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Reliable, honest jewelers in Virginia

#1

Hi All;

I’m looking for a jeweler for my neighbor’s daughter in another
state. Here’s the story:

The daughter of the hairdresser in the suite next door was visiting
her mom from Charlottesville, Virginia the other day. She dropped by
to ask me to help her with her ring. One of the six prongs was
leaning over a bit. I checked the ring over. I straightened the prong
with a fingernail, then polished and cleaned it for her. Took about 5
minutes, most of which was waiting while it was in the sonic. I
refused to let her pay me anything for it, of course. Standard good
will. But she informed me that when she had taken it to a jeweler
back home, they had said it would take 2 weeks, and I’m sure they
would have charged. I may not think that’s good business, but they
may have their reasons. Meanwhile, I told her I would check with
this forum and see if anybody had any recommendations for a jeweler
for her near where she lives. Like a lot of people, I think she just
feels helpless when it comes to the issue of jewelry repair. Sort of
how some people feel about auto mechanics, they’d rather have a
reference. Sounds like something we can learn from.

David L. Huffman

#2

Don’t jump to conclusions that this was a dishonest jeweler. It was
probably just a sales associate that didn’t have a clue this was an
easy fix.

#3

Maybe they wanted to replace the head on the ring? Two weeks seems a
bit long, but they may be using a trade shop. Seems normal to me…
pushing a prong over with a fingernail (honestly) doesn’t.

-Stanley Bright
A&M Jewelers
Baltimore, MD

#4 
Don't jump to conclusions that this was a dishonest jeweler. It
was

Hi Richard;

Sorry if I gave the impression I thought the jeweler was dishonest.
Possibly they didn’t have a jeweler on site and had to send work
out. You are right, most likely it was a sales associate who was not
real knowlegable. But a knowlegable sales associate would have known
a better way to handle it.

David L. Huffman

#5 
Maybe they wanted to replace the head on the ring? Two weeks seems
a bit long, but they may be using a trade shop. Seems normal to
me.. pushing a prong over with a fingernail (honestly) doesn't.

Hi Stanley;

I’m puzzled by that remark. I don’t think you read my first post
very accurately. Let me clarify. I didn’t say they were dishonest. I
did ask if anyone knew a good, honest jeweler in Charlottesville VA I
said I wouldn’t prefer to keep a customers ring for 2 weeks if it
were a simple repair that took a few minutes. And yes, you can bend a
V base head prong sideways with just a fingernail, especially on a
large stone. Try it. And if they wanted to replace the head, then
they were going to stick it to the customer because the head was just
fine, I saw it. I said they may have had their reasons. Perhaps they
have to send work out and the sales person isn’t particularly
knowledgeable. But if they have an in store jeweler, there’s no
reason not to have the jeweler take a look, unless the store isn’t
very service oriented or the bench person is a prima Dona and
doesn’t like to be bothered by customers for “little things”. If a
store is that busy, they should take in the repairs, then have the
jeweler take a look at them and cull out the no-brainers when he has
time, then call those customers right away. Customers aren’t stupid,
they know a simple problem when they see it. Can you imagine going to
a garage with a broken wiper blade and have them tell you you need to
leave it for 2 weeks? You’re not in Charlottesville, by the way, are
you?

David L. Huffman

#6

Hi David,

I’m still not a fan of bending prongs sideways with your fingernail.
:slight_smile: I understand what you’re saying, but I would imagine that the
part of the prong which folds over the top of the stone probably
lifted up when it was bent sideways by the original impact. When you
push it back, it may not be all the way down. That’s what I was
trying to convey in my response. As far as instore jewelers go, I
think most stores probably don’t have an in-house jeweler. Many
do-- but most don’t. My store has two. Not because we are so
busy…it just worked out that way. I do molding, casting, setting
stones… while my buddy does sizings, chains, etc. We can both
interchange-- but he’s better at some things and vice versa so
that’s how it gets done.

I guess if we had a training program for salespeople we could
alleviate many of these take-in types of problems. Unfortunately,
there isn’t enough time and I definitely don’t have enough patience
to train a new person from ground up before they get to help in the
store. This type of work requires a lot of knowledge! When I was a
kid, my old boss used to tell me to watch how this one does it. He’s
forgotten things you don’t even know yet. How true that was.

Stanley Bright
A&M Jewelers
Baltimore, MD

#7

Hi Stanley;

I'm still not a fan of bending prongs sideways with your
fingernail. . . . . I would imagine that the  part of the prong
which folds over the  top of the stone probably lifted up when it
was bent sideways . . .

Good point, and I think it would require a jeweler to determine
that, unless the salesperson had a bit more training than is usual.

    I guess if we had a training program for salespeople we could
alleviate many of these take-in types of problems.

Absolutely!

I hate to admit it, but I’ve never seen Alan Revere’s books on
repairs. I would think that it wouldn’t hurt to have sales people
take time to peruse those books and any other’s on repair. I’m going
to give away my idea, for the heck of it. I shouldn’t, because about
halfway through my collection of index cards adding up to my proposed
"101 tricks of the trade" book, Alan came out with his of a very
similar name. But I got my idea (and the title) long before he
published his book. My format was to be a book, in the form of index
cards by category. You buy the box of cards, then subscribe to the
newsletter and get a new card with a new tip every month, color
coded to go into you recipe box. Great minds think alike, right Alan?
So here is my next plan. A series of videos or DVD’s on repair take
in geared for salespeople. I probably will never get around to it.
Too busy sawing wood to take time to sharpen the saw. Vicious circle.

David L. Huffman