Plaza 57

I hate this place. The guy. Mr Lee. take away my creditcard by cheating. and wanna using my card to charging me 3900 $. what a joke!!! next time. i will call the police. and do the recording

Avoid this store because Mr. Lee AKA as Mr. Rose does not do a professional job. He has no credentials to appraise anything. He will not put his appraisal in writing. He will not return your calls or will say he did an appraisal even after taking pictures of your items. If he can get over on you don’t say you weren’t warned. If I could give 0 stars I would. Merchants like this give NYC a bad reputation.

Cannot say enough good things. I am a jewelry collector and I found several awesome pieces for myself and one for my mom from Plaza 57. I was so impressed with the quality and pricing, plus I was able to work out a wonderful deal! The guy I worked with was very knowledgeable and friendly but overall the store really great jewelry pieces!

I came here with my husband to straighten out the hook for my bracelet and replace the hook for my necklace. George was there at the time and said he would call me for an estimate, and just took my number down without writing any other info on what I requested to be done. He said he would call me the next day. Four days passed and no call. I called and said that they never called me for an estimate. Victoria (very sweet girl, the receptionist) said the jewelry is done and your total amount was 200 $ but lee the owner, said he will give it to you for $ 100. I flipped out on him. Then lee came on the phone and said we polished it for you guys (when I insisted I just want the hooks fixed). The bracelets have a particular look like we didn’t want to change the color of it. I also insisted I want the original hooks because they are silver and they said they never replaced them!!! I flipped out and said first u never called me for the estimate and now ur said you just straighten out the wire with a tool and are charging me 100 $. Meanwhile lee was so rude over the phone, and tried to get off the phone in a hurry because he was practically trying to scam me. He said «ok fine, il give to you for 70 $. I insisted when I come to the store I will not pay more than 25 $ when I know this work was worth not more then 10 bucks. I don’t care if I pay 300 $ or 4 $, money is money and I will not be jibbed. They were basically making money off me and keeping my silver hooks. I ended up getting what I wanted and paying $ 25 because they know what they did was wrong. I told George and lee Unilocal is a powerful source and to check it tomm. Here you go you disgusting scammers. Please don’t waste your time going here.

i took my rolex in for a cleaning, and he gave me back a FAKE rolex. it was obviously a fake. i filed a report with the police, but it still hasn’t been resolved. i would stay away from this place

I’m glad I never read the reviews below because I have had a completely different experience at Plaza The owner, Lee, is really an expert at the categories they work in (watches, stamps, coins, collectibles) and super knows the market. They do a great balancing act of selling quality items at VERY fair prices — and stay in business (I guess successfully because they HAVE been in continuous operation by the same for more than 20 years!). I have purchased several items from them over the years and have found them to be nothing but honest and sincere. Yes — they multi task while you are in the store — unlike the Wempe /​Tourneaus of the area. But then again, are you looking for a deal on a collectible or wanting a spa experience? I super trust their first price as being one that will not be bettered elsewhere. And, although never happened to me, if you are professional in your representation of your «buyers remorse» within a reasonable amount of time after your purchase, I am certain they will not let you remain unhappy. Know why I think they don’t even bother to respond to the few «wacko» reviews here? They are way too busy moving a tremendous amount of fantastic items to a very demanding clientelle (NYC!). Highly recommend.

This place is terrible. I dropped off a necklace to be repaired. It took them three and a half weeks to fix it and that’s after I had to repeatedly stop in. Each time they gave me a different day that they told me it would be ready. When the job was finally done links were missing from the chain and they had the nerve to tell me I had dropped it off without them. Then they tried to charge me $ 50! I would avoid this place. I can’t imagine how much they to you off for the merchandise they sell.

I’ve never been thrown in jail before, but after visiting area 57, I think I know what it would feel like. Door gets locked after you go in, and you won’t get buzzed out unless you argue your way out… rude people, that Lee… what does he eat for breakfast to be sooooo nasty to customers… Over priced pressure sales tactics, preying on tourists to take in their trades at horrifically low prices to the. Turn around and sell you their overpriced inventory at above market value.
No Lee… I will not trade in my GMT for any of the stuff you have… you could have had me at hello, you lost me a Click and Lock…

I agree with all of the negative comments and worse. I brought in a watch to be repaired a month ago and still do not have it back. He puts me off every time I call. They don’t even fix the watches there. They send them out. If you go there, you will have the worse experience of any jewelry/​exchange. They should take the word «Jewelry» out of their sign because they send it out. I too would give them zero stars.

WARNING: Do not go here or give any of your money to the awful owner of this place. The name might be Plaza 57, or Plaza Gallery, or Plaza Collectibles, but it’s the same, shady business. He is mean, and abusive to his frequently-​changing female employees and will ignore you time and time again if you have any issues with your purchases. He will take your money and lie to your face over and over again in order to put off helping you. Save yourself a lot of money and hassle and avoid this place at all costs!

Oh God, where do I even begin?
First off, let’s begin with the fact that this place isn’t even called «Plaza 57,» it’s called either «Plaza Gallery,» «Plaza Collectibles» or the now-​defunct «Midtown Arts & Antiques» depending on which sketchy incarnation you have the misfortune of doing business with. But the owner doesn’t want you to know that since he’s well aware of all the negative reviews on this and all the other relevant Unilocal pages; a simple phone # lookup will tell you that it’s all the same place. But instead of actually trying to improve customer feedback, Lee (the owner) would rather bury the truth since it’s quite obvious he’s a shyster who doesn’t give a shit about anything except making $$$. All those things that you read in the previous reviews are all true. Yes, the place is a filthy, disgusting mess. Yes, you WILL get LOCKED inside the store and not allowed to leave until Lee tries to sell you a watch (or rather, attempt to force you to buy one.) Yes, your expensive, priceless watch will be probably get lost or not fixed in a timely manner if you leave it with them for repairs. But I’m not going to reiterate the obvious, rather I’m going to provide further insight from all the awful things I witnessed there during my brief time as an unpaid «employee-​in-​training,» or rather, slave.
I knew I should have walked away during my interview when Lee would stop every 10 seconds and try to sell a watch to some poor unsuspecting tourist, ugh.
I cannot stress enough– By no means, NEVER, EVER leave your property here. You’ll never get it back on time, if ever at all. Those «ticket numbers» you get on your receipt? They’re entirely arbitrary and have no real meaning. If you call the «gallery» and ask about your watch repair and give them your ticket number, the assistant girl will put you on hold and ask Lee who won’t even look your order up as he tries to sell watches to some unsuspecting customer who is trapped. The automatic answer is always «in a few days.» Don’t think for a second he cares about your property once he gets your money– that’s customer service at it’s finest right there.
And those «expert» appraisals you actually paid money for? They’re not done by experts at all. They’re done by unpaid or underpaid young students who have absolutely no idea what they’re doing. During my «training» there I actually wrote up an appraisal for a 17^th century painting using information I gleaned from Wikipedia. Lee took the info and had his assistant (another young exploited student) copy and paste the whole thing onto an official looking «appraisal certificate,» which I assume he the «expert» later signed as his own work. Not only is this unethical, but this is a clear violation of USPAP standards (USPAP stands for Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, but I bet Mr. «expert appraiser» doesn’t know that or care.) His defense is that he’s been doing this for so long and he has more experience than me or anyone else, but really, appraisal standards are constantly changing. That’s why real licensed, professional, and most importantly-*respectable* appraisers know that the USPAP is updated every two years. Do you think this guy really cares enough to review these standards? NO. Do you think he cares more about selling watches than actually investing in his career”? YES. Seriously, once I started dropping relatively common appraisal and insurance terms such as «Fair Market Value» he looked at me, got all frustrated and just walked away after deciding I was stubborn/​retarded (he would later dismiss me because he didn’t think it would «work out,» thank God because I sure as hell don’t want to work for this shady asshole.) Another giant red flag is that NOWHERE ON THESE «OFFICIAL APPRAISAL DOCUMENTS» DOES IT SAY THAT IT WAS PREPARED BY A LICENSED APPRAISER. BECAUSE IT WASN’T. Do yourself a favor and please, please please take your property somewhere more respectable, which honestly isn’t that hard compared to this guy. Seriously. The homeless guy down the street is probably a more credible source.
Also, while I was there, me and everyone else in the store– customers and employees alike, pretty much saw credit card fraud openly committed, the details of which I won’t go into. I can’t say that I’m surprised, however it was shocking to see how blatant and okay it was with the owner who was quite open and vocal about it.
I really wish I was making all of this up. I REALLY wish none of this was true and that all of this was one big sick joke. But I can’t make any of this up, nor can I get back my lost time I spent wasting my life at that hellhole. I am actually convinced this man is mentally ill. He has a functional mental illness, no doubt, but it’s incredibly clear that he suffers from some sort of narcissistic complex that does not allow him to have any sense of common decency. He is not outwardly malicious, or mean, but incredibly conniving and selfish.
AVOID. AT. ALL. COSTS.

Out of all the stores I have ever visited in my entire life, EVER, this is the worst in every way. If I had to choose between a full day in a Cuban jail and an hour in this store, I would choose the jail.
Simply put — DO NOT GO IN HERE. For all the reasons detailed by others. They try to steal your money, they try to steal your jewelry. It is a bizarre, Kafka-​esque horror story.

I was recommended to their firm by a very close friend of mine who has done a lot of business with them in the past and was very satisfied. I was in charge of handling my mother’s estate which had a lot of valuable Art, antiques, and other various household items. I went in to see the firm in person and although the place was packed with both customers and merchandise after a few minutes one of the representatives introduced himself to me and started to help me. After a few minutes more they introduced me to one of their head appraisers who gave me some estimates on several of the items I brought in as well as estimates on some additional items I showed him pictures of that I had back home. We made an appointment for their appraiser to come over on the following Thursday to look at the entire estate. They gave me a very small minimal appraisal fee for him to come to the premises to evaluate and appraise everything I had. They said it would be waved in the event that they purchased anything. Bottom line is the appraiser came over, made me what I thought was a very fair evaluation and offer and concluded the transaction to my total satisfaction. My understanding is they have been in business on 57^th street for over 20 years and have built up quite a following. They seem like one of the few businesses that buy and appraise anything as opposed to some who want to cherry pick the best and most salable items. If you don’t mind their gallery being a very busy hectic environment packed with customers and heaps of merchandise you’ll find that they will offer you a very good appraisal, very good cash prices on the spot, expert knowledge and evaluations, and will buy and sell anything which very very few businesses or auction houses do especially in today’s market. Over all I have to say that I was quite satisfied.

If I could give 0 stars I would. Picture super cheesy high pressure sales tactics, in a filthy place, where they control the exit via a buzzer. You would have to be a fool to fall for their act, and a bigger fool to give them your real phone number (which they require before showing you anything). Give them the old rejection line number 212 479‑7990.
I have no idea who does business with these guys.

Wow, this place is filthy! The employees cant find anything in the «hoarders» style mess that is going on here. After buzzing you in they make you sign your name on a sign in sheet. Then, you are locked in to the fire hazard of a store. Not fun. I was looking for a watch band and decided to give up after 5 minutes of the employee scrounging through piles of boxes and bags. When I decided to leave to leave, the door was locked and the employee explained that I had to wait for «Lee» to be buzzed out. I started to get claustrophobic and panicky and when «Lee» finally got there he was still trying to sell me a watch band. All I wanted was to get the hell out of this store, but he was persistant. I finally had to stop being polite and get a little loud and use some profanaties before he opened the door so I could leave. What a nightmare!

Disgusting shop. The place is filthy with boxes, papers, watches, baseball cards, everywhere. I dropped off something to be repaired. I was promised it later that day. Nothing. A week later ask for my piece back and they couldn’t find it. The employee had it in a knapsack wrapped up in a fedex envelope. Not fixed either. Honestly this shop looks like a cover for something else. Who knows. Avoid this place.