Frank Billanti Jewelry Casting

I was recommended to Frank Billanti Casting by a fellow jeweler and have had a terrible experience. The attached images are of the pendant that I received by them(its missing prongs and has terrible surface issues which would require hour and hours of labor to try to mend, but it would never be as good as the other casting company.) , the last picture is the quality I've received from another company(as you can see there are no printing lines or surface imperfections). Both of these pendants have the same "finish" done to them. The issue is is that they are using outdated printers which produce low quality resolution. When trying to resolve this issue with them I was rudely spoken to by Kathy Billanti on multiple occasions. She said that every other customer is happy with their service and the quality of CAD casts. Which I highly doubt and according to other reviews it seems as though this isn't a one off situation. I attempted to get a refund because I was unhappy with the quality of cast and they are only offering me refund on the silver, so 41% of what I spent. Who knows how long it will take for them to give me my 41% refund back. Waste of time and extremely disappointed with the quality of service and customer communication. If I could give 0 stars I would. Do not use this casting company for CAD.

I want my pendants done in stainless steel and when they finished when I checked the receipt, they had done them in brass which made it Tarnish very quickly when I when I spoke to them, he said they only did brass which that’s not what they told me when I first went to them. They said they could do it in stainless steel and then cover it in 14 karat gold which they never did. They made a big issue out of it so I wouldn’t recommend them to nobody. They owe the charge me and never cleaned up their mess. they are not worth the time or money.

They rushed an order when my travel plans made me need a fast turn around. I got laser engraving, molds, casting and tumbling all in just a few business days. So grateful for the quality and speed!

I have worked with these guys on and off for the last couple years, and while they haven’t necessarily always been on top of the details the whole time, my last order and the communications from Kathy Billanti that came after have completely turned me off to them. After ignoring my emails, sending the wrong castings and blaming me, not being willing to reimburse me/give credit for shipping the wrong castings back, blaming me for her office’s inability to organize my molds, Kathy is so set on not taking responsibility for her errors that she has dug her heels in in ways that don’t make any sense. While I am disappointed to lose the molds I’ve paid for, at this point I have no interest in working with Kathy again and would rather start over elsewhere.

Although Billanti was highly recommended, I was initially not sure how the experience would go. After testing my product, a few visits and seeing the great results - there developed a greater rapport and understanding. Once we got to know each other, I found Kathy very easy to work with. Make sure you allow plenty of time when you plan your visit since there could very well be people ahead of you.

Took forever to get an estimate. Ultimately went with another company. Thoroughly reminded me why I bought my own equipment to do my own casting. Can’t wait til I have everything so I never have to wait on service like Frank Billanti again. In fact, I may be direct competition to them in the near future… Time will tell.

I have never been treated so disrespectful in a business setting as I was from the female owner of billanti. I was also over charged for the cleanup that was never done on the piece and then was yelled at for questioning the charge. I am an extremely reasonable person who strongly believe in treating others how you want to be treated. With that said I will not be going back.

Agree 100% with Christy Conrad. Very disappointed in Billanti and your response to me as a new customer. Not pleasant at all on the phone - made me feel like a total inconvenience and totally disregarded my emails - no interest in providing me with service. Even with a lovely referral from Robert at Belmont Metals. Pathetic when people achieve success they feel they can just toss others off.

I've been waiting for an ESTIMATE for over a week. I'm trying to be patient but it doesn't take very long to get an estimate for a custom piece. If I don't get the estimate back by the end of the day, I'm keeping this at 1 star and I already looked at best-cast dot com and a few other casting houses where I've been able to get service much easier and faster. I would NOT do business with this company until they can provide the simplest services such as providing an ESTIMATE in a timely manner...

I was recommended to Frank Billanti Casting by a fellow jeweler and have had a terrible experience. The pendant is missing prongs and has terrible surface issues which would require hour and hours of labor to try to mend, but it would never be as good as my other casting company. The issue is is that they are using outdated printers which produce low quality resolution. When trying to resolve this issue with them I was rudely spoken to by Kathy Billanti on multiple occasions. She said that every other customer is happy with their service and the quality of CAD casts. Which I highly doubt and according to other reviews it seems as though this isn't a one off situation. I attempted to get a refund because I was unhappy with the quality of cast and they are only offering me refund on the silver, so 41% of what I spent. Who knows how long it will take for them to give me my 41% refund back. Waste of time and extremely disappointed with the quality of service and customer communication. If I could give 0 stars I would. Do not use this casting company for CAD.

Ehh. Place is ok. I had a ring casted and while I thought it was a good job, I quickly learned it wasn't. I took my mold to several jewelers that all deemed my casting useless. I had to have everything redone. The piece I wanted casted was also broken into several pieces during the process. I felt a bit uncomfortable in their studio as it seemed as if I was being taken advantage of considering I'm not in the jewelry industry. They kept speaking in Spanish, which is totally fine, but there seemed to be a confusion as to how much to charge me or even understanding what I was asking. It wasn't until I also started speaking Spanish to express what I wanted, that I realized that everyone spoke perfect English and was only speaking Spanish because they thought I couldn't understand it. It just made me uncomfortable and just wasn't good etiquette.

I just received my first order of castings back in the mail and I am thrilled!! I sent in a metal ring model that I had previously carved in wax and cast in bronze. The turnaround was very fast (about a week) and the staff that I spoke with prior to sending in my order were very helpful and happy to answer all of my questions. I have many more models I will be duplicating and am excited to have found such a competent and efficient caster. Thank you!!!

Casting, Plating, Soldering, Polishing, they do it all here! And with a smile, and fast. Convenient midtown location. Great attention to detail.

STOLE 9 OF MY STONES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been going to them for a few months...to be honest they NEVER have gotten my entire order correct. There is always something that is small or large that they messed up on. I believe this is lack of organization. This past time they happened to steal 9 out of 30 stones I left with them. (this was the first time I have ever left stones) I could understand if they misplaced 1-2 of them but 9? really? They continued to ignore me and the situation entirely. Finally, I went to there office and Kathy kept trying to put words in my mouth. Then when I told her to refer to her notes on how many stones there was she happened to misplace that. Her husband found it and showed it to us at the same time and she sat there saying that just because she wrote that doesn't mean anything. HELLO thats why you wrote it in the first place! I proceeded to ask her for a copy of her notes for my lawyer and she refused to give me a copy. The husband frank is extremely nice but unfortunately he only does the casting and doesn't deal with the customers directly. (thats his wife kathy that will lie to your face)

The Billantis don't deserve the negative feedback. One of critics has never left positive feedback and the other only ever leaves negative feedback. Being in the jewelry business, you have to work closely with suppliers. They're handling multiple accounts. Suppliers also have to be treated as partners. I've worked with the Billantis for years and I'm always happy with the service and product they provide. Very few companies in NYC offer full service development and production. I truly love that it's a one stop shop. The pricing is always great too.

I spent weeks looking for the right casting company. I was initially very impressed with the way in which Frank Jr communicated and was looking forward to working with him on starting my brand. I met him in person and he was very professional and nice. He spent a good amount of time with me and gave me some resources to check out. I promised to email him with some design ideas within a couple weeks, which I did. A couple days went by and so I gave him a call and his mother answered. I felt that she was trying to convince me out of doing business with them which made absolutely no sense. She suggested that I was shopping around for prices when I had already chosen to work with their company. And all I asked for was to talk to Frank Jr as I had been in a conversation with him for awhile and I couldn't really understand her accent. After two very nice (on my part) follow ups and a phone call, I still haven't heard from them and it's been weeks. I am extremely disappointed as I don't like to waste my time. For old schoolers looking to connect with a mom and pop shop this is probably the place for you. I however like to do business with professionals who I don't have to chase down - and I say this as nicely as possible. I want to be clear that this review does not reflect the quality of work, just poor communication and lack of response which led me to go in a different direction. I hope the owners take this into consideration and treat potential customers with kindness and respect.

Wonderful place, great people, very high standards. They do what they say they're going to, when they say they're going to do it - a rarity among the casters imo. Super high quality work. Been working with them for 3 years now - they cast my entire line.

this is my first time ever to write a bad review! because of the unprofessional attitude the front desk has. I was waiting them to polishing my castings for 30 mins which it supposed to be finish last Friday. and the casting piece I need the most did not even come out and still made me to wait. they said due to some technical issue so they have to cast again. while the front desk (owner's wife) is typing my invoice, she keep chatting with the other customer (maybe they r long time friend BUT hello!!!! i need to pay so I can drop my casting to do laser on 47th st) it's my first time trying this casting and I felt really upset. the front desk lady doesn't care new customer and she will just let you wait.

The Billantis do fantastic work. They've made a number of pieces for me over the years including the engagement ring I got for my fiancé. Wouldn't go anyplace else.

I am jewelry designer who began casting over a year ago. After all of my experience in jewelry design, casting was new for me and I had many questions about the process and how to have my sketches turn into the pieces I had envisioned. Working with Billanti has given me the confidence to know that my designs are able to come to fruition, they are willing to help you along the way and now my signature collection is 99% cast pieces! I love the fact they are a family owned and operated company! I look forward to continuing my business with them because one family owned business knows how to take care of another! It has been a pleasure working with them!