Negligent retail at its worst.
I used Austen & Blake Newcastle NSW to purchase an engagement ring for my partner. She was absolutely delighted when I proposed, we both love the style & design and it suits her perfectly. If we hadn’t needed to take the ring back to be resized just one size smaller this would be a significantly better review.
Austen & Blake like to claim in their emails that they’re "changing the way people buy jewellery" and boast about their complimentary re-sizing service. If the “change” they speak of means they will have your ring resized BIGGER rather than SMALLER, as instructed, and leaving you waiting for more than two months, then they’re completely right. One would imagine that engagement ring resizing is a pretty common request for them.
When we went to collect the resized ring, three weeks after dropping it off, and it became clear that it had been changed from an M to N, rather than M to L, the store staff were full of apologies but were unable to confirm that the the ring would now be remade. They instead suggested that it could be resized again, and any remake request would need to be signed off by head office. This is despite the store staff previously telling us that Austen & Blake recommend only resizing a ring once in its lifetime to preserve its structural integrity. The communication from the store over the next week was non-existent, and I had to repeatedly ask for updates. The store manager finally confirmed that they would be remaking the ring, having had it “approved” by a regional manager, and that they would have it ready for collection soon.
More than four weeks later - now two months after returning the ring for resizing - we finally collected the replacement. This time we were served by a very new staff member who had no prior knowledge of the situation, so had nothing to offer by way of apology for the time we had waited, with zero acknowledgement from anyone at Austen & Blake for the time they had taken to get my purchase right. Given the exceptionally long wait for the company to correct their mistake I’d expect an apology from management at the very least.
So in summary, following our engagement my fiancé had her ring for one week, then waited two months to wear it again. What should have been two months of celebration was somewhat tainted by the wait to show friends and family.
There is absolutely no way I would shop with Austen & Blake again, not for personal jewellery and certainly not for our wedding bands, nor would I recommend them to anyone. I’m not interested in whatever generic apology response this review will inevitably get from an HR junior, the ship has firmly sailed. Focus on improving your service for your customers, rather than taking their money and not giving a f***. If anyone reading is considering purchasing from Austen & Blake, my advice would be to go elsewhere, or be sure of your measurements first time around as you’re at the mercy of completely powerless store staff and a corporate bureaucracy unwilling to take responsibility.