Underwood Jewelers — Local services in Jacksonville

This is the second time I have attempted service business with Underwood's. They have the worst attitude in the business.

Specifically this time Michael or Mike as he goes by was unwilling to help me order a link for my Rolex watch. I told him what I would like and after three days he only presented me with a price of the incorrect link. He said he would check on price and availability. Never returned information back to me. I had to call him and he says to just get him a couple of hundred bucks deposit and he'll see if they can order it. Told me Rolex didn't have a price on their website so they didn't know, well what good are you as an authorized dealer then? I asked why he hadn't called to check and he just told me had been pretty busy. That's it. Also when on the phone prior with him, at around 4:00pm give or take a couple of minutes, he told me it just wouldn't be today when he got back to me as they were winding down/wrapping up for the day. They close at 5:30. Lazy! Glad I didn't hold my breath, because even three days later and he couldn't have his service department or himself make one phone call.

Also when I asked for the link originally he questioned me as to how I knew Rolex even offered the link? Not in a curious tone either. I'm a very familiar watch collector and a quick Google search can reveal this as well. I asked for no special treatment, only for someone to do their job and best to assist me in getting a link for my watch to fit correctly. Rolex has very specific channels to go through regarding things like this. I tried to play ball and go through Underwoods, but no I will not just give you hundreds of dollars over the phone and keep my fingers crossed you will order something that may or may not be correct, or might be available, and with no idea as to how much it cost. Ridiculous behavior and service from an associate representing Underwoods, Rolex, and an upscale luxury item and experience.

Fail Underwoods! The only time I have even received half acceptable service is when I inquired about purchasing a Rolex. The service for some wedding gifts we received was poor along with glasses we ordered in the past and past timepiece service experience. Get over yourselves and Rolex, there are other watches, jewelry, and giftware out there of better quality, price, and service. No idea how Underwoods is still in business this long with this kind of service.

BTW, I'm sure Rolex will love to know how one of their customers was treated. I'm glad none of the multiple Rolex we own came from your store.

I hate to discredit a business and a family one at that, but too many times I have had poor experiences here. Others need to know to...

This happened long ago, but I'm not holding in the unpleasant experience I had with this store anymore.

Back in summer 2007, I came to this store newly engaged and wearing a solitaire asscher cut diamond ring needing resizing. The sales associate, a middle aged white gentleman took in my order. He took down my information and asked for an estimated value of the ring. I told him the value that my fiancé had told me.

He looked incredulously at me and said: "No it is not. It's not worth that much".

As he bagged it up, without further inspection to see if my value was accurate, he took it away leaving me embarrassed. The most offensive part of this interaction is that the associate's dismissal of my estimate insinuated that my fiancé had lied to me.

I couldn't get out of the store fast enough. I even briefly doubted my fiancé and confronted him when I got home. He was able to show me G.I.A. records and receipts proving that my estimation was indeed accurate.

I have thought about this experience many times over the years. Every time I passed an Underwood, my heart would ache recalling his statement about my engagement ring, something that holds incredible sentimental value.

I've chalked this up to just one more of those experiences where I was judged based on my physical attributes. (Remember, he never further examined my ring, so why else did he assume that I was not telling the truth?)

With the current state of the world this has made me relive a lot of these unjust moments where I have been judged by others based on my physical characteristics. (And trust me as a minority woman working as a Software Engineer at IBM, I've seen my fair share of people's minds being blown when I tell them what I do for a living. I know when I'm breaking someone's mental model of a black woman.)

Do what you want with this review.

To Underwood don't feel like you have to reach out I wouldn't dream of coming back to your store. In fact, for the remainder of our residency in Jacksonville we only went to Frazier's, a store that never questioned...

1.0 star rating 5/27/2017 PROS - The store is nice, with tons to choose from. It's probably a good choice if you want something traditional and aren't trying to get creative with your choices or the work you want to be done to something. A good choice if you picked something out online and know exactly what you want - not if you need guidance or someone to wow you with customer service or be genuinely interested in helping you pick the right wedding jewelry.

CONS - The sales lady we had seemed inexperienced and treated us poorly (in my opinion). We came in today to buy wedding bands and had heard good things about Underwoods. I also wanted to get my grandmother's diamonds put in my existing engagement ring that my fiance had bought by a custom jeweler in Portland. She started by telling me my grandmother's ring's diamonds were poor quality - not knowing that was hurtful, sentimental and not the point of having them put in the ring. My grandmother was the first person in our family to be able to afford a ring, so it had a lot of meaning to me.

Then, she only showed me one wedding band, even after I asked if there were other options. She just didn't seem motivated to make a sale. When I asked for a similar band to my engagement ring - she said that mine only was round all the way around (rather than flat inside) because it was 'worn'. I explained it was new and made that way. Another oddly (possibly unintentional) unprofessional comment. Finally, when we got to the men's wedding bands - she didn't even pull them out or ask him questions. She actually just told us to go online and look for them. They didn't even have a computer available so we could look at our options - just basically felt like we were brushed off.

This wasn't the exciting trip to buy wedding bands you would think of - guess we didn't warrant great service since we didn't get the engagement ring there. I left...