Extreme delay from Integrity Pearls

[reelay]

Hi all,

I ordered some 7.5-8mm freshwater peacock pearls from integrity around the 7th of december... about 5 weeks ago. i know that they closed for the holidays to catch up on stuff and to ship out orders and reopened on the 26th. I figured I would get my pearls in at least 2 weeks. I send them an e-mail asking about the status of my order on the 16th.

On the 19th of december they send out an e-mail saying that they're having issues with their system and will ship out my pearls as soon as possible. They notify me on the 22nd that the pearls on on the way. On the website they say they ship using priority, and are based in cali. I live in GA. So 2-3 business days right? In the shipment notification e-mail they say that the pearls will get to me around the 28th, or the 29th at the latest.

January 2nd rolls by. Still no pearls. That's around 5-6 business days, more than enough time for the pearls to arrive. By this time I'm very worried about my order. I go to the post office 2 times to ask if they have a package that is mine that may have had a wrong address. I send integrity pearls an e-mail asking about the order and saying that I think that the order is lost. During this time around the I e-mail, call, and leave voicemails for them multiple times.

They respond with the e-mail attached below on the 11th of January. What I don't understand is they still have the same exact pearls that I ordered on their website. Does that mean that Everyone that orders these pearls is having the exact same ridiculous amount of delays to their orders? Blaming my order's delays on supplying issues from China is difficult to believe since they are still selling these pearls on their website. If they truly are out of stock of these pearls, then they would take the pearls off of the website and not sell them until they are in stock again, otherwise they're just creating a huge headache for themselves. I believe that my order was misplaced, and then marked as shipped, and then forgotten about until I e-mailed them again. 9 days later, they reply to me blaming shipment issues with China that are out of their control. I still have not received my shipment. It has been 5 weeks.

I really want to order some $70.00 pearls for my mom for her and my dad's 30th anniversary and make my mom a traditional one strand white pearl necklace. But with the delayed customer service that I have experienced I don't know if I want to go through with the 2nd order. If I don't receive the pearls from integrity, i will contact them for a refund and hopefully get a response before the end of the month. As for the 2nd order I am reluctant to purchase because I feel like it will just cause another headache for me.

Thanks for reading about my frustration,

Ray

__________________________________________________ _
Dear Ray,

We apologize for the delay of your order. A minor setback in delivery happened with our supplier, thus the delay. This is the last batch of orders out of China, and by next week our inventory will be back in the US. You will not have to wait again for weeks for you order to come, we assure you that.

Your order has been sent to our office in Los Angeles and will be forwarded to you over the weekend.

Again, we apologize for the delay..and thank you for being our customer...

Sincerely,
Rona, Integrity Pearls
__________________________________________________ _____

[SpaceNeedle]

I looked up the company on the BBBOnline website and here's the report on this company.

http://www.labbb.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Business/CompanyReportPage_Expository.aspx?CompanyID=100051 485

After an unpleasant experience with AngelaCarolPearls.com, I only make on-line purchases from companies with satisfactory record and 0 complaints with the BBB. Here's the definition of 'Satisfactory Record':

To have a "satisfactory record" with the Bureau, a company must be in business for at least 12 months, properly and promptly address matters referred to it by the Bureau, and be free from an unusual volume or pattern of complaints and law enforcement action involving its marketplace conduct. In addition, the Bureau must have a clear understanding of the company's business and no concerns about its industry.

[Pearl Dreams]

I ordered some peacock pearls from them on eBay a few months ago with plans to make a bracelet that would match, more or less, a necklace I had already strung from pearls bought at a gem show.

From their photo showing multiple examples of the pearls being sold, I had every reason to think the colors and shape (they were circled pearls) would be a reasonable match.

The pearls arrived promptly but were different from the representative pearls photographed. The were far less colorful -- the photo showed nice blue, green and purple tones but the pearls that arrived were dull. I would not have bought them had I seen them in person.

Also, they weren't circled, so they would not have matched my necklace (I know their not being circled makes them a higher grade, but my point is that they didn't suit the purpose I bought them for.) Because they cost so little, I did not feel it was worth my time or money to return them for a refund.

I had been thinking of ordering their highest quality white round loose strand pearls to string myself, but have decided that for this item, I'm better off buying at a local show where I can see the pearls I'm getting.

Edit: I finally decided to go ahead and make a bracelet anyway this week out of the peacock pearls I got from Integrity. (Might as well, since I was keeping them!) There were enough somewhat colorful ones to make a bracelet. For the small amount of money I spent on the pearls, I am satisfied.

[Caitlin]

Sorry to hear your feedback about Integrity. I have ordered from them 3-4 times. I know from their newsletter that they have been struggling with the shipping thing. They seem to solve it and then they have to do it again. They were shipping from Canada at first, then LA.......But there should be no excuse for sending the wrong pearls! The main reason I haven't ordered from them lately is I haven't liked any of their pearls. I do/did like the ease of online shopping with them.

Pearl Emporium is a good outfit, but their eBay store has no pictures until you click through to the individual strands. I finally got fed up with it. I made a small order from pearllunar and I hope they have "integrity". Of course the shipping is from China and takes awhile.

Now if only Jeremy would sell beading pearls.........in at least the natural colors.......

[knotty panda]

Now if only Jeremy would sell beading pearls.........in at least the natural colors.......

Getting the beading pearls in naturals isn't the problem. It's the prices they want for beading strands!

I'm sticking up for Integrity here. They are restructuring. They are revamping. They are reworking. They are moving their operations back to Canada. Doug is a great guy. He WILL work with you. Give him a chance. We all need a second chance every now and then ... or a third ... or a fourth ...

If you have ever been in business, you'll know businesses are not like people. People can take a rest on their laurels every once in a while. Businesses have to keep moving. If they aren't going forward, they are stagnating. Real simple. He's working things to bring "more better" inventory, prices. I realize you work hard for your money, but time and patience go a very long way.

[jshepherd]

I have never heard anything on this forum but positive comments about Integrity Pearls. I believe a lot of our "lowly beaders" buy from them.
Slip-ups can be frustrating. No sellers are immune to them. But I am sure if you voice your frustration to them they will make it right in the end. I don't know Doug personally but all the comments I have heard in the past have been positive.

[jerin]

Hi Ray,

I just checked how much time the deliveries from Integrity take to Sweden and it is between 3 to 5 weeks. Integrity has very low shipping costs and pearl qualities up to AA grade compared with Pearl Paradise.

Sometimes they also have Super Premium Pearls, which are AAA to AA+ in my opinion!

I too would wish for a more speedy delivery but our vendors from USA have also deliverytimes of 3 - 4 weeks to arrive here in Europe.

Douglas has compensated me at one time for the delay. Email him and I am sure he will answer as soon as possible.

Have You thought about checking on the lower part of a certain pearl (in this case the black ones), how many are still left? It nearly always says "4 strands" or whatever there is in stock. The picture then should show you the actual pearls you can get, when seeing how many strands are left.

[knotty panda]

That is high praise, indeed, Jerin. And I know you know your pearl quality.

[jerin]

That is high praise, indeed, Jerin. And I know you know your pearl quality.

Hi Knotty
and thanks for the compliment. Most pearls from Integrity are not quite what I wish for, but for beading and training they offer great prices.:)

[Pearl Dreams]

When I bought my peacock pearls from them, I inquired about their 8mm white premium pearls. This is what Doug replied about those pearls-- the information may help anyone wanting to buy these pearls and it may save the seller having to repeat himself answering more emails about the same items:

"You were asking particularly about the white 8mm "premium" pearls. Well, they are the best pearls that we sell, and so far, everybody who ordered them seemed to be pleased with the quality (no returns). I hesitate to "grade" them, but I think they would normally fall into the "A" grade - typical "acceptable" surface imperfections (the odd dimple, for example), but with excellent luster, smoothness and reasonably close to round. The price for 8mm's skyrockets the closer they get to perfect, but these are a very good combination of luxury with affordability; as a fininshed necklace, they would appraise at several times this price. I think the other bead sellers who sell pearls do not sell this quality of pearl. It's something we are trying to develop especially for our designer customers who want the premium quality."

[jerin]

When I bought my peacock pearls from them, I inquired about their 8mm white premium pearls. This is what Doug replied about those pearls-- the information may help anyone wanting to buy these pearls and it may save the seller having to repeat himself answering more emails about the same items:

"You were asking particularly about the white 8mm "premium" pearls. Well, they are the best pearls that we sell, and so far, everybody who ordered them seemed to be pleased with the quality (no returns). I hesitate to "grade" them, but I think they would normally fall into the "A" grade - typical "acceptable" surface imperfections (the odd dimple, for example), but with excellent luster, smoothness and reasonably close to round. The price for 8mm's skyrockets the closer they get to perfect, but these are a very good combination of luxury with affordability; as a fininshed necklace, they would appraise at several times this price. I think the other bead sellers who sell pearls do not sell this quality of pearl. It's something we are trying to develop especially for our designer customers who want the premium quality."


I just have to chime in and tell once again that I bought pearls called "Super Premium", they are very seldom seen at Integrity and cost a lot more than their premium quality.

[reelay]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I received the pearls this past
thursday in the mail through usps priority. It looks like they
were set aside for me in china and then shipped over here since
the package from china had my name on it and it was sealed.
I guess they were dealing with it from the beginning, I just didn't
know about it.

spaceneedle, I looked them up on bbb, and they came up good,
besides one complaint that was dealt with in a satisfactory manner.
Overall I like the idea of integrity pearls. And they seem to be
genuinely concerned about their customers.

pearldreams, I too am experiencing a discrepancy between the
pearls I was expecting and the pearls I got. the minimum and
maximum range of the pearls was from 6.1mm to 7.49mm. The
pearls I ordered were labeled as 7.5mm to 8mm. I would say the
average pearl size would be around 6.5mm. I have pictures of
the dial caliper that I used and also the sorted pearls. They're
now sitting in plastic bags waiting for integrity pearl's response
to my e-mail that I sent them.


As a side note, I wasn't trying to find fault in the pearls that
integrity sent me. I was just trying to measure and sort the
pearls so I could start the string them in an order that I liked.
As you can see, I'd hoped for 8.0mm+ pearls...
and the only reason why I had 6.25+ originally as a measurement was
because I eyed the smallest pearl out the batch, measured it, and saw
that i would need a category as small as 6.25mm+.

Here's the largest pearl out of the whole batch, with its
largest diameter.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff179/reelay0/Largest.jpg


Here's the smallest of all the pearls... around 6.12mm
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff179/reelay0/Smallest.jpg


This is all the pearls sorted out into .25mm increments. The
3 pearls on the bottom right are all above 6.0mm but below
6.25mm. I measured the pearls for sorting solely based on hole
to hole distance. But again, the maximum measurement on
the largest pearl was just 7.49mm as shown 2 pictures above.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff179/reelay0/Overall.jpg

Here's the zeroed dial caliper. I had put 2 layers of duck tape
on the calipers in order to keep the nacre from being scratched
by the hard steel on the caliper jaws. I accounted for a ~.3mm
difference between the actual measurement and what the dial
caliper was showing.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff179/reelay0/Zero.jpg

Caitlin, you're right about them doing a revamp of their company.
I also wish jeremy would sell beading pearls=) I will start to
search new venues for beading pearls if integrity pearls doesn't
come through. i have about 1.5 months to come up with a
relatively nice strand of pearls for my mom. I'll check out the
two stores you recommended.

knottess, you're right on all counts. I had gotten myself worked
up because I didn't feel like the e-mails coming from them were
personalized, more like bulk e-mails sent to everyone that was
having issues with their shipments. I had been scammed before
in this same manner and I was wary. But I received a very
pleasant e-mail from Rona this past week, and they definitely
did get the pearls to me very quickly once they had the inventory.
I have taken your advice and settled down to let them reorganize
and get back to me when they're ready.

jeremy, I had read many great things about integrity from some
of the threads in the forum, which is why I chose to purchase
from them in the first place. Plus they were in my price range
as well, and I'd always liked making jewelry. I've taken your
advice as well.

Jerin, i can understand the shipping delays to europe being 3-5
weeks... when I try to ship myself to europe, it is usually
delayed by a couple years=) The pearls the I got from doug
are of excellent luster and just a few surface blemishes.
There's only 1 pearl that I was not happy with, besides the
size, and that was because it had half a ring of non-shiny nacre
around it. The pearls were all semi-round, anywhere from
.1mm to .3mm in discrepancies between largest and smallest
diameters on a single pearl. I was pleased with them overall,
if only they were the size that I was expecting. I didn't have
any marking on the strand of on the package about how
many strands they had left. I believe that they had set aside
this package of pearls for me in china and shipped it over
with lots of other pearls. hopefully i'll be able to land some
super-premiums for my mom. But i'll have to hear back from
doug about that.

Thanks again everyone for your input, I'll keep you posted
about what happens regarding this in the future.

Ray

[jerin]

Hi Reelay and all other readers of this excellent forum,

I have to make a comment on the size issue, because I too have experienced that the pearls barely come up to the size I have ordered! I have written emails on that to Integrity but since the Chinese have got from a 0,5 mm to a whole 1 mm difference in pearlsize on a single strand, the only thing to do is being prepared to get the smallest size mentioned, that way you are not going to be disappointed!

The Super Premium pearls do come up very seldom so if you can afford it, I would think you should buy this months Special from PP, these pearls are guaranted better in shape and luster, especially as they were originally loose pearls (the highest quality set aside for earrings) and 305 dollars, if I remember correctly, is a very reasonable price for a strand of this quality. Besides it is for your mother,:).

Coming back to Integrity, this size issue is the thing that frustrates me the most and I hope Doug can get either a better way with his suppliers about their sizing specifications or if that does not work, that the correct size is given on the ordering sites, so the consumer will know what to expect.

And if a strand says 7-8 mm it should not include pearls that are just a bit over 6 mm and the largest and perhaps only pearl is under 8 mm. Than it should state 6-7,5 mm or something like that!

[PearlStruck.com]

The size issue is so frustrating. It all comes down to what they in China call material sizing and strand sizing.

Very often you will see strands of pearls that are .5-.0 mm, or sized in half millimeter increments. These are typically exact-size strands. Some factories will do this with whole millimeter increments as well, but the buyer pays a premium and specifically requests this.

Material sizing is what most buyers (and factories for that matter) are at the mercy of. Every year the material factories determine what material sizing will be. Once upon a time it was like getting 9/10th of a gallon of gas in the States. We call it a gallon of gas, but we all know it is only a 9/10th of a gallon. Materials were once downsized by only 1/10th of a millimeter.

But as pearls are bought and sold by weight, every time the market changes and material sizes are downsized, the factories have just substantially increased their incomes. Today materials are downsized by a full half a millimeter. And the percentages within the downsized materials have dropped dramatically. Only 25% of the pearls on average will be in the upper half of the millimeter range.

This can all be very frustrating for buyers and consumers.

[Caitlin]

That is the new Chinese sizing. It is legal. So if you order 6.5-7, your largest pearl will be 6.5, maybe 6.6 so count on them being at least a mm smaller than advertised......Jeremy has to buy like that, but he does not sell like that.

[pattye]

This sizing issue has been frustrating for me also in buying directly from the Chinese.

I think the ethical thing to do is:

1. Full disclosure to the customer of the actual size. If I order 10mm, that is what I expect to get. If there is a range of sizes on the (graduated) strand, that should be disclosed. If there can be a variation of a percentage of mm, that should be disclosed also, otherwise it breaches the trust created with the customer, when the customer gets something smaller than what they think they have paid for.


2. I personally would rather pay a more for a 10mm strand that actually has the 10mm pearls on it than pay a little less for a 10mm strand that has 3 9.2mm pearls on it and the rest even smaller.

3. Any seller who continues to use "Chinese sizing" needs to have a big disclosure on their website, as size of pearls is a BIG consideration when choosing pearls, whether a finished strand or beading pearls.

4. I suppose we as consumers, can request the actual measurement of the strand(s) we are being sent, especially if we are requesting a certain overtone, etc.

5. How much better would it be to say on the website that customers will receive items with very small variation from the size they order as opposed to other sellers which adhere to "chinese sizing" which allows measurements of a full 1mm smaller to be sold as the next larger size???? You might also have something on your website to educate buyers perusing your site how you deal with this issue. I think it would be great if all of our forum sellers could agree on a brief statement addressing the size issue in prominent display on your website. It can only add to your credibility. How about it, Jeremy, Kevin, Amanda, Terry, Doug and All????

IMO

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

This probably should be on a seperate thread, sorry, feel free to move it Caitlin, and thanks much.

[jshepherd]

The way that we have been able to address this is by having sizes separated in Zhuji into exact sizing and buying the entire lot. This can be done, and a lot of the companies in Hong Kong do this specifically for US buyers.

This is not to say that we do not ever buy in the downsized range if we find good lots at a good price. But what we will typically do then is upgrade the size. For example, most of the 6-7 mm pearls we sold during the holiday season were actually 6.5-7.5 mm. Also, we have a large lot of 7.8-8.1 mm left from a 2006 separation. We made these into strands and sold them at 7-8.0 mm. It is not yet an exact science and it is a difficult game as consistency on the part of China is non-existent. It changes every year.

[Caitlin]

Hi Pattye!
Great editorial and I think you re right. However I do not think the Chinese will change their pricing schemes until they change their mind-set about how they describe their wares.

Meanwhile, just know that a 9.0 is really an 8-ish mm and you will not be as disappointed.

Has anyone else noticed, there weren't any klonks around this year? Last year I found one at the gem show- which you, Pattye, have- I wonder if we will find any this year?

[reelay]

Thanks everyone for sharing your knowledge and experience.

Now, the ironic thing is that I am Chinese... but it wouldn't be the first time that I've heard of business-people in China doing things like this to increase their profits.

Anyways, I don't blame integrity pearls really for anything wrong. They were in a rush, and didn't check the package that came from China. Like I said before, they probably just had the shipment from their suppliers and had this one in the "chinese sizing" set aside for me. To the people in china this package of pearls was a wonderful 7.5-8mm set.

At first when I was sorting the pearls, I was thinking to myself, oh, they probably got my strand mixed up with somebody else's. But now that I think about it.. they knew exactly how many pearls they'd sent me in each sizing category. They may have even had it sorted the exact same way in order to make my strand of pearls. (give him 16 6.25+mm, 15 6.5mm+, 10 6.75mm+, 10 7.0mm+, 3 7.25mm+, and for good measure to offset the 3 large ones, 3 6.0mm+.) total average if you add .125mm to each division of pearls is ~6.704mm. I guess, what else can i expect for $20.00 when trying to buy pearls? Lesson learned.

Anyways, here is the e-mail that I sent to integrity, right after I'd sorted the pearls out:

__________________________________________________ ______

Hi Rona,

Thanks for the e-mail. I have received the pearls today in the mail. They were very well packaged.

Please do not interpret me as being angry or upset by the delay in the order. I understand now after talking to the people at www.pearl-guide.com what has been happening in your company. If anything I am empathetic because I have experienced my dad's company moving inventory just 5 miles away from a warehouse to our garage. It was an experience in manual labor and patience. I feel that as long as you are still concerned about your customers, as you have shown me that you are, then everything can be figured out from there.

The pearls that I received today were of excellent quality luster and shape-wise. They are truly beautiful pearls. But regarding the size of the pearls I do have a question.

I measured (see note below) and sorted all of the pearls out because I was planning to put them in the order that I planned to string them on the necklace. The first picture is of all the pearls grouped together by the hole to hole length in mm of the pearls. I understand that the hole-hole measurement is anywhere from 0-0.3mm less than the maximum size of each pearl, and I will take note of this later. The pearl sizes that I measured from hole to hole with my dial gauge ranged from 6.1mm to 7.3mm. The total range of minimum to maximum size of the pearls was 6.12mm to 7.49mm. I didn't want to actually count the pearls and calculate the average size, but it is around 6.5mm. The pearls that I was expecting were to measure between 7.5mm to 8mm in size.

Please let me know what we can do from here. I propose that if you do have the 7.5mm to 8mm in stock, I will ship the old pearls back to you, and I will also pay the shipping cost (around $5.00 US dollars) for you to ship me the new pearls that are 7.5 to 8mm in diameter. I truly believe in your company and its vision; I really want to become a regular customer of yours. I am willing to wait a while for the new pearls to come to me, thus giving you all time to sort your inventory.

Please also let me know about the 8-8.5mm premium white pearls for my mother when you get the information.

Sincerely,

Ray Lee

note: I placed duck tape on both ends of the calipers to preserve the nacre of the pearls. Thus there is around a .3mm difference between the dial gauge's large measure (the actual metal part measurement scale) and the arm that shows mm to the accuracy of .01mm. I have taken this into account for all the measurements cited above. The last picture shows the calipers at 0. Note the ~.3mm discrepancy.
__________________________________________________ _________

[ronz]

Perhaps the following complaints will help Integrity with their problems as I saw an earlier complaint and they have one resolved issue with the BBB of L.A.
I am starting an Internet business for jewelry and found Integrity on this site.
12/31/07 my credit card was charged for an order of 35 necklaces, 15 bracelets, 300 earrings these were for website promotion.

These items were made and in China ready to ship and could have been put in a box by their "associate"

In 5-6 days following the order I asked for pricing on 25-30 necklaces and 15 bracelets in 3-4 colors each , asked for pricing on clasps and buying samples, wanted to purchase 10-12 items in their inventory in order to take pictures. I expressed a desire to work with them as I thought they were well established.

Sent 2-3 emails for pricing and without checking emails for exact dates I inquired for shipping status 3-4 times and mentioned I needed to take pictures for postcards and was told they should be in L.A. and then that I should have them by now.
THE COMPLAINTS

1)As of this date 1/30 I have not recieved any pricing. I have been in sales over 30 years and owned a small company 22 years and this is inexcusable and frankly unbelievable.

2)poor communication with customer - taking 3-4 days to reply every time and each time using the moving problem.

3) inattention to orders - merchandise actually shipped 1/14

4) not caring about what the customer wants and just shipping what you have. I Discussed by phone the importance of nice clasps, wanted to buy samples and recieved what seems to be the smallest clasp made.
Price sells so I guess Integrity will be ok but someone should be in charge of customer service.

[smartestjewelry]

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. :mad: 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]

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.

[Caitlin]

Hi Doug
Welcome back! Even though things were difficult for a while, I never lost faith in your "Integrity" (no pun intended). I wish you the best with your new arrangement!

And I hope you can get some natural colors of freshwaters, esp. purple- no matter how baroque.

I am sending you a PM

[robinmce]

Hi Doug
Nice to see you posting here again.
The quality and prices of your pearls kept me buying from you but am looking forward to fast shipping!!

Robin

[Doug (Integrity Pearls)]

Thank you, Caitlin, for your encouraging words. We currently have naturals listed in our Web Catalog (grouped under peach, pink and purple) - these are all "standard" potatoes, ovals and nuggets. Let's see if we can add more purples over coming weeks, including maybe some baroques such as the "peanut pearls" we currently sell in white. (The naturals drive us crazy sometimes, because there is much variation in the subtle shades. Sometimes we have a hard time deciding what color to call it - and it depends also on the kind of light. Is it pink? champagne? peach? apricot?! I guess that's part of the fascination of working with naturals!)

And thank you, Robin, for your note. Now you can have it all - quality, price AND fast shipping. And if YOU'RE happy, WE'RE happy!

[Nerida]

Doug - I've never been a customer, but I'd just like to add my best wishes for your return. It takes a good deal of "guts" and courage to admit where you went wrong, so I do hope things go well for you.

[Amrita]

Doug,
I would like to echo Nerida's words, and wish you all the best for the future!:)

[Doug (Integrity Pearls)]

Nerida and Amrita,

Thank you for your encouraging words. Something that has really impressed me over the years is the tremendous goodwill and high ethical standards of our many pearling friends worldwide. We also found they are very forgiving when we goof up! Besides the pearls, our customers are the reason we enjoy this business so much.

-- Doug

(P.S. Best wishes for your respective pearl endeavors. Nerida - NICE Website! Amrita - maybe we'll meet in Shanxiahu some day!)

[Nerida]

Thanks for the compliment, Doug!! Can't tell you how much time and effort has gone into it so far (but then again, you probably do know from your own experiences..).

[Amrita]

I agree, Nerida - your website is nice, and I can well empathise with you on the effort that must have gone into it! Doug - I will look forward to bumping into you at Sanxiahu! :)

[lisa c]

Since the last posts address hope for the future of his business - here's a recent experience.

I started out trying to buy during the September sale, and ran into trouble, all on my end of things, from a virus on my computer to a delay in being able to pay for the purchase due to my bank being sold to another bank.

Doug, et al, were the very soul of patience, grace and friendly compassion as I hit one stumbling block after another. They've even spent some hours working on a personal and a national holiday.

I finally made my order and within a day of getting confirmation of payment from paypal, they shipped. The shipment went out from Los Angeles on Monday morning, and here, on Wed afternoon - I have my pearls! They're lovely, and as described (except that the strands are 15", but I have to read up on that because there seems to be some sort of "understanding" that 16" can= 15", maybe for larger size pearls? and I'm new and have a lot to learn) and I couldn't be happier.

It means a lot to me to have the pearls I receive match the description, since I'm new to pearl buying and don't really have any 'throw-away pearl' wiggle room. I have to be able to use 95% of what I buy.

The pearls seem to be very close to the largest mm of the size range, too. I'll pull out my calipers later, but I don't expect any sad surprises.

So, there you have it! I couldn't have asked for a nicer interaction. I think they're going to Death's Door to be great pearl suppliers. I like them, I'm happy to recommend them.

[Caitlin]

Thanks Doug and Lisa. The last post really updates this thread, properly.