Victims of Enchanted Diamonds Scam
Donation protected
June 15th, 2019.
It’s a day that dozens of customers of Enchanted Diamonds, an online diamond and engagement ring retailer with a storefront in NYC, won’t soon be able to forget. Sadly, weeks before, the company with a previously A+ rating from the BBB and great reviews across Yelp and Google among others, began taking payment for engagement ring orders they never planned to fulfill.
A few days earlier, signs of trouble appeared when eager customers calling the company’s phone number for order updates were greeted with a prerecorded message that the retailer’s number had been disconnected from service. Shortly thereafter, Enchanted Diamonds issued the following email response:
"We apologize for the delay in your order and are hopeful that we will have a plan to resume operations on Monday. Please be on the lookout for another email on Monday."
It was the last time that any customer would hear from the company.
As it turns out, more than 80 customers, spanning 11 states and as far as Canada and the UK have since filed complaints about wiring money for diamonds and engagement rings that they never received. After Enchanted Diamonds disappeared and customers began looking for answers, similar tales of deceit surfaced. As early as May, order delays were brushed off by the company’s owner due to overseas holidays, quality control discrepancies, and customs issues to name a few. What we’ve come to discover, is that these excuses were given without the intention of actually delivering these orders that had been fully paid for.
Monetarily, this has caused an initial loss of a minimum of $0.3M+, but with new victims coming forth daily, this number will likely climb. Equally as painful as the financial burden however, is the tremendous heartache felt by many who have now seen marriage proposals postponed or even cancelled. Others have seen anniversary celebrations turned into nightmares, and life memories forever tarnished. This was not the “Happily ever after” these customers signed up for.
This story has since been reported on by numerous media outlets: CBS NY, NBC NY, NY Daily News 1, NY Daily News 2
I'm leading this campaign on behalf of all victims because I am extremely saddened that this company has marred what should have been a cherished lifetime milestone and memory in the lives of those affected.
We've formed a support group to discuss how we will tackle this overwhelming issue and we thank the team at RareCarat, an online diamond search aggregate, tremendously for their support. We intend for proceeds of this campaign to be shared among everyone affected. Your support would mean the world to us as we look for ways to recoup some of our losses and rebuild the good memories that diamonds, engagements, and life celebrations inherently deliver. Life gives us all a few golden moments that stay with us our entire lives. It’s never just a diamond. It’s the memories attached to it.
****************************************************************************************************************
Below are a few stories from the victims in their own words:
“After saving 20% of my income in my first year out of college, I was finally prepared to buy the love of my life an engagement ring. I’ve been anticipating this as a time of excitement and joy for all my life, now my engagement plans have been foiled, my money is gone, and I have nothing to show for it. By far the most painful part of this process has been going through it without being able to share it with my future bride. A once in a lifetime show of love and commitment has been overshadowed now for me by this travesty of a company.”
"Our dreams are shattered. I'm a Canadian and even paying the 37% exchange premium on top for the ring was still a better deal than at home. I spoke with one of the customer reps via 200 email messages before pulling the trigger on April 19th. We were waiting on final renders that were supposed to be back by June 10th, then we would say okay make the dream! I found out on June 14th that their phones were down and that the company would never fulfill my order. I was hoping to get the ring for our vacation on my parents boat mid August, and propose while my parents were on shore with a camera. Unfortunately, this will not be happening anymore. It is our happy place and I wanted her to remember the memories we created everytime we come here on summer weekends."
"A decade ago, my husband feel ill and almost died just one day after proposing to me. Unsurprisingly, funds for an engagement ring became secondary to those needed for medical attention and treatment. We’ve been saving in the ten years since to finally make that promised purchase. I searched, investigated, and did my due diligence before wiring the money over to ED. Now, we’ve had to purchase a ring from a different jeweler, only this time, on a credit card, that we'll be paying off for the foreseeable future."
"My girlfriend and I met while she was finishing up college. I decided to surprise her with an engagement while on a trip to Canada to see the Orcas- something she’s always dreamed of doing. After finding a beautiful ring on Enchanted Diamonds, I did research and confidently placed my order after seeing an A+ BBB rating and tons of positive reviews. Now I’m left with nothing, no ring and no money for a replacement ring. It has put so much stress and financial burden upon us dealing with this."
“After dating my college sweetheart for seven years, we started looking at engagement rings and sadly found everything we liked was outside of our budget. That's when we turned to online retailers and found Enchanted Diamonds. We vetted this company and spent considerable time learning about diamonds. We did all the research we could and even spent time talking with the owner at ED. In an effort to relieve my anxiety, he personally guaranteed my order. Now, not only have we had to push out our engagement plans because our years of savings were stolen, but just the word "diamond" alone will forever be stained with a horrible experience. I don't understand how a business or person can deliberately do this to their customers when they know the extent of emotions that come along with an engagement.”
"My boyfriend and I have been together for eight years. We have been there for one another through our second decade of life which has been full of many challenges and successes. We are now at a time in our lives where we wanted to be able to take the next step in our relationship. Sixteen hours days with minimal sleep as evidence of love went into saving up the money that my boyfriend needed to buy me an engagement ring. I was so appreciative and humbled by my boyfriend’s dedication that I wanted to make sure his hard earned money was spent at a trustworthy place and for a great price. I did my research and found an amazing company, RareCarat, that helped us find a beautiful diamond within our budget. From there we decided to make our final purchase with Enchanted Diamonds. What a huge mistake- now we have no ring and no money. There are situations in life that we can‘t always foresee and this one has totally blindsided us. What should be the happiest time in our lives has turned into one of the most stressful. "
"My boyfriend and I recently graduated from graduate school and still have a significant amount of student loans to pay. He just accepted a job out of state and planned to propose before he moves in August. He used all of his savings to buy an engagement ring, but we will have to put everything on pause until we are able to receive our money back. Joshua (ED Owner) continued to call us and push us to create a custom setting together (likely in an attempt to defraud us of even more money), but then suddenly disappeared when we asked for updates on our original order."
"My purchase was an anniversary gift from my husband who wanted to bless me with something to celebrate. We sent money to Enchanted Diamonds and never received our purchase. Sadly, what’s supposed to be a happy memory around a significant moment in our lives is now caught up in this scandal. All the stories from the victim’s are just heartbreaking. It’s not just about money but, an element of joy that was taken.”
"My husband was blessing me with a lovely anniversary gift. Unfortunately, Enchanted Diamonds ended up taking our money and never delivered. What has happened to all of us is indescribable.”
It’s a day that dozens of customers of Enchanted Diamonds, an online diamond and engagement ring retailer with a storefront in NYC, won’t soon be able to forget. Sadly, weeks before, the company with a previously A+ rating from the BBB and great reviews across Yelp and Google among others, began taking payment for engagement ring orders they never planned to fulfill.
A few days earlier, signs of trouble appeared when eager customers calling the company’s phone number for order updates were greeted with a prerecorded message that the retailer’s number had been disconnected from service. Shortly thereafter, Enchanted Diamonds issued the following email response:
"We apologize for the delay in your order and are hopeful that we will have a plan to resume operations on Monday. Please be on the lookout for another email on Monday."
It was the last time that any customer would hear from the company.
As it turns out, more than 80 customers, spanning 11 states and as far as Canada and the UK have since filed complaints about wiring money for diamonds and engagement rings that they never received. After Enchanted Diamonds disappeared and customers began looking for answers, similar tales of deceit surfaced. As early as May, order delays were brushed off by the company’s owner due to overseas holidays, quality control discrepancies, and customs issues to name a few. What we’ve come to discover, is that these excuses were given without the intention of actually delivering these orders that had been fully paid for.
Monetarily, this has caused an initial loss of a minimum of $0.3M+, but with new victims coming forth daily, this number will likely climb. Equally as painful as the financial burden however, is the tremendous heartache felt by many who have now seen marriage proposals postponed or even cancelled. Others have seen anniversary celebrations turned into nightmares, and life memories forever tarnished. This was not the “Happily ever after” these customers signed up for.
This story has since been reported on by numerous media outlets: CBS NY, NBC NY, NY Daily News 1, NY Daily News 2
I'm leading this campaign on behalf of all victims because I am extremely saddened that this company has marred what should have been a cherished lifetime milestone and memory in the lives of those affected.
We've formed a support group to discuss how we will tackle this overwhelming issue and we thank the team at RareCarat, an online diamond search aggregate, tremendously for their support. We intend for proceeds of this campaign to be shared among everyone affected. Your support would mean the world to us as we look for ways to recoup some of our losses and rebuild the good memories that diamonds, engagements, and life celebrations inherently deliver. Life gives us all a few golden moments that stay with us our entire lives. It’s never just a diamond. It’s the memories attached to it.
****************************************************************************************************************
Below are a few stories from the victims in their own words:
“After saving 20% of my income in my first year out of college, I was finally prepared to buy the love of my life an engagement ring. I’ve been anticipating this as a time of excitement and joy for all my life, now my engagement plans have been foiled, my money is gone, and I have nothing to show for it. By far the most painful part of this process has been going through it without being able to share it with my future bride. A once in a lifetime show of love and commitment has been overshadowed now for me by this travesty of a company.”
"Our dreams are shattered. I'm a Canadian and even paying the 37% exchange premium on top for the ring was still a better deal than at home. I spoke with one of the customer reps via 200 email messages before pulling the trigger on April 19th. We were waiting on final renders that were supposed to be back by June 10th, then we would say okay make the dream! I found out on June 14th that their phones were down and that the company would never fulfill my order. I was hoping to get the ring for our vacation on my parents boat mid August, and propose while my parents were on shore with a camera. Unfortunately, this will not be happening anymore. It is our happy place and I wanted her to remember the memories we created everytime we come here on summer weekends."
"A decade ago, my husband feel ill and almost died just one day after proposing to me. Unsurprisingly, funds for an engagement ring became secondary to those needed for medical attention and treatment. We’ve been saving in the ten years since to finally make that promised purchase. I searched, investigated, and did my due diligence before wiring the money over to ED. Now, we’ve had to purchase a ring from a different jeweler, only this time, on a credit card, that we'll be paying off for the foreseeable future."
"My girlfriend and I met while she was finishing up college. I decided to surprise her with an engagement while on a trip to Canada to see the Orcas- something she’s always dreamed of doing. After finding a beautiful ring on Enchanted Diamonds, I did research and confidently placed my order after seeing an A+ BBB rating and tons of positive reviews. Now I’m left with nothing, no ring and no money for a replacement ring. It has put so much stress and financial burden upon us dealing with this."
“After dating my college sweetheart for seven years, we started looking at engagement rings and sadly found everything we liked was outside of our budget. That's when we turned to online retailers and found Enchanted Diamonds. We vetted this company and spent considerable time learning about diamonds. We did all the research we could and even spent time talking with the owner at ED. In an effort to relieve my anxiety, he personally guaranteed my order. Now, not only have we had to push out our engagement plans because our years of savings were stolen, but just the word "diamond" alone will forever be stained with a horrible experience. I don't understand how a business or person can deliberately do this to their customers when they know the extent of emotions that come along with an engagement.”
"My boyfriend and I have been together for eight years. We have been there for one another through our second decade of life which has been full of many challenges and successes. We are now at a time in our lives where we wanted to be able to take the next step in our relationship. Sixteen hours days with minimal sleep as evidence of love went into saving up the money that my boyfriend needed to buy me an engagement ring. I was so appreciative and humbled by my boyfriend’s dedication that I wanted to make sure his hard earned money was spent at a trustworthy place and for a great price. I did my research and found an amazing company, RareCarat, that helped us find a beautiful diamond within our budget. From there we decided to make our final purchase with Enchanted Diamonds. What a huge mistake- now we have no ring and no money. There are situations in life that we can‘t always foresee and this one has totally blindsided us. What should be the happiest time in our lives has turned into one of the most stressful. "
"My boyfriend and I recently graduated from graduate school and still have a significant amount of student loans to pay. He just accepted a job out of state and planned to propose before he moves in August. He used all of his savings to buy an engagement ring, but we will have to put everything on pause until we are able to receive our money back. Joshua (ED Owner) continued to call us and push us to create a custom setting together (likely in an attempt to defraud us of even more money), but then suddenly disappeared when we asked for updates on our original order."
"My purchase was an anniversary gift from my husband who wanted to bless me with something to celebrate. We sent money to Enchanted Diamonds and never received our purchase. Sadly, what’s supposed to be a happy memory around a significant moment in our lives is now caught up in this scandal. All the stories from the victim’s are just heartbreaking. It’s not just about money but, an element of joy that was taken.”
"My husband was blessing me with a lovely anniversary gift. Unfortunately, Enchanted Diamonds ended up taking our money and never delivered. What has happened to all of us is indescribable.”
Co-organizers (9)
Betty X
Organizer
New York, NY
Casey Cichocki
Co-organizer
Jeanette S
Co-organizer
Josh Read
Co-organizer
Mitchell Guthrie
Co-organizer