EMERALD TRADE JEWELRY FACTORY — Local services in Cartagena

Most horrible experience. I purchased a bracelet I fell in love with for $500 of which $50 I was supposed to get back from taxes and I never did, even though I followed the steps at the airport, my girlfriend didn’t get hers either. The bracelet broke within a month of me being back in the states, no trauma to it, didn’t drop it, didn’t hit it against anything, I was showing it to my friend and as I closed it a whole piece came off. I took it to a expert jeweler and he told me that when it was made it had bubbles and that’s why it broke, it will cost me $300 more to fix it but there is no guarantee that there’s no more bubbles in other parts so it might brake again. I won’t fix it with those odds now I have a broken piece of jewelry that’s not easy to sell or fix and why should I, I purchased it new from what I thought was a reputable place in the center of the city. I felt horrible about it since I loved it so much. Terrible craftsmanship, I don’t recommend this place as you have no real guarantees that they make any of their stuff well. Never again will I buy an expensive jewelry...

We went to this shop to buy a few gifts and we agreed on a price with Mr Manuel C. by shaking hands. A few hours later when the gifts were ready (one of them needed to be manufactured) Manuel C. refused to apply the negociated price apparently on his chief's advise Carlos Andrés C. After one hour and a half of arguments he agreed on the negociated price but under the condition of a cash payment of around 70% of the total. At this point he guaranteed that everything was legal and that we would get all the taxes back at the airport. We found out at the airport that he was lying because in Colombia only taxes of credit card payment are refunded. This represents a loss of 19% of the cash payment.

Note that we are not experts in jewelry or emeralds and we easily negociated a 40% discount from the original prices he asked.

Despite this bad experience, we are pleased with the quality of our purchases (although we did not expertise them yet) but of course we recommend to run away...

A wonderful shop with a very knowledgeable woman running it. We ordered a custom pendant. My wife was very specific on her wants and she is ecstatic with the result. The 24 hour turnaround on a custom piece was wonderful. Plus, we really enjoyed...