Snyder Jewelers — Local services in Longmont

I am looking for a new ring for my wife of 10 years. I wanted to get her something nice, and like I do with any big purchase, I have been researching diamonds. I was going to go to a large big box diamond jewelry store because I heard they teach you about the diamonds and what to look for. But, I like to shop local, so I asked a friend where she would go to buy a diamond ring. She recommended Snyder's.

I called ahead to ask if I could view some diamonds. The woman on the phone was pleasant. She told me she preferred to educate clients about diamonds, and would set an appointment so I could view the diamonds with a microscope and see the difference between the various clarity levels. This was exactly what I was looking for, so I set an appointment for that afternoon. She also told me there was no guarantee for a lost diamond, but she could help me insure the jewelry, and that sounded fine to me.

My wife and I arrived, and the woman I spoke to on the phone was busy with another client. We ended up being helped by an older woman with dark hair. I told her I wanted to buy a diamond. She asked me what for and I said a ring. She said we should look at settings first. I started to try to explain that I had an appointment to view the diamonds but she cut me off, and began focusing on my wife and showing her rings.

They did have a nice, varied selection. We eventually found something my wife liked. This part of the experience I felt like we were wasting this woman's time. I could not shake the feeling that we were being judged. We do not dress in fancy clothes, and I am a left leg above knee amputee, so I think she thought we had no business buying $8,000 dollar rings, and we were just wasting her time. She was knowledgeable about the different metal options, white gold vs platinum, rose gold ect. But when I asked to see a platinum next to a white gold it seemed like a real hassle to do so.

After we had a ring selected, I left to use the restroom. During this time, she asked my wife were we lived. When she found out we lived in a very nice area, her demeanor changed. This is when she finally pulled out two diamonds. She had one color J, clarity I2, and one color H that she called clarity SI3. Now, I am no diamond expert, but my research before, and all the research I have done after this experience, I can not find any mention of an SI3 clarity rating. She claimed the diamond was clarity enhanced. When I asked what this meant, she said it was beyond her comprehension. I now know that a clarity enhanced diamond is similar to when they repair a chip in a windshield.

When she was showing us these two diamonds, there was no microscope, no magnifying glass, and no chair for me to sit in. My wife was seated at the desk and the saleswoman was at the computer. I was left standing, trying to squint at the diamonds, the very things I came in to learn about. The one diamond I might have been interested in,the clarity enhanced "SI3" was priced about $500 more then what an actual SI2 diamond sells for at the big box store I was initially going to go to. I might have considered it had the whole entire experience up to this point been better.

In the end we went to the big box store I heard about on the radio. What an amazing experience. They pulled three diamonds out for me right away, and I was handed a magnification lens. Wow, It is really easy to see the imperfections in an I1 clarity Diamond. Our saleswoman at the big box did not judge us. She was very knowledgeable about diamonds. And when she was not able to answer a question, another employee chimed in with the knowledge. We picked out an $1800 ring, and a nice diamond, 1.01ct, Color F, Clarity SI2, cut excellent for $6360. The experience at the big box store really saved the whole night, and we ended up having a nice $500 dinner at the hideaway steakhouse, where we also were not judged! If you go to Snyders,...

I am torn, because Snyders has done fair work on pieces I have brought in the past, and John is extremely kind and has valuable information to share; he is glad to educate anyone in a friendly way about jewelry pieces.

However, there are a couple of issues as well -- I brought in a piece of jewelry that my late grandmother owned, because I was curious about getting opinion/information on it. I spoke with John, which is always a pleasure, and he brought it back to Linda, the owner, who was supposedly to have more significant pearl knowledge.

John went with the pearls to the back of the store, and came back to simply say "about (a number)" - Maybe this is me being nitpicky, but I feel that if one is an owner of a jewelry store and going to put a haphazard monetary value on a customer's piece, one should at least come out from the back of the store to say so directly to the customer.

Lastly, during this same visit, I wanted to know how my grandmother's pearls compared to what was on hand at the store, and asked a sales associate. She walked me over to the pearl case and wordlessly stood there, allowing me to "look." - I'm not sure if this was because she knew I wasn't going to buy anything from that case during that visit that I was not allowed to look at any pieces out of the case, but needless to say I did not feel particularly welcome.

It is too bad because I have had nice experiences from Snyders in the past, so it was a shame that this occurred. Hopefully I can give Snyders another shot and it will improve next time.

UPDATE: Still a big torn -- when I went back into the store, John was the one who greeted me and gave me some nice information and tried to explain the situation, saying that Linda had been in a meeting the first time I was in. I'm not sure how I feel about a review being brought up in person, but this still does not solve the core of the issue: John was not at fault to begin with, and should not be the one discussing it.

Ultimately, a professional appraiser looked at the pearl necklace and the value that Linda claimed the pearl necklace to be was undervalued by a factor of about 4x, so not terribly impressed with the...

Three words, and Snyder lost me as a customer: "I'm the owner."

Of course there's a back story that I shall try to recount even-handedly though being a little steamed right now. I asked Snyder to do the stabilization and attachment of a clip for a piece of jewelry I constructed. Ill-advisedly I had used lead-containing solder. Reasonably enough the shop's jeweler declined to use his laser means of heating the copper of my piece. That's not the cause of my displeasure, though.

Over the years I have had pleasant discourse with the back-room jeweler, including having given him a nice book detailing the development of marine-quality chronometers by John Harrison. He is a pleasant and engaging guy, and we had had an interesting conversation on the history of improving time standards. (If that interests you, look up Harrison; I recommend it.)

But today, the owner refused to let me speak directly with the jeweler. I had hoped to investigate some alternatives to backing my piece that would have minimized any exposure to the lead. She took my piece to the back room, after I had requested to speak with him. She returned to tell me No, he can't use his laser on your piece. All right, that's fine, but may I speak with him myself?

She refused, saying -- rather shortly, it seemed to me -- "I'm the owner."

"Good bye," I responded (perhaps somewhat shortly as well -- she may append whatever comments she wishes, of course). I left, muttering under my breath, "Yes, but I'm the customer. Or had been, anyhow."

I might have to re-build my piece with lead-free solder, but even so I won't be asking Snyder to do the backing. There are other...