topic Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store? in Jewelry

Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

kcladyz — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 02:02:59 GMT

A few years ago I purchased a 10k gold sapphire ring at zales. The jeweler that sized it said it was sterling silver not gold. I was so mad I returned it but zales acted as if I was trying to pull a scam. I repurchased a yellow gold emerald ring for that way I knew what I was getting. I even wrote to corperate about this and got ignored. They are still selling this ring as a gold item.

This month I bought a ring at Kay. I was talked into buying 2 for they have the promo of $100 gift card with purchase of $300. I thought great I can get matching earrings for arround $100. What they failed to tell me is I only can use the $100 gift card on another minimum purchase of $300. So all together Ill have to spend $600 to use the $100.

I am not going to spend another $300 at Kay unless money falls from the sky onto my lap. lol

Anyways The rings are quite pretty. Sterling Silver Both have center stone of white sappire. One round cut other coushion cut. both blue sapphires on the band but one is a split shank

Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

chrystaltree — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 02:42:11 GMT

Do you have the sales slip for the ring that was sold to you as 10K but is actually gold over silver? They aren't going to respond to a letter but if you get an appraisal from jeweler documenting silver and you present them with the sales receipt that states 10k and take that to the manager of the store, you should get a refund for a price adjustment. A letter means nothing to them. It's also possible that sales clerk mislead you about what you were buying. As for that $100 gift card, they always come with strings attached. No company is going to give $100 away unless there is something in it for them. Those types of rewards are meant generate sales.

Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

bonnielu — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 03:12:52 GMT

My mother had a bad experience. She went to visit her family in Vermont where she was from. Not even sure why but she went into a jewelry store (Burlington,Vt) and decided to have her diamond ring cleaned. She left if there for a few hours while she was shopping. She came back and got the ring. When she arrived home she showed it to my daugher who was then was a gemologist. She looked at it and said, Grandma, this is not your diamond. Someone swtiched it out. It was replaced with a CZ. She was home in DC and had no way to prove the switch even if she could go back and get it.

Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

Greeneyedlady21 — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 13:07:10 GMT

@bonnielu Wow obviously that's criminal. Did you try calling the AG office in VT at the time? Like you said no way to prove it. They should require people to fill out a form and get a receipt when getting jewelry cleaned.

I would never leave jewelry to be cleaned after reading that story. Unreal, smh. So sorry that happened to her.

Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

Effie54 — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 11:53:35 GMT

OMG - that's awful. I do believe that happens a lot. I'll leave my ring for 2 minutes tops when I want it cleaned. I'm so sorry that happened to her. What a disappointment.

Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

violann — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 11:57:41 GMT

A few, curiously both involving platinum.

First- I had a pair of earrings that I love, but they had a difficult to manage scr*w back, so I wanted to have them converted to a lever back.

When I left them with the (very well thought of high priced) local jeweler, (not a chain) there was no discussion about what material would be used to do the lever backs, and they were done with white gold instead of platinum.

THEN, I went to a different high priced local non-chain jeweler to have a ring sized. As it happened, it had sizing beads in the band of the ring, something that I liked very much. This time, the ring was acknowledged as platinum, and instead of making it larger and leaving it as it was, they removed the sizing beads, added to the band, and charged me about $60, even though they benefitted from the beads as profit.

At the time, I wasn't able to challenge the work because of life complications.

I have not used EITHER jeweler since, though.

Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

SANNA — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 12:32:50 GMT

My only bad experiences at the jewelry stores were the snootiness and lack of gem knowledge by the staff. The ladies look good but I could do a better job selling things.Sad. But many are nice, but still lacked knowledge.

Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

esmeraldagooch — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 14:36:15 GMT

Yes, I had my wedding set totally ruined by a jewelry store repair then the jeweler left town. I ended up melting the set into a new ring. Totally horrible experience.

Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

depglass — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 14:49:59 GMT

One assumes jewelry stores are staffed by knowledgeable people. I once purchased a blue Peruvian opal pendant in 14K gold from QVC. I took it to my local jeweler and asked if they had any matching earrings in this stone. She looked at me and said "Are you sure this isn't plastic?" Yes, that's the way to build a business relationship, insult your customer. I found a new jeweler.

Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

jlkz — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 15:34:17 GMT

Heard and read horror stories about gems being changed out during " cleaning " so I ordered and have been using a very professional at-home steam cleaner.

The sonic cleaners and toothbrushes really do very little...I used them in the past. Whenever I had the cleaning done by my friend who designs and sells jewelry, the shine was so significantly different. It was the steam.

For a gift to myself last year, I ordered a stream cleaner from SharperImage. To say my jewelry sparkles is an understatement. People really notice the rings !

If you use it near a sink, please put something over the drain: you don't want to have to take the sink plumbing apart or worse yet, lose the item forever.

Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

happycat — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 19:35:30 GMT

I will never leave my ring again while having it cleaned. That is terrible!

Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

lboone — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 20:05:19 GMT

When the gold Panda coins from China first came available my husband (then boyfriend) bought one for me. I was ecstatic! I took it to a local "diamond house" at his insistence, rather than the local jewler I always used. He knew the man that ran this other place and insisted I was getting ripped off at the jewelry store and that the other place would make it just as nice for less money.

I went in and picked out a ring mounting from a book of settings that he had. He told me repeatedly that if he ordered the mounting I should consider it mine whether I liked it or not when it came in. He was really rather rude about it. I thought it was a bit odd, but I left my coin with him anyway to mount when the setting came in.

When I went in to pick up the ring he casually told me that the mounting had not fit exactly so he had filed down the edges of my coin to make it fit! I was horrified, but very young, naive, and thoroughly intimidated by this man. So I paid for the ring and left. When I got home and told my boyfriend he was livid. He said I should have refused it and insisted he pay for the coin that he had ruined. All in all, what should have been a wonderful experience was ruined by this a**hole of a "jeweler."

I still have that ring. I wore it for a long time (it doesn't fit now). I can still look down and see where he filed the sides off though! It doesn't sting anymore like it did, but I will never forget that.

And I never went back to that person, who is now out of business. The jewelry store that I WANTED to go to is still there, and I have bought many items from them since then. And had many special orders made!

Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

chrystaltree — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 21:32:59 GMT

Huh? Perhaps I misunderstood but I don't think she was saying that the guy who sized switched rings. She said that the ring Zales sold to her as a 10K gold ring was actually silver, probably gold over silver. Zales either lied to her about the ring or the Zales sales clerk misrepresented the ring to make the sale. The jewelry she took it to for sizing certainly had no reason to lie.

Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

Remar — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 21:37:09 GMT

Ladies. Please, never ever let a jewelry store clean your rings. It can take just a few minutes to change a stone out. I'm a nig jewelry lover so when I go to the mall I browze the jewelry stores. The first thng they usually ask is, would you like your rings cleaned? I politely say, no thank you. I have a 2 ct oval diamond in a halo setting. It has only 4 prongs. I know that in the time they're cleaning my ring and showing my pieces of jewelry that they could easily switch out my diamond. I deal with a private jewleler. that has been in bussiness for almost 100 years. They have an excellant reputation and you can watch your jewelry being worked on threw a glass window..Before I started dealing with this jewelerI took my original engagemen ring some place else. This was many years ago.It was just to see what the cost would be to size it. The band is thick and wide The lady left for a few minutes. I though she went back to ask the jeweler what the cost would be. No, she stretched it her own self. I was horrrified! My ring was not the same. It's shorter on one side. I could not believe she did that without my approval.Try your best to find a private jeweler that's been in business for a long time to deal with. And never let anyone talk you in to taking a piece of your jewelry off of your finger, neck or wrist. I feel so bad for any of you that have been scammed because for most of us our pieces are very special and mean a lot to us.

Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

colliegirls — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 21:50:41 GMT

Maybe the jeweler who sized it didn't know what he was talking about. Did the ring have 10k inside or 925?

Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

chrystaltree — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 02:06:24 GMT

It seems clear to me. When the jeweler cut the ring to size it, he saw that it was silver ring with gold plating.

Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

Trinity11 — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 15:25:49 GMT

@violann wrote:
A few, curiously both involving platinum.

First- I had a pair of earrings that I love, but they had a difficult to manage scr*w back, so I wanted to have them converted to a lever back.

When I left them with the (very well thought of high priced) local jeweler, (not a chain) there was no discussion about what material would be used to do the lever backs, and they were done with white gold instead of platinum.

THEN, I went to a different high priced local non-chain jeweler to have a ring sized. As it happened, it had sizing beads in the band of the ring, something that I liked very much. This time, the ring was acknowledged as platinum, and instead of making it larger and leaving it as it was, they removed the sizing beads, added to the band, and charged me about $60, even though they benefitted from the beads as profit.

At the time, I wasn't able to challenge the work because of life complications.

I have not used EITHER jeweler since, though.

I have since learned that platinum is difficult to work with and after my diamond engagement ring was sized with white gold instead of the platinum it should have been, I found out from another jeweler that this happens frequently in the industry. The color of white gold is distinctly different from platinum...even though they use rhodium to finish the ring where they sized it, I could tell it wasn't the same. So I hear you....

Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

esmeraldagooch — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 15:50:35 GMT

@colliegirls wrote:
Maybe the jeweler who sized it didn't know what he was talking about. Did the ring have 10k inside or 925?

Gold and silver have different melt points, also you have to match the solder to the metal the ring is created from. No bench jeweler is that dumb...

Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

LadyAlice — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 15:56:49 GMT

My worst experience was at Littman's. I was there with my twin sister (who wears a helmet because she has epilepsy). The store was not crowded, and we were clearly next in line for service. The saleswoman ignored us and went over to a man who just came into the store. I was upset and another man appeared behind the counter (the manager?). I told him that we were clearly passed over for service. While he tried to say that it was a misunderstanding, my sister and I decided to leave. I did contact the corporate office, which sent us two American flag pins as an apology. Never went back. LadyAlice

Re: Ever have bad experiences at Jewelry store?

conlt — Sat, 29 Oct 2016 16:29:30 GMT

Do you have a local news station that does consumer stories? I would publically blow the whiste on them if I could.