Dell Williams Jewelers

I’ve been in this store three times. Twice I was browsing, looking for smaller gifts. The last time, I was ready to purchase a gift in the $ 500 to $ 700 range. I do not know why I even chanced a third encounter with this establishment. The staff was condescending, ineffectual, and seemed disinterested each time I was in. This last visit I asked to see a product in gold, and was shown sterling silver. I asked about a special order and was eventually told I had two choices, which were products already in the store.
In the end, I went to a jeweler in Palo Alto to make my purchase.

I read the reviews that said they weren’t treated well, due to how they were dressed. I had to go in to get a new watch battery, but didn’t feel like changing my clothes. I was wearing dirty torn jeans and had my dog w/​me. I asked if ok to bring my dog in…“yes, sure!” I had a few other questions while I waited and they were perfectly polite to me. It’s a great place to shop and I think the business who has been downtown the longest.

Frankly, either all the people writing negative reviews have hidden agendas or they don’t know how to shop in a store where people are well mannered. I have had two interactions at Del Williams — one a repair and one a purchase. For the repair, I was immediately shown to the correct area, and someone was there to help me, putting down their work, in a minute. They were helpful, thoughtful, and to the point, and the cost of the repair seems quite reasonable. For the purchase, it’s true, no one leaped out at me to help; the staff seem happy to have people just look around. But once I asked for help, I received immediate and very helpful assistance. And for the record, I was not dressed in a way that would suggest a high economic station. If you don’t like how you were treated in this store, you may find it helpful to look in a mirror.

I was very disappointed in how I was treated the last time my husband I were there. Years ago he purchased a pair of diamond stud earrings and was told when we wanted to «upgrade» to larger stones we could trade these in and have it put towards the new purchase. After many years (and many other purchases from that store!) we decided to do the upgrade and have larger stones. When we went in to start the process, we were treated as if we were stealing from the store. Not only were they not wanting to honor the agreement, but they could not find our purchase in their system, kept us waiting and then the manager talked to us in a tone that was like a parent talking down to a child. I was so angry and could not believe they would treat any customers this way. Even if they completely changed their policies, they could have talked to us respectfully. My anger is not so much that we could not upgrade the earrings, but in how they went about it. Talk about leaving a bad taste in your mouth. We walked away and will NEVER walk back in. We found another jewelry store in town that is lovely and now has all of our future business.

Same exact experience as Jillian from Capitola. Went in there wearing my hiking clothes because I was on my way for a hike. Saw that they had some annie glass vases on display and went in. No other customers in the store. 4 to 6 people behind the counter in back… I looked at them and said hi. No one acknowledged me. I spent ten minutes looking at vases and the prices on them. No one ever came to ask if I had questions or could use some help. On walking out I looked at the lady behind the counter and she looked at me and didn’t say one word. Just as I walked out, two people came in, and I heard her ask them «how can I help you?». I guess you have to wear a business suit, jewelry, and some cologne to get some customer service here. I will never return. I will drive to Santana Row to buy the annie glass flower vase for the union president retirement gift. How funny that when I went to the bagelry and opened up a magazine there was an ad for Dell Williams carrying annie glass now. What a joke! I wouldn’t give this one star, but I had to just to post.

I hesitated to write this review because everyone has their bad day & I know people who have had a better experience with them. However, my experience was disappointing. I went to them to repair my antique platinum wedding ring. I had previously gone to another jeweler in town and that jeweler was up front and honest about recommending a laser repair as repairing the small prongs would require white gold instead of platinum. But with a laser, they can repair it without changing the metal. That jeweler actually bagged my ring & advised I not wear it until repaired. When I took my ring to Dell Williams, they weren’t sure why the other jeweler thought my stones were about to fall out. They took it, «repaired one prong» and cleaned it. They called me & said they looked at it closer after noticing a stone fell out in the cleaner. That’s when they realized I had several prongs broken. I expressed my concern that had the stone not come out in the cleaner, well, what would have happened otherwise? It was disappointing. Why did they not look at it closely when I specified what another jeweler discovered? My ring was repaired & they offered to clean my band (also antique) when I picked up my wedding ring. That was nice. Then the next day I noticed a stone missing from the band. I called, and sure enough it was in their cleaner. I absolutely know this is not uncommon for a stone to come out in a cleaner. But why not check? When I again expressed my concerned, I was quite frankly told they could not have predicted that. I said I knew — but after the first experience, I would hope they would check the ring. They were all very nonchalant about the whole thing. Very bad first impression.

Dell Williams has the best repair service! I’ve always brought my watches there & recently brought my wedding ring for sizing. They did a wonderful job. So nice to have my ring fit again. Great service & great work! Thanks!

This ‘local jeweler’ isn’t the place for a local to walk into apparently… We strolled in since I’m looking for a new wedding ring to replace my current one (wanting a different style). We were in our casual attire, jeans/​oneill sweatshirts and were completely ignored even though we were the only customers in the whole place! I smiled at the women and she just looked at me, no greeting, no «can we help you», no nothing! It was so uncomfortable and rude. My husband went to look at the Rolex watches and again, zero help or service, just blank stares. I will never set foot in that store again and another jeweler will get my money. Don’t judge clients based on their casual clothes.

I bought an Omega Seamaster at Dell Williams in 1998 and have taken it back twice for service. Once for a major overhaul. Recently I brought it in for a minor fix and was rudely handed a slip of paper and told to mail it to Southern California for service as Dell Williams no longer had a relationship with Omega. Really, put my $ 3000 watch in the mail to some ransom watch repair shop? I guess that happens — so much for spending over $ 3000 on a watch and buying local The worst part though is that the lady in watch repair is unnecessarily rude. I mean really really rude.
Take your watch business over the hill. Thats what I’m doing.

My recent experience with Dell Williams was exceptional. I had a custom wedding ring made early last year. Every exchange with their store was seamless and stress free. I came in with an idea, some pictures, old rings and stones and with a budget of course. They were able to combine all these elements into my dream wedding ring. I can only imagine the behind the scenes work/​phone calls/​labor/​emails/​molds etc that go into making a piece this specific, but I’d never know because they their customer relations was just so pleasant! Their communication was where I was really impressed, no surprises or let downs, they really came through with what they promised, and quickly. I can ramble on about how great they are, but you’ll just have to trust me and look at the photo I added if you’re on the fence with using Dell Williams.
I recommend Dell Williams if you’re looking for quality custom made jewelry. If you value customer service and relations and if you like to support our local Santa Cruz economy.

I have been very happy with the quality of their merchandise and their customer service. No «bargain» prices here, but good value for beautiful jewelry. Best place in town if you’re looking for something really special.

Today I went into this jewelry store that has been in Santa Cruz forever. I had a gold bracelet that was now too big for me and I needed a jeweler who could repair an unusual, but much loved, bracelet. I thought Dell Williams would be the ideal location.
The store was empty on a Tuesday afternoon and when I explained I wanted to see if my bracelet could be made smaller, I was referred to the repair desk.
When I found the repair desk, the woman was on the phone. I sat down and waited in the comfy chair. She, not I, became impatient, and put the phone down to get one of the sales ladies to help me. I was told by the Repair person that she was on hold with Rolex and couldn’t take a chance on missing them to help me.
The sales person said she couldn’t really help me, and asked if I could I come back. Everyone was polite enough. But I don’t think I’ll return. Not the best experience.

They were great! I inherited my grandma’s diamond wedding band it was too large so I took it to Dell Williams to have a diamond removed and resize the ring. They were done in a few days and my ring was returned to me shinier than before!
We returned to have my fiancé’s band resized and they again did an excellent job. Done in a couple days and perfectly polished.

Sure it’s great to shop local. Having a relationship with a jeweler is even better. I won’t have that opportunity as my last few interactions were perfunctory at best, my item I’ve waited for was not ready so being made to wait certainly sucks. I understand being slammed during the holidays. A simple remedy might be a simple question posed– do you need this sooner? Or we’ll do our best.

I have only used Dell Williams for jewelry repairs and they rock. I have never been disappointed with the service and they are very competitive with pricing. It’s a good thing to support our local businesses.

Okay, here’s the dope: my watch needed a battery and I went to the Capitola Mall, a place I loathe, and at a kiosk I asked how much it would cost to replace it. The price was $ 25. They went down to $ 20 but it still seemed like too much.
So I waited for awhile, like weeks, and on impulse went into Dell Williams. Wow! I was so impressed with them. The battery was way cheaper.
I went in today with four watches: one needed a battery, three needed new wristbands, and the other needed some links removed. The woman in the repair section said, «Can you come back in 20 minutes.» Hell, yes.
This place is so reasonable, helpful, and honest. It looks like it’ll be very expensive but I found them reasonable.

I am very disappointed in this jewelry shop and would never return. This is supposed to be a professional high end jewelry store but is more at the level of a Walmart or Target. I brought my platinum diamond ring in to have a diamond replaced as it mysteriously fell out of the simple prong setting. Not only did they charge at OUTRAGEOUS cost of $ 50.00 just to replace a diamond back in a simple prong setting but now the one prong is not right and catches on everything!
The worst part too is that I took when the ring in, they said it would be about 3 weeks to get it back repaired and when I went to pick it up they could not find it! This is not some cheap ring, it is a $ 5 k ring. While I was standing there waiting, they were frantically running around sifting through boxes to find the ring! It was causing me a lot of anxiety. When they did find it 15 minutes later, the ring had not even been worked on! They had the jeweler fix it right then and there, took him like 3 minutes and was sloppily set with a prong that is not right.
So they had misplaced my ring after having it in their possession for over 3 weeks, it was not repaired, and the setting was done in a sloppy manner that now snags on everything… definitely the kind of service you might expect at a Walmart or Target. Rate F

I was in Santa Cruz with my wife on a minication, and I needed to get a link taken out of my watchband. I called them up shortly after they opened just to get an idea of the associated cost ($ 10). When I arrived shortly thereafter, I was immediately greeted when I walked in the door and showed to jewelry repair counter. It took about 10 minutes to get my wrist sizing the links taken out and my watched returned to me, and I was done.
Dell has a nice selection of watches displaying all the top brands Omega, Tag, Rolex, … I’m not up this way very much, but if I was here an in the market for some sparkly, this would be my first stop.

Dell Williams is a family run business and you can feel that energy the minute you walk in the door. They can help you on so many levels, if you need a piece of jewelry cleaned or want to find a unique gift for a wedding, birthday, anniversary or some other special occasion. They have options in many price ranges. They also provide excellent and honest appraisals. I would recommend checking them out next time you are walking around downtown Santa Cruz. They are a trusted local business.

We were on vacation and visiting the Santa Cruz area. The downtown area has an eclectic mixture of people from all ages and ethnic groups. They ranged from aging hippies, heavily tattooed locals, students, to retirees. You would expect businesses to be tolerant or welcoming to this diversity as they are bringing in $$$ to the area. However, this store is an exception. We were looking at a Rolex watch in the window and went inside to inquire about details. However, the sales staff just ignored us after giving us the once over. They continued with their personal conversations and didn’t bother to acknowledge our presence. Certainly they could if ask if we needed help, but they didn’t. After a few minutes, we just left. Is this the new norm for running a business? Apparently they must have way too much business and cannot take on additional customers.
Since they are a Rolex and Omega dealer, the factory reps may want to review this store’s practices to see if they should continue to represent their fine products.