The company, Glencara who are based in Galway profess to make Hand made Irish Jewellery from Dunguaire Castle since 1978. I have recently found out that Dunguaire Castle is the property of Galway County Council and that the owners of Glencara used to run some market stall there once a week. I am just one of the many hundreds of people who have been caught out by an elaborate online jewellery fraud which is being run from Galway and Belfast in Ireland. Shortly after paying for a claddagh ring on glencara site, I had a feeling that something wasn't right and decided that I should check online reviews again, about Glencara and was shocked to find hundreds if not thousands of very negative reviews about delivery, refunds and quality of the jewelry given by this company Glencara. I was really deflated, and stressed so decided to email them telling them that I wanted an immediate refund, however they sent a reply telling me that the ring would be dispatched on the 1st of November. I mailed them again trying to have this order cancelled and a refund applied but they totally ignored my requests regarding the refund. The ring arrived on November 12th along with a free, metal chromed piece of cheap costume jewellery as a free gift. I opened the box to see a very thin, insignificant ring unlike that which was described on their website. I had just paid €287.00 for something that resembled costume jewellery. I then checked for hallmarking inside the ring and noticed that the ring was stamped with the numerals 925, however the quality of the stamp compared to other silver and gold jewellery we had made me suspicious. I decided to get in touch with Dublin Castle Assay office and sent them a picture of the 925 stamp. The very next day I received an email from Dublin Castle Assay office telling me that the photographed item did not appear to be hallmarked, adding that, By Statute, all precious metals sold in Ireland, must bear an Irish Hallmark or an International Convention Hallmark, applied by an Independent body in another Member State of the EU that provides equivalent information to the marks referred to in the Irish Legislation. I emailed Glencara and asked them for an explanation, I never got a reply. I've since tried to contact Glencara but my messages are not being answered. I have since found out that Glencara Import their jewellery from Asia, it is simply repackaged in Ireland and sent to each customer with an Irish postmark. this company are an international operation selling their Jewellery around the world with thousands of complaints from customers in the UK, Ireland, United States, Canada, Australia amongst other places. The registered address which I believe to be a virtual office is: Unit 12, Glenrock Business Park, Ballybrit, Galway. Tel: 091 763 921. Although they do have a virtual office in Belfast and I believe in the USA too.