Westgate Jewelers — Local services in Bethlehem

Westgate Jewelers is absolutely the worst jeweler imaginable. I brought in a 1963 gold Longine watch for mainspring and crystal repair. They had it "ready" for me a week after the promised date. I put "ready" in quotes because when I took one look at the watch I could clearly see two gouges in the face. These weren't mere scratches mind you, but two creased scorings over the dial.

After denying that they were there at all 'I don't see anything" (Yes she looked at these line and said that--while using an eyepiece), the owner claimed it was just some resin on the inside of the crystal. This in spite of it OBVIOUSLY being gouged on the face, you could see the bloody second hand pass over it! Seriously, she actually told me that she is "an expert" and I am just not seeing it properly. She also said the second gouge was an old nicotine stain! Once again, a blind man could see that it is gouged--and a fine watch whose cover has never been removed is not likely to have such a stain--at least not one in the shape of a cut on the face.

So after her denying any damage for over a half an hour, she finally agreed to keep the watch and "remove the resin," telling me it will be ready by the following Friday.

Fast forward A MONTH!

By this time I've called them a couple of time. Their employee tells me that the owner has the watch and is in the process of cleaning the "nicotine stain." Bear in mind, there was none and I did not ask for it to be cleaned--just repaired. I'm told it will be ready in a week. THREE WEEKS later I call gain. I'm told the watch is undergoing some sort of "process" whatever that means. Why yes, it turn out it is indeed gouged. (No kidding) Why no, WE didn't do it (Apparently the watch gouging fairies came in and did it. too bad they did it while they had the watch.)

MORE flipping denials follow--bear in mint that it physically impossible for this watch to hve been damaged by anyone other than the owner who was the only one who had removed the old crystl and replaced it. Finally she comes up with one hell of a wacky argument. Here it is:

The owner tells me that she never noticed the gouges until I pointed them out (in spite of her looking at the face through jewelers' glasses while she replaced the crystal) AND that I also had never noticed them since I had gotten it from my father's widow in 1976, so OBVIOUSLY it must have been there all along! What was she thinking? Did she really think I'd smack my forehead and say, WOW! It was damaged all along and I never noticed! What an amazing happenstance!

Throughout the course of this ordeal she has lied to me numerous times abut more things than I can easily recount.--and when this angers me she dares accuse me of using disrespectful language!

I finally have the watch back with a promise that I had to extract from her in her store while customers were present that she will pay for its repair--and frankly I expect that she will surely try to deny that when the time comes for her to pay.

This is easily the most unprofessional, incompetent business owner I have had the great displeasure to deal with. I adjure you to avoid this business unless you enjoy being angered, provoked and lied to outright.

Westgate Jewelers is...

Extremely disappointing service. Brought in 2 pairs of earrings to have a minor repair on the crimp (the part that the hook snaps onto behind your ear lobe). After 7 weeks with no contact, I called them to check on the earrings. Haven't had anything repaired there previously, so I wasn't sure about the turnaround time. I was told they would call me back. A week later I called them again. After 9 weeks, I got the earrings. I wore one of the pairs and as I was taking the earring out, the part that was repaired popped off. When I took them back in 2 weeks ago, I had both earrings and showed them the problem to be fixed. Two days ago, they called to ask me to bring in the 2nd earring, since they told me to just leave the one that needed to be fixed. I took the match back to the store, where they proceeded to tell me that they believed that I gave them the earring that they hadn't fixed. After accusing me of lying (it was an $18 repair), they told me that they could tell it was the other earring because the gold wasn't as shiny and there was a dent in the one they fixed. These were hollow tubes, both dented, and THEY CLEANED BOTH OF THEM the first time I took them in. Plus, they couldn't find "their repair mark" on either of the earrings. In this day and age, where customer service is critical, I can't believe they accused me of lying and refused to fix their FAULTY WORKMANSHIP!!. All for a $2 piece of metal and the 5 minutes it takes to attach it properly. I am truly surprised at the gall and unprofessionalism of the owner Laurel. I won't be returning to...

I took a ring to be repaired at Westgate Jewelers in Dec. 2011. I stopped on numerous occasions to see if it was done. Everytime I went there they had an excuse why it wasn't done. Either the Jeweler wasn't there, it was locked in the safe, ect. I finally got to speak to the Jeweler in person and she claimed the ring wasn't sterling silver even though it was stamped. She claimed there was peuter in the ring which made it hard to fix. I asked if she could just return the ring, even though it was not repaired. Of course, the ring was locked in a safe somewhere else. I asked if they could please call when ring was there so I could pick it up. I never recieved a phone call. I stopped in Nov. 2012 and no ring was there so I told them I'm done and please just mail it to me. It is now Jan. 25, 2013, over 1 year since I dropped it off, and I still have no ring. I submitted a claim to the Better Business Bureau because I'm tired of wasting my time and gas money to try and resolve this matter. If they lost the ring, they should just be honest and reimburse me for my loss. I will NEVER do any business...