2 /5 L P: I hate to leave a negative review on a small business, but honestly, I had an unpleasant experience on my last visit.
Ive been here several times - had two wedding bands made and a handful of resizing visits with nothing negative to report. However, last time I went left me not wanting to return.
I made an appointment to discuss remaking my engagement ring. I had a pretty simple design in mind, essentially just making the band/setting of my solitaire a bigger so that it wouldnt spin on my finger so much.
I showed example pictures of what I was hoping the finished product would look like, literally a 4-prong gold solitaire with a wider band.
At first, the conversation went well. The jeweler pulled samples of band sizes for me to find a width. I was holding my engagement ring above the bands to get an idea of what they would look like in relation to my diamond.
At that point, the jeweler very casually asked if Id like for him to remove the diamond in order to better visualize. Not knowing that it would be $150 to put it back in the event I could not decide on a design, I said "yes".
Diamond now removed, I decided on a band width, and we started talking about settings. Again, I had a very simple design in mind with a photo example, no embellishments, no additional diamonds. I showed pictures, and the jeweler started showing me a bunch of complicated, expensive settings.
Since apparently we could not find a basic 4-prong setting on their website inventory, he said wed need to do a custom design.
I was a little surprised given the simplicity of what I had in mind, but said sure. We started going over the process, and I asked about pricing. The jeweler was very dodgy when it came to prices and insisted that he had no idea what it might cost until the finished product.
I didnt feel comfortable proceeding as I didnt want a surprise bill and told him my budget of $1300. He said that was not going to be enough, and then he finally gave me a rough estimate of $3000.
That was more than double my budget, and I decided I wanted to take my ring home. He then packed my ring and diamond in separate bags for me to take home.
Surprised, I asked, “Oh, can I have the diamond put back in my ring?” He said, “That will be $150.” I said, “Oh...youre joking, right?” And he said, "no, Im sorry, but I have to charge money for that. Taking it out is simple, but putting it back is more complicated.”
Had this been explained to me in advance, I would not have consented to him removing it.
I left with my ring in two pieces.
Ultimately, I sought out another jeweler as I no longer felt comfortable working with a shop that has no price transparency.
At my new local jeweler, getting a quote was no big deal, and the process was super simple. No complicated back and forth about design when I was very clear that I wanted a simple, 4-prong solitaire— just a thicker band.
