Diamondland, Antwerp, Belgium Do Not Go There
 

Diamondland, Anrwerp, Belgium, Do not go there
On May 5, 2013 I purchased a ring at Diamonland in Antwerp. At the time I was given an invoice and a return envelope along with instructions to have customs stamp the invoice on my leaving the EU and then I was to mail the stamped invoice to Diamondland in the provided envelope. They assured me that the refund would be processed promptly - in fact they made a point of emphasizing the promptness of their refunds.
On June 8, 2013 I left the EU from Heathrow and had the invoice stamped. I mailed it to Diamondland from home in Arizona on June 10, 2013. I have heard nothing from Diamondland.
I wrote them an e mail (using the e mail address on their invoice.) on July 26, 2013 asking for status. No response was received.
I wrote again on August 26, 2013. Still no response.
I then wrote on September 3, 2013 and asked for a return receipt. I did get a receipt back.
I also sent the same note from the "contact us" instruction on their website - which, incidentally uses the same e mail address I had been using.
No response from either inquiry.
Diamondland has had numerous opportunities to contact me or provide the refund. They have my address and also the credit card I used to make the purchase.

Is there a reason you haven't called and asked to speak to someone in authority?

W

We had no problem getting our refund for my wife's diamond ring.

Another first time poster coming here to complain.
Did you send it registered mail so that you can track it and prove they received it?
Otherwise it could have got lost in the post. Not likely, but not unheard of.

Why did you not mail your invoice at Heathrow? It comes with a paid envelope valid ONLY in Europe.

If you mailed it at Phoenix without US postage, it probably will have been thrown away...

I myself live in the beautiful city of Antwerp and I must say that I feel very bad to read that you had a negative experience with one of our diamond shops.
Diamonds are the pride of Antwerp and our city is more famous for its diamonds than any other city in the world (call me chauvinistic... ;-))
But returning to your problem: I did some browsing on the internet and discovered that Diamondland went bankrupt in the beginning of july so I think that they didn't have the time to answer your questions and that they were busy with other things...
I hope that this bad experience didn't ruin your trip and that you will come again to visit the city...and buy some diamonds...

hetismij2
I may be a first time poster but that does not give you the right to be a snot. They are out of business. Calling does no good. Must be nice to feel so superior. You are one reason a lot of people never go on Forums.

Doesn't it make you wonder when Forums like Fodor's and Frommer's continue to recommend places that are not in business or once they are on their site, they never take them off. Fodor's is still recommending a place that isn't even in business any more. Frommer's has removed Diamondland from their shopping list, finally.

My post may have been a bit unfriendly it's true, but one does get sick of first time posters ordering us not to visit a place or use a service.
Maybe if you had worded your initial posting differently you would have had a different response.
I am sorry the company has gone broke and you have lost your refund.

BarbaraAnn, Hetismij often gives very helpful advice on this forum.
If you had asked the forum about Diamondland before going there, someone from Antwerp may have answered, or recommended another shop.

Fodors should take the listing down, but they cannot know about every shop that goes out of business.

I do hope you enjoyed your time in Antwerp, and will let us know if you had any good experiences there.

triangled

Oh, so now the problem is the fault of Fodors! Talk about turning tables.