Dominion Jewelers — Attraction in Falls Church

DO NOT USE DOMINION JEWELERS!!!! I went to Dominion Jewelers on Sept 8th 2010 to begin the process of picking out an engagement ring to surprise my girlfriend and propose on our anniversary, November 20th. I picked out the bands I liked and got price quotes for 3 diamonds that I really liked. When I got home that day I emailed the person who helped me, Mina Barimany to confirm the prices that we discussed. She replied promptly and confirmed, in writing the prices we discussed. I then spent 4 weeks shopping around and making sure I was getting the best deal. No one else could compete with Dominion. So I did a little more homework on diamonds and then proceeded to go into Dominion to finalize the whole process. Before I went to the store I emailed Mina and confirmed (for a 2nd time) the prices on the diamonds and also asked her if she would have the bands I had liked ready to go so I could come in and finalize the entire process. She confirmed the prices (again) and said the bands would be ready. You can probably guess where I am going with this. I got into the store, and Mina didnt have ANY of the bands that I had looked at. So now, I had to go on pure guesswork to figure out what final custom work I would have done to the band. I felt like I was shooting in the dark at this point, and I was already upset. However, I continued on and we looked at diamonds. About 20 minutes into looking at diamonds I asked to see the 1.5ct diamond she had quoted me a price on. She looked at me confused and said "I didnt quote you that price". I proceeded to show Mina the TWO emails where she did confirm the price. Flustered and embarrassed she asked her father, Mohammed Barimany (who owns the family store) to step in and help out. He barged in, looked at the email price quote from Mina, then he did a few calculations and shook his head. He said "What, do you want me to pull $3,000 out of my pocket and give it to you?! You are completely unreasonable!". At that point, I told both of them that they had just lost $10,000 of business and I left the place. Aside from the dishonesty, the shoddy service, the lack of care and attention, Dominion Jewelers goes even one step further and insults the customer when THEY themselves have made a mistake. Now, I wont be able to get a new ring in time to propose to my girlfriend. I had already reserved a place (and paid for it too!) and had elaborate plans laid with friends and family. DOMINION JEWLERS HAS RUINED MY ENGAGEMENT PLANS! I will never use this place ever again and I am going to tell every single friend and family member to do the same.

I truly hope this place will go down in flames. And I am going to do everything in my power to see...

Typically, I don’t leave reviews good or bad because I don’t have the time to do it. However my experience with Sergio the manager the two times I spoke with him made me feel compelled to do it. He was gruff, smug, and curt.

On October 13 I had a phone conversation with Sergio to discuss Dominion servicing my jewelry due to a water loss.

He scheduled me to speak with Martha on October 29 3 pm. She is the person Sergio said who would process my jewelry insurance claim for Dominion Jewlers.

3.5 hours before the appointment on October 29 Sergio called and cancelled the appointment out of the blue without any explanation nor apology

After asking for an explanation a couple of times for the cancellation he begrudging explained curtly and apologized gruffly.

Horrible experience.

No excuse to cancel an appointment 3 .5 hours before the appointment is due to start with a condescending air especially when he scheduled weeks out.

Glad that I experienced his lack of personal attention, commitment, professionalism, and integrity to his customers through his word before I entrusted Dominion with my platinum and gold jewelry and was further along in the process with Dominion

My response to owner’s response

My review is based on the fact the night I made the appointment I was upfront with you in regard to the jewlery and mold. I stated there is NO mold that can be visually seen with the naked eye. The jewlery came from a house that had mold in it due to a water loss . U made the appointment with your employee who works with insurance claims.

That appointment was made two weeks out. The day of the appointment I called to get directions your associate gave me directions. Then u called three hours before the appointment and canceled

That is why I wrote the review . The public needs to know you don’t respect people’s time and u don’t have good follow through skills. U admitted on the phone u forgot to call to cancel Future potential customers don’t be fooled by his empathetic response down below. It is all to save face.

By the way mold is naturally in your store since it is naturally outside . So every time a person walks into the store they are bringing mold in with them.

On a positive note I got the jewlery serviced at Emerites and it has been a wonderful experience . If u want a reputable Jewler who respects your time, follows up on commitments in a timely way and has great customer service skills try them ! U won’t be wasting your time like I did...

First visit young lady "misplaced" a $12,000 stone (inside the original packaging). I was quested by a sheriff and sent on my merry way (just to find out they minutes later found it). That treasure hunt wasted 2 hours of my saturday.

Second chance visit. I scheduled an appointment with Sergio because I heard "Sergio was the best!" What a lie. He was terrible. From moment one he came off as condescending. He asked what my budget was and what I was looking for. After telling him my budget and that number would have to cover everything (engagement, wedding band, diamond, etc.), he brought me a stone that ate up the entire budget. After stating I didn't see how we could make that work for my budget, he responded that normally people meant just the engagement ring and stone when they said "covers everything". It was just a stupid experience. After brushing off his remarks, it seems he wanted me to make a decision RIGHT then and there. This is after he literally provided no benefit to my search, just more questions.

It was clear he just wanted a sale.

Go to Ascot Diamonds in Ballston if you want a class act establishment. I thought they would be WAY out of my budget because they had 5 stars in their reviews, but Tim Birch and his team were able to work with me on everything. If I didn't like the stones Ascot had, they called multiple other options in that I had sent them. We finally found the right diamond and Tim helped me create a custom ring, and engagement band that fit into my budget. Ascot was NEVER pushy, and only wanted to close the deal when I was 100% satisfied...