De Boscq Fine Jewelry MFG. — Local services in Mandeville

UPDATE: My pocket watch was repaired by a fabulous watchmaker at another local jeweler. I paid $81.75 and I was given a 1 year warranty. The watch runs great. I dont believe the Deboscq team ever repaired my watch properly and it cost me $500.00 with no warranty attached. The last review I posted was a good one, but things have changed. I purchased a superb antique pocket watch from these folks at a great price. The second time I went to set the time on this watch it broke. The owner and I had a falling out, because I was not notified that his watch maker would not work on my watch so he sent it to be repaired elsewhere. I would have never approve that, because it creates a middle man. There was also another dynamic that could have been much better. These folks do know a lot about jewelry and jewelry repair. I was ordered and not asked to come and pick up my watch after it was repaired. The woman up front called me and said "I NEED you to come and pick up your watch" How about "Could you come by and pick up your watch?" I picked up the watch and the bill was a little over $500. They offered to wave the $500. The Christian part of me said "no" so I paid them $500. When we had the falling out I asked for the watch back, so I could take it elsewhere. The owner said it was disassembled. I still wanted it back. He then had it repaired without my approval. Well when I initially purchased the watch I was told it would not be warrantied, because it was an antique. When I volunteered to pay for the non- approved repair I was also told that the work would not be warrantied. I was also told by the woman up front that repair for these type of watches is a $500 minimum. Well I got the watch back and again the second time I went to set the time the watch broke. Same problem. I left a message on their voicemail that the watch was again broken. They never returned my call or left a message. I then took the watch to another watchmaker. He looked at it and he saw the problem. I have been given an estimate of $79 to repair. He told me that antique watches should be warrantied when purchased and when repaired. His team will warranty my watch for a year after it is repaired. We see some DEFINITE issues here. This has cost me a lot of money and the watch still...

I called and asked "how much to put batteries in a watch" and Victoria said $12.50. So I took my watch to them and waited - a long time. I see through the blinds in the workshop that they're struggling with my watch. After about 20 minutes a jeweler brings my watch taped together and says that he put batteries in it, it didn't work, and that they couldn't put the back on it. Skeptical, I took my watch and left. I examined it in the parking lot and it was apparent that they'd lost the metal tab in it that bridges the + and - on both batteries. Without this metal tab my collectable antique LED watch would be useless. I went back and complained, the jeweler searched and found the tab. I expressed amazement that he'd forgotten such an important part. He said "I didn't give it back to you because I thought you were coming back". What a LAME excuse! It was insulting. He offered to try again with the tab using another movement I'd brought with me, so I accepted because swapping the movements is literally a 5 second proposition that can't be screwed up. This time the watch worked and he successfully closed the back. He walked off and I didn't know if they were going to comp the service free for the bumbling incompetence. A different employee said I had to pay - not the $12.50 quoted on the phone, but $27.00! She said it was $12.50 - a battery. I've bought these batteries on Amazon for ¢.40 each and I told her that their incompetence and my wasted time + the $12.50 quote on the phone should not = $27. She was very inflexible and offered no compromise and not wanting to create a big stir I paid the amount. In retrospect, I'm stupid for enriching them. If you're in Mandeville, please go anywhere else, this shop is only sufficient for vending mid grade jewelry and the few watches they sell are quartz movement gold and diamond bling-bling that any honest watch collector could care less about... Update: lol, they respond by calling me "unwell". Every word of my review is the unvarnished truth, and I did repost my old review on Google specifically because Yelp is no longer relevant and their incompetence that day was...

I got In bind and reluctantly had to sell some of my grandmother's vintage jewelry when my car broke down and needed parts to fix it. I'm a single mom with 2 jobs and i treasured those items but wasn't left much of a choice.. I thought if I have to sell the items, I want to sell them to people who treasured their age and beauty. Their website talks about integrity and honesty and customer service so I drove the 40 miles to their store rather than a pawn shop down the road. They acted like everything I brought in was junk, outdated and unsellable and they could only give me what the materials were worth. I had to push to get 400$ for my items. I left feeling sad and defeated. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting a huge pay day and knew I wasn't going to get nearly what they were worth. I know that they have to make money too and it takes time to sell vintage items. Out of curiosity I get on their website and 3 of the 5 items I sold them are all listed for over 1000$ ea. I'm just highly disappointed any business would take such advantage of a single mom during a hardship and make her feel like her treasured jewelry was junk so they could make...