Old Northeast Jewelers — Attraction in Tampa

Updated Review as of 07/28: Updated Review: After our previous encounter with the Tampa location. Mr. Hess reached out and wanted the opportunity to rectify the situation. Mr. Hess apologized for our poor experience and for the associate's mistake. Mr. and Mrs.Hess were very kind, knowledgeable, and apologetic about everything. They did rectify the situation and we are much happier with our new experience with Northeast Jewelers. They were also very kind to our little two year old princess and gifted her a cute little blue ring, that she absolutely loves and took to Disney to show Elsa. The great lengths that someone goes to rectify a wrong speaks very highly of their character, and truly admired how they handled the situation. Thank you so much!

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My husband and I went to Old Northeast today for an appointment with Kyle who was going to get us an estimate on two rings. One was an engagement ring and the other was a men’s wedding band. The diamond is a natural diamond but not GIA certified, however I have a certified appraisal for the ring setting and diamond with the details certifying everything. Kyle over the phone had said that was great and helpful. At our appointment disregarded it and said he did not need it. He measured the diamond and gave the following measurements: 8.3 x 5.4 x 3.4 for the center stone and proceeded to tell us that the carats “ on a good day was 0.65” which we asked and questioned as we bought a center diamond with the 1.02 carats. He triple down on it saying he was not mistaken and needed to go to wherever we bought the diamond. That the jewelry store we bought from was at fault, as this ring in his opinion was not 1.02 carats. “No way that it could be” as the diamond is far too small. He said the best he can do was offer about $200 something dollars for a diamond that is bought for $5,995 and definitely currently still sold for a few grand, regardless of the drop in the market. The measurements he provided are only for diamonds that are one carat. His own measurements are for a diamond that is over a carat and can not physically be measured that big and have such little carat value. This man lied multiple times in our faces. Lied about the color grade of the ring: said at best it’s a J-K. When in reality it is a G-H. The deception and lies when you are going to turn around a make a huge profit on the ring is ridiculous. Not to mention with the men’s wedding band, it is a Tacori white gold and yellow gold band 18k. This man once again, proceeded to lie to us and say it is not 18k but 14k gold. Saying it is worth at most $500 and something. Based on the location of this jewelry store the last thing I expected was to be dealing with grifters and deceivers. Mind you the jewelry was bought from a reputable company, International Diamond Center. Of in which we went to right after and had them re-confirm every detail of the jewelry and are now getting the diamond GIA certified to not ever deal with liars like Kyle- again. I have the proof and will add the pictures of his business card and offer along with the purchase receipt of the jewelry. I don’t think that the owner would want someone like this representing their business and decreasing the reputation of this business. If Kyle works there I would say DO NOT TRUST THEM. Take your business elsewhere, where you won’t be deceived. As a Tampa native and local to the Hyde Park area, I will NEVER recommend this...

final update 8/17/25

I sent the watch to Rolex. The told me the dial was not authentic. Two links were not authentic. The movement was running significant out of tolerance.

It’s costing me $2000 to get Rolex to make the watch Old Northeast Jewelers sold me to actually be a legit Rolex.

I reduced my score to one star. They sold a screwed up watch with mismatched and replica parts on it as a legit Rolex.

If you shop here for a high end watch, be very very cautious. They sell Frankenstein watches and take zero accountability.

edit: in response to the owners statements, all I can say is… you did sell me a watch with mismatched parts. Your sales staff did tell me they buy watches from estate sales “all the time.” Your sales staff did dismiss my concerns as trivial. Your sales staff didn’t know much about the watches or understand why a damaged dial or mis-matched hands would be an issue.

I gave two stars instead of one because after being rotated through a bunch of people, one manager did (pretty condescendingly, I might add) tell me “bring the watch back and we’ll make the hands whatever color you want.”

Not once was I ever offered the option to return the watch (despite the sale happening less than 30 minutes ago). Not once did anyone sympathize with the situation.

As for your comment at the end - if your team did check the watches for authenticity properly, the mismatched hands would have been an immediate tell. They are literally a different color from the rest of the watch.

I want to support local business as much as possible and not go to boutiques and chain retailers but stuff like this makes it really challenging. Not only did I get burned on the watch and am now immediately out of pocket more money to get Rolex to fix it properly, but the response from the business owner is purely defensive.

Everything I stated was true, I’m not exaggerating to try and cause harm at all. ONEJ has been around for ages and I’m a repeat customer. But I do feel like this kind of feedback is import to share with other customers.

Buyer beware.

Their preowned watches are not “vetted” very carefully. The Rolexes are in largely poor condition and, in my case, Frankenstein watches, with mismatched parts.

The Datejust I got from them had the wrong handset with mismatched lume and a damaged dial. When I called in to discuss this, shortly after leaving the store, I was passed around to three different employees before a manager told me the watch was “as is” and disregarded my complaints as “trivial.”

To their credit, they did offer to “send the watch in” to fix or replace the handset but, given the way this was treated and the fact that they would sell the watch in this condition in the first place, I opted to go directly to Rolex, instead.

The sales people there did not know much about the watches they were selling. Never a great sign.

They also ran out of watch boxes and had to sell me the watch in a leftover service pouch.

If you’re shopping here, stick to the new old stock or the cheap stuff. Avoid the high end as they clearly don’t know much about the product and don’t take care in procuring quality goods.

I was told “everything is as is” and “we get it from estate sales” multiple times.

I guess it was wrong of me to assume they checked watches for authenticity and quality before buying and...

I brought my Tudor watch in on 9/16 with the intent of selling it, but was unsure if I wanted to do so before or after having it serviced. I was told it would be worth about $2,000 as is but the St Pete location would have to see it to get a price on the service of it. I was told i would hear something back within 2 weeks so i advised the staff that I wanted to get a price for it to be serviced and what the store would buy it for after being serviced. The lady input all of this into their system and gave me a copy of the details before the watch was sent to the St Pete location. I called 10/5 after not hearing anything to inquire about the watch. The lady tracked it down and told me they gave a price of $800 to have it serviced. When I asked about them purchasing the watch she had no idea and would have to talk to the owner. She called me back and said "he would pass" on purchasing the watch and asked if I wanted to still have it serviced which I declined. I picked up the watch from the Tampa store and asked the staff what exactly is the criteria for purchasing watches since I was told they do indeed buy them. He informed me that "he wasn't sure and it's up to the owner." I fee like this was a complete waste of time for me, it had value when I was in the Tampa store but when it got to the St Pete store it apparently had no value but they had no problem accepting money for it to be serviced. Stay away from this place if you're even thinking of selling anything, would give this ZERO stars if it was an option.

Update: I see the "owner" responded with a pretty vague answer. Since you offered no offer how was too much asked for? Customers can easily look up watches to see what they are going for. I specifically told the staff at the Tampa store to have the St Pete store make an offer for it as is and what you would offer after it was serviced. Again, I was told it was worth $2000 as is but needed to be seen by you; apparently you're the only one that can make an offer, kind of ridiculous. Stay away from this place, I should have read the reviews...