Nabers Fine Jewelers

When I put one star in here I felt that I wanted to not even give them that much, but the description is Eek! Methinks not! And that’s about right.
We live in ZHills and first went here because our home owners policy mandated that we needed a Fla. appraisal that was within the past two years. They advised us that Naber’s did that. To be honest, we wanted to give them business because we sort of felt sorry for them that it was a small, independently owned business that seemed to be somewhat struggling to stay in business. Several times my husband purchased a few things for me that were not very expensive and they were never willing to wiggle at all in the price (when I say not very expensive I am saying $ 300-​$ 600). But we continued to use them for repairs and the like.
Three years ago I wanted to offer a diamond that I received from my ex husband in 1975 to our son as a trade for another, larger diamond he wanted to buy for his fiancé. I visited Naber’s, thinking perhaps they would be interested in doing some business. I do understand that a diamond appraised for $ 2200 would not bring that, but what they offered was $ 200. Further, the watch repair guy, not the owner, went on to comment that what I had was ‘good enough’ for my son to have reset and he pursued as to why he didn’t want to do that. I told him that the diamond had some ‘bad feelings’ attached since it was from a failed marriage and that also, he wanted to get something larger for her. He proceeded to let me know in a very opinionated way that kids are basically spoiled these days and this should be good enough for her, that his own wife had a half carat and was happy to have it and she should be, too! Ha! Really??? Some sales technique! Beat up on your potential customer! Obviously, after that, we never purchased anything there and wouldn’t have sent my son there for the world! I kept the diamond and we found a great jeweler that we have used for larger purchases and that our son also had a fabulous experience with and designed the ‘dream ring’ for his fiancé. Which he paid for with money he had saved up, not financed it! Naber’s lost out on some business. No wonder they seem to be struggling!
The last straw was yesterday. I took two watches in to have batteries replaced and while there, asked if they could clean my wedding band. My wedding band is a custom made piece that was somewhat pricey and obviously we didn’t have it made there. The woman ‘helping’ me took it to the back room and came out, telling me she couldn’t clean it because ‘four diamonds are loose’. What she didn’t know is that just a week ago, when picking up a new piece of jewelry from another jeweler who also made the ring for me, they cleaned and checked everything on my band. So it was odd; I had not struck or dropped it and it was only a week since it was inspected. I asked her which diamonds were loose (the ones in this ring are about ¼ carat each so not too tiny!) and she said ‘well, it would be hard to tell’. I wiggled them myself and they all seemed fine, but of course, I am not a jeweler. She asked me if I wanted to have it fixed there and I said no. I told her I’d take it back to the jeweler we got it from and she said «so did you get that in a mall or something?» WHAT??? The snarky guy from our previous experience was sitting in the back, giving me a ‘look’, not smiling or being friendly although I did smile initially at him when I came in. I told the woman that no, I did not buy the ring at some chain store and that it was custom made for me from a wax mold.
The battery cost me $ 13 or so and I left. I immediately called the jeweler we bought the ring from and told him what happened. I told him that I was only in there because of the batteries for the watch; he said they did those for $ 6 (!) and also said that ‘a lot of jewelers will pull this in order to make money’, referencing telling me the stones were loose. He said they had just inspected my ring last week and everything was fine and he’d be highly surprised that anything would be loose on that — almost brand new — ring.
I am not making an accusation here, but anyone hearing what occurred and the rude treatment we have received in the past would probably come to the same conclusion I have. I am reserving passing judgement on flat out lying to me until we take my ring back to the original jeweler who made it to have it checked. But the odd way of almost driving us away was enough on it’s own to not purchase anything there, ever again. «Eek! Methinks not»!

It’s been awhile, but the only time I visited Nabers stands out as far and away the most terrible experience I’ve had with any merchant in my life. The incident left me shaken and in tears. It was so terrible that I never used the certificate I was issued instead of a refund, preferring to cut my losses than to step foot inside ever again. The boorish insensitivity and DISREPUTABLE business practices I encountered at Naber’s have remained unrivaled = hands down WORST EVER.