Lafayette Jewelers and Repair — Attraction in Durham

BEWARE!!!!!! THIS PLACE IS SHADY, AND THE OWNER IS TERRIBLY RUDE!!! First of all, look at the other unsatisfied reviews, when people complain, the owner always seems to have a rebuttal for what the customer supposedly did wrong. I am sure he will do the same to me. It can't ALWAYS be someone else's fault!

I took a chain and name plate here to get fixed. Dropped off Sunday, picked up Tuesday. When I got my items back I didn't like the way they were "fixed," it seemed very flimsy on one side and then a piece just sodered on the other. It looked very odd, but ok I guess if that's the way you had to fix it. I asked the girl working there if they guarantees their work. She took it to the owner who immediately got loud and aggressive with me. He started yelling and over-talking me about the good job he did. I explained my issues with the piece, and he wouldn't accept what I was saying. He continued to get loud and over talk me. He threatened to take his work off my necklace. I declined because I didn't want him to ruin my jewelry anymore than it already was. He told me I was confused about what was supposed to be fixed. Umm excuse me, I know what I brought in here just two days ago! Needless to say the conversation broke all the way down. I said I would pay. I gave him him money then he refused to give mey change! Called security while holding my money and still would not give me my change. Told me that he would give me my money when I "calmed down, and when he was ready to." Again! Excuse me just give me my money!!!! He was yelling at me, I ended up raising my voice by then too. At this point all I wanted was my change. He kept refusing and called security. Security never came, he finally decided to give me my change when he was ready. DO NOT COME TO LAYFAETTE JEWELERS! THIS PLACE IS TERRIBLE. JUST TERRIBLE! Now I am sure the owner will respond with a million reasons on how today's exchange was my fault. Believe what you want people. But I would think twice before coming here if I were you. Read the other reviews. Go ahead,...

They damaged my watch and tried to CHARGE me for it. Look for yourself- many previous review echo a similar incident.

[Edit]

The owners just threatened a lawsuit against me based on false facts. You want to trust someone who threatens to sue anyone who complains?

I was quoted $10 to close a watch and $16 to close the other watch along with the missing water resistance seal. I came back to the watch cracked.

I did not crack it when trying to seal it myself. The crystal was not broken at time of passage. The woman making the quote looked at both watches before quoting me. She never said anything about a crystal replacement as the owner said. She wrote down $10 and $16 as the estimates for the watches on a notepad, showing me the price.

The watches were dropped off around 1:20 PM. The woman called around 1:50 PM. 30 minute gap. According to her, that's when she found out that it cracked. To me, it makes more sense that an employee was working on it, cracked it during the pressure seal portion, and either panicked or honestly didn't notice they had cracked it in the process.

I gave them the chance to fix the crystal when she pointed the cracks to me. She handed it over to an older employee, saying he'll check if they have a sapphire in stock because when she called me, she didn't know if I wanted to get it fixed or not.

Their own employee contradicts their story that the cost to replace the crystal happened at drop off! Oh, and here's the kicker. I have a witness who confirms that on the day in question (today), NEITHER of my watch faces/crystals were cracked before I handed them over.

I asked "you're not charging me to fix it, are you?" She responded...

Lafayette Jewelers (also known as La Fey on Black Twitter) is family owned and operated. It’s a kiosk in the central hub of the SouthPoint Mall. Don’t judge them up on the sunny food-court mezzanine. Don’t think that because Der Wienerschnitzel is within first-down range that the La Fey is not the classiest spot in the whole mall. (Sorry, Nordstrom. Not you.) The Lafayette counter is also the best “be seen” spot mall-wide. I glanced over my shoulder on my last visit, discovering that a crowd of beautiful women had gathered behind me. That’s not a common experience for me. (Makes me wonder: What is going on here? Are most of the customers angels, or just some? Does that dome overhead retract? Is that even necessary to service heavenly clientele?) The Boujidas: Momma Yunhee, Poppa Tony and Young Scion Kate are my adopted family. They have been a Jewelry store family for 43 years; 25 of those here in Durham. They’re refugees of the Diamond District, so don’t ask them about that heart-attack of a movie: Uncut Gems . We don’t want to trigger Tony’s NYC PTSD again. (Am I remembering the backstory right?) They have done exceptional jewelry repairs and enhancements for me. They added Pandora-style charms to my Seiko Chronograph watch band. (Whaaaa? Yes. If you can dream it … ) The prices are trivial for this world-class, whip-fast service — that is, if I can stop them from doing another job for me pro bono. Needless to say:...