Charlotte Jewelry — Attraction in Port Charlotte

Summary: This shop and it's staff are incompetent and should not be trusted to repair anything. Though the manager Bobby is friendly and seemed well-intentioned, his work cannot be trusted. His wife who also works here is unfriendly and completely unhelpful. Avoid this shop at all costs.

Full story: I brought my Swiss Army watch (~$500 retail) here for a simple battery replacement. An hour later, I came to pick it up and found that the chronograph was not working. At first, the shop denied there was any chance it was their fault, but after my insistence that it worked when I brought it in, they reluctantly said they would repair it in-house for no charge. They said they would get to it after a couple days.

When I called them back a few days later, they said they would need to send it out to "their watchmaker" who specializes on chronographs and other delicate work. Considering they told me they did not open the watch, I don't know how it took them three days to figure this out. To their credit, they did offer a free buff for the metal band.

After a week, I called them to check the status. They said it was not ready yet and they had no idea when they would get it back from the watchmaker. I politely asked for an estimate, or at least an estimate after they next spoke with the watchmaker. After another week, I called again. They said they still had no idea when they would get it back and had no way of finding out (!?).

Finally, a week after this, they called to inform my family that it was ready (I was already back home in San Francisco, so I couldn't pick it up myself). Though the chronograph was fixed, they somehow broke the stem so that when the crown is pulled to adjust the time, the stem pulls completely out of the watch so that the time cannot be adjusted. At this point, there was no reason to believe the shop was competent to fix this without breaking the watch again in some new way, so I took it to another shop to get it fixed properly. What a terrible...

Ripoff! Scammm! Bait and switch! I checked pricing before coming in for a minor single solder. Price was a range, yet reasonable, told as under thirty. I had a friend drop off my piece while I was traveling. Upon receiving the information regarding the charge, I was informed they charged 56% MORE for work. I contacted the store to find rudeness, twisting of the conversation, repeating incorrectly several times what the OWNER thought I said, her assumptions of my friendship and more, it was SO UNPROFESSIONAL! She INSISTED THE EXORBITANT CHARGE WAS VALID claiming both ends needed repairs when one end was fully intact and fine! She said because my friend picked it up and signed for it, its legit. He wasn't aware of the details of the conversation or the damage they convinced him of! He was merely a messenger! She hung up the phone abruptly leaving the understanding that they are aware that they are high unscrutable!

Update: The Rudeness Continues!

The owner phones my friend/point of contact. She ADMITS TO HANGING UP THE PHONE ON ME TO HIM! WELL! Idiocy runs rampant! She keeps insisting using words like girlfriend, wife, partner to describe me even though she's been corrected 20 times by then!

She insists on overriding my agreement with the original price quoted offering excuse after excuse in defense Its EMBARRASSING THAT A BIZ OWNER...

Took my Movado wristwatch in for a new battery on 7/06/2023 but found that the old battery had “ leaked” into the mechanism which had to be totally replaced. As this is an expensive timepiece, I put down a 50% deposit and waited for notification on the repairs. Weeks went by with no contact, so I stopped in to find out how things were progressing. Was told the replacement mechanism was incorrect and they were going to order from another source. OK, I figure maybe another week or so but I was mistaken. Once again, absolutely no contact so I stopped in again and was told “ he would get to it soon”. Finally, I do get a phone call that my watch was ready for pickup. On 10/13/2023, I inspected the watch, paid the balance, and went on my way. So, here we are 11/20/2023 and as I am preparing for a trip, I pull out my Movado and the time is incorrect ( no, not daylight savings issue), I mean by 6+ plus hours incorrect. I attempt to pull out the hour marker and it will not budge. I cannot reset the correct time. After paying nearly $600 for repairs, I’m a bit disturbed that I now have to travel across town in hopes they can make right whatever is wrong so that I may travel with this watch. And, hope that it keeps the proper time. Whoever reads this, I’ll let you make your own decision as to...