Austen & Blake Arvostelua 

I dislike leaving negative reviews unless I feel it is necessary, but I would hate for anyone else to have the same experience we had purchasing our wedding bands from Austin & Blake Cork.
We were initially told the process would take approximately 2–3 weeks and put down our deposits. Instead, it took over four and a half months. During this time, I had to visit the shop in person at least 12 times for updates due to unanswered emails, calls and voicemails.
I had originally been assured that my wedding band would sit flush against my engagement ring. After waiting for two rings to be made, neither did so. I was then told there had been an error. On at least eight occasions, I returned to the shop after being told the ring had been reordered and resized, only to be shown what appeared to be the same ring again. I later found out that due to a mix up in the shop I had been viewing the same ring on every visit.
Eventually, I was told I would need to pay extra to have the ring made flush with my engagement ring. As this was an issue arising from the original order and subsequent errors, I did not feel I should have to pay the additional cost.
I visited the shop a further three times about this issue, sent emails and waited over two weeks for a call from the manager, Jessica. Other staff apologised that I still had not been contacted and assured me they would ask Jessica to contact me at her earliest convenience. However, Jessica never contacted me herself. I only found out that she had declined to cover the additional cost when I called into the shop for the third time about this particular issue due to no response.
I eventually made a formal complaint. I was only contacted by Jessica after taking the matter further and after becoming extremely upset in the shop about how the experience had affected what should have been a very special occasion. At that point, I was told that Austin & Blake would now cover the additional cost.
By then, however, the experience had taken away much of the excitement of purchasing our wedding bands. We had originally planned to have matching engraving inside our rings, but by the time we finally received them, we simply wanted the process to be over and the trust was no longer there. My best friend also got a very special ring made here and was horrified that they had messed up the spelling despite her pointing this out twice on the day.
There is much more I could say about our experience but I will leave it there. I am simply relieved that the process is finally over. Based on our experience, I unfortunately could not recommend Austin & Blake to anyone.

Nz Austen and blake.purchasing no problem loved the ring until two months later it broke. Come to find out we have to pay to ship it to Australia which I was annoyed about thinking they had nz shops they would sort it here.recieved almost nill communication from the repair side we had to chase them up for reply and update constantly. They deemed 2 months broken ring to be normal wear would not guarantee us and charged us for repairs in aus dollars. Also took a month to send it back to us again with no guarantee on repair.extremely unhappy with the bad customer service and surprise of overseas repair. I don't consider a ring barely worn for two months to be breaking as normal and if it breaks again we certainly won't be going back to their repairer.

I would recommend, I'm just unsure about the authenticity. Don't get me wrong my ring was stunning! It's just not a name I had heard of and don't have any experience of.
I was impressed with how they kept updating their process, so you could keep track of your item. Very pleased with my ring and I dare say I would buy from them again.

Hannah was helpful from the second we stepped into the shop, no pressure from her what so ever. Made the whole experience enjoyable and took all the stress out of it.

Ordered a 9ct gold wedding band and unfortunately the experience has been a letdown from start to finish. The ring arrived with marks on it. It then needed resizing — I was initially told this would be free but was charged for it, and only after pushing back was this corrected.

Once I got the ring back, the resize didn't feel right — it still felt like the original size despite being adjusted. More frustratingly, the ring's colour had noticeably changed from a richer, deeper gold tone to a much paler shade. When I raised this, I was told the original finishing process "can't be replicated" — which is disappointing, since it means the ring I've ended up with doesn't match what I originally paid for.

To be fair, the in-store customer service at the Hatton Garden branch has been great throughout, and I appreciate the staff there. But for something as meaningful as a wedding band, the product and repair experience hasn't met my expectations.

I used Austen & Blake Newcastle NSW to purchase an engagement ring for my partner. She was absolutely delighted when I proposed, we both love the style & design and it suits her perfectly. If we hadn’t needed to take the ring back to be resized just one size smaller this would be a significantly better review.

Austen & Blake like to claim in their emails that they’re "changing the way people buy jewellery" and boast about their complimentary re-sizing service. If the “change” they speak of means they will have your ring resized BIGGER rather than SMALLER, as instructed, and leaving you waiting for more than two months, then they’re completely right. One would imagine that engagement ring resizing is a pretty common request for them.

When we went to collect the resized ring, three weeks after dropping it off, and it became clear that it had been changed from an M to N, rather than M to L, the store staff were full of apologies but were unable to confirm that the the ring would now be remade. They instead suggested that it could be resized again, and any remake request would need to be signed off by head office. This is despite the store staff previously telling us that Austen & Blake recommend only resizing a ring once in its lifetime to preserve its structural integrity. The communication from the store over the next week was non-existent, and I had to repeatedly ask for updates. The store manager finally confirmed that they would be remaking the ring, having had it “approved” by a regional manager, and that they would have it ready for collection soon.

More than four weeks later - now two months after returning the ring for resizing - we finally collected the replacement. This time we were served by a very new staff member who had no prior knowledge of the situation, so had nothing to offer by way of apology for the time we had waited, with zero acknowledgement from anyone at Austen & Blake for the time they had taken to get my purchase right. Given the exceptionally long wait for the company to correct their mistake I’d expect an apology from management at the very least.

So in summary, following our engagement my fiancé had her ring for one week, then waited two months to wear it again. What should have been two months of celebration was somewhat tainted by the wait to show friends and family.

There is absolutely no way I would shop with Austen & Blake again, not for personal jewellery and certainly not for our wedding bands, nor would I recommend them to anyone. I’m not interested in whatever generic apology response this review will inevitably get from an HR junior, the ship has firmly sailed. Focus on improving your service for your customers, rather than taking their money and not giving a f***. If anyone reading is considering purchasing from Austen & Blake, my advice would be to go elsewhere, or be sure of your measurements first time around as you’re at the mercy of completely powerless store staff and a corporate bureaucracy unwilling to take responsibility.

Along with many others our experience of AB is terrible customer service, no communication, and it being repetitively and consistently impossible to contact anyone about our order - the online chat is never available, no one ever responds to the “leave a message” option and no one answers the phone or emails.

My partner bought my engagement ring from AB in September last year. It needed to be resized, and whilst that was done we received no updates/communication.

4 days after getting it back I noticed the main stone was chipped (during the resizing process). I was told that the workshop would review it and let us know next steps. We again heard nothing from them and were not informed that it was a stone fault (as later confirmed) or what they were doing with the ring. Eventually we got the ring back.

More recently the band broke - this time I requested that a note was put on the order to ensure we got updates. We received an initial update over a week after I dropped the ring off confirming it was a fault with the band (presumably from resizing it) and that they would remake the ring. They confirmed it should be ready in 3 weeks from the order date. It has now been 4 and since then we have heard nothing and have not been able to contact anyone about the progress of the order.

As many others have mentioned, buying and receiving an engagement ring is a really special process and the ring itself important and sentimental. This experience has been ruined multiple times in the last 10 months because of AB’s terrible customer service.

If you want a basic level of communication - find a different jeweller!!

Dorota was incredible throughout the entire process. She was extremely helpful, communicative, and attentive, and it was clear that she genuinely cared about every detail of the custom ring design. She truly went above and beyond to make sure everything was right.

The finished ring is absolutely beautiful. It turned out even better than the CAD images and honestly better than I could have imagined. I am so happy with the result and incredibly grateful for the care, thought, and craftsmanship that went into creating it. I would highly recommend Dorota and the store to anyone looking for a truly special and personalised experience.

Spent over £2000 - not dissapointed.

Outstanding service from start to finish, couldn’t be happier with the Chester branch for helping with the selection

My experience was NOT GREAT
To much bull sh1t

It was so easy to customise the perfect ring for my partner.

Excellent service from my initial visit to receiving my beautiful ring, the assistant was friendly, helpful professional and extremely knowledgeable, she put me at ease and made the process seamless

Amazing customer service at the store and on time delivery of ring .

Ring looks absolutely pretty and fits perfect

I found the perfect wedding band for me right away, thanks to the helpful staff!

My partner bought me my engagement ring I’m guessing around May 2025. He proposed in July 2025.

February 2026 I went in for a cleaning as I was close by to be pointed out the prongs were damaged and bent. The agreed to remake the ring for free based on the state of the metal.

I then was very happy to be picking up my new ring in April. When it arrived the diamond was loose, the band was thicker and two diamonds were missing off the shaft.

I finally was able to pick my ring up on the 31st May after 15 weeks of not having my ring, for events as well such as 2 Hen do’s and important family events.
It all looked good and my partner received £150 compensation on a £2.5k ring. Which is a little bit laughable when it works out £15 a week of me not having my ring.

We are now on the 24th July and my ring is damaged again! The Dimond is loose!

Context - I don’t work, I have a disability which means I’m not very active definitely don’t do exercise or anything similar. Even so he bought the best quality possible and this is what is happening with daily wear!

Heartbroken is an understatement

DO NOT BUY and wish me luck for the next contact with them.

EDIT- I’ve seen the reply asking for further details and I don’t know how or where to respond to this however

I will add the sales team in store have been lovely and are seeming very helpful this is not anything to do with the sales team just the poor craftsmanship

Initially a great experience when purchasing the engagement ring. Then I went back for wedding bands after having purchased an engagement ring here, did not get the wedding bands discount I was promised for returning.

Then when my band arrived it was two sizes too small. I take some of the blame here for picking the wrong size, but you’d expect the professionals to be able to advise more accurately here.

This meant my band was not ready for our wedding day, and I had to use a temporary ring. AB charged me £150 deposit for a brass replica that, if worn, would turn my finger green. Probably has a value of about £10.

The wedding was two weeks ago as I write this, and still I have not received my wedding band. The lead time for a resize is 4-6 weeks, which for a simple gold band I find crazy. Some jewellers can do this in house while you wait.

Anyway, bit of a shame in the end. Started off great with the engagement ring purchase and then the service definitely suffered after that. They seem short staffed in the Edinburgh store so even one or two customers in there at a time is full capacity.

A fantastic shop, staff are very knowledgeable and friendly great customer service, I previously ordered a bespoke engagement ring and this was for my wedding ring, would definitely recommend this shop for something a little different if you’re after a piece of jewellery no one else has.

Do not waste your time buying here. I thought I found a great place, lots of the positive reviews, however if you sort by recent, you'll see it's gone down hill fast.
The customer service is horrendous. No reply most the time, limited information, and you have to chase for a reply. NOT what you want for a business dealing with major life events and thousands of pounds.
I would comment on the quality of their products, however this isn't possible as I am still waiting...

William made my experience very easy, answered all my questions and queries I had & made the whole thing comforting. Thankyou!