Better Jewelers — Local services in Columbus

I brought my wedding ring in for resizing in Jan 2022. I decided to get my ring, that was passed down from my deceased father, cleaned at the same time. Services took a couple of days, my wedding ring was fine. They chipped my onyx ring while cleaning it. The owner, John, was very rude and confrontational, “we don’t do anything in the cleaning process to chip a stone.” He was very condescending denying there was no way possible they could have caused the damage. Thankfully I took a picture of my ring in good condition right before bringing it, but he said “well how do I know that picture isn’t old?”. He still was denying the damages until I pointed out the time stamp right before drop off.

He unwilling admitted fault and was not apologetic in the least. Was very dry and lacked professionalism. He got my ring repaired in Chicago and took over two months, which is fine. But the entire time, he did not loop me in whatsoever. He never told me if the person he sent my ring to was able to do the repairs, I had to call him. I had to call and text him for every single update when weeks went by without hearing anything. He tried to make me seem like a nuisance, when he should have been the one updating me.

He will be polite on first encounter to keep a customer, but is rude and unprofessional when being held accountable as a businessman. I have never returned in the almost 3 years since this incident and would not recommend him to anyone.

Edited to respond to reply: Yes, 3 years later and I still have the same bad taste in my mouth with your business. Yes, you were nice to the point of when I gave you my pieces, before there was damage. I was never difficult. From a commonsense standpoint, why would I be rude or difficult with someone that has my damaged belongings in their possession? The reason I decided to write a review was due to the fact that last week, I had to get my ring repaired due to the stone getting loose, which never happened in the decades of wearing it until after it had been repaired after your care, but I digress on that point. I had an amazing experience in comparison to the experience with you. The jeweler further told that seating the diamond in the onyx, how it was previously before repairs, was possible and would have to be hand carved out. According to you "that technology is outdated and would have to be sent to Germany to get that done". Another tactic, to get me out of your store and get the cheap repair done since you were covering repairs, I'm sure.

Again, there was no drama then. If you think someone being concerned about their sentimental possessions when they were never informed of status updates is another issue in itself. By your reply, you prove my point: the same lack of empathy, self-accountability, and professionalism towards your customers. You care only about the business transaction aspect. After '35 years of business' you would think someone of your age would have learned something about customer service. As previously stated, I will never bring my business or 'drama'...

If there was a way to give ZERO stars, I would! Went to Jon (store owner) for a request to change out some watch batteries. As soon as I walked in the store, two other guys peep their heads in and tell Jon that his truck was hit in the parking lot, at which time Jon rushed out to see what happened. He comes back in, I ask if everything is ok, he said the headlight was cracked and that's it. Back to business. He starts to change one watch battery, and then with the second watch, he said it was going to be more complicated, so he asked me to come back the next day. I had time that day that I was there, so I told Jon I was willing to wait if it would only take 30 min or so to change the battery. He insisted that he wouldn't be able to do it in that time and needed to have my watch until the next day. Another customer had come in at this point. He attended to her in the midst of helping me, and decided he would spend more of his time and efforts on her. Maybe it was because I was a first time customer? Lol, who knows. After some time, he comes back to me and tells me that he has his truck to attend to, that he's the only one working in the store that day, and he had to help this other customer and go get the mail out of his mailbox. I gathered up my watches, paid for the one that he had worked on, then he proceeds to show and tell me that the one he would've needed more time to fix, is essentially a very poor quality watch. Nice, throw insult to the first time customer. Next day, I took a friend to ATL. While there, I found a watch shop in ATL that changed my 2nd watch battery in 10 minutes, and that was just before the store closed! Dude in Columbus (Jon) is a sorry example of customer service. He told me the watch needed more work (which was the one that was fixed in 10 min in ATL) and he'd have to have it overnight... Interesting. I will never go back to Jon's shop or recommend him to anyone I know as he not only had terrible customer service to a first time potential customer, but he also clearly either lied to me about having to work on my 2nd watch overnight or just simply was incapable of performing a battery change on a non-standard watch. Guess I shouldn't be surprised as this is a shop in Columbus F-ing GA. If he was anywhere else, he'd get eaten alive and his...

TLDR: it seems as though more gold was removed than necessary to increase Better Jewelers’ profits. Now need to have it serviced again.

Took my wife’s ring (solitaire with wrap) in to be down sized and attached together, easy enough. Picked the ring up a few days later looked good at first. After closer inspection, noticed that the area where they were attached was very little, and the band (shank) was incredibly thin in all directions. We were told that was normal. A little while later it looks like the shank is coming apart, almost like it’s ripping. When the ring was resized, more gold was removed than should have been (according to other jewelers) and it was left too thin. Since Better Jewelers keeps the gold they remove (unless you pay more) it seems as if more gold was removed to maximize profits. Before taking your jewelry here for any service, I’d highly recommend weighing your it before and after service and ask how much was removed, might even go so far as to weigh what removed.

As can be seen in the photos the ring has significantly less material in the damaged area, compared to the surrounding areas. There used to be a more gradual tapering, but now, it’s a pretty...