Caratlane.com Review

CARATLANE.COM Review

Today I am going to share with you my biggest online shopping experience so far: the review of Caratlane.com and my diamond earrings shopping from Caratlane. Caratlane.com is a renowned online Gold, Diamond and Gemstone Jewelry brand in India. Because the decision to buy Gold and Diamond jewelry online is not an easy one, this is a very detailed review to help you make an informed choice.

I had known caratlane.com for 5-6 years and yet this was my first purchase with them. I had subscribed to their newsletter back in 2008. I think it was the first online gold /diamond jewelry store at that time. Every week, I used to watch the beautiful designs and wonder how genuine and safe this business would be until I gave up and unsubscribed.

Concerns about Buying Diamond Gold/Jewelry Online:

During this last GOSF/The Great Online Shopping Festival (Dec 11-Dec 13, 2013), I happened to see caratlane.com listed and just went to the site for some window shopping. My heart hooked on to two pieces of earrings. Since I had never bought from them before, I was indecisive whether I should buy or not.

I added jewelry to my shopping cart 'n' times, removed 'n' times, then added again and kept playing like that for almost 2 days. In between I called up their toll free number (1800-102-0103) to clarify my doubts and to check delivery options in my area. The customer service representative patiently addressed all my concerns. 

I checked for reviews online and came across a negative review where the person mentioned his caratlane order was delivered to someone else and that it is not resolved even after 2 months. This scared me and I dropped the idea of shopping with them, since most businesses don't deliver on COD (cash on delivery) in my area and I didn't want to risk my money in a prepaid order.

In the meantime, I received two follow up calls from the same customer service rep from Caratlane.com. I don't like sales calls, but this girl named Sadhna was convincing and persuasive without being pushy. She told me that it was the first time Caratlane.com was offering as high a discount as 20%. There was a flat 10% off on all diamond and gemstone jewelry plus additional 10% off on all purchases above INR 15,000.

I was concerned that because they are offering a good discount, there might be some compromise on the gold quality or weight. So I checked the website thoroughly and learnt that their Jewelry is certified by reputed labs and you get a certificate with it. All the details right from the length and weight of the jewelry item, quality and clarity of diamonds used was there. After satisfying myself on all aspects and checking with my mom, I finally ordered the 2 pairs I loved, just a few hours before the GOSF offer ended.

Caratlane.com Order Processing Time:

Approx 2 Weeks

Dec 13, 2013: Order placed. I received a confirmation email with the name of the representative to whom my order was assigned. The expected shipping date (Dec 24) was mentioned for each item in the order. So I knew I had to wait these many days.
Dec 19, 2013: 6 days later I received an update that my order was on time and will be shipped on the scheduled date.
Dec 24, 2013: Order shipped via Insured Speed Post and I received an email with the Tracking number.
Dec 28, 2013: I was unable to track my order because Indian Speed Post didn't care to update the details. They were probably in the Christmas and New Year festive mood. I got worried and wrote to customer care. Received a reply the same day that my order has reached my local post office and got delivered the next day.

Note: Caratlane has a tie up with Blue Dart and if this courier service doesn't operate in your area, your order will be sent through India Post as insured parcel. To know about insured parcels in detail, read here. They also have some ready to ship jewelry pieces and you can also opt for Try-at-home before purchasing. The Try-at-home option is available in the metro cities as well as many other cities and expanding further.

This was my first gold purchase after a gap of 6.5 years and I was super excited to just rip apart the packing and look at my jewelry. But I took time to click pictures for record just in case anything wasn't right. So these pics weren't actually clicked for the review.

Caratlane.com Jewelry Packing and Unboxing:

As per the directions of Indian Post for insured parcels, the package was wrapped inside a cloth bag with wax seal. The box was made of thin tin and was badly deformed when I received it. Thankfully the contents inside were safe. This is how it looked.

There were perfumed dry flowers, Jewelry boxes and an envelope containing credit card sized magnetic Jewelry certificates for each item. The packing was aesthetic.

Did I like my Caratlane Jewelry?

Left: Caratlane Yonder Heart Earrings. Check HERE.
Right: Caratlane Ethea Paisley Earrings.Check HERE.

Even though I had zoomed and carefully checked the model's picture for each pair of earrings, still these felt very very small and frivolous, especially the heart ones.

See how pale the gold looks and the how unpolished and black the circle loops.

The designs were very pretty but the gold looked very pale and brassy. The loop where the hook was attached looked black and dirty. I wore one pair for an hour to get the feel of it and then didn't feel like touching them for the next few days. My mood matched the cloudy gloomy rainy days outside.

On Dec 30th, my son's birthday, I finally took out and wore the paisley one and started liking it gradually. The 18k gold looked a bit better in natural daylight. But apparently there were more surprises in store for me. 

Before I continue the story, let me first quickly sum up the Pluses and Minuses:

Why buy from Caratlane.com?

• Caratlane jewelry caters to the taste of modern day buyer who attaches more value to aesthetics, wants hassle-free shopping and doesn't look at buying gold as an investment. So if you like modern eye-appealing jewelry and an extensive variety of designs to choose from, go for them.
• A very good price range starting from very low going up to your buying potential. There's something to suit every pocket.
• Suitable as precious gift items especially when you don't know anything about jewelry.
• Jewelry and diamonds are certified from reputed labs which gives you the confidence of buying an authentic product.
• Conflict free diamonds procured from ethical sources. Read more here.
• Insured Shipping and secure, hassle-free online shopping.
• Guidance and consultation available to extensively discuss before placing an order.
• Toll free contact number.
• You can customize your Jewelry (high value solitaire rings)
• Beautiful Kids Jewelry is also available. Strangely, you can't locate it on their site until you check their 'Gifts' section.
• 30 day return policy: If you are not happy with your jewelry, you can return or exchange at 100% value within 30 days of receiving it. I have been told that the return policy is also valid on caratlane.com jewelry bought from their partner sites and not directly from them
• Lifetime Exchange Policy. Read here.

Why not to buy from Caratlane.com?

• If you think of gold as an investment and every penny matters to you, don't buy. This has more of aesthetic value than financial value. Some may call it 'fancy stuff'.
• Unlike the Gold Jewelry ordered at a local Gold shop, price of Caratlane Jewelry is not consistent with the daily market rate of gold. Jewelry prices are updated after a certain interval unknown to the customer.
• Every jewelry item just has a price tag. There is no breakup of charges as per Gold price, Diamond Price, Polish, Making Charges. Therefore No Transparency.
• You never get to know what exactly you paid for the Gold and how high they charged you for that 18K (yellow gold) or 14K (White) Gold
• The Jewelry also has a partial Rhodium coating which means you are paying for that in the Gold price.
• Weight of each Jewelry item is mentioned as Approximate. You can see the actual weight only in the certificate when you receive it. It may be somewhat higher or considerably lower than the weight mentioned on caratlane.com.
• Price of the same jewelry item on their partner site may be lower than when you buy directly from them.
• The beautiful small jewelry you see on their site is mainly made from readymade mounts/designs kept in bulk. No customization allowed even if you like something and want a slight change in it.
• I noticed a difference in the quality of the Jewelry I had received in the first go (poor quality during GOSF discount time) and the customized one I have received now, which looks much better and polished (I really wonder!)

To continue with my shopping experience, I got a feedback call from Mr Ashish Kapoor, VP Sales Caratlane.com on Jan 6, 2014 and when I mentioned I am a blogger, I was asked to share my experience in a post to help future buyers. This was a very personal purchase and I didn't want to write about it, but this experience finally became just too important to share with you all.

I soon discovered that my new diamond hook earrings silently slipped and fell off my one or the other ear every couple of hours. There was a serious flaw in the design as I don't let my hair loose and there was no friction with the clothing to cause the earring to fall off. There was no way to wear them for an entire day without losing it at least 4-5 times and then searching for it.

So one day I called up Mr Ashish Kapoor to get some clarity on the return and exchange policies and informed him that I was really unhappy with my purchase. I always wanted the hook earrings to have a lock mechanism, which I have seen in custom made gold jewelry from local Goldsmiths. I trusted that a brand this big would take care of such things but except for the beautiful designs, their jewelry was poor in terms of functionality.

This guy was really passionate about his brand and was willing to go any length to save his brand's image as well as win a happy customer. After defending their brand for quite some time, he agreed to get it fixed mentioning that I will have to pay for the customization. But when I mentioned it simply needs a change in the hook style and no extra gold really, he finally agreed to get it done without any extra cost. 

So my earrings finally got customized into lockable ones and I can wear them regularly now, but the brand image Ashish tried so hard to preserve got all torn by what all I had to go through during that customization period and the end product I received which was far less in weight than what is shown on their website.

CLICK HERE to read the Part 2 of this Experience.