Extreme delay from Integrity Pearls

[smartestjewelry]

So much for Integrity....

So much for Integrity....

I have followed some of the advice here and made my first purchase of pearls from Integrity. It's been 4 weeks since I have got the gold findings and everything else in my house except for the PEARLS.

I have sent 2 e-mails and left 2 messages and no reply. I guess at least the Chinese would have been corresponding better then this company.

I will have to start a dispute via Paypal but my biggest problem is the delay thinking that I will eventualy get the pearls....VERY DISAPPOINTED.

 

[Caitlin]

I have read on several Chinese pearl sites that business comes to a standstill in China during the 2 weeks of Chinese New Year Feb 1-14. . When you order from China, it usually takes 4-6 weeks when it isn't even the new year.

I think Doug could solve this problem if he would not list pearls until they are in a place that can ship them right out. That's what Charlotte and Dad do and I think it is a much better idea than having unhappy customers.

Charlotte and Dad's site (eBay "Pearl Emporium") lists their pearls with no pictures, until you click through. I find it tedious because they have so many pearls and they are listed by number. Nevertheless, they seem to have no problems with shipping.

In the past, I have liked both Pearl Emporium and Integrity because they have buyers in China, and a base in the US or Canada. Integrity seems to be having a lot of problems with a reliable American or Canadian shipper, as the owner Doug, who goes to China to shop, lives in the Philippines.

Some of the eBay boutique sites we like over here have much fewer choices in pearls than Doug or Dad have. What we need is another site with loads of pearls, a Chinese pearl shopper and an American shipping base like Dad and Charlotte have. Lets keep looking and please share when we find something.

 

[ronz]

Integrity or not Pearls

Integrity or not Pearls

Only my second post so not sure where this will come out.
I hate to be negative but I have not had a good experience with Integrity.
Ordered 35 necklaces and 15 bracelets and the very first clasp in addition to being small and cheap looking was defective.
Three requests to return merchandise have not been answered in 3 weeks. left phone message and last email was replied to with their current offer which was the second time the offer came in the same day so I guess someone thought they were being clever.
The 100% satisfaction guaranteed n their site doesn't mean much. I am now contacting card company to resolve this.
Tried to offer constructive criticism on first post but this is something with 2 words and the first starts with the second letter of alphabet.

 

[smartestjewelry]

I am too, as we speak elevating my paypal dispute to a claim since Integrity does not answer at all.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I just noticed the seller is now NARU (suspended) on eBay.

 

[knotty panda]

This turn of events truly saddens me. I know Doug tried to recover, but apparently the sluggish economy has effected him far worse than he ever imagined. Truly, do not think ill of him. By the same token, I am so sorry to hear of everyone's losses. "Once burned" always leaves a nasty mark and "twice shy" springs to mind every time the burned one goes to make a similar purchase, producing a domino effect on subsequent sellers. I hope you recoup your losses quickly and without much trouble. I hope this does not shake your opinion of purchasing online. I hope one day Doug rebounds.

(I sound like I've been watching the Shawshank Redemption! I have. Sorry, Stephen. Didn't mean to plagerize.)

Caitlin: Why do my posts go over the margins when I'm not posting pics?

 

[salem]

Wow, this really saddens me too. I would have thought this would have been resolved by now. I ordered pearls about a year ago(most of them are STILL on temporary hanks because I am so lazy), but I had a great experience with them. I can't imagine what has happened. Even if there was a huge shipping delay, Doug was always quick to write an email back about it. I wonder if it is a problem with their new site? I know he relaunched his website some months back, adding in new features and more pearls. I have no idea.

Anyway, good luck with getting it resolved, I really hope it works out well for you. I hope it works out for Doug too, he seemed like a great guy.

 

[jerin]

Hi everyone!

If this is true, I am very sorry for Doug too and hope he still can make things going even if it may take him some time.

It is always hard if you have to rely on a "middleman" in this case in China but it is not easy to do it all alone. And it doesn?t take much that things can go wrong.

Doug, if You read this I sincerely wish and hope that you can come again and get your business booming!

 

[pattye]

It does appear his online website is still operable, at least I was able to load items into the cart--so many things could be happening, it is hard to guess---we may never know the "rest of the story"----

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

 

[robinmce]

Hi I'm a lurker making my debut over this. I placed an order on feb.21 with integrity for some beading pearls. I have received 3 emails from Rona and she now assures me that the pearls are ready to be shipped from China tomorrow. I have asked for a confirmation when they are sent. They have been pretty good about keeping me updated and I prefer to be optimistic that things will turn out well. From what I have read here about Integrity Pearls they are not out to cheat people but have some business problems. Hopefully I'm right about this. I'll keep you updated .

 

[robinmce]

An update on my order with Integrity. I have been very happy with their communication with me. I will let you know when I receive the goods. But I realize shipping from China will take a few weeks minimum. Here is their latest communication with me:


Hi Robin,

Your order has just been shipped from China. =)

I told Doug about the inquiries you had on shipments from China. He said they might involve duty when shipped to Canada. The Post Office will collect at time of delivery. If so, please let us know and we will refund this to you. There is a roundabout way to avoid the duty, but we want your order to reach you as quickly as possible, so we will gladly cover the duty this time. This will not be an issue in the future, once our inventory is all in the USA and our shipping will be directly from Toronto.

And on "ebay issue" - For the time being, we decided to prioritize the expense of moving our operation to North America instead of maintaining our eBay Store - we'll be back on eBay soon. We are still fulfilling Web Catalog orders, though we are a bit slower and have less items in the Catalog these next few weeks, while we complete our reorganization.

Thank you for your note, and please do email us if you have any more questions... =)

Sincerely,
Rona

 

[robinmce]

Finally received my order form Integrity today. Not too thrilled with the long wait and the pearls were postmarked Canada so not mailed from China like they said. Don't know what happened there.but the pearls are good quality and sizes as ordered. Especially like the white keshis.

 

[pearllove]

I'm glad you finally got your pearls.

 

[robinmce]

Me too. Iwas starting to lose hope. Now I need the rest of the stuff.
UPS tracking says I should get it today!.....
and I can start beading and creating.
I never dreamed This forum would start such a "bug" with me.

Robin

 

[Doug (Integrity Pearls)]

Hi, Salem, Panda, Robin, Inge and others...

I've been "away" for awhile, focusing on drastically reorganizing life and business. But now it's time to get involved here again, and this would be a good place to start, since the string has our name on it!

I don't want to appear to be self-promoting, but since it came up, may I provide a quick update about Integrity Pearls? A couple of years back, when I was living in Asia, we tried a grand experiment that was intended to give our customers the very best pearls, selection and prices - we moved our base of operations directly into China. I established an office in Shanxiahu (Pearl Mecca), and we set up a system of couriering orders to Los Angeles and forwarding from there. The quality, selection and prices worked great, but then we ran into a series of problems with shipping and customer service. It really got bad when US Customs began detaining packages from China last July, and one thing led to another, like dominoes. Customers were waiting weeks and weeks for orders, we fell dreadfully behind in e-mails, finances got tight... we felt horrible about what we were doing to our beloved customers.

So we took radical action. I returned with my family to re-establish our base in North America (home is in Canada, inventory is in Los Angeles). And we set about to rebuild the business from the ground up, step by step. It has been a slow, systematic process, and we can now offer our customers the same quality and value with our pearls... but now with prompt customer service, and IMMEDIATE shipping from Los Angeles by Priority Mail.

We learned some lessons, the hard way; but building on these, we can once again offer our customers the very best. Our range of pearls is currently limited to white, naturals and peacocks, but we will be broadening the range (including quality dyed pearls) with each passing week; and offering both regular quality pearls and top-of-the-line premium whites.

But this is beginning to sound like an advertisement, so I'd better stop. We just want to apologize again, one last time, to customers who were kept waiting and were disappointed with us. Circumstances overcame us, but we have done what is necessary to ensure that from now on, our customers can expect nothing but the best value and service. Thank you to people who encouraged us when we were struggling. We do have the very best customers in the world!

-- Doug

 

[Raisondetre]

Looks great ... will be keen to check it out ... the urge to starting beading is getting stronger ...

 

[jerin]

The very best of luck for You and your family business, Doug! I hope to see Premium pearls of a larger size in the future!

 

[Doug (Integrity Pearls)]

Thank you very much, Inge and raison d'etre. Yes, Inge, bigger premium is coming. 8mm should be in the Catalog around the end of this week - and 9mm hopefully a week or two later. The price of the 9mm will be significantly higher than the 8mm, and we will only carry 1 or 2 strands at a time for now - but we can assure you of excellent quality and value, worthy of royalty like you.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Will you be selling on eBay again, or just through your own website?

 

[Doug (Integrity Pearls)]

Integrity Pearls will eventually resume selling through our eBay Store. But for the next month or two, we will focus first on the Website Catalog, while we roll out our full range of pearls and make other improvements to our service. The Website provides a much nicer and more efficient shopping environment, and most of our customers prefer to do their shopping there (prices and products are identical). However, we realize that some prefer the eBay marketplace - and besides, that's where we met many of our friends in the first place. So when the time is ripe, we'll be back on eBay, hopefully before too long.