Barmakian Jewelers — Local services in Framingham

I went to Barmakian to get my anniversary ring resized to fit on my right hand, so I can wear my engagement ring on my left hand (the anniversary ring only fits on my left hand now, so I have to switch off wearing them). I had purchased the ring there, which I absolutely love, and I decided I trusted them to resize it for me. I showed up 4:30 on a Friday (having some days with extended or different hours than 10-5pm would be helpful as those hours may conflict with people’s work schedules), and there were already 3 people at the repair window and one other person in line. I didn’t see anyone shopping, so it would be helpful if they train their sales clerk to work the repair window to improve their customer service as the line took 30 minutes.

The good thing about waiting in line that long was that I listened to the lady in front of me who also wanted to get her ring resized. She was told it cost $75 to increase her ring by one size. When it was my turn, the same lady told me that “We could do it for you for $125” (interesting how she makes it sound like a bargain) and I only needed to increase my ring by half a size!?!? Why did it cost the other lady $75 to increase one whole size and me $125 for a half size!?!? I’ll share what I suspect, but don’t know for certain. My anniversary ring has a one carat diamond that I inherited from my grandmother. After the lady examined the diamond (which perhaps she was also checking the prongs) to determine that it was not a lab diamond, she decided that I had the money to pay extra for the resizing. I could be wrong, but I can’t understand why it would cost me more to have less done! The lady also didn’t explain why the cost was more (e.g., the type of metal was not discussed either time). Didn’t she realize that I was standing there the whole time and listening to the conversation. She was also rude and impatient. It was the end of the work day and it was clear she wanted to get out of there. Basically, I will never take my repairs to Barmakian, but if you do, act poor so you get a better deal.

Allie,

Thanks for the information. All of that makes sense, and it would be as I expect; however, none of that was considered with the lady in front of me. She said she did a lot of gardening, so let’s call her the gardener. She went to window 1. That repair specialist wasn’t sure of the price to size up . She said $70, but then checked with the repair specialist at window 2 who told her $75 to go up one size (there should be a repair list of prices to consult so the worker didn’t have to interrupt another worker helping a customer and it would also make for consistent pricing). The lady at window 2 never looked at the gardener’s ring, so she could not consider the type of metal, width of band, nor was it discussed. I went to window 2, and the same lady now tells me $125 to go up half a size. It seems she decided that I was loaded since I had a caret diamond on my anniversary ring. You sell beautiful jewelry, but your repairs are a scam and I’ll never go back for them, nor will I recommend...

This place has been a hassle every step of the way. My fiance bought a loose stone to go into a setting that we picked out together and had a very specific time frame of when he wanted to propose. Despite going in over a month ahead of time, the store managed to lose the ring requiring a "loaner ring" until they could find where my ring was. The only reason we went back for our wedding bands was the fact that we were happy with the engagement ring itself.

I couldn't find anything like what I wanted for a wedding band in the store, so we were able to make a custom piece with stones my grandmother had given me. The store had my stones and the completed product for nearly 6 weeks. When they called to tell us the ring was done, we asked if the appraisal was done so that we could add it onto our insurance. The woman assured us that since it was a custom piece it would definitely have an appraisal already. When we went in on a Saturday to pick it up, there was no appraisal. Had we known, we wouldn't have gone in to get the rings. The salesperson who rang us out, who was not our usual salesperson, said she would have our guy send out the appraisal on Tuesday.

By the end of the week, the salesman called to have us bring in the ring again on Sunday so he could finish up the appraisal. When we got in, 15 minutes after the store opened, two women told us that the salesman was "too busy" and would do our appraisal later. After waiting for 45 minutes and watching our salesman take customers who had come in after us, we finally left. Basically the message that was sent was that since we weren't spending money that day, we weren't worth their time despite having already spent thousands of dollars on our rings. We will never be shopping at Barmakian again as the product is not worth the incompetency of their...

Update below !!!My papa bought my nana’s 30,000 dollar engagement ring back in 1950 so today would be worth well over 80k now my father has bought my mothers engagement ring here and his new wife’s engagement ring I bought my fiancée engagement ring here in total we have spent over 100,000 at Barmakian I walked into the building with my construction clothes on (mind you I make 160,000 a year my fiancée makes more) walked up to use the bathroom was followed upstairs had someone knock on the door I said one second I came out was followed downstairs then they said they would give me the ring after a gentleman waved the woman down and was denied being able to pick up the ring because my fiancée dropped it off in her name soo my fiancée had to come down from the house after just getting surgery to pick up the ring unbelievable discrimination against me looking like a construction worker should be ashamed of themselves…After going back here again to get my fiancée’s ring resized again I was met with a warm welcome and an apology which I greatly appreciated they let me know every time I go in that my fiancées ring can be cleaned for free for life and that they where embarrassed by the actions that day and would do better.. So to honor the happiness this jeweler has given my family and I over the last 75 plus years and there accountability in what was done on that day I have changed my review to 5 stars and will return here again in future thank you for owning your mistakes it is what truly makes a great business (Melisa was a big part of this decision such great asset to...