"Is that an opal?"  Not exactly what you want to hear when giving your wife a diamond ring for her birthday.  But that is how grey this main diamond is. She didn't even know it was a diamond. It doesn't sparkle.  It doesn't shine.  It doesn't look anything like the picture.  It is just a dull grey stone.

Now, I am aware that when buying discount diamonds I can't expect high quality, but I have bought several inexpensive pieces of diamond jewelry before.  Most have been pretty and sparkly but flawed if you look too deep. The diamonds in this ring are opaque. They are the lowest quality diamonds that I have ever seen.

On top of that, actually getting this ring delivered was a trial.  I placed the order thinking it would arrive in time for my wife's birthday, but when I checked the tracking number I saw that it had been rejected for having a bad address.  Of course, I used my amazon address that I have had countless items successfully delivered to, but it seems like someone on the Bradford Exchange side--for completely unknown reasons--decided to just change my address, including my zip code.  For spite? A disgruntled employee? I don't know.

But because this was ordered through a third party vendor, I couldn't just call myself to have the ring re-delivered and I had to spend a couple hours on the customer service line with the Bradford Exchange trying to convince them to help.  They couldn't find my order, because they look up accounts in a name/zip code association (which had been changed).  I had to fight my way up the customer service ladder until I got to a manager before the Bradford Exchange would finally admit I had even placed an order, much less get someone to accept responsibility for the error of the address change.

The final resolution was a "tough luck" on the part of the Bradford Exchange.  The manager admitted that they had made the error, but they weren't willing to pay the charge to have the ring expedited and re-delivered.  They offered no compensation.  Just a "Sorry.  That is too bad. "

And then when the ring finally did arrive, it missed the birthday deadline, and it was grey.  Like an opal. My wife, bless her heart, says that she still loves the ring.  She likes the design and the message, and doesn't care about the grey diamond.  So we aren't going to return it, but I am still disappointed by the whole experience.

I understand that mistakes happen, and the Bradford Exchange had an opportunity to set things fight and fix an error that they had made.  They decided against doing this, so I will never do business with them again.