Hi Jenny,
I'm very sorry to hear that you've had a disappointing experience with us. I requested additional information about your experience but didn't receive a response, and I could not find any orders or emails that match your name, so while I don't know the specifics about which pieces you might be talking about, I hope I can shed some light on this.
We're very dedicated to creating the highest quality handmade jewellery pieces and providing thoughtful customer service. None of our pieces should have rough edges, and while the claws on our pieces are delicate, they are set securely against the stone so they shouldn't snag on anything. It's not impossible, of course, because as jewellery is worn the gold can shift and move, but in those rare situations, we always are happy to help our customers and fix the issue.
The mention of the stones is surprising, and makes me wonder if you perhaps have us confused with another jewellery store! We source our stones from a number of carefully selected and vetted suppliers from around the world, including some located in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal, in order to offer our customers the best possible options to meet their requests. While its certainly possible for us to only look at local options, we are often unable to find the specific stone our customers are looking for here in Toronto, especially if said customer is seeking something more unique, like an artist-cut opalescent sapphire. Such stones are already extremely rare; for that reason, we use all of our possible resources to find the perfect match -- which often lead us to lapidary artists in the United States, Australia, and elsewhere.
That being said, when it's someone's priority that the stone be Canadian, for example, we can absolutely cater our sourcing to match those requests, within availability. Canadian diamonds, for example, are relatively easy to find, though the availability in terms of specs do not always align with someone's request. Canadian sapphires are much more challenging to source, as Canada does not produce many gem-quality sapphires.
All this to say, when we are working with someone on their custom request, we always do our absolute best to meet that person's requests as much as we possibly can. There are so many factors that go into sourcing the perfect stone, which is why we ask about the customer's priorities for the stone so that we can meet them as closely as is possible. That might look like:
1. A Sapphire
2. Violet-Purple in colour
3. Artist Cut
4. Oval shape
5. Opalescent
With such a request, we would do our best to find something that matches everything, but it's extremely unlikely, just because the request is so specific. We might come back with a sapphire that is the right colour, shape, and cut, but is not opalescent. Since opalescence is not the customer's primary concern, we focus instead on what they do care most about: getting the perfect colour. If the customer instead said that they want a teal opalescent sapphire and don't care about size or shape, we could present them with some options that varied in those factors.
Each request is unique to the person that is making it, and if stone origin is something that matters to you most of all, we would do our absolute best to find you what you're looking for, and if it isn't possible, we always make sure to explain why, and to offer the next best alternatives.
I hope that helps! If you do have any concerns about a piece, please do get in touch with us at info@laurieflemingjewellery.com so that we can help fix it for you. We want you to be able to love your jewellery and wear it with confidence ❤️