TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Ballerina jewelers

We went to Ballerina jewelers in Philipsburg, next to court house in front street. My wife was looking for a new setting for her diamond. She found one that she liked, I negociated the price then I payd cash. The seller (not sure if his name was Mike or Mark) said it will take half an hour to set the diamond stont onto the new setting so he suffested to do some shopping on front street and return after 30 minutes. We did that and when we returned, ha said the ring is done but one of the $100 bill was fake. He showed me the note and I could see that note was different than the other ones. Now all the money was withdrawed from the bank and all notes looked all the same to me. My wife was happy with the ring and I did't want to make a scene so I took out another $100 from my pocket and he gave me the fake one. I am sure I got scammed by this store and for this reason we are never going to buy another item from this store. I just wanted to share this story with all of you. All I'm saying is be careful.

Thanks,
Alex

Did you get your money from RBC by chance?

It's funny that you ask. I have a RBC card and I tried 3 machines to get the money out. I got some message that account is not accessible. I went inside rbc in simpson bay and they said they have trouble with cards with chips. Then we went to scotiabank also in simpson bay and there I could get the cash.

Thanks,
Alex

Was it not possible that the bill WAS a fake?

I guess everything is possible, but I counted the money in front of him and I asked him to count as well. I always do this when I deal with money. None of us noticed any fake note at that point in time. Half an hour later when we returned the note he has shown to me was different than the rest of the notes that was on the table.
I thought a long time before I wrote this post because I don't want to affect any good business on the island. This is our 12th time on the island so we are no novice.

Thanks,
Alex

We have dealt with Ballerina for over 25 years and have never had a shady dealing with them. I am inclined to believe ballerina as their has been a resent wave of counterfeit 100 bills being distributed and used on SXM. Some even given out by a Bank on SXM. Merchants use a specific pen to detect counterfeits. I presume ballerina checked these after you left instead of in front of you to save time to get the reset done.
Counterfeits are hard to detect with the naked eye is why they use that pen.
Sorry it happened to you but I think Ballerina is in the clear on this one.

I work at a bank & there is a possibility that you could get a counterfeit bill from a bank. All our bills come in from the Fed so there is no problem with them but if a customer brings in bills and they are given right back out without being checked there is the possibility. Experienced tellers detect counterfeits by feel more than by eye or the pen.

there have been some incidents recently of banks here giving out counterfeit bills.
http://www.thedailyherald.com/index.php?...s&Itemid=54

Pens can give false positives. For instance, if a bill is "washed" and reprinted on, a pen might say it's a good bill since the paper checks out.

Yes, discussed here on TTOL this week.. story

This bill was quite different than the other bills. Even I could see and I am no expert. I am sure the bills I gave him were all good. This is my first point. My second point is he didn't check with the pen when I gave him the bills and he didn't check it with the pen when he showed me the fake bill. My third point is the since he aggred to receive the bills without checking them in front of me, then is not my responsability to eat the fake bill. This is unproffesional and this would never happen in Canada. Once he deal is done, rien ne va plus.

Thanks,
Alex

Sorry to hear of this unfortunate incident regarding your cash purchase.It is always a good idea to pay for large purchases with a credit card so there is no chance of things like this happening. You are lucky you had another hundred dollar bill to give him as I would never carry several hundred dollar bills with me when shopping in Philipsburg! When things like this happens, it does make you wonder how honest some people really are and how careless the banks may be in neglecting to check the money they are handling.

i have no experience with ballerina, so no idea of their practice and/or ethics. it seems like a popular choice though, so i'm surprised they would consider this approach. however, appreciate your post and thank you for sharing your experience. while it is very possible that one of the bills could have been counterfeit, your points are all valid and i can see why you question this. i would also question it if cash payment was confirmed (in your presence) before the job was performed and then after the fact was presented to you as potential fraud. at the end of the day, i hope you at least got the setting you wanted!

Sorry that this happened to you, but I really think it is entirely likely that you go the bad bill at the bank, as there have been at least two other reported cases, just recently. You didn't notice it to begin with, because you don't really pay a lot of attention when you get a stack of bills at the bank. Ballerina is a very reputable jeweler and it makes no sense for them to try to do what you are saying they did, which is switch out the bill themselves. In the end it would cost them much more than that in bad PR.

Thank you, Carol!!

Just reading this, I can't bring myself to believe ANY shop owner with as many years under their belt as this one has woulld knowingly jeopardize their business reputation over a hundred dollar bill.

I feel badly for the OP but having already read about the incidents of unsuspecting bank personnel unwittingly handing out these bogus bills to other patrons over the past week or so, I'd be far more inclined to believe that's where the problematic hundred came from. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

It should be noted that here in Canada many bank machines located in a bank are not filled by the banks themselves but by an outside company. I was advised by TD Canada Trust when a large bill issued by their bank machine was found to be counterfeit. When the bill was taken by the police I was given a receipt which I gave to the bank and they honored the money directly.

I'm not sure about the OP in this thread, but the incidents that were reported in the Daily Herald were of people who went inside the bank and received money directly from a teller.

I know Michael (1 of thee owners of Ballerina) personally and truly believe he NEVER would pass off a fake bill to a customer. He is a very smart and honest business man as well as extremely generous. He has repaired items for my wife that weren't even bought in his store and refused payment as well for doing so. We have sent many friends and family members to his store and all have only highest regard for both quality and price they charge for their goods.

Basically I wanted to share my experience with you all. And did not want to point fingers to any business here on the island. We love the island and we care and we promote it as much as we wanted. But my point is still valid that no business should change the deal once the deal was made. If you are not sure about the money you receive from the customers just check them in fron of the customer. It is not good for the business. That's all I want to say.

Thanks,
Alex

"And did not want to point fingers to any business here on the island."

But that is exactly what you did in your post.

As these bills are just beginning to show up in circulation, I'm sure businesses haven't yet implemented best practices to combat this issue.

The salesperson probably took it to the manager or bookkeeper in the back area (one person usually handles all transactions) and that is when it was discovered. I'm sure they are learning to handle cash (especially $100's) differently now, and in front of the customer. It is your misfortune to have still been waiting for the piece....otherwise it would've been "one and done"....you'd be gone.

I did't post my experience to argue with anybody. We had a lovely time here on the island and i like to thank all off you for your help and support. We went again in Philipsburg but this time we bought from Joe's Jevelry. Very good service and price. We'll return to Joe's next time. Have a great day everybody until we "meet" again.

Thanks,
Alex

I don't think people who responded intended to 'argue' with you, and I am glad that you did post it AND that you didn't let this situation ruin an otherwise lovely time. It does definitely let us all know that if we receive a large bill on the island, regardless of where, we should be aware to take a look at it. Perhaps your story can prevent someone else from having a similar bad experience.

Thank you Carol. That was my intention. We all post/ share our experiences here on your blog. We don't have to follow them, just to acknowledge them.

We are back in frozen Canada (13 degrees at night)
Thanks,
Alex

There are a few possible scenarios but, that aside, I would never leave a diamond with a jeweler out of my sight and I would also not fully pay for something before the work was done. This is regardless of how well I know him or how good his reputation is. Maybe just me....