Jewelry Avenue Stay Away from these Scam Jewelers Philipsburg Other

We were on a Carnival Cruise ship traveling the Caribbean and taking it easy on our day in St. Martin. The cruise ship had Jewelry Avenue on their recommended shops, so we stopped in. At first everything was fine, the normal haggling over the price of a trinket--the price never got to our liking as it was a silver plated piece that was quite small with a zinc chain. As we were leaving a shop keeper (male) yelled out, $20. We said, sure, we'll go to the ATM and get the cash.

When we came back (5 minutes) the man was replaced by an angry Indian woman, the price was suddenly $40 and she out and out called us liars on the price. As we were leaving (again) she was screaming curse words in English and Hindi at us and told us that everyone there yells out the $20 to keep the customer in the store.

There are too many good reputable jewelers in the area to waste ANY time on these guys. We spoke to others on the ship who had a similar experience. Moreover, another couple had to call the police to get their money back when they were sold FAKE jewelry. We were shocked and will make a point not to give them any business.