St. Maarten Jeweler Recommendations?

[gtaylor]

I have a phone number for Vicky at Jewelry Outlet if anyone wants to call.

 

From the US, dial 011 599 542-8098.

 

gary

[Irish708]

These posts really concern me. I was planning on buying a decent piece of jewelry from Vicky in September. I am also going on the Joyce Prince Tour. At this point, I will do much more research . Appreciate everyone's candor and information.

Thanks

[karenvols]

Joyce is a great tour guide. I would not be concerned about her at all. She is awesome and you will enjoy her greatly. I am not sure why Vicky has responded the way he has. If you buy something from him just make sure you get exactly what you want. You may want to let him know what you are looking for so he can have it when you get there. I purchased a ring from a similar jewerly store in Alaska and they were very helpful but maybe that's because they are in the US. Good luck and I will let you know if I ever get things resolved.

[gtaylor]

These posts really concern me. I was planning on buying a decent piece of jewelry from Vicky in September. I am also going on the Joyce Prince Tour. At this point, I will do much more research . Appreciate everyone's candor and information.

Thanks

 

This thread DID start out as a general discussion of jeweler recommendations, not to slam anyone in particular.

 

If you're looking for any upscale jewelry, in case you didn't click through, I will repost below what I linked to near the top of this discussion, which includes information about our favorite jeweler on the island, Shiva's.

 

Joyce Prince knows Shiva's, as she met us there on one of our visits.

 

........................................................................

 

All regular SXM visitors will have their favorite jewelers. I have to recommend our favorite shop; Shiva’s/Trident on Front Street, (and also in Aruba), who have the distinction of being one of only two Caribbean members of the Leading Jewelers of the World organization.

 

There is one member in St. Thomas, Magnum Jewelers, and then the Alwani Family's Shiva's/Trident stores in St. Maarten and Aruba.

 

We've been visiting St. Maarten since 1981, and dealing with the Alwani family, which owns both Shiva's and Trident, across from each other on Front Street, for well over 15 years. We really appreciate their attention, the selection and the great prices. They specialize in upscale pieces and larger diamonds, but have a great overall selection, especially in nice loose stones.

 

Your best tool is education. Learn about diamonds and other jewels for what makes a quality stone or setting. Learn about the ‘Four C’s’. Run down to your local jeweler before you leave and look at the items that you may be interested in buying. Learn all that you can about the pieces. Check what their price is when they have their “50% off” and the "we pay the sales tax" sales. Remember, no sales tax down island -- that by itself would save well over $100 on a $1500 purchase here in California.

 

When you get to SXM, visit the shops and price the items you checked out at home. Compare prices along Front Street, the service from the various shops, and how comfortable you feel with the sales staff. Also check out how cold their free beers are.

 

For us this means buying from Shiva's. If you go, be sure to ask for Gary and Mary Ann's special discount. Work with any of their crew, but ask if Ajay or Varkha are available for special treatment.

 

As for shopping at the 'ship sponsored' jewelers, consider this. Shops buy their way into the brochures, maps and recommendations. They pay a flat fee to be included, and then a percentage against sales. My understanding is that these fees can amount to well over $100,000 a year for a jeweler. Someone is paying for that.

 

p.s. Check out the Leading Jewelers website, linked above, or A Diamond is Forever, for a LOT of diamond information.

 

gary

[Irish708]

Thanks for the advice. , looking forward to the tour with Joyce, and will check out other jewelry stores. I read from other posts, St Martin is better in price for jewelry, perfume, liquor, etc. Do you agree ? We go to St Thomas before St Martin, and really wasn't planning on shopping for these items there, based on CC posts.

 

Thanks so much!:D

[DebP]

This thread DID start out as a general discussion of jeweler recommendations, not to slam anyone in particular.

 

 

Thanks Gary. You post arrived just in time as we are leaving this weekend. Still not sure I have the extra income for the piece/gem I have in mind, but I do appreciate all the advice!

[gtaylor]

Thanks for the advice. , looking forward to the tour with Joyce, and will check out other jewelry stores. I read from other posts, St Martin is better in price for jewelry, perfume, liquor, etc. Do you agree ? We go to St Thomas before St Martin, and really wasn't planning on shopping for these items there, based on CC posts.

 

Thanks so much!:D

 

I certainly agree, and I was probably responsible for some of those CC posts, that St. Maarten -- Philipsburg, the Dutch Side, has better prices that St. Thomas.

 

I would recommend shopping for jewelry, perfume, liquor and tablecloths here. From my experience, I wouldn't be shopping for electronics, but others here may recommend those, as well. I HAVE purchased camera and camcorder batteries here.

 

I must add that the dutyfree purchases and liquor allowances are greater for St. Thomas, but unless you're really out there with the overall purchases, that may not be a consideration.

 

Know Before You Go.

 

gary

 

p.s. our last trip Stoli and Absolut were available for $4.95/liter.

[BrianB]

Just to let ya'll know ... I'm the one that SeaSeaRiders was refering to .... we purchased a pair of Tanzinite Earrings from Vicky @ Jewelery Outlet in St. Martin .... and when we got home and had them in to our Jeweler for an appraisal we initially got a very poor response as to their value .... we ended up going to another Jeweler for an appraisal .... we are happy to say that the Earrings are Valued more than Double as to what our original purchase price was .... and to say Vicky said he would stand behind his products and I believe him .... so it is safe to say he has some really good deals !!!!!

 

Thanx for Listening

 

Have a Good Day

 

BrianB

[dott]

Received an email from Vicky that the new rings are on order and he will let me know when to expect delivery. I had my blue diamond examined and the local jeweler was surprised at the price I paid. Can't wait to see the new rings. I expect these will be an even greater value.

 

Have been quite satisfied with Vicky's responses to date will let you know how this is resolved.

[cooganbs]

Hello,

 

Myself and 3 of friends purchased diamond rings fron Vicky. I did have problem with a loose stone,and he took care of..no problem. BUT..I did have trouble with e-mails to him. I e-mailed Joyce and she kept me in touch with him. I will go back in the future..Vicky/Joyce/Gizmo are all the best.

[cRUISIN cROONER]

:) My DH has followed me ,in all of our travels around the world (in business and otherwise) in and out of jewelry stores!! He says that he has more videos of me leaning over jewelry counters than anything else!! We recently (on a day in St. Marteen, discovered Jewelry Outlet, and this great guy named "Vicky". We made a lot of purchases from him and wish that we had known of this store on our previous trips to St. Maarten. Last year, we flew into St. Thomas and stayed a week, doing a lot of shopping while we were there. We purchased a "special order "ring from Diamonds International. When we returned home we discovered that this ring was on their website for LESS than we paid for it! We contacted them and they eventually sent me "a credit"voucher (which I will never use), however they were not happy about having to do so!!! Since we returned home with our purchases from Vicky, we have found everything that we purchased from him to be of excellent quality and value. My 3 carat Pave' Band is worth more than twice the Purchase price!!! Vicky did give us an appraisal and my jewelers was quite a bit higher!!! I plan on calling him to purchase some things that I want in the future!! A great experience and TOTAL satisfaction!!! (This is a recount of our own personal experience as of April 11th 2007. )

[dott]

In April my last news from Vicky at Jewelry Outlet was that the ring would be ready in a week for shipment. Have not heard a thing since, so I emailed Vicky in May.

But it has been over two weeks with no reply. I am not "slamming" but would like a resolution to "where is my ring"?

All this began in March, Vicky was slow with email but he eventually responded with a promise to replace the defective diamond but then left a cold trail.

What is my next course of action? I don't want to dispute with credit card but didn't expect this to go on for three months.

Anyone have ideas? Hope others have resolved their problems.

[Mim Lloyd]

Dott

 

Did you go to Vicky's store via a tour of St Maarten with Joyce Prince? If so, why don't you email Joyce with your problem. It won't look on her if she's recommending a jeweller who is following through with good customer service.

 

I bought a 5 stone diamond pendant from Vicky in February and dread to think what I'd have to go through if there was any problem with it. England is a long way from St Maarten. I paid by credit card so I should be covered, and I've since found that I'm covered on my household insurance for loss or accidental damage for any one jewellery item to a value of £2000 (just on $4000) - although I didn't pay anywhere near that amount! But it's worrying when things go wrong.

[dott]

Mim - I did not go through Joyce Prince, I was reading the positive reviews from Cruise Critic and happened to dine with fellow passengers the night before who were also current customers of Vicky. They raved about his service so I felt I would be in good hands. I walked in and purchased my rings myself. I wanted to use AmEx but he said the transaction charges were higher so I used Master never thinking I might have to use their followup services. I am still hopeful to hear from Vicky soon.

[Mim Lloyd]

I really hope you get things sorted Dott. Vicky seemed like such a nice chap and he told us that we only had to contact him if we had any problems with our purchase and he'd do his best to sort it out. I hope he reads these boards from time to time - if he does he'll surely want to put things right with you to avoid bad publicity.

 

You seem to have been just unlucky. I've read a lot of positive things about the jewellery he sells, and as I said before, I've not had any problems with my pendant. I keep saying that I'll have it appraised here in Britain to see how the true value compares to what I paid for it, but I was quoted £40 ($80) for an appraisal so I'm waiting to see if I can get it done cheaper than that.

 

If the worst comes to the worst, at least you HAVE used your credit card so you can approach them. You could also send Vicky a snail mail letter asking why he hasn't responded and that you've posted your dissatisfaction on the Cruise Critic forum where thousands of people can see it! But I can really sympathise with your disappointment.

 

Good luck!

[hcat]

we did well at Zahveri for gold chains--had a recommendation from a long time customer of theirs & they treated us well. We will be back there next time around..!

[bmc303]

We also did business with Vicki during our stop in St. Martin. We bought two rings at what we thought was a very good price. I'm far from being an expert when it comes to gems, but a friend of mine had told me what to look for. We just came back from having the rings appraised and, like the other posters here, the rings were appraised for more what we paid. Vicki asked if we wanted him to clean our wedding rings since we were there. He discovered that a few of the stones were loose and he reset the stones at no charge. We are going to be stopping at the island again in October and have already made plans to visit with Vicki again. It was a very pleasant experience. We found out later that the jewelry stores, recommended onboard, have to pay the cruise lines to be on their approved list. That would explain why Vicki isn't on the list. I have two pieces of advice: 1. Know how much you want to spend and stick to it. 2. Use an independent appraiser. Not one that works for a retailer.

 

If there is any other information I can provide, please let me know.

[lilybeansmom]

Does Vicky or any other jeweler mentioned on this website have a website (other than Shiva) that I can check out their stuff on? I am definitely on the market for some baubles on my trip to the Caribbean this summer!! :)

[kal]

duplicate

[kal]

More than 35 years in business on Front Street.

 

Touch of Gold

[lilybeansmom]

Thanks, Kal!!! :) They have beautiful things. Question for you: I've seen that you haggle at some of these places, would this be one of those places??

Thanks!!

Edith

[kal]

Of course, I don't know of any jewelry store that does not expect the customer to try to get the best deal possible.

 

I have know Heeru (the owner of Touch of Gold) for MANY years. She is excellent to work with and will back up her merchandise to any end. During this time my wife and I have made many valuable purchases and have never had a problem.

 

I introduced a friend and she purchased a diamond ring that TOG had obtained for her. The price was about $13,000 and upon returning home her local jewelry store appraised the piece at more than $40,000. The jeweler commented that in all his years he had never seen such a unique stone.

 

Stop in to see Heeru and mention my name (Ken) and she will take very good care of you.

[dott]

lilybeansmom - I have tried vicky's old site no longer in action, the new one jewelryoutlet@st.maartin.com is "coming soon". He complained earlier that he was not posting because others were stealing his designs.

[The Big Booper]

We have been to Touch of Gold on SXM (and St Thomas and Aruba) many times. DW tends to get moderate priced stuff and feels she has always gotten good service and good pricing from them.

 

Several years ago she bought diamond stud earrings from them but within a year regretted not buying bigger stones. On our next trip they let her exchange the earrings for a bigger size, charging only the difference, using the ubiquitous calculator ( :D ) to compute the extra $$ due.

 

We have never had any problems with any of the goodies bought from them over the years and will be visiting them next week, off the Explorer, for a delayed Mothers day gift ( while I head down to Boolchands for an advance Fathers day gift) :D:D:D

[kal]

When you stop by TOG, please ask for Heeru and give her the best from Ken & Sandy.

 

If you want to see something interesting check out her Daughter (Natasha) & Son-in-Law's (Nadesha) web site. They were just married last August in Bangalor, India:

 

Go Here

 

We were invited but just couldn't make it work. :(