Halloween

Worst Jeweler Ever!!

by jrep021 at Citysearch

If I could give this store negative stars I ABSOLUTELY WOULD!!! There really are not enough words to explain my dissatisfaction with Halloween, most notably Henri David. Do not get me wrong, some of the pieces in his store are beautiful, but I must assume that those are not any of his custom creations. I am assuming as much since I am the former owner of a custom piece by Henri David. Let me clarify what I mean by "former", my engagement ring and wedding band are currently being completely remade at a new jeweler. I'll start from the beginning...

When my now husband began shopping for a ring he asked his friend in Philadelphia for his advice, he had nothing but good things to say about Halloween. Though we are from South Jersey, he decided to have my ring custom made by them anyway. The first problem that we encountered was that my ring was way too big, my husband wanted to keep it a secret and decided to guess my size. So I wore my engagement ring on a necklace for 3 weeks until we could get up to Philadelphia to get it resized; you see Halloween is only open a few hours a day a few days a week. These hours are not conducive to people who work 9-5 and have to travel an hour and fight traffic to get there.

My ring ended up needing to be resized from a 6.5 to a 3.75, and when I got it back, the craftsman ship literally went from an A to an F!! My ring has a princess cut center stone so the setting had very clean edges, when I got it back after sizing 2 of the edges were still clean and the other two were so sloppy and half-assed it was embarrassing. Plus there was a mysterious black mark on the setting and the band itself was crooked. But since it was so hard to get up there at all we figured it would just be easier to wait until we went to get our wedding bands to have them correct it.

My engagement ring was designed so that the wedding band slides in between and underneath the center stone, so when we picked out wedding bands I needed to leave my engagement ring with them. But they said they would correct the problems and dip the ring so I didn't mind. It took almost 2 weeks for them to make the ring and another 2 weeks for us to get back to Philadelphia to pick up the ring. My husband left work early and we drove up only to find that they closed the store early - without any notice. That is also a big problem I have with the store; they come and go as they please without any regard for their customers, not a good way to do business. So with 8 days to go until our wedding I had no wedding band, or engagement ring. Luckily the following day I had an appointment to pick up my wedding dress in Haddonfield, so my mother and I hoped that Halloween employees felt like coming to work that day and I could get my ring.

When we arrived the following day to pick up my ring, the famed Henri David himself was there. With a week until my wedding I was so excited to have my rings and for the whole ordeal to be over. When they brought me my rings, I noticed that instead of correcting the errors in my engagement ring they just tried to cover them up (pathetic). When I put my wedding band on, it didn't fit - I was devastated! When I asked them to measure the rings for me, my engagement rings still measured a 3.75, while my new wedding band measured a 3.5. I still cannot understand why the rings were different sizes, but my only conclusion is that Henri David does not care enough to take the time and exert the effort custom jewelry requires. He said he would resize the ring and one of my bridesmaids could pick it up two days before the wedding. When I finally got my ring the day before the wedding, it still did not fit. Hence me taking it to a new jeweler. This has been the most exhausting, aggravating, infuriating ordeal of my whole life. I feel sorry for anyone who decides to order custom work from Henri David, you've been warned.

HENRY DAVID DOES SUPERB CUSTOM JEWELRY DESIGN

by PCB at Citysearch

I brought a family heirlom of great sentimental value to Henry to have him design a bracelet. He worked attentively with me on it and really "got" the concept I was going for. He was very fair and honest in his pricing, even asking me to bring in any spare gold which then reduced the price considerably. A lot of jewelers would not volunteer this but would charge as much as they could. The final results were stunning. I could tell he was very proud and had put a lot of care into the project. This is not your run-of-the-mill jewelry store. Go elsewhere for cookie-cutter jewelry shopping.

• Pros: Attentive service, superior artistic eye.

We love our custom made wedding rings

by sasquatch11 at Citysearch

We had a completely different experience than some of the reviewers on this site; ours was quite good. Our weddings rings were custom made in a short period of time. One needed a small adjustment to the size, which was done promptly. For my ring, I had wanted a small stone inset into the band in place of an engagement ring (which I consider kind of ostentatious), so I asked for a 'non-conflict diamond.' Instead of just agreeing with me, the owner informed me there's no such thing as a 'non-conflict diamond,' and any claims to the contrary are too hard to substantiate. So, he steered me toward a white sapphire at a much lower cost, and informed me of the mining process for sapphires, which sit much closer to the surface of the earth and are mined by high-pressure water, and thus are not back-breaking pick axe labor like mining diamonds. We love our rings and the service we received.

• Pros: Custom made, unique, personal service
• Cons: None

Shocked at custom jewelry craftsmanship

by bride2besoon at Citysearch

I am truly shocked to find good reviews regarding custom jewelry on here considering the experience I had. I had a ring made for my wedding and it is a complete mess. I actually took it to another jeweler after I got over my extreme disappointment and disgust.

The other jeweler asked where I had it made and I told her. She was completely taken aback and stated that she had never seen anything like it. The only good thing she had to say was that the stones used were of decent quality. She stated that there were pieces of metal flaking off the back of the ring, the underside was completely unfinished and one of the stones was set at an angle. She literally sat there for 15 minutes looking at the ring and couldn't believe that someone made it and sold it. I told her I couldn't believe I actually PAID for it considering the shape it was in.

Perhaps there are different jewelry designers at this location. I would ask to see samples of finished work of the designer/jewelry maker who is specifically making your piece before committing any time or money.

• Pros: Unique pre-made, antique jewelry selection
• Cons: Hard to find, poor craftsmanship

Wonderful, one of a kind ring

by teacherj at Citysearch

I went to Henri to get my engagement ring. He walked my husband and I through the whole process, which took about 2 months. I had him combine several of his designs into a custom ring for me and I was blown away by the final product. I love my ring, and get complements on it all the time. I would recommend him to anyone without hesitation.

• Pros: Personal attention and beautiful jewelry
• Cons: A little difficult to find but once you're there- no cons