Kristie's Jewels — Local services in Aruba

My boyfriend (now fiancé) proposed to me in Aruba. He told me he had been looking at rings for a while but couldn’t find anything unique back in the states. He shopped around with his dad at a few stores but ultimately couldn’t decide on the perfect ring for me. He proposed and we went to go look at rings together. Ultimately, he took me to Kristie’s to see Manny because he felt as if he was the most helpful when looking at rings and he wasn’t pushy. Manny instantly remembered my fiancé and pulled at numerous rings that he had looked at days prior. We decided on this ring and it was big at first but Manny had the team adjust the ring within an hour to make sure I would be able to leave the next day with my ring. I can’t thank the Kristie’s Jewels team enough for making my special day amazing. The next time we’re in Aruba, we will definitely be coming back to shop at Kristie’s again :)

EDIT: After getting engaged in September 2022, by November 2022, I had one of the outside stones fall out of my ring. I had to send the ring to NY to get fixed by the insurance agency that was offered by Kristie’s. It was fixed in 2 weeks and sent back: great. Fast forward 5 months later, the SAME STONE fell out. We contacted Manny and it took about 2 months until we decided to send it back to NY. Before sending it back, we took it to another jeweler in the states to have a look at it in which they told me the integrity of the ring enhancer was not great and warped. When we told this to Manny, he stated we should not have brought it for a second opinion (weird?). Needless to say, we made the decision to send the outer piece in to be completely rebuilt. It took about 2 months to be completely “fixed”. The ring enhancer came back and is now too small to fit around the actual ring and clamp closed like it’s supposed to. Overall, I am extremely disappointed and would not recommend Kristie’s Jewelers due to the poor customer service. We would ask for updates of the rebuild weekly and often received no update. They then sent the ring back to our old address, when we had given them the new address. I was happy with the ring at first, but I am too scared to wear it now because of stones falling out and have since gotten a new ring from another jeweler. I recommend to steer clear of Kristie’s unless you want a headache if something goes wrong with your jewelry...

My husband and I have been going to Aruba a few times a year for 15 years. Honestly, this was the worst experience I’ve had in all of those visits. Service at the store is wonderful; it’s family owned and they make you feel like one of the ‘crew’. However, they also use this as a ploy to sell sub-standard merchandise and pass it off as a deal.

We were in the market for a 4 ct radiant diamond and were working with a jeweler downtown. The diamond I loved was GIA certified and stunning. I was still in negotiations when my husband and I stopped by Kristies after dinner for the hell of it. They had a diamond exactly the same weight - also beautiful - but not GIA certified. It wasn’t as high-quality as the one downtown, but the price was good and the store was willing to give the same trade for my 2 ct. So, they assured me that, certification or not, the one gent was GIA trained and would stand behind the quality of the diamond. We bought it.

After returning to the states, I needed to get an appraisal for insurance but also wanted the GIA certification in case I ever wanted to trade again. We sent my diamond to NYC, the pandemic hit and I waited for nearly three months to get it back. When finally I did get it back, I was devastated. The color was rated not one, not two but THREE grades below what the store indicated. The cut is not ideal but very good. The clarity also two grades below what I was ‘sold’. As you can imagine, the insurance appraisal came back at a price far less than what we paid. Actually, the replacement value for my original 2ct was higher than my new 4ct. I’m sick over it.

Needless to say I will NEVER shop here again and I encourage you to avoid significant purchases here as well. Lessons learned...never buy without a GIA certification up front, and family business doesn’t...

TRAVELERS BEWARE When in Aruba, DON'T shop at Kristie's Jewelers. They are completely disreputable and dishonest. My husband bought a watch there that stopped working after several months. He brought it back to Manish, an employee at Kristie's, who promised to give it to his personal jeweler to repair. If he couldn't fix it, Manish assured my husband that he would send it back to FOSSIL to have it repaired or replaced. My husband made it clear that we were leaving the next day and we needed resolution. Manish assured us that wouldn't be a problem. The following day my husband called Kristie's for an update. The person he spoke to said that Monish wasn't in and he knew nothing about the situation. He said, "Just come get your watch." He was of no help at all. We returned to the US the next morning without the watch. Our friend purchased a watch at Bering Watch Store which is also owned by Kristie's . The watch had blue tooth technology. Within minutes the blue tooth technology stopped working. When my friend asked to get his money back, Manish refused to give a refund. He tried to convince my friend to allow them to recalibrate the watch. Finally , after an hour, they credited my friend's credit card!!! Jewelry stores in Aruba are plentiful. Choose any one of them but...