If you value honesty, communication, and follow-through in a jeweler - KEEP LOOKING!…read more
My fiancé chose to work with Serge for my engagement ring. At first, it was a wonderful experience. The issues began when he picked up the ring. Serge had dropped a family stone on the ground during the initial consultation, couldn't find it, and promised to have it at the time the ring was complete. When my fiancé picked up the ring, Serge handed him a different colored stone and only when confronted about it, did he inform my fiancé he was unable to find the one he dropped. Thus, he attempted to cover it up with a different stone and say nothing. Strike 1.
Additionally, he promised a lighted ring box though had none in stock when the ring was complete. Told my fiancé to get one off Amazon instead. Quite annoying. Strike 2.
After the proposal, I wanted to change the setting of my ring, so we went back to Serge who promised he could provide what we wanted. I showed him photos of what I wanted, picked a setting he had on display with plans to add additional diamonds to each side. He stated he had made the ring before and it would be no problem; gave us a timeline of 2 weeks for this. We called the day before to ensure it would be ready on Wednesday, and he said the ring wasn't ready, he needed extra time, but it would be ready on Monday. Strike 3.
When we went to pick it up, it was wrong. He never added the diamonds onto either side, and was shocked when I asked where they were. He told me to give him an hour and he would have this completed. However, the diamonds he was going to use and the technique he offered was completely different than what I had asked for. He told me I never asked for that, he would've made the ring completely differently, etc.- it wasn't until I showed him the photo of what I asked for that he remembered what he was supposed to do. Then told us he would have to remake the entire ring and would've done it "differently" if he had known what I wanted. However, he DID know, and confirmed that once we showed him the picture. Strike 4!
We took the ring home to decide what we wanted to do. When my fiancé called Serge to tell him about how displeased we were with the previous issues, he told us "you get 3 strikes, I'll change the ring once more then you have to pay". A hideous response to customers asking for assistance, especially due to mistakes made by the jeweler (who is on actually strike 4 if we're counting).
We decided to have the stone placed back into the original setting (which cost more than the new setting), and asked him to appraise it for us. When we picked up the ring, the appraisal wasn't complete. Unfortunately, there were other customers in the store at that time and Serge gave no reasoning for why it wasn't completed, said he would mail it out to us. My fiancé was furious but Serge was unwilling to have a conversation about it as he gestured towards the customers in his store. Strike 5!
I called myself to inquire about why the appraisal wasn't done. He claimed to have no prior knowledge that he was supposed to do that, despite my fiancé speaking directly with him earlier that day. Also kept calling my fiancé by the wrong name, which was a nice touch. We went back the next day to pick up the appraisal and he told us he would make the ring we want, that he "could make things that would blow your mind".
Unfortunately we were instead mind blown by the lack of organization, attention to detail, and lackluster customer service. Definitely do not recommend using this jeweler if you value honesty. He also told us "I promise I'm a good guy" , but unfortunately lacked the ability to prove this. Buyer beware.
