A Bad Apple

There once was a website called "ihatemoissaniteco.com" which was made by a disgruntled customer who felt he had been treated unfairly by Moissanite Co., and decided to warn the public. It's "gone" now, but we all know that nothing ever truly disappears from the internet. You can still view most of the site on the internet archive: http://web.archive.org/web/20110321153958/http://ihatemoissaniteco.com/

Here's the ring he was sent:

The customer was obviously very unhappy with his experience and posted about it on several consumer sites:
http://www.pissedconsumer.com/reviews-by-company/moissaniteco/misrepresented-product-poor-communication-difficult-returns-restocking-fees-what-a-rip-off-20091215164525/2.html

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/moissanitecocom-c289294.html#c531891

http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/MoissaniteCocom/Las-Vegas-Nevada-89146/MoissaniteCocom-Misrepresented-product-poor-communication-difficult-returns-restockin-539053

This led me down a real rabbit hole - I'm going to present some of what I've found and let you come to your own conclusions.

Are unhappy customers merely seen as "bad apples" in the eyes of this company? Why did MoissaniteCo. feel it was appropriate to use this customer's last name repeatedly without his permission on public forums, when the MoissaniteCo. rep didn't even bother signing their own?

I thought this ^^ to be a pretty rude response! 

This review ^^ was posted on one of "Mr. Burgess'" complaint threads. It seemed out of place so I did a Google search on the text which led me right to MoissaniteCo.com. The top review is from "Pissed Consumer" and the bottom is from MoissaniteCo.com: 

http://www.moissaniteco.com/testimonials_manager_all_testimonials.html?page=25

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/moissanitecocom-c289294.html#c531891

Compare that to THIS review:

....which curiously, couldn't be found anywhere else on the internet, let alone MoissaniteCo.com.

THIS gem, however, WAS found on MoissaniteCo.com's "testimonials" page:

"Impressed	Friday 05 March, 2010
I recently ordered a 2 carat engagement ring for my fiance. No stores in my area are selling Moissanite. My fiance wanted a large engagement ring but we could not justify spending that much money on a 2 CT diamond. I have never made this big of a purchase sight unseen for any product. I am meticulous about my research into a company before I purchase from them. Moissaniteco seemed to have a very good reputation for quality products and good customer service. I received prompt emails after my purchase and any questions I had were answered within 24 hours via email. A man out there named Mr. Burgess is on a lot of forums and websites absolutely bashing mosissaniteco. Obviously an under educated and illiterate man. This is defamation in its purest form and I urge you not to take any negative feedback seriously. My fiance was astonished when we received her ring. The brilliance and fire is unmatched. People can't stop commenting on it and we are very happy to have an option that is just as beautiful as diamonds, makes her equally as happy, and at 1/6 the price. Thank you so much!!" Would the average consumer REALLY take time out to mention a disgruntled customer BY NAME and go on to insult them personally by calling them "under educated" and "illiterate", then go on to urge other customers to "not take any negative feedback seriously". Uh, I dunno....maybe?

I'll end the "ihatemoissaniteco" story on this note. Did Moissanite Co. really attempt to bribe this man to take this website down? Unfortunately, I could not find an archive of the "read about it here" link, but it's interesting nonetheless...

More to come, and feel free to leave comments.