Note: Sometimes a tuk-tuk or taxi driver will offer to take you to a “fancy jewelry store” on the way to your desired destination. THIS IS A SCAM. Often they will tell you they can give you a better price if they first take you to a jewelry store. If you purchase, your receipt may show a false address. In my experience I have found the “jewelry stores” that they take me to of fairly low quality, it is often a great waste of time, and lastly the price offered for the transportation is not that much less than it would have been.
JEWELRY SHOPPING – certain parts of Bangkok are well known for their jewelry shopping. In fact Bangkok is home to the world’s largest center for the trade of colored gemstones. There are many many jewelry stores – and to the untrained eye, its often difficult to tell the “real” stones from the fake ones. One of the jewelry store hubs is around the corner of Surasak and Silom Streets with a number of jewelry stores spread out over several blocks on the nearby Mahesak Street. The closest Skytrain stop to this part of town is Surasak (about a 10 minute walk).
BIS Building is located on Mahesak Street – a very short walk from the corner of Silom and Surasak. The BIS Building is home to numerous small often cheap looking jewelry stores, supply stores for the jewelry industry and jewelry manufacturer services. The first floor contains a number of tiny jewelry stands – with jewelers often selling loose-cut stones. Several jewelry stores are located just outside this building including Teeraluck a provider of thousands of pearls (many extremely cheap).
Jewelry Trade Center is a 59-story building located in Bangkok’s primary jewelry district (the Silom/Surasak area). It is the largest location for the buying and selling of jewelry in all of Thailand. This center is also home to the gemological school and contains a gem-testing lab. Numerous vendors sell a variety of gems, uncut stones and jewelry supplies.
Rama Jewelry. We have always had good experiences shopping here and first visited their Silom location in 1996. We have also heard recommendations about Rama’s from professional jewelers who live in the United States. The showroom is somewhat dated and contains a number of glass cases each dedicated to certain types of jewelry (rings, earrings, necklaces, etc). Their jewelers can create custom pieces – but need time to do so (IE generally you cannot walk in and ask for a custom ring to be created that day).
Rama Jewelry has been in business since 1960. Their Silom Showroom is located at 987 Silom Road on the corner of Surasak Road. The staff has always been friendly during our numerous visits. Note, that when you leave Rama’s one of the staff may give you a piece of paper warning about jewelry scams and cautioning against letting locals recommend or take you to jewelry stores. For more information please visit their website: www.ramajewelry.com
Sirima by Pattaya and Phuket World Gems is another very good and reputable jewelry store located in the All Seasons Place. It is run by a Thai woman who makes all the jewelry herself. Located Unit 112 First Floor CRC Tower (Retail Centre) – All Seasons Place 87/2 Wireless Road Lumpini Phone: +66 (02) 685 3839 Phone/Fax:+66 (02) 685 3893. Visit: www.worldgems.co.th
Hello Dave,
I found it very interesting your blog as I was doing a research on engagement rings. I thought I would ask your advise better.
My fiance and I have a very nice star ruby and want to create my own engagement ring.
Could you recommend any jeweler who can do such work?
Thank you in advance,
Valbona
Hi Valbona – earlier this year, we used Rama Jewelry to make my sister’s wedding ring. I’ve been going to Rama in Bangkok since 1996 every so often for jewelry needs. They did a very good job on this recent job for my sister. Talk to Jakra (I think he’s the General Manager) – he’s been there for many years, speaks good English and really knows what he is doing 🙂
Hope this helps
~ Dave
Just returned from Thailand and visited gems and jewelry trade center co., Ltd. we were directed here by a couple of Thais at a shopping mall telling us we could take advantage of a special savings of 30% on purchases. This is a special deal not offered for ten years and they asked if we had seen the ads on TV . Of course we hadn’t. Conveniently this fellow walks us out of the mall and we find a tuk tuk who delivers us to the store. We meet mr. Chair at who is a good salesman and we end up buying sapphire earrings and a necklace and 30% discount. He even had his driver take us back to our hotel.
On e I got back to our hotel I wondered if we had been scammed. I read another blog where tourists said the same thing about being referred to this store for the discount. They felt they overpaid even with the discount. Any feed back from people regarding this company? I have not paid my charge account yet?
Sandra – sorry for the delay – I’ve been on the road and just now starting to catch up on a bunch of thing.Thanks for the update. Gems and Jewelry Trade Center co LTD sounds like they are working with these scammers – esp those hanging out pretending to be helpful. Someone else just emailed me today about this company – yes, usually the prices are inflated for the quality. With that said, there are def some top jewelry stores in Bangkok – just not on the “tuk tuk” circuit.
Has anyone else been to this jewelry store?
They are scam artists
We also were guided to the gems n jewellery trade co by a gentleman claiming to be a respectable doctir and Mr. Chariat met us n we were lured into buying a ruby n diamond earring. We are now wondering whether the gems are fake or they r overpriced although they gave a certificate of authenticity.
Is there a chance of getting the money back if we return the piece?
Viti – you can try to get your money back – i just talked to someone who was taken to a jewelery shop, forgot how to get there, and was given a receipt with a false address. Ug – if you are successful in getting your money back, let us know – those gems may not be fake, rather they may be low quality gemstones – ie much overpriced. But you can try to get your money back….
Well i spoke to them and they wanted to know why I thought I was cheated. They said that if we insist they would refund the money to our credit card, but since we paid by card we wont get to know immediately if they hv actually refunded and since we shall be leaving thailand shortly we wont get to know the refund status until we get back . Then we may loose the jewellery as well as money. So we are not too sure what to do.
Dear David and other readers on this blog,
I am extremely worried because we have bought a lot of jewellery from them and the transaction for payment is already approved before I have saw your posts that Gems and Jewelry Trade Center co LTD might have been a scam. Can someone confirm if this store is a scam or not? I need a reply ASAP!!! :'(
I got the same scam. New Year’s Day I thought I had the good fortune to meet two separate, seemingly random, people on the streets around the Grand Hyatt Erawan (a great place to look for farangs with money to dupe, it would appear). One claimed to be an attorney, the other a doctor at the nearby police hospital. Lies, no doubt – something at which the Thais delight in, if farang money can be had. I met the infamous Mr. Chairat, and he sold me something – who knows what – hopefully not colored glass. We don’t barter in the US and I was thoroughly suckered into believing I was having good fortune – a theme Mr. Chairat expanded on, since I was his first sale of the new year…..how extraordinarily fortunate. Now the “sapphire” in the ring I bought is loose in its setting. I will go back and try to recoup my money for this piece (I bought three), but I have low expectations. A Thai would never admit to being so duped (I have no evidence other than the posts here, but that’s convincing enough), because of the loss of face. In that respect, they have neither the guts nor courage. I post this simply to warn others from the seemingly harmless encounters that seem random enough – they aren’t. I was thinking to retire to Thailand, which would have brought a sizable amount of USD to their economy, but now I’m thinking better of it. The lies and deceit to chase a buck here rival Wall Street and that of “the City,” and it is that immorality that will be the undoing of us all.
Worst of all, this was my third trip to Thailand. I should have known better.
Mike – sorry to hear this. We were just talking about similar travails over dinner at Sonboom Seafood last night in Siam Square One. And discussing about how as seasoned travelers there are certain problems when traveling that are inevitable. In any case, thanks for posting the warning and your experience. Mr. Chairat is getting quite the reputation here, I think I will have to go down to the Grand Hyatt Erawan next week with a camera around my neck and play lost and see if I can attract his attention, hahaha!
Fortunately (or unfortunately) these scams tend to be limited to the tourist areas and I assure you once you get away from these areas you won’t run into the same problems.
We bought a beautiful set of sapphire pieces from Addy at Gems and Jewelry Trade Center. They were a very good deal according to our appraiser in the U.S. They were worth much more on appraisal than we paid for them. This was in the year 2000, though. A lot can change in 15 years.
Sara – thanks for the note about Addy at Gems and Jewelry Trade Center. It is good to hear about a positive Bangkok jewelry experience 🙂