My Name Necklace. My experience.

Firstly, Im really sorry Ive not been keeping up with my blog, Ive just been so busy with one thing and another.

We ended up having a pretty rough time of it towards the end of the last year, yet more bad news for the family, which we're slowly coming to terms with.

We ended up giving Jess back to the breeders too.  Our son just wasn't bonding at all and my long awaited 30th Birthday present just turned out as a complete disaster and was ripping the family apart, rather than bring us together, the stress from all directions was becoming unbearable, and at one point my fiancé and I were arguing so much I nearly moved out!
While its been heartbreaking having to give her back, it was more heartbreaking to see my little boy so unhappy.  But I'm so happy knowing she is at the breeders with her Mum, she also gets to sleep with another gorgeous lab, gets to play with other dogs, and gets to work on their run.. so Im genuinely glad she is happy and being looked after so well.  Thankfully we have been giving the option to visit her, keep in touch and possibly have her back further down the line.. If ever my son comes around to the idea, which so far he still hasn't :(

Over Christmas I ended up catching swine flu from my son.  He ended up passing out with it, which scared the absolute life out of me.. I ended up being rushed to hospital because I couldnt breathe, and basically Christmas and New Year was pretty much ruined with all of that.. And to top it off I got shingles somewhere in the middle of it, then a cold not long after Id got over the swine flu!

So yeah, a miserable time!

Anyway..(!) back to the post in hand!   A few weeks ago I finally gave in and ordered my longed-after name necklace!  I already have a silver one ('Niki') that I got as a bargain on ebay,  but I really wanted a 9CT gold one with my full name!

I placed my order in the early hours of the 14th March (I wonder who else ends up buying things online when they can't sleep!?!)..  7 hrs later when I woke I realised how much I wanted a 14 inch chain, rather than the 16 inch Id ordered.  So I followed their guidelines and emailed them, this was at 8am on the assumption no one would be there at that time to answer the phone before 9am, and with me wanting to contact them asap in order to make the change I went with email.  4 hours passed and no one replied, which is fine I suppose, but as I wanted to make sure I could change it I set about calling them aswell.  I rang a few times, but no one answered and instead it kept going to answer machine, which I thought was odd.  Surely its a big enough company to have someone on the phone or at least be given the option to wait in a queue or something?  Anyway, I left my message explaining what had happened then carried on as normal..  5 hours later a lady returned my call . She was really abrupt, not rude or nasty, but she certainly wasn't friendly either nor was she very polite.. I didn't get one hello, thank you or goodbye at the end!
Basically she explained that in order to make any changes now Id need to wait for the necklace to arrive, then return it and pay a 'small fee' to have the chain swapped!?  I explained again that I had emailed and called all within the space of 12 hrs of ordering, she then said 'Oh, I'll look into it and let you know.  Is that all?'  then put the phone down!  She also couldn't tell me at any point what the 'small fee' was, but as she told me it was past the point of being able to make any changes or even cancel (which is what I wanted to do at that point, as I had a bad feeling about it all) I was pretty much stuck with it!
Thankfully a day later I received an email saying a 14 inch chain was now on order, so I felt pretty grateful for that.. By that point I decided I should try and get excited again about receiving it!

A few weeks later and here it is.

Its horrible!

I paid £70 for a 9ct gold necklace (I used a 10% discount code).  Lesson learnt from this.. DEFINITELY order double thickness for longer names.  Now I considered this factor when I placed my order, but as I figured I would only be wearing mine occasionally (and certainly removing it before sleeping, showering etc), I thought that the standard thickness would be ok.  WRONG.  The flexibility on this necklace is astonishing!   I think if it catches in your hair or on your top it could possibly cause it to snap when you attempt to untangle it.

Plus for me (5.4' and a size 6) this is a massive necklace, so Id have probably been better ordering the smaller version as it just looks so cheap and tacky at the standard 'Carrie' size.

(I gave up trying to polish the fingerprints off for the photograph as it was flexing too much and I didn't want it to break.)

^ Photograph taken with 5p peice next to it.. See how thin the Gold is?  It seriously is the thickness of a piece of paper.

So what am I going to do?  Yep, return it.. Now for the best part, the 20% restocking fee..  By the time I'll have paid for special delivery I will be over £20 out of pocket.. for nothing!

I'll admit its all probably stupidity on my part.. For starters I ordered a 16 inch then changed my mind.  I would have been happy with the 16 inch, but thought I should try and change it if I could, so no big deal there, but it did bring it to my attention just how dire their customer service department is, so from that point on I already had a bad taste in my mouth about it all.

The restocking fee?  My stupidity again I guess.  Ive ordered plenty in the past and returned unwanted/unsuitable items and *never* paid a restocking fee, so it didn't occur to me to check their policy regarding returns before ordering.  <  So learn from my mistake there, and consider the restocking fee, *especially* if ordering the more expensive gold necklaces!

I'd also suggest you check out the reviews online re this company.  Some people have had a terrible time trying to get their refunds, and if my experience with their C.S was anything to go by, then I fully appreciate why! On the other hand of course, lots of people have been pretty happy with My Name Necklace.

For some it might be worth noting that the necklaces also come from Israel.. I stupidly assumed it was an English company/manufacturer because of the .co.uk website.

Now Im not bashing this company by any means, I just want to give my opinion in the hopes it will help someone else avoid similar mistakes.. Perhaps the lady I spoke to was a one off, the rest of their team may be lovely?  Ive also seen plenty of reviews of the necklaces and seen the photos of them being worn and they do look nice (on other people).. but mine isn't what I thought it would be at all, in person its just horrible, and in most cases of the reviews Ive read theres no 're-stocking' issues because they were given a free necklace.

I hope this is helpful to someone :)