Bailey Banks and Biddle

This store is such a train wreck. No wonder they’ve opened and closed multiple times in the past few years. The craftsmanship is poor, the service is terrible, and the in house jeweler is the absolute worst. I had to spend money on having a completely new setting put in place because they butchered my ring so much that I was embarrassed to wear it. This store is a joke and the manager is a few rude man. I do not recommend this to anyone.

My experience with this store has been a complete disaster! Just yesterday, I discovered they had screwed up my appraisal by appraising the diamond in the wrong setting. I worked with Kimberly who is totally incompetent. As I shopped for engagement settings, the employees pumped me with intrusive personal questions, attempting to size up my financial situation and that irritated me. Upon negotiating a price with Kimberly and the manager, I contracted to have the family diamond removed from the old setting and placed in the new one. On two occasions, Kimberly called me trying to extract an additional $ 900 out of me, claiming that they ran into more expenses. On both occasions, I had to make trips down to the store and chew out the manager. I had to continuously hound them to have the ring ready for the engagement and at the last minute, they began work. The ring was barely ready for the engagement. I do not recommend this jewelry store and in a city as large as Houston, there are too many viable alternatives.

Sadly, we had an awful experience with this jeweler.
My now husband purchased my engagement ring at this location after I’d seen their halo setting for a marquis cut and fell in love. The center stone we had was incredibly important to us as it is a family heirloom and he made sure to impress that upon the staff who at the time of sale, of course, insisted their quality was fantastic and even upsold him on the 3D ring making process that designs the set specifically to the stone.
Approximately 3 months into having it my center stone came completely out of the setting while at work. I was shocked!!! (and no, I hadn’t caught it on anything nor did I have a job that required any kind of real work with my hands outside of typing/​writing). I got the ring back to the store myself, the staff seemed distracted at best once they decided who’d be helping me I was told I’d have to pay to have it re-​set. Thankfully, the young man who works there (only part time he noted) remembered my husband and assured me it would be no cost and was the only one to apologize or seem slightly concerned at what had happened.
My husband came back to the store with me to pick up the ring once work was completed and we didn’t even make it into the car before realizing one of the halo stones was missing! We went back in and showed the woman who’d we’d just dealt with at pick up and she admitted that yes, it was missing the stone but again no apology or real concern.
Finally, after several more weeks we got the ring back.
And 6 months later we’ve had issues with the integrity of the setting again… we tried to call the store as we now live in another city and were told the original salesman would call us immediately to find a resolution. We never received a call.
We’ve decided to go with a trusted family jeweler from now on and had we known the issues and lack of professionalism and customer service we would encounter from all but one person at that location we would never have trusted them with such a special item.
A complete disappointment.

My wife and I had a great experience with the folks a BBB. We arrived early to attend a trunk show that showcased JB Star jewelry, a designer we were particularly interested in. Yanee, our sales person, was extremely helpful along with the management staff that assisted us in finalizing an extremely good deal on a $ 13,000 semi mount diamond ring we purchased. We highly recommend BBB!

There is a time in every boy’s life when he must make the steps into becoming a MAN.
One of first steps in the process of leaping from boyfriend to husband to having his own family is the engagement. But before any of that can happen the girl must say YES.
Knowing very little about rings in general, I started my research online, reading wikipedias and various jewelry sites. But with a purchase this important it requires an in person touch and feel. Just like a luxury car you wouldn’t just buy it online and have it shipped to you without first test driving it.
I went with Bailey Banks & Biddle because of their legacy of high customer service and quality. I had walked past their Galleria location as a teenager and thinking it was way out of my price range, but now they have opened up a NEW location at Town & Country Village that is much more welcoming and less intimidating.
Their hours of operation are 10 – 6 M-​Sat, 12 – 5 Sun, and extended until 8 PM on Thursday. Because of traffic these extended hours on Thursday was my best chance.
I had plugged in the GPS address and I was completely disoriented, I guess the new streets need to be updated, but I called the store and got personal directions from one of the employees. This was a step in the right direction even before stepping into the store.
When I first entered I was greeted by all of the sales staff and was asked how I could be helped. I told her I was basically clueless and needed a basic overview in what is important in a ring purchase.
She went over the 4 Cs with me: cut, clarity, color, and carat weight, and explained the 5^th C that people don’t mention too often, CONFIDENCE, which I would get plenty of if I make my purchase through BBB. At this point I started questioning which was what in each category, and she was very willing to show me the differences first hand. Looking online doesn’t do justice with a diamond right in front of you.
This is when she went on to explain that they do offer an online store where you can get pricing, now that I have some background on what I would like I could browse through all diamonds that they own. She also showed me to their Design Studio. This is like your own shop where you can create your perfect ring via a giant MONITOR. They have mock rings made of cubic zirconia and sterling silver that you can touch and feel with pricing attached so you can walk around leisurely without the pressures of a salesperson looking over your back. This was my favorite aspect of this store. Exploring around the store I even noticed a «sale» rack of sorts with items marked down.
They do guarantee their diamonds for loss off of the ring as long as you come in for their semi annual inspections to check for stability and integrity, which are free and they will do cleaning for you. That makes sense since I wouldn’t buy a luxury car without doing oil changes.
After my visit with BBB now I am more certain of what I would like to purchase as far as size and style, now just gotta save up that money. But for those who want they do offer financing as well as layaway options. For the layaway it’s 20% down and needs to be paid off within 90 days. They also offer 6 months no interest for purchases over $ 1000, and a 2 year option at 9.9% for over $ 2000.
I would recommend to anyone that they need to go to a physical store to see a ring in person. Online does not do justice. I used to think BBB was just for old money, but after visiting their store in person, the employees are very welcoming. With one of the biggest purchases you might ever make, you better make sure if you’re ready to pop the question that she’ll say yes.