Buyers should beware of Pawn Shops to begin with, but I had heard these folks were legit. As it turns out my gut was right and I bought a fake Rolex. They advertise and make a point to tell you that buying a Rolex with box and papers from them will save you money, I should have gone to China Town
So here is how it went down, I stop in one day and the manager Clint Asbell, was a nice young man, he was assuring and I do have to admit the place looked nicer than the average Pawn Shop. (Thing is, you can try to polish a turd, but at the end of the day, it's still a turd.) I told him I was looking for a watch as a gift and had seen Rolexes in a local magazine ad. He showed me what he had and over the course of a few visits, I took money I had saved up for years and bought my anniversary present.
I was so proud, my anniversary rolled around and I presented my hard earned gift, which made our special day the best in a long time. My better half noticed something funny I had not noticed and took it to Gaus & Son Jewelers, they are across the street at the Oaks mall and have a great reputation and are a certified dealer.
It turns out the watch was a GREAT replica! They mixed original and fake parts to fool the untrained eye, which makes sense, (if you are dishonest) if you can tear apart 1 original and make 4 or 5 fakes, why not?
I went back and confronted the owner, Sal Fluriach, (who also owns Gold Standard West, beware of that place too), he initially accused me that I never purchased the watch there. I patiently went home, came back and I showed him the receipt and a copy of my credit card statement showing a charge of $6,000 dollars from there.
After I proved I bought it there, his tune changed, he accused me of tampering with the original product. We went round and round for several minutes, then he wrote down his lawyers number on a piece of paper, gave it to me, told me to take it up with him, and had another employee, Jeremy Martin, escort me out. His attorney was just as nasty and arrogant as Sal Fluriach was, I am now out $6,000 dollars and own a great fake.
After this happened to me, I started digging around and found out the following:
they have lost people's Pawned items before
committed insurance fraud
got their check cashing permit shut down by the state for gouging people
sold Moissanite diamonds (lab created) through someone they hired
knowingly bought stolen guns and other property
from what I understand (Jeremy Martin spilled the beans to someone I know) they sell and buy gold off the books, about $100,000 worth per year, IRS should check them out
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