[jerin]

Airdancer,

I am very sorry to hear that it is not the necklace from the picture! I hope the one you got is very nice, for that amount of money it sure ought to be!

[Ashley]

That is unfortunate Airdancer- I am really sorry to hear about your strand, but am still interested in seeing pictures of what you did receive if you can manage it. We dropped using template pictures on our site awhile ago, they just don't work when it comes to selling strands with such unique attributes like baroque pearls. Akoya, yes, but for Tahitian and South Sea pearls it is an impossible system and confusing for customers.

[pearlescence]

Hi
My personal rule is that made jewellery is always unique so every picture is wysiwyg and for the supplies then the picture is of one from the same hank or consignment. In the UK to do otherwise would be, in any case, in law, applying what could be a false trade description and the council comes along and has a conversation with you (at the least)

[airdancer]

Thanks v much for the chorus of nice words and deep feeling! I will most certainly post pictures of it (camera needs batteries). I must say it's not ugly - hope haven't misled anyone. Oh, definitely not flawless and not round (haha). Just that I have been staring at that picture for months and was expecting that picture. I'm taking the chance to write to Eddie to clarify. Will let all know!

[pattye]

Remember to use "Pearl-Guide Power" on Eddie!

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

[Raisondetre]

Well, my take is that you should make use of the 30 day money back guarantee - it's supposed to be no questions asked. You could try to exchange it for a better strand, but my guess is price-wise you will do better browsing the vendors' pages for individual strands.

[Pearlgully]

Originally Posted by Raisondetre

Well, my take is that you should make use of the 30 day money back guarantee - it's supposed to be no questions asked.

........That's, all returns must be received within 30 days from the "order date"...... NOT from when you received it. If you live outside the U.S., don't wait too long.



Gail

[knotty panda]

Don't they have some sort of policy whereby your check is held in like an escrow account until the purchase is approved?

[airdancer]

Oh, I paid by credit card so there isn't an escrow. Actually my concern is that even if I do return it, I won't get that particular strand - which for me, would be extra costs with no beneficial outcome since I've got to ship the pearls back! Anyway, pictures' ready! So it is not a double post, kindly make way to show me your pearls.

[jshepherd]

Tahitian Pearls from AmericanPearl.com
You have protection with your credit card as well. If you did not receive what you ordered you will be able to get 100% of your money back. Also, you can ship it back on American Pearl's FedEx account number so you don't lose anything.

Regarding I-Escrow, that is really an eBay thing. It used to be a well-used service until all the fake escrow companies popped up and ripped so many people off. I doubt if American Pearl uses I-Escrow anymore either. Their escrow page has had a dead link on it for a couple of years now.
http://www.americanpearl.com/escrow.html

[jshepherd]

Originally Posted by jshepherd

I really think that is intentional. When AP first started carrying Hanadama a couple of years back they described them as Mikimoto does on their Website.

But when other online vendors started carrying Hanadama at lower prices (okay, it was us), AP changed their descriptions stating that Hanadama only referred to a rose color and not the quality of a strand and only Collection Quality was the best. They then dropped the price of HD and upped the price of CQ.

Now compare the words here on AP. The first paragraph states that Hanadama only refers to color and is not a quality indicator.

Now compare Mikimoto's description of Hanadama here.

AP's description is a contradiction of Mikimoto's. And Mikimoto coined the term.

In Strack on page 362 she states, "Individual pearls or high value are treated separately, the Japanese call them "handama". And on page 364 she states, "Pearls of the so-called hanadama quality are sold separately at auctions in Tokyo".

Someone dropped me a line about this post with a link that I found very interesting. I know a lot of you believed me when I said American Pearl used to claim Hanadama was the best until we started carrying them, but I imagine there may have been some who doubted it.

This should do it!

http://web.archive.org/web/200602070...selection.html

Directly from American Pearl's Web site:

Known as the "Flower Pearls", Hanadama refers to the roundest, cleanest most lustrous pearls harvested each year from Japan. Each pearl passess a strict grading standard for luster, roundness, pure white bodycolor and the quintessential "nacre thickness" and the coveted "Rose" hue that makes these paragan of pearls known as the "Flower Pearls"

INCONTROVERTIBLY THE FINEST, BACKED BY THE CERTIFICATE TO PROVE IT

There it is, etched in history.

And on this page you can see that American Pearl stated that their collection quality is Hanadama.

http://web.archive.org/web/200602070...9mmcolqua.html

And in the description of "Collection Quality Hanadama":

If you were in a fine jewelry store in Japan (the origin of the finest quality cultured pearls in the world) and mentioned the term HANADAMA, the salesperson would explain to you that HANADAMA is a Japanese word that describes the finest quality cultured pearls harvested each year in Japan.