Albert Jewelry & Loan

31-Mar-09
Adreana L

MORRIS SOLO, the owner of Albert Jewelry & Loan, Inc at 1032 Long Beach Boulevard in Long Beach, CA 90813 is, in my humble opinion, either a dishonest person or a terribly disorganized business manager. I’m writing this review because, with the economy being sour, there are a lot of middle class people who would never previously have considered going to a pawn shop who now are looking up pawn shops on the Internet. These people need to know to stay away from Albert Jewelry & Loan.

ON 03/18/2009 MY BOYFRIEND went to Albert Jewelry to redeem a Paselode nail gun model IM250A which he had pawned on 11/20/2008 . His last day to redeem the item for $51.00 was listed on his ticket as 03/20/2009. When he was at Albert Jewelry he was made to wait sixty minutes only to be told that his nail gun could not be found. When he got upset and insisted that he be given money to purchase a new nail gun the employee with whom he was speaking literally threw up his hands and walked away from the counter. Morris Solo, the owner, then came to the counter and told my boyfriend that he would not buy him a new nail gun but he would replace the nail gun that was lost. Mr. Solo told my boyfriend to come back in a week at which point his nail gun would be found or be replaced.

WHEN MY BOYFRIEND returned to Albert Jewelry I came with him holding a video camera. My boyfriend returned to Albert Jewelry on 03/20/2009 to see if the nail gun had been found and to present Mr. Solo with an agreement I wrote up listing the factory refurbished Paselode IM250A models being sold online which my boyfriend would accept as replacements. My boyfriend didn’t just want any nail gun that had been pawned to Mr. Solo because who knows how much abuse the previous owner had given that nail gun. Mr. Solo was not in on 03/20/2009. My boyfriend spoke on film with an employee named Mario who stated that Mr. Solo had informed him of the situation and that my boyfriend’s nail gun had still not been located. Mario told my boyfriend that Mr. Solo would be in on 03/24/2009. Even though my boyfriend did not get to speak with Mr. Solo on 03/20/2009 he was glad to have it on video that he attempted to redeem the nail gun on the last day on which the ticket said it was redeemable and that Albert Jewelry did not have the nail gun for him on that day.

WE RETURNED ON 03/24/2009 again with me holding a video camera. Right when we walked in Mr. Solo smiled and said that my boyfriend’s nail gun had been found. He presented my boyfriend with a nail gun case that even I could tell was not my boyfriend’s, having seen my boyfriend’s tools in the back of the car many, many times. When my boyfriend opened the case he saw that the nail gun inside was not his model of nail gun but a newer model. It was not my boyfriend’s nail gun but Mr. Solo insisted that it was. And here is my warning to anyone dealing with a pawn shop. My boyfriend was stuck because he had not done what he should have done to protect himself from lying pawn shop owners.

DEAR READER, take photographs of items before turning them into the pawn shop and make sure the photographs include the model number AND serial number of the item. When you turn the item in ask the pawn shop to write the serial number down on the ticket. The pawn shop only writes down the model number so they can attempt to pass any item with that same make and model off to you even if it is not yours if you have not specifically asked them to identify the serial number of your item on the ticket.

MY BOYFRIEND INSISTED on testing the nail gun and Mr. Solo brought out a piece of plywood. While I filmed, my boyfriend tested the nail gun and it jammed right there with Mr. Solo watching. My boyfriend retried the nail gun and it did not jam. My boyfriend asked Mr. Solo if he could get a 30 day guarantee on the nail gun seeing as how there was no way of knowing if the jamming problem was persistent or if the nail gun just needed to be cleaned. Mr. Solo said no. On top of that Mr. Solo insisted that my boyfriend still had to pay the $51.00 redemption fee.

SO LET ME REVIEW:

ALBERT JEWELRY could not produce my boyfriend’s nail gun when he came to retrieve it on 03/18/2009.

ALBERT JEWELRY told my boyfriend to return on 03/24/2009.

03/24/2009 ALBERT JEWELRY presented my boyfriend with a nail gun that jammed (on film) the first time my boyfriend tested it. Albert Jewelry insisted that this malfunctioning nail gun was the one my boyfriend had turned in when it was not.

EVEN THOUGH ALBERT JEWELRY made my boyfriend wait six days, even though Albert Jewelry presented my boyfriend with a nail gun that was not his, even though that nail gun jammed the first time it was tested, Albert Jewelry would not waive the $51.00 redemption fee.

I HAD A NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE with Albert Jewelry and I would not recommend that anyone do business with Albert Jewelry. To view videos that I took of our experience at Albert Jewelry please the You Tube website and search for videos titled Albert Jewelry and Loan Inc.