

Prior to our wedding my wife ordered a men’s Art carved wedding band from Bill Barnes.com. The service and experience from Bill Barnes has been a nightmare. The ring was ordered weeks in advance of the wedding day. After Debra contacted Bill Barnes jewelry to find out the status on our order she was given incorrect information on multiple occasions. When at the last moment we were told the ring would not arrive in time for the wedding, Debra asks if they would send a replacement ring that could be used in the ceremony. During the wedding the replacement ring was dropped from the ring bearer’s pillow at a height of less than four feet, the ring broke. The staff at Bill Barnes fails to return phone calls, and a person named Alfred has been rude on the phone. We have asked that the order for the ring my wife requested over a month ago be cancelled and the money refunded. We have returned the broken ring to Bill Barnes. This entire ordeal has taken an emotional toll on my wife who only wanted her husband to have a ring, the one she paid for when she ordered. Hopefully you can understand that on the most special day of our lives, we had to endure a ceremony where the minister is speaking of the rings being an "unbroken circle, a symbol of unending love” we are looking at a ring that is cracked and is not a complete circle. This problem just became compounded by Bill Barnes complete disinterest in providing any type resolution to this problem. I now have no ring, broken ring was sent back. I do not have the ring that was ordered over a month ago. I do not have the money that was spent on the original ring. The Bill Barnes website states they ship in 2-3 days. We were told the ring that broke was subject to breakage due to the material. What type metal normally breaks when dropped from a height of four feet on a tile floor? We still have no answer or proposed resolution from BillBarnes.com. I am hoping for some type swift amicable resolution to this problem. An immediate refund from BillBarnes.com would seem to be an equitable and reasonable resolution.

T
T
Terry Curry
,
Sep 19, 2008 4:14 pm EDT

My experience with BillBarnes has been frustrating to say the least. My order is nearly 10 weeks overdue with plenty of excuses (5 to date) but no resolution. Two hurricanes, one lost order, and two "production slowdowns". Funny, they were happy to take my money in a timely fashion.
I have yet to actually recieve my order. In reading the previous posts I sincerely doubt the jewelery will be what I ordered and I'll have to start over again. I'm sure my soon-to-be-fiance' will understand!
Do not do business with BillBarnes.com

C
C
Cheated by Bill Barnes
,
Jul 14, 2008 5:25 pm EDT

DEFINITELY DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH BILLBARNES. On June 13, Billbarnes.com had a platinum wedding band in the design we wanted on sale, but the sale ended that weekend. So after verifying the platinum content with Alfred Kopecky via e-mail, we purchased the ring on-line that day. On the website it said the ring would ship within 2-5 business days. Then, after we put in the size we were ordering (8.5) all the confirmations still said it was available for shipping within 2-5 business days, and their on-line tracking system said it would ship by June 20. They charged my credit card for the full amount on June 14. Then on June 18, they sent an e-mail saying the ring would not ship until July 30. I asked for an explanation as to how they could have advertised it as being available within 2-5 business days and then suddenly it was going to be 40 days later than that. They didn't answer me for 2 weeks. In the meantime, I researched them and found all these other complaints about the company including many, many complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau. I threatened to file my own complaint and then they finally wrote me and said that they didn't know until after we made the purchase that this would be a special order. When I pointed out this was untrue, because Mr. Kopecky had said in his e-mail before we purchased the ring that it was a special order yet never mentioned it would take an additional 6-7 weeks to ship, then suddenly they said the ring was on its way. They indeed shipped a ring to me, which arrived on July 11. However, the invoice slip that came with it said it was white gold, not platinum. I immediately wrote to them and said they needed to send a correct document showing it was platinum so we would have that for insurance and warranty purposes. Later, Mr. Kopecky actually tried to claim we had ordered a white gold band and that we were lucky he sent platinum at all, even after we faxed him the information from his own website and confirmation e-mail showing we ordered platinum. My fiance also felt that the dimensions of the ring didn't look right. The ring had been advertised as being 6mm wide, but when my fiance took it to a local jeweler it turned out to only be 4 mm wide. Mr. Kopecky then tried to claim that it had not been advertised as 4 mm and/or we had selected a drop-down choice of 4mm, neither of which was true. There wasn't even a choice of band widths, only sizes, and the description was very clear that the 8.5 size came in a 6mm bandwidth. When we tried to deal with Mr. Kopecky via phone, he just kept changing his story with each sentence, saying things that no way could be true. He also tried to say he had no control or knowledge over what was on his own website, which is absurd. He wanted us to send him the ring back, meanwhile while he keeps my $1251, and only then would he allegedly send the correct ring to me, all the while claiming that we never ordered a 6mm platinum ring in the first place, so I told him there was no way that was acceptable. This company was deceptive in that they lied about the shipping date knowing that they would never be shipping that ring within 2-5 business days, and then they defrauded me by sending this lesser-value ring from what they advertised and I purchased. Then, to boot, they will only give documentation showing it's white gold, presumably to defraud us again when it comes to the warranty on the ring.

V
V
Very Disatisfied with Bill Bar
,
Jul 02, 2008 7:15 am EDT

I too had a bad experience with Bill Barnes, Here is a breakdown of my experience:

3/27-made purchase online
5/21-I called Bill Barnes to inquire why I had not received the ring
5/27-I call Bill Barnes and talk to Alfred J. Kopecky, he tells me the ring is discontinued, he tells me he will send a picture of a replacement ring that afternoon.
5/28-I contact Alfred because I have not received a picture of the substitute offer, a substitute picture and description is sent. The substitute is for less total carat weight and a lesser quality of diamonds.
5/29-I talk the new ring choice over with my fiancé and we decide not to purchase the ring and ask for a total refund since the original item we wanted was not available.
6/3-I send an email to Alfred to confirm he has received my request for a refund-no response is received from Alfred.
6/3-6/23-I get the run around other customer service people tell me that the refund is "in accounting" but no one can tell me when to expect a refund.
6/24-I send an email to Alfred requesting he call me about the status of the refund, since none of the other customer service reps seem to know. I also call customer service and remain on hold until Alfred can be available to get to the bottom of the refund issue. Alfred tells me a refund is going to be sent to my credit card company on Friday (6/25), but to allow a couple of business days for it to show up at my credit card company.
7/1-I call my credit card company to see if a credit has been made. They have no record of any credit and I am forwarded to the fraud department, thankfully they credit my card for the purchase that was made way back in March.

G
G
gallagher999
Arlington, US
Jun 17, 2008 9:34 pm EDT

DO NOT BUY FROM BILLBARNES.com

G
G
gallagher999
Arlington, US
Jun 17, 2008 9:32 pm EDT

I agree with this complaint. Stay away from Billbarnes.com. I ordered an engagement ring on March 11th (total cost: $9000) I paid a little over half of the ring on the ordered date (March 11th) and the remaining amount on the day the product would ship. The problem: I needed the ring by April 17th, 2008 prior to going to the DOM REP to propose. The owner of BillBarnes ( "A") who sold me the ring stated that it would be no problem getting the ring by the asking date. I stressed how important it was to receive the ring by the date requested. I was reassured several times that the ring would be shipped and in my hands by April 17th. I called BilBarnes approx, once a week to check on the status. I was always told, " No problem, everything is on track for the 17th." The ring wasn't shipped received at my address until April 25th. I was so mad. Billbarnes told me that the the girl doing the shipping was in tears becausee she messed up th order. (Constant lie after lie) I asked the owner ( "A") to give me a discount of 5% (which was the current discount offered on their web site of any ring over .5 c at the time of the request) The owner "A" stated he would credit my credit card 5%. Guess what? It is now June 17th and no credit. He wont answer most of my calls or return them if he knows i am calling. His staff covers for him by saying that he is always on the phone with current customers. I called my credit card company and filed a complaint which they are looking into right now. Buyer beware, DO BUY FROM BILLBARNES.com They are worthless.