Maertens Fine Jewelry & Gifts — Local services in Solomons

DO NOT TRUST. YOU WILL LOSE DIAMONDS. Dropped off my engagement ring, the ring was not purchased from them but since it was bought out-of-state, we decided to try this local business. Before this visit, they sized this same ring once before, prior to the proposal (and before I knew about the ring!) without complaint. That was the last positive experience. Dropped off the ring this time asking for 3 things to be done: Move/adjust a prong that holds the center diamond Size down by 3/4 size Clean it

When I picked it up, my beautiful ring was RUINED. They managed to: Make a visible seam where the band was bonded back together Make the band uneven in width AND height (it had a deplorable divit on it) RETURN IT MISSING 2 DIAMONDS from the side

I went back and the woman on the floor barely listened to my concerns, stated that the seam was common in gold (and then defined the word "common" as if I didn't understand), and wasn't concerned about the now misshapen band. She then proceeded to mock my ring, insulting it's design, quality, and continued to announce that she could promise me "it would lose more stones." She summed up the missing diamonds as an "oversight" and said they could put those diamonds back on their dime, but I would be responsible for paying for fixing the band. When I told her I wanted a refund of the service (...a whole $60, not much for a jewelry business to fret about) her response was "You can pick your ring up on Friday and I'll think about giving you a refund," proceeding to raise her eyebrows as a "take that." I told her I wanted my ring back, and the missing diamonds. I had the lovely view of watching her dig out my diamonds from their dirty cleaner trap. The entire time she was complaining, loudly, about me to some other woman in the back. The other woman then came out, returned my diamonds to me, and gave me a full refund. I encouraged her to let other customers know if a piece of jewelry is too poor quality to work on before messing it up, to which she had no response.

The 1 star rating is only because a refund was given for what I paid, yet I still have a ruined, unwearable engagement ring and will now have to pay someone else for the repairs. I will never trust this jeweler with anything, and will obviously never...

Another one star, can't select no stars. If you have a watch with an actual moving parts take it to a watchmaker. When you get it back from here it might not move anymore, and you'll get excuses...a lot of them. It was still tickling when I bought it in with a pendulum that had come off(they had just put it on) I didn't make a fuss about that. "You could've dropped the watch" "The screw that fell off inside must have done it" "That coil is the brains of the watch" "We could send it out to Seiko for you :-)" "That watch was abused, it's your everyday watch, that bezel was all screwed up and everything" And then the best To the others, who acted like she owned the shop.."see, I TOLD you we shouldn't have taken that watch from that guy, he won't ever be happy!" With my watch worse and not working anymore? I guess not....

(I didn't notice the bezel until I left and thought about THAT comment....they handed it back to me and 12/6o'clock were off about 15 degrees) Point is, don't hand watch movements to, nor accept them if there are not qualified persons on staff.

Seiko Diver Kinetic...extremely robust quartz watch line

And they handed it back to me after calling to say it was ready, not tickling anymore, and claimed they didn't"know that ahead of time" NO watch shop that I've ever had one of my Seiko watches in has ever failed to 1 wind it/charge it Verify it's keeping time ahead of making the call

They can hammer out a dent in a ring, don't let them touch a fine timepiece that has anything moving,...

When I first moved to the area, I needed a repair to a pair of earrings my Mom left me. I took them to another jeweler (not Maertens). The jeweler I found is well known and has multiple locations. They were pleasant and charged what I felt was a fair enough price to re-affix the backing to a gold drop earring. When I got the set back, one earring fell apart within an hour of wearing them (thank goodness I was home so was able to find it). I took it back to the jeweler and they said they'd fix it again (at no cost). They apologized and were very pleasant.

Once I got them back a second time, I put them on to wear out. This time, the earring fell out almost immediately. I certainly wasn't going to take it back a third time!

Then I found Maertens. I brought the set there with little hope that the earring could be fixed. Heather (the owner and jeweler) took a look and explained that, because of the age of the antique piece, the backing simply would not stay affixed to the piece it had originally been any longer. She came up with a creative way to make it work. I now have a lovely pair of earrings that I don't worry will fall apart when I wear them. They also cleaned the set and provided a nice set...