We bought two pieces of diamond jewelry from H&S Jewelers in St. Thomas for a total of $2,000. We are partially at fault since we did not do our research, but they flat out lied to us about the quality and specifications of the diamonds. They duped us into believing we were getting some great deal since the price they sold the items to us for were significantly less than their price tags and they 'dropped' the price several times before we decided to buy the pieces.
They wrote an appraisal for $6,500 with details of the color, cut and clarity of the diamonds and said that we should get an independent appraisal when we get back to the U.S. For insurance purposes and that if the appraisal wasn't at least $5,100, they have a 30-day money back guarantee. We got an appraisal when we got home which showed that the total value of both pieces was only $1,100 and the quality of the diamonds was extremely poorer than what they represented to us and what was listed on the appraisal form.
We faxed them the appraisal report, however, they are not returning our phone calls. I've found a couple of other reports by people in similar situations who have not been able to return their jewelry and they have refused delivery. We are disputing the charge with our credit card company and we hope to recover a full refund, but I at least want to warn others to not fall into this trap.
During our vacation, we kept hearing other people's stories about the great deals they have gotten in St. Thomas on jewelry, so I guess we just bought into this store's lies about "what a great deal" we were getting and it was also a non-cruise ship day so there were very few people in the stores.in retrospect, we should have known better since the salesman Joe from Philly was a complete SLEEZ! Watch out! Oh well, we live and learn.
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