E.B. Horn Jewelers — Local services in Boston

TL/DR – I found E.B. Horn’s practices dishonest and unpleasant. I would not recommend doing business here if you are a woman.

I visited in October 2023. I followed the instructions for booking an appointment at E.B Horn from their website, and emailed the address displayed.

When I arrived, no one was aware I had an appointment and the people I booked with were not available. A salesman (alias) 'John' eventually came over. John was not sure why I was there, so I had to discuss once more what I was coming in for. I gave the rings to John who began to inspect them and write down the information on them. After inspecting them John asked how much I was looking to receive for them, and I told him my number. He wrote down a number that was a little less than half and pushed the paper towards me saying, ‘This would be the number we’re looking at today’. John then said if I was looking to make a purchase from the shop that ‘I could give you more’.

John began to show me some wedding bands. I shared with him the style I was interested in – no stones, silver with perhaps some light embellishment (like filigree, twists, etc.). John then felt it best to question my choices asking ‘what, no diamonds?’. My engagement ring has a plain sapphire in it, and I wear other simple, silver rings on other fingers. I’m not sure if John was not paying attention or personally finds bands without stones displeasing – but I was admittedly surprised that a salesman would fail a temperature check so poorly. John pulled out a tray and placed it in front of me, not making much effort to help me look (which is fine, especially after knowing his thoughts about my preferences haha). I tried a few on. A simple silver band was about $400-$500, and I wasn’t too jazzed with the selection. Without much help looking, I told John I was all set and was just interested in selling.

Once more I asked John if I could get $100 more than he originally indicated, making a last-ditch effort at haggling. John thought about it and said hold on, walking away. I waited about five minutes before he returned and said ‘I’m gonna be a bad guy and tell you that I’m only going to give you __ for them’. The number he said was more than half of the number he had written down for me before. I asked, ‘what about the number we talked about just a short while ago?’ to which he denied. I held up the piece of paper he had written the number on before, to which he shrugged and said, ‘I never said that’. He then stated that I was unreasonable, that the rings were worthless, that I would never get anything more etc. At this point I was uncomfortable and indicated such; that he had told me one thing and kept me there for another half an hour before telling me something completely different. I said goodbye and departed.

I took the ring to a jeweler in the Springfield area and received the price John had originally said. It all worked out perfectly and I was very happy to have not done business in a place I felt disrespected, talked down to, and cheated.

What has stuck with me most about my time at E.B. Horn is not in fact the poor sales consultation. While I was standing and waiting for John, I could hear another salesman on the phone say to their caller ‘well just buy her a bracelet, every woman loves bracelets’. I thought perhaps I had been propelled back to the 19th century. In a day and age when more women are working than ever, and when women are three times more likely than men to develop carpal tunnel, I am surprised to hear such a misrepresentative statement.

While I am sure he was marketing well to his customer, it made the store an uncomfortable and judgmental place. This, paired with the way John treated me, made me wonder how this would have gone if I presented as a man. Noticing that there were about 6 employees present, only 1 woman, I feel confident it would have been improved. I have no interest in returning to a place that treats its customers so differently based on their gender identity, and I plan to encourage my friends/family to look...

I had recently gotten divorced and wanted to dispose of my previous engagement ring and ring wrap. I have an affinity for jewelry and have traveled world wide in several jewelry specific markets and knew what the retail value would be for the ring. I ALSO knew that the stone would need to be reset and the gold sold for weight value. EB Horn's initial offer was not only reasonable, but I knew that I was being offered top dollar and being treated with respect.

About a year later, I took my son to several merchants at downtown crossing so he could purchase a promise ring for his girlfriend. Our last stop was EB Horn-on his own, he decided that he did not trust anyone else. While other merchants slapped their calculators down on the counter the minute he walked in the door, not caring how hard a 17 year old had to work to make $700, Amanda at EB Horn treated him with the utmost respect. There was no haggling, no nonsense. When he came with his girlfriend for Christmas from TX, she said that going to EB Horn was one of the highlights of her visit. At the same time, I decided to purchase 2 more small items for myself. Again, Amanda provided me with excellent service. She was completely patient with my indecisiveness and floundering. I was polite-but I still wouldn't have wanted myself as a customer!

25 years ago, I worked in the area and went for walks on my lunch hour and made daily stops to look in their window. Eventually, I married someone in the military and moved out of the area. I have been to stores in the southern US that have the largest selection of diamonds over 2 carats anywhere in the south and I have been to the largest jewelry store in Thailand as well as severaI places in between. I can say with 100% confidence that of all of the areas of the world I traveled to, and of the thousands of windows I drooled in front of, EB Horn has the most exquisite display of distinctive quality gemstones I have seen anywhere. As far as customer service, the down to Earth atmosphere is parallel to Market Basket, and appropriate for a high end (that still has affordable items) jewelry store. I hope to return there with my son when he shops of an engagement ring, and I would recommend the store or Amanda Selfridge without hesitation for their excellent customer service...

I went into the to buy some jewelry so I went downtown and I'm thinking hmm which store do I want to go cuz I need a pair of earrings I need a bracelet gold bracelet I want to buy a gold chain so and the most recognized store on Washington Street as far as jewelry goes is EB Horn I mean they go back centuries they have amazing quality craftsmanship jewelry I ended up ended up getting two colorless diamond earring studs GIA cert immaculate they are gorgeous I also bought a rope wrist CHAIN Semi hlllow chain that's 18 carat semi hollow butits very thick it's hollow but it's it's still 18 carat but it it's not small it's a thicky so thats the earrings I got the bracelet and then I buy a 24-in solid rope chain 14 carat beautiful chain high quality and they go above and beyond to take care of you and I also had pendants or charms diamond crosses and they were able to increase the size of the bale so it would fit my chain and they did it twice and they did with perfect accuracy and I love it the the fixed it and I can't really say anything anything bad about you got to check them out now remember we're talking about quality super quality so it's not going to be cheap like if you go up the street to all those other diamond places in gold chains where they're going to charge you as much as EB Horn will charge you only you have high quality LOOSE DIAMOND at EB Horn because they've & hold ofen doing this for what 18 something I mean they've been around for a hundred years they know how to do it I've brought in things in to be repaired they they're beautiful they do it quickly and a thoroughly fixed I'm telling you I'm glad IT went in there to EB Horn instead of going up the street and getting to the competition up the street and getting inferior products who knows they say you could be 14 but it's really like 12 carat you never know you never know That's why I went with the the most reputable place on Washington Street EB Horn because they don't cheat you they...