I have had nothing but problems with Three Rivers Gold Plating of Fort Wayne, Indiana. This was suppose to be a fast job, well it's been 2 1/2 months and lost parts. I was quoted one price of a total of $210 and then 1 1/2 months later Tom said he needed another $75. I was told it wouldn't be more then $210 that was tops. The worst part of it was they lost the gold bridge and a gold screw to my vintage guitar. I sent them a letter with the guitar parts with a trace of the 7 pieces and told them their were 26 screws. Wouldn't you think when they finally sent it back they would have checked the parts being shipped back? When I called Tom and told him of the problem he said he would look for the parts, well that was over two weeks ago and we have heard nothing back. I have been on the internet and phone for two weeks looking for a bridge for my guitar, well finally I might have found one from a Gretsch dealer. This is an old guitar that is being restored so it's hard to find parts. I called Tom and told him I had found the part and I felt he should pay for it since he lost it but he won't return my calls. I call almost everyday and leave a message and have sent out e-mails. Nothing is being returned, now I have to take legal action so I can get my parts. I can't believe people like this can stay in business and take advantage of customers. BEWARE OF THREE RIVERS GOLD PLATING
Almost the same story here, they SUCK!
Nothing but problems! I sent my Gold chain to THREE RIVERS GOLD PLATING for plating. I was told I could pay extra for a rush job, to which I agreed. I spoke with Tom's son, Robert prior to sending the chain. I sent the chain to them on 3/21/08. I've called at least 20 times, no one ever answers the phone...I can never leave a message because the voicemail is full. I send emails and I get an error code because according to Robert the server is always down. I finally talked to Ann on 3/31 and she could not give me a customer number because “you are only assigned customer numbers when a job is completed and invoiced.” She could only tell me the chain had been received but had no other information about the status of the job. I finally on a Sunday 4/6/08 called and Robert answered the phone, I shared my problems and frustrations with Robert, he said I'd need to talk to Tom, I asked for Tom and Robert hung up the phone. I called back and the phone rang 20 times before I decided to hang up. The answering machine never came on for a message. I have no idea about what to do or how to proceed, I'm in Arizona and completely at the mercy of THREE RIVERS GOLD PLATING, Tom, Robert and whoever Ann is...It's very frustrating!
Three Rivers Gold Plating is awesome, Sorry about your Luck guys. Three Rivers Gold Plating did everything they promised and more for me. I found them on the internet and when I called, a lovely well manored lady answered the phone almost immediately. She quoted me a price on the phone to replate my patheticallyworn 10 year old Gucci watch. About a month after we had the conversation about cost and what it is they could do for me, I sent it to them.
Almost fell off my chair when I stumbled across your complaint doing a google search and started worrying that I was going to get ripped, or worse, that I might loose my favorite watch that has a huge amount of sentimental value.
Well you are correct about one thing and that is they don't always answer the phone and it is because they are a small shop and they are busy. They do call when they can. They turned around my watch with in 4 days which I think is pretty darn good considering most service industries. They shipped it back to me exactly the way I asked them to and it arrived well packaged in perfect shape the very next business day. It looks better than new.
Hats off to Three Rivers for an Oustanding job and Great Customer Service. I am a very satisfied customer and would not hesitate to use them again.
Sincerely
J Koch
Ditto. I sent some parts to this outfit 75 days ago. I have called repeatedly and on all but two ocassions have gotten the voicemail message. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to leave messages due to the fact that the voicemail is at full capacity. (I wonder if they are messages praising his work and responsiveness, like Mr. J Koch above?)
When I finally suceeded in speaking to a person who identified himself as "Tom, " he said "Oh, yes -- now I remember your parts. They are being plated right now and will be in the mail tomorrow." Needless to say, no parts, plated or otherwise, were ever sent to me. On another ocassion several weeks later, he told me -- "Unfortunately, the plating didn't take and now your parts are in a chemical tank where they will remain for the next 30 days." Of course, he couldn't tell me what the parts were or what they looked like.
If you are thinking of sending this guy something after reading this message and those above, then you deserve what you get.
Ditto to anything bad that anyone has to say about 3 Rivers. They have had my stuff since JANUARY and don't respond to emails, voicemails or registered letters. I converted the PO to an invoice last month and mailed it to them--no response.
We found a place called Programatic Platers in NYC, though, that really does have a quick turn around. And no, I don't work for them--I live and work in FL and was just happy to find someone to help us out.
Similar story. For 9 months I've been trying to get Tom to finish a job that he said would take 6 weeks tops. Early on he told me that because the copper was thin they would have to sand rather than use an industrial buffer to prepare the surface. Then, a few weeks later, he said one of his workers damaged one of the pieces trying to use an industrial buffer on it. He said he would repair it and finish the job. He's said many times in the past 4 weeks that the job is almost done and he'll ship within a couple of days. Time after time he doesn't follow through. At this point I can't believe him. Since I am in another state, there's not much I can do other than let other people know about their business practices to warn them.