eklektic jewelry studio — Local services in Houston

I hate to leave a negative review on a small business, but honestly, I had an unpleasant experience on my last visit.

I've been here several times - had two wedding bands made and a handful of resizing visits with nothing negative to report. However, last time I went left me not wanting to return.

I made an appointment to discuss remaking my engagement ring. I had a pretty simple design in mind, essentially just making the band/setting of my solitaire a bigger so that it wouldn't spin on my finger so much.

I showed example pictures of what I was hoping the finished product would look like, literally a 4-prong gold solitaire with a wider band.

At first, the conversation went well. The jeweler pulled samples of band sizes for me to find a width. I was holding my engagement ring above the bands to get an idea of what they would look like in relation to my diamond.

At that point, the jeweler very casually asked if I'd like for him to remove the diamond in order to better visualize. Not knowing that it would be $150 to put it back in the event I could not decide on a design, I said "yes".

Diamond now removed, I decided on a band width, and we started talking about settings. Again, I had a very simple design in mind with a photo example, no embellishments, no additional diamonds. I showed pictures, and the jeweler started showing me a bunch of complicated, expensive settings.

Since apparently we could not find a basic 4-prong setting on their website inventory, he said we'd need to do a custom design.

I was a little surprised given the simplicity of what I had in mind, but said sure. We started going over the process, and I asked about pricing. The jeweler was very dodgy when it came to prices and insisted that he had no idea what it might cost until the finished product.

I didn't feel comfortable proceeding as I didn't want a surprise bill and told him my budget of $1300. He said that was not going to be enough, and then he finally gave me a rough estimate of $3000.

That was more than double my budget, and I decided I wanted to take my ring home. He then packed my ring and diamond in separate bags for me to take home.

Surprised, I asked, “Oh, can I have the diamond put back in my ring?” He said, “That will be $150.” I said, “Oh...you're joking, right?” And he said, "no, I'm sorry, but I have to charge money for that. Taking it out is simple, but putting it back is more complicated.”

Had this been explained to me in advance, I would not have consented to him removing it.

I left with my ring in two pieces.

Ultimately, I sought out another jeweler as I no longer felt comfortable working with a shop that has no price transparency.

At my new local jeweler, getting a quote was no big deal, and the process was super simple. No complicated back and forth about design when I was very clear that I wanted a simple, 4-prong solitaire— just a...

I had a platinum ring with diamond baquettes I was interested in recreating into earrings. I was not given a price quote on the initial meeting to discuss. The price quote given at a later date was exceedingly high (almost 4K). I told eckletic I did not want to proceed. When I went to pick up the ring the owner gave me back the ring but the diamonds had been removed. The diamonds were in a separate baggie. Eckletic wanted to charge me an additional 500+ dollars to put the diamonds back in the ring. Now I have a ring that is totally non functional. Eckletic stated “I gave them permission to remove the diamonds”. That is true but I did not have the quote at that time. The plan was to use the platinum in the ring however they were going to recharge me for the platinum with an explanation regarding “ alloys”. So, always ask for a quote in writing prior to letting them touch your item. I am quite certain it does not cost much time or labor to put the diamonds back into the ring. I feel this is not good customer service and does not motivate me to return.

So buyer beware! Have a back up plan in case this happens to you. I have had good dealings and fair prices with Eckletic prior to...

Wonderful, LOCAL jewelry shop that does custom jewelry and repairs. They used gold from my old jewelry to make my wedding band and helped design my wife's wedding band at a fair price. I will definitely return and I highly recommend them!

Edit: Stones within one piece of jewelry I had them make keep falling out. I was only told AFTER I paid and had the ring made that the material that owing to the nature of the stones that they are going to fall out. WHAT?! So, now I have to keep coming back every 4 months to get 1-2 stones replaced? They offered to do the first 5 for free, but otherwise I'd have to pay.... what a rip! No thanks, I will be getting a different piece of jewelry elsewhere.

They do good work on your own jewelry and for custom made orders, but I did not appreciate the lack of certain details on the one we made.

EDIT (12/13/2020): Re: Eklektic response about inconsistent names. I use a pseudonym when I post reviews, doesn't mean I didn't use their store. Still disappointed with the longevity of the ring we got (less than 1 year), and the response about trying to fix it. Ended up getting a ring made with a...