William Thigpen Jewelers — Local services in Tucson

TLDR - Avoid Thigpen Jewelers.

My wife and I went to Thigpen Jewelers to inquire if we could replace the diamond in her wedding ring with an upgraded loose diamond we bought. Here was our experience.

Walking in, the place felt overly humid and the air stuffy. Overall, just an unwelcoming feeling. Little did we know it wasn’t just the HVAC causing environment issues.

We were approached by a thin, blonde haired lady in her late 50s - early 60s. She asked what we wanted, if we even knew what the loose stone we had was, and overall just very haughty and talking down as if we were not worthy to be in the store.

Once we explained what we wanted to do, she told us it would cost at least $1200, and 8 weeks to get done. We asked for a breakdown in the pricing, and she said that was impossible to give without a jeweler present. We asked when s/he would be available and she said it would be hard to say. Unable to justify your pricing and timelines… hmmmm…

So, we went to a competitor; McGuire’s Jewelers. They completed the work in 2 weeks at a cost of $280. They even (gasp) provided an itemized invoice of all the costs.

Needless to say, Thigpen lost a customer for life. If you are wise, they‘d lose you too.

20240801 - Interesting response from the office staff below. Calling your customer a liar. Check out their reviews on Yelp. You’ll see a common thread on how people are talked down to...

I always support family owned business and will continue to do so. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable. This is the 2nd time I have brought the same ring for an assessment of a broken tip on a prong. This was 2019. The ring was sent to their goldsmith for evaluation. The goldsmith’s assessment was the entire head needed to be replaced at a cost of $600.

I took the ring to a private jeweler/gemologist for a second opinion. He inspected the ring, said all the prongs but one needed repair and charged me $45.

Five years later, I notice a broken tip on the same ring & ask for staff to look at it. The tip was broken & another prong appeared “weak”. So they sent it to the goldsmith for a more thorough evaluation.

Again, the goldsmith wanted to replace the entire head for $600.

I took the ring to Ambassador and here’s their cost:

Repair 2 prongs: $60 Replace entire head: $140.

My ring will be ready and warrantied in 7 days.

Perhaps you should reevaluate your repair...

My husband bought my engagement ring from Thigpen’s and loved them so much that we went back together to get our wedding bands. My family had two very old rings passed down from great-grandparents, and my husband worked with Thigpen’s ring designer to create a custom ring for me- by removing those diamonds and putting them in a new setting, together. They were able to remove the diamonds while keeping them in perfect condition, and created a beautiful engagement ring. Their staff was kind, thoughtful, and receptive to both what we were looking for while being respectful of our budget. They will definitely be our go-to jeweler from now on! ...