I would give it 0 stars if I could. I don't know where all these good reviews are coming from. I've never met anyone that said they had a satisfactory experience at Harlequin, or even a marginal experience come to think of it. I don't know anyone that goes to Harlequin bead store anymore and they all list the same reason: a really rude staff. It's always the same story. There is a tendency for staff members to act very polite when you're looking at something expensive, only to literally turn their nose up at you and ignore you for the remainder of your visit when you say that you're "just looking at it". Staff members tend to run hot and cold. I've never experienced such outright snobiness and callous behavior.
Their catalog claims that they are a business that you should trust because they are honest about how they don't know if certain stones are actually what they claim to be. This is not a good excuse. If you can't assure your customers that what you are selling isn't the real deal, THEN DON'T SELL IT. Even though my beading friends and I all live about 10 minutes or less away from Harlequin- we have no problem driving out of our way to give our money to a different business that deserves it.
As a side-note, I also find that they are way overpriced. If they were cheap and rude, I might be able to deal with the rudeness... but it's just not worth it.
more