Fire Mountain GemsReviews 85

I have shopped with several bead and finding businesses because I'm always looking for the next good deal... and I ALWAYS go back to Fire Mountain Gems out of Oregon. You have options of picking the amount of silver and gold in your findings and metal beads, and the gemstones are graded by quality, which is a feature i really like because it makes me responsible for the kind of finished product I sell. They offer so many tutorials and examples of the kind of beading projects most people like to do and it changes all the time. The selection of beads and related support items is fabulous and the customer service is very very good. I am usually not in any particular rush to receive items i order and just go with their recommended shipping mode which is the "slowest". In my experience i receive my order in 4 to 5 days.

I am back into the jewelry biz after a twenty year absence and worked all day to place a $400.00 order. After reading these reviews i ill now order about $50.00 and see how it goes. I would never order findings or beads from them anyway. One can by sterling from rio grande for the price of junk metal from fire mountain. Tools should be bought from a real jewelry supply such as rio grande. They lost 350 today due to these unsatisfied customers who basically said the same thing poor shipping, flucuating prices, item not as described: all fixable if they tried

I worked with FMG from 2005 and I have been mush satisfied until 2 years ago something happened there... the poor packaging, loosed and separating beads on string, defective items that you can not use, no gifts at all, items does not match for describing and worse of all the prices that I have been in shock and surprised... I purchased polyester twine cord for $ 11.59 and after two month I was searching for something and for case I saw that the price of twine changed for $ 2.33 Can you believed?! It is 80 % off and was any alert of any sales or something just like that... on my conversation whim them by mail ( I am an international customer) they write me like so " Please be aware that we allow to change the prices up and down greatly " I do not except this it is wrong and also do not believe them and decided stop work with the FMG.

I am reviewing this because the website sells prorduct that are defective, and they will not stand behind the defects. Firemountaingems used to be a great place to buy quality goods. Now it is a great place to buy defective, misrepresented products. I returned a supposedly brand-new item to them that did not function properly, or at all. Sure, they refunded my purchase price, but they refused to refund my shipping cost to return the defective item. So not only did I pay to receive the defective merchandise, I also paid to send it back to them. Apparently, their position is now that if they send you a defective item, they will deny that it is defective and you will be stuck with the penalty for their poor merchandise. Great. And that doesn't include the two items that I did not send back to them, despite the fact that they were cheap and of very poor quality. I will never shop at Firemountaingems again,

I ordered from three different bead stores on the same day. Fire Mountain Gems provided great service, quick shipping, and a free gift and sale catalog with the order. Simple things can make a huge difference, and these guys get it right. I'm still waiting on an order from one of the other bead stores (over a week has passed), so I plan to give my future business to firemountaingems.com without hesitation. Stay away from Beadaholique (poor service, slow shipping with confusing shipping notification, and at least a two day wait for any response from customer service - horrible), and shop at firemountaingems instead. You'll be happy you did.

I've been a shopper with Firemountain for 6 years now and I have noticed a few issues with my past 2-3 orders that take the rating of this reasonably good company down.

My chief problems are:
1. What you see pictured does not match what you ordered - significant differences between photos and what I have received. This has happened on 4 separate occasions.

2. Customer support. I have contacted customer support regarding items I have previously ordered that they no longer stock and when I asked where I could source the items now (since the manufacturer does continue to make them), I have received no response at all.

3. Items I order that are listed as in stock are shipped after the initial shipment and have taken as long as 3 weeks to reach me. This has happened at least 3-4 times in the past year.

I love the selection, but I feel the customer service and quality is lacking. While I may order from them again, I am currently looking into more reliable suppliers to replace this company.

They sent me a catalog with prices and apparently all the prices were a lie. I tried to order beads and things and suddenly the prices were 50% higher. Excuse me? They said the catalog was for reference only and the prices were all wrong. How is that ok?

You have to buy 50 items to get halfway decent prices on things. Find things that cost fifty cents or less to make up the quantity if you have to. It is usually cheaper to get tons of junk you don't want to get the quantity up and the prices down.

But don't do business with them. No one should be allowed to trick people and be mean to them. It is just plain mean to get small home jewelers to rely on prices, tell others the prices of your jewelry based on those prices and then have to go back and tell everyone that you lied to them about the prices you quoted because the supplier lied to you. Or you can be a standup person, and stick with the prices you quoted and then have to absorb all that loss yourself. That is wrong! And a company that puts its customers in that position, ON PUPOSE, KNOWINGLY, is a company that we should all boycott.

Shame on them. Shame.

Ok, honestly? I cannot find anything wrong with this website. First of all, it has to be the most popular bead/jewelry making supplies website on the Internet. Second, it has literally EVERYTHING you can think of related to jewelry making. Also, they offer discounts if you buy in bulk. The site is very easy to navigate and you quickly find what you're searching for. Their customer service is excellent, they ship FAST, and even include a free gift with your order! Everything is always packed neatly also. I get the Mystery Bags on there a lot for $10 and am never disappointed with the variety of goodies I receive! The site also has a gallery of designs, beading instructions, and a return policy that states 100% refund, no time limit, no questions asked. I've never had to return anything but from my experiences on the site I wouldnt doubt the credibility for a second.

I love Fire Mountain Gems. No, they are not high-end, but they have a lot and most people will be very happy with the products bought from them. The prices are reasonable. They tell you exactly what you will be getting. They do not exaggerate-- they use industry standard terms and grading, when possible. Those who are disappointed puzzle me. They must be assuming something that is not stated by Fire Mountain Gems. I have never had a bad order or a problem with them. They are perfect for ordering what you need to make mid- to low-end jewelry.

The several times I have ordered from FMG, I've had at least two items in the order arrive damaged (i. E., several or more beads in a strand cracked or crushed) due to poor packaging. One time, the mixed cabachon kit that I orderd was packaged so poorly that it arrived opened and scattered throughout the envelope, crushing my headpins and several beads in accompanying strands. I also don't like that some items are only available in a range of sizes, making it impossible to know what you will actually receive until the item arrives (makes it very hard to plan any kind of design). As far as returns, you have to pay for returns, even for damaged items, which just seems wrong. After several times of keeping damaged items rather than paying to return them (wouldn't have made sense financially to do so), I have decided not to order from FMG again unless they are the only choice for ordering an item.

If you like to make jewelry, or just fix jewelry that you already own, this site is huge. They also have a gorgeous print catalog. Nice prices, huge selection of beads and findings. The only thing I wish is that they had more high end stuff. They do have plenty of semi-precious beads, but more that is even a step up from that, as well as real gold findings, would make it even better. I didin' t mark them down for it though because it is just a matter of what market they're targeting. Fun site, very nice and no problems.