Fire Mountain GemsReviews 85

I ordered some 18 inch necklace chains but I got 7 inch bracelet chains instead. I always check the fine print before I checkout so I know I didn't order the wrong thing. When I called customer service they told me I ordered the wrong thing and there was nothing they could do about it. The lady was rude, kept telling me it was my fault and that I "should read the fine print before I order something" and told me I'd just have to order the right thing next time.

Bought mix assorted mix beads. They were on sale, beware, picture looks like theres a lot but very disappoint. Its cheaper to just buy the bracelet already made. And the gems are small and not even pretty. The shipping is $5.99 and the only reason I'm not returning. Paid a little bit over $18. Not worth it at all. Only looks a lot in picture and picture looks nice but not in real life. Very disappointed. Will definitely not buy again.

FMG has some awesome prices, I will definitely give them that. I made my first order and before I received it I ended up making another order (I'm impulsive, what can I say?). I was disappointed in some of my first order. Some of the beads are very poorly made. Some of the fake pearls I got were discolored so I had to toss them. They also had like extra plastic(or whatever it's made out of?) balled on the sides of them like the molds (or whatever the manufacturer uses to make them) were dirty or something. The crystal beads I bought were good. I bought some very cheap "fashion beads" that I knew weren't going to be awesome that are usable for practice. They were mostly made in China which isn't a huge deal to me but they were definitely not quality products. All of the cabochons were nice and very usable thankfully because that is what my second order was mostly comprised of. All in all, they are great for cheap beads so I may order in the future but I will be more selective for sure.

Fire Mountain Gems and beads used to be amazing. USED TO HAVE great prices, selection, customer service, shipping prices... These days HOWEVER, the prices are too high, the quality is horrible, the shipping expensive for large orders, and the most unforgiveable: the beads they send seldom resemble what the webstore picture looks like. I will never order from them again. I was one of their platinum customers back in the day for many years, never again.

I would have added a star if they were willing to carry a color bead that I need. I asked and they said they can not get that for me. I do not know why... I got the color from another bead supplier, so FMG should be able to get it. I would gave ordered thousands of the beads each year. So the only beads I purchased from FMG were 8mm white glass pearls.

So I placed my first order of 8mm white glass pearls and received it within 7 days. The quality was not as good as I had hoped. I threw away about 4-6 beads per strand of about 57 beads... but I did not complain because the strand was only suppose to have 50 beads. So the defective beads did not effect my overall total. Some of the beads had scratches, poor color coating and incorrect sizes... some beads were only 6mm instead of 8mm. Not happy to see that they were from China and had a heavy chemical smell. The price is about the same price as from my local craft store. But I can purchase large quantities from FMG. Much easier than searching every craft store in my area.

I was sent marred unusable items (5). FMG asked for photos of the items. I sent them as requested on February 7,2018. As of February 15,2018 I had no response from them. I contacted customer service and was told that without original packaging nothing could be done.
I have attached photos to this review of the items I received. So, I was sent unusable, damaged items and told "too bad". Customer Service is not the issue. FRAUD is the issue. Beware!

After +/- half an hour looking at various beads, charms, etc & throwing a few different varieties in my cart to compare later, due to the somewhat higher price FMG was asking, I decided to do a bit of inventory of my shopping cart. I was pleased to find that not only do they tally up the items and the tax on the right of the webpage but that under "shipping" they state N/A which I always thought meant "Non-Applicable". This led me to go back and reexamine some other items that had caught my eye and spend a 10-20 minutes seeing what else they had to offer--marking down the item #'s on a sheet of paper for when I truly get the creative bug. Finally I decided that, for now, I'll just purchase 2 silver charms that I planned to inlay into a wood staff I had been working on. Clicked on Paypal. Unclicked their newsletter and catalogue. Confirmed my shipping address. Redirected to Paypal and signed in. Confirm order. Redirected BACK to FMB for "final confirmation". Nearly clicked on "finish order" when I noticed the $5.99 shipping charge (both charms were flat--not even an 1/8" thick. 2oz. Put 'em in their little zip baggies, staple 'em to a nice HD piece of cardboard and send them in a 1st Class standard envelope--$. 50, but that's not the point). Back to Paypal. Cancel. Back to FMB. Backspace. Back. Uncheck. Back. Delete... all because of their cheap shipping fee ploy--the Mire Fountain (strata)Gem.
I know what some of you might say, "FMG isn't for hobbyists, it's for professionals looking to buy wholesale!" Might I suggest then, that you try Pandahall, Alibaba, Indiamart, or Global Sources where they'll fill your order w/ a Scoop Shovel for half the price of these clowns! (And you STILL might be eligible for Free Shipping!)