Sophia Fiore jewelry- any experiences?

OK.. I saw a gorgeous Blue Diamond ring last time we were in jamaica.. made by Sophia Fiore...

Saw that there will be a store (Venetian) in St Maarten that sells them...And I got really excited...

But then, after more research, I found a ton of complaints online about Venetian Jewelers.. who are really Elba Inc (dba Venetian)... of San Dimas California... AND I found that Elba shares the exact same address as Sophia Fiore Designs...

So, if I were to make the connection, Venetian Jewelers ARE in fact simply a wholly owned retail outlet for Sophia Fiore... so it must be the designer that is an alleged scam.. and not just the jewelers??

Has anyone ever bought one of these pieces (touted by the cruise lines) and if so, what was your experience?? Sounds like I should steer clear, but I REALLY love the ring...

Who knows if the complaints are just fakes from competing jewelers or are they the real deal???

I've had a difficult time finding any information online about Sophia Fiori jewelry. If her stuff is as popular and wonderful as the cruise lines push them - I would believe I would find info. As beautiful as the pieces are, I cannot find anything to suggest they are anything but a scam to relieve vacationers from their money!

I recently had a problem with jewelry purchased at Venetian Jewelers and would recommend proceeding with caution if you plan to shop there. :eek:

Don't take my word for it, here is a link to a forum with feedback posted by customers of Venetian and their experiences. I, personally, will never buy from them again. :mad:

http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/Venetian.Jewelers.907-586-2366

I hope you find this helpful. :)

Although this an old topic I just wanted to make it current in case anyone else has the same question. I bought my Sophia Fiori at Ventian Jewelers for $645 and when I got home had it appraised and it appraised for $1890.00

Please do your research online and you will see they are SCAMMERS!!!! I wish I had....The only reason I purchased from this company was because we had a friend working for their co. She actually drove me to their warehouse where I hand picked the jewels that I wanted. Mind you, I know jewelry and I knew these were not DeBeers or Harry Winston, but they were beautiful pieces, plus I wanted to help her and let her get the commission. I should have know something was up when they didn't want to take American Express! This was the first red flag. I insisted, as this was the only card I had on me, and they accepted it. I purchased the jewels and enjoyed them, but a few months later, my friend told me that she saw the EXACT SAME bracelet I purchased for $18k on a cruise ship (SF sells on ships- another red flag), for $8k! I never had the jewels appraised, so I wasn't sure. I contacted Bernard Bachoura, who claims to be the designer who joined his family's business when he was 16. I was pretty upset, as you would imagine, well Bernard's smug, arrogant attitude did nothing to calm me down. My husband called him back and apologized, saying I was tough, but I honestly did not like the idea of my husband buying me this beautiful jewelry that was actually all a farce- because it was A COMPLETE RIP OFF. In any case, Mr. Bachoura explained that if we got an appraisal we would "see that the bracelet was worth 18k." He claimed he would "stand behind his brand". Really? My husband and I knew this was a false claim, but went and got the appraisal anyways. Guess what: we got the bracelet appraised (by a leading jewelry co) for $8400.00. So when we sent this to Bachoura what did he do, he disputed our dispute with American Express, never return phone calls, never returned emails, and the only thing he is standing behind now is shadows. DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY. THEY ARE SCAMMERS. He may give out swag to celebs to get some press, but the REAL CLIENTS PAY FOR IT WITH SUB-STANDARD PRODUCTS AND SERVICE.

About 8 years ago my wife and I bought one of her rings in Acapulco from DB.

It apprised at 75% more then we paid for it. During the first year twice we had a problem with two stones. We absolutely had no problem dealing with them each time. We contacted them both times sent it back to them and they fixed the problem. We have NO problems with the ring single problem since then.

About four years ago we bought a diamond pendant from Ventia (sorry about the spelling) and have had absolutely no problem with the pendant at all. We tried to buy more of her jewelry on the boat and they would not negotiate at all and when we bought her jewelry off the boat it was easy to negotiate with the brick and mortar stores and got some great deals

Hope this helps

I know this is an old thread, but wanted to post a more current review for others searching the internet/Cruise Critic. Last year we bought my wife one of the Victoria Collection rigs with the blue center stone, blue is her favorite color and this is her first blue diamond. Anyway, in a year of wearing the ring she's had zero issues with the ring, or loosening of stones. We a quality local jeweler appraise the ring and it did appraise slightly higher than what we paid for it. They may not be Harry Winston, but from our experience, they make a nice product and you can get a fair deal.

Just another update on S.F. Jewelry, in December we purchased our third piece, another ring. This was a Victoria with a LARGE blue stone, with a blue diamond band. My wife absolutely loves this ring. When we got it home and had it appraised it was appraised for a little more then we paid for it. As a piece of jewelry goes I probably paid a little to much for it, however I am the person that really negotiates and if you look at it as a gift that my wife of 48 years really wanted it, I really think I got a fair price just not a great deal

I've seen Macy's in the US sell their jewelry.