May Jewelers

Reviews 3

A

A Private User

After shopping around for an engagement ring at various shops and online, my girlfriend and I decided to check May Jewelers and found that May Jewelers provide the best quality, customer service, selection, and price. It may be because I already knew the owners, but the comfort level in working with them was much better then the other stores that we went to. Where in most of the other stores the employees seemed to be nothing more then sales people. The employees at May Jewelers were very knowledgeable and showed jewelry in ways that other stores did not. They were also able to provide you with exactly what you are looking for. If they do not have in stock they can have it ordered or made for you. For example if you like a design of a ring that they have in gold but want it in platinum, they can have it made. Same with if you see a specific design that you like or have in mind, they can have it custom made. One interesting piece that I have never seen or noticed before is if you look at the wedding band of one of the owners, it collapses into a pendant that you can wear as a necklace. I thought that was pretty neat. Their experience and knowledge allows them to provide invaluable input as well. Where they had the exact ring that my girlfriend chose and the diamond that met my specifications. When going back without my girlfriend to settle on price and payment, they insisted on a different diamond that did not meet my initial specifications, but they insisted that my girlfriend would like more. At first I was insistent on staying with my initial choice, but I am glad I listened to them because my girlfriend loves the ring that they helped pick out and always talks about the compliments she gets for it. The price of the ring was significantly cheaper then the price of comparable rings listed on the website of the membership warehouse that I was leaning heavily towards before going to May Jewelers. I tend to think that most jewelry appraisals are over inflated and my girlfriend purposely took the ring to be appraised by someone who would not inflate the appraisal price. The appraiser kept on repeating that she was going to give us an appraisal price at the very low end of the spectrum and when she told us the price she looked like she was expecting us to say that we paid more for the ring then the appraised price. She kept on hinting at this possibility throughout the whole time there. However the appraisal price still came out higher then the purchase price of the ring. So I am pretty happy with the price that I got for the ring. I can not say how much the trust or comfort factor and price was based on knowing the owners of May Jewelers. I can say that I know many people who consistently go to their store for any jewelry needs and they say that most of their customers are long time customers and referrals from word of mouth. Keep in mind that May Jewelers also provides other services such as trading precious metals and are very knowledgeable on this subject as well. They have jewelers on site and as mentioned above if something cannot be done immediately by the jewelers on site, they can definitely get it done within a short timeframe. The only potential negative about May Jewelers is that they are very busy. Try to avoid going at peak times such as weekends and during holidays which include jewelry, such as Diwali. I think that the high volume of customers confirms that other people have the same opinion and experience of May Jewelers as I do. Once attended to you can be assured that you will receive some of the best customer service, price and quality for jewelry and other jewelry services in the area.

A

A Private User

I wanted to contribute a review back to the community, so Im posting about my recent purchase from May Jewelers. They are a brick and mortar store in Tysons Corner, VA. I have not seen many mentions of May on this site or others, and I had a really good experience buying wedding bands and an engagement ring from them. I visited several B&M stores in the D.C. area, and walked into May sort of on accident as they were across from Tiffanys. I am a fairly deliberate and careful purchaser and visited their store maybe five times, and I also visited around five other stores in the area. I am not affiliated with anyone in the industry in any way - the following is just my honest opinion as an newbie consumer. May seems to be a family run store. The only people Ive seen behind the counter dealing with customers are the mother and her two sons, John and Vincent. Many of the people I saw in the store seemed to be repeat customers. They have a lot of Asian and Indian-style jewelry, which is really cool to look at. They also have "western" style jewelry -- the mix seemed to be about 50/50. John and Vincent were both fantastic to work with. I am a suspicious person and started with the view that most jewelry salespeople are in the same category as used car salesmen. John and Vincent earned my trust. They were careful, efficient, and did not try to sell me anything I didnt want. They provided candid judgments about what they thought might and might not work in terms of metals, styles, and stones. They were also very forthright about pricing and made a number of suggestions which helped me come in under budget. Of the places I visited, May certainly had the best prices for what I was looking for. In my opinion, they also had the most careful and thoughtful service. They were extremely flexible during the whole process, and when I had finally decided they were able to mount the stone in a few hours. Prior to mounting, stone we was appraised by one of the appraisers recommended here on Pricescope. The appraisers judgment was very positive and the stone appraised at considerably higher than the sales price. The sales price was apparently substantially closer to "wholesale" than "retail" prince bands. This surprised and impressed me, though I have noticed that several other Pricescope reports have noted similar disparities between actual sales price and appraisal price. For what it is worth, I was not able to find lower pricing in any of the internet stores I searched. Bottom line: I was deeply impressed by May Jewelers. I did not expect that level of honesty, care, or efficiency. I certainly did not expect such a good price on the bands or the stone. I definitely recommend taking the time to look at multiple stores and feel fortunate that I came across May.

PS

PSP Farooq

I was under the impression that May Jewelers was a genuine and good store. I bought a couple of gold coins and 22k gold bangles worth thousands from them previously without doubting their integrity and truthfullness (my mistake). Just last month, I walked into the shop and wanted to buy a 22k gold set. I was helped by one of the lady workers there. I asked around and she quoted prices (was very patient I must say) for the different sets that I liked. Finally I zeroed in on one set and she quoted a figure and I negotiated a bit and bought the set. I also bought a pair of diamond earings from them that day. My mom who was with me kept asking the lady as to what price per gram they were selling the set at and I stopped her as I totally and blindly trusted them to give me a FAIR and REASONABLE price. Later on when I showed the set to to my other family and friends they felt that I was over charged for the set. I then did what I should have done before I bought the set, I asked around other jewlers what the going rate/gram was and actually showed the set to other jewelers and they ALL quoted almost $600-$700 dollars below what I paid for the set!!!!!! You can imagine my disbelief and realisation of being taken for a ride by someone I TRUSTED!! I went back to them a day later and asked the manager/owner this time about what I found in my research and inquired if I could return the set as I was not happy. He gave me some explanations which didnt make too much sense to me, and then he suggested that I buy another pure gold set for the going rate per gram (which was NOT what the lady quoted for the same sets when I was previously there)!! He saw that I was not too happy with the way things turned out and offered to slash 300 dollars from the price. CONSIDERATE OR GUILTY, i will let youll decide. Even then I think they were over charged me. As I mentioned the same sets that I inquired about in my intitial visit were quoted for a lot lesser this time around when i went back! Now I can only imagine how much I overpaid for the gold bangles that I bought from them previously. I must say for a reputed store like this, this is not what I expected!, they totally lost my trust! I do take blame that I should have done my research and not blindly trusted them.