Goldmakers Fine Jewelry

We selected two beautiful blue topaz stones with an unusual cut (I believe it's called "triple trillian"). Each stone was approximately 7 cts. We also selected two small diamonds. We left a $350 deposit on 03/06/10, and they were to cast the gold and set the stones and have the earrings ready by 03/22/10. The promise date came and went, and they did not call. We called about a week later and they said that the earrings would be ready in a few more days. They finally called and said that the earrings were ready for pick up, and we went to get them on 04/10/10. We got to the store shortly before they were to close, so we just looked at the earrings briefly and paid the balance on the account. When we got the earrings home, we discovered that there were significant chips out of the topaz stones near the mounting clips that were not there when we selected them. Almost all corners of the triangular cut topaz were chipped and one was missing a significant amount of material. These defects were visible to the unaided eye. We called and left a message and sent an email to inform them of the problem. Pete (one of the jewelers) called and after a short discussion, told us that topaz is a cheaper stone, and cutters don't take as much care with them as with other stones. He asked us to bring the earrings in, and we would compare them to the single stone that was left out of the three they had, to compare the quality of the cut. We showed up at their shop at the indicated time and sat down and talked with Pete. He took the earrings, put them under a microscope and said, "That's it!?" He told us that these were "cheap stones" (he quoted a price per carat that was about half what we had paid) and that we shouldn't expect that they would be without defects. He did not address that the stones were not in the same condition as they were when they were selected. He also did not address that the remaining stone still had all corners intact. He flat out told us that our expectations were "unreasonable". He offered a refund of the purchase price, which we accepted. We felt that for a purchase price of ~$1400.00, we had a right to expect that the stones would be set in the condition that they were originally, and that we would receive quality workmanship.