HNP Jewelry & Watch Repair — Local services in Washington

BEWARE!

I'm kicking myself again for NOT looking at YELP or some other crowd-sourced info on service providers before patronizing them.

I took a well cared for 2-year-old, seldom worn, men’s watch in yesterday to Rodman’s lower level “jeweler” for a new battery. The battery was replaced by HNP Jewelry and Watch Repair (lower level of Rodman’s) for $14 – an OK price for DC.

After the battery was replaced by HNP yesterday the second hand now gets stuck on the minute hand and all hands stop. I watched the “jeweler” change the battery, and to a layman he appeared to be careful and competent. After paying for the service I asked how long I could expect the battery to last and the jeweler appeared offended. Odd! (BTW – Per Internet, about 2 years is average.)

I put the watch in my pocket and only later that evening realized that the hands were now hitting one another. I took the watch back today - just 24 hours after my first visit - and asked that this service-related problem be corrected. The “jeweler” was indignant and stated that the watch may have had this problem when I initially brought the watch in for the battery replacement and that he would charge $10 to fix the problem.

Having no intention of paying $10 to have the 1-day-old hand problem repaired I argued reasonably, quietly and unheatedly with the jeweler who, quickly exasperated, turned to ignoring me and retreated to his counter to do other work and sulk. His attractive female guest (family member?) behind the counter then tried to intercede with a weak charm offensive but pursued the same flawed argument which turned on 1) my knowing nothing about watch repair (true) and 2) my being a dishonest, ignorant, cheat (untrue and insulting).

As my “discussion” continued with the woman the jeweler threatened to call the police, and then feigned a 911 call. What a childish stunt!

The woman slipped away to inform the manager of another familiar dust-up between jeweler and customer. The manager seemed accustomed to covering for HNP. Standard procedure seems to be to ask the customer to step away from the counter for a quick private conference out of sight and earshot of the jeweler after which the manager offers some payment (for me a refund of the cost of battery replacement), offers an apology for the jeweler’s short fuse, and presents a Rodman’s gift card in the amount of the pay-off. The manager was polite, contrite, embarrassed, and apparently practiced at quelling disturbances at the jewelry counter.

Let this be a warning. Please review the giddy 5-star reviews here by those who think the watchband selection is swell (or what ever), but also read the critical reviews by other customers whose items were damaged, delivery of service delayed, honesty questioned, or respect denied. I’m disappointed in Rodman’s for tolerating what they clearly know to be a problem. The convenience of an in-store service such as jewelry service counter is undeniable, but a new counter proprietor who would enhance Rodman’s reputation and treat its customers with Rodman’s reputed hospitality, and appreciate the business opportunity should replace this tired little operation. Rodman’s quirks are central to its charm, attraction, and future. The troll at the end aisle 4 at HNP (He’s Not Professional) Jewelry and Watch Repair is not part of the...

POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE

There are plenty of jewelry repair places across the district however this repair shop came up in a google search as being close to my job on Wisconsin Ave. The repair shop is sketchily located inside of the lower level of a grocery store and I was very disappointed with the service. I popped a teeny tiny white gold necklace and was hoping for a quick solder. I brought it in on Tuesday, June 20th and was told that it would be ready on Saturday, June 24th. I was disappointed that it would take so long but I figured that he was busy. Saturday afternoon, I drove all the way uptown to get my necklace for him to tell me to come back on Monday. He just looked at me with a blank face and didn't even offer an apology. He put my necklace back into an envelope and moved on to the next customer. He then looked at me without speaking as if to say... what are you still doing here? I said Monday." So I asked if he had started any work on my item and he waved me off to the assistant woman and said give it back to her. HOW RUDE?!? I didn't cause a scene with him and the timing issue was his fault. He could of at least apologized. On top of this, I felt like his prices weren't reasonable. He wanted $25 for the repair and I took it to a local jewelry repair later that afternoon and it was completed on the spot within 10 minutes for $10! ...

I've been here two times over the years, each time to remove metallic watch links, so I can't speak to any other kind of jewelry repair work.

The first time was a few years ago. Someone behind the counter determined how many links to remove based on my wrist size, then the repair person got to work. It took about 10-15 minutes and they charged a reasonable price.

Recently, during the pandemic, I got another watch with a metallic link band, so I thought of HNP to resize the watch band on it as well. Pretty much the same quick, reasonably priced experience. The only difference was everyone wore a mask.

The repair person does seem like a character. Before I left he offered some advice for how to care for the watch, which I appreciated.

Anyway, they're located in the lower-level of the Rodman's store. If you're not sure where to go just ask someone who works at Rodman's and they'll point you in the...