Birks Jewellers

I used to spend a lot of money at Birks and get those special «wine and dine» invitations, but no more. They lost the Omega watch franchise – and they had a huge sale to clear out their Omega inventory, but I did not get notified. I also had a good friend in the manager of Birks at Fairview Mall, but Birks replaced her with a younger manager after she had worked for them over 20 years. If Birks doesn’t think you are rolling in money, their service shows. I have a number of watches that cost over $ 5,000 each, but I would never go to Birk’s for a high-​end watch now. Read their reviews in the watch forums and you will see why. They also never discount any watches, not even a nickel. Other reviewers are right about jewelry repair and design – they will charge you an arm and a leg. The moral of this review is that you can get higher-​end items cheaper at other jewelry and watch stores, and that Birks does not reward customer loyalty in any way. And I have no use for companies that push older people out the door – we all get older. Loyalty has to be a two-​way street: you cannot expect employees to be loyal to you if you are not loyal in return. Same thing goes for customers – if they are going to charge you top dollar after you have spent $$$ with them, then they obviously do not appreciate your business!

OK, was just in Birks today. I haven’t stepped foot in a Birks in years. But I always respected the Canadian element of Birks. I remember it as a kid, my mom shopping in there, etc. Fond memories. Until today however. And I will never go back. I walked in there to inquire about a bracelet I needed fixing. This is what I was met with: a very tall male sales clerk whom, as I walked in the door and was about to say hi to him, smugly looked at me, then walked away. There was no one else in the store, just him and 2 other sales clerks who also looked up at me, then looked away. But the tall one in particular blew me away. He actually looked at me with attitude written all over his face, and walked away in this slow nonchalant manner. No hello, no can I help you. Nothing. Unbelievable. This is the flagship store. And they have him working there? The 2 women downstairs in the jewelry repair were not much better. One was OK, but in a forced friendliness sort of way that didn’t feel sincere at all … But the other one, same smug look. No hello from either of them. I stood there while they discussed something, neither of them even acknowledging my existence. Well done Birks. Way to go. What a way to treat your customers!

Do yourself a favor and go elsewhere for custom work.
The fellow who handles custom orders, Ron, seems to be a contractor, not an employee, and he is a disaster. After waiting double the estimated number of weeks for a quote (and then later waiting double the estimated number of weeks for the work to be completed), I had to call for status updates. When he eventually called me back, he seemed irritated with me and acted like it was puzzling that I should want/​need an update. He is not cut out for customer service.
Furthermore, quotes seemed heavily padded, promised services were later reneged, work came back less than perfect, and overall I really wish I had gone elsewhere. I expect much better service from Birks. I hope they replace Ron soon, or let the regular employees handle this type of work instead of contracting it out to Ron. Unfortunately, he is the person who handles custom orders for several Toronto Birks locations, so until he goes away, I will be having my custom work done elsewhere. :-(

I needed to resize a gold ring I bought at an antique shop. Birks came back with a repair estimate that was 2x what I paid for the ring and 10x what I ended up paying for the resize somewhere else. It then took two weeks of phone tag to get my ring back from them. I left messages, which Birks did not return. When I came by, they told me I needed to leave more messages because the ring was still at their workshop, and they’d call me. They didn’t call me.
Once I got the ring back, I took it somewhere else and got it repaired for a tenth of what Birks quoted. That’s right — Birks has 1000% markup.

I had a custom ring made from a pair of diamond studs I gave my mother when I was a teen and a huge diamond I had left over from a relationship that was no more. I was very impressed with the process, they made it easy for me and it looks amazing and now the ring is being worn by the most special person in the world! :) xoxo

I came in to get a new battery for my watch.
Was greeted warmly upon entering the store.
Got great service and was ready in 15 minutes.
I inquired about getting a longer strap for it and was told by the desk guy he would inquire from the Montréal office and get back to me on it.
To my surprise a week later i got a call telling me my strap was in and could pick it up anytime.
To me that’s the old fashion service Birks was all about and i can see they still have it.

Let me preface this by saying, this was the first time I stepped into Birks, and this is more a commentary on my experience than a review on the store.
Somehow I was able to drag my boyfriend in to Birks the other day, to make him look at engagement rings. It’s something we’ve talked about but never really looked. We came in for fun, and for him to do a little unspoken research.
We tried to make a game out of this new situation, which was a little awkward to begin with, ‘Let’s try and find the rings of our friends who got engaged’.
The sales lady asked if we needed help. I said we were just looking. She asked us «when are you planning on getting engaged?»
I was little annoyed with this as a) it’s supposed to be a surprise, or at least some people would like it to be b) you’re making it even more awkward!
I said, this was up to him and we’re just looking. I made a comment about a girlfriend had a certain style ring, and she pulled it out for us. (i didn’t ask her to). She asked if I want to try it on.
When I told her that «no thanks, I’m not ready, this is the first time we’re looking at this», she was set aback and seemed a little offended.
«So you’re not going to buy a ring today?» and backs away slowly in disdain. I’m sorry but this is a little rude. What would have been nice, is if she can then educate us (or him) about what to look for in a ring, the 4Cs and specifically things about the Birks ring.
Who knows, we might come back here to buy it when we are ready, but we’re definitely turned off now.
I’ve been to Tiffanys and once with my mom many years ago, we weren’t even looking at rings, but I wanted to know more the sales lady gave me a book and a Engagement ring 101 lesson!