Customer service is still alive!

Yesterday, I decided to take my engagement ring and wedding band and have them resized because they just don't fit me at this point. *sigh* While I had been at the mall last week, I'd seen a jewelry repair store that said they could resize my ring while I shopped. "Great!" I thought. So, I took my rings in yesterday, and said that I would pick them up in a few hours after I took the girls home to nap.

At about 1PM, I received a phone call from the store. It was the jeweler, calling to say, "Your center stone on your engagement ring isn't a real diamond."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, when I heated the ring up to make the cut to add in more platinum, the stone turned white, which is a good indication that the stone is a cz - cubic zirconia. We don't have a diamond tester in the store, so I wasn't able to test it before I started the work. I'm going to go ahead and finish it, but I wanted to let you know." He also told me that they could replace the cz, at my cost.

"OK, I'll be in in a bit to pick it up." At this point, I was so baffled, confused, and above all, crushed, that that was all I could think to say. What I really should have done was told him to discontinue the work, and that I would come pick it up to be evaluated. But like I said, I wasn't thinking clearly at that point.

Once the initial shock wore off, I called Jim to let him know what I'd been told, and also to find out what he'd been told when he purchased it. I had to leave a message because he's away on training, and wasn't able to get to the phone. In the meantime, I decided to call Kay Jewelers, where the ring had been purchased from after I'd searched the internet, both their site, and Google, to see if I could find any info on my ring. The paperwork for it is MIA, most likely in storage at the moment.

After being stuck in the cue for a while, I finally spoke to Lori. I explained what had happened, that I had taken it to be resized, and they called and told me that the stone was a cz, and not a diamond. She immediately said that wasn't possible, that Kay's doesn't even carry cz, and that if they had a customer come in with a piece of jewelry containing cz, they wouldn't do work on it because they wouldn't be able to replace the cz if something were to happen to it.

Lori went on to explain to me that I could have just brought it in the Kay's for a free resizing (foolish mistake on my part, but I really wanted to wear my rings as soon as possible, and also didn't realize it would have been a free service). She looked up the info about Jim having purchased the ring to verify that it was their ring, and also explained about how this would void their warranty on the ring since I'd gone to someone else for a repair (another stupid mistake on my part).

I began asking her a few questions, and she politely put me on hold for a few minutes, and when she came back, she told me that she'd been looking through her books trying to come up with a reason as to why the stone in my ring would have turned white since diamonds shouldn't do that at all. She also cautioned me about paying and leaving the store with the ring because then I would run the risk of not being able to get them to repair the ring.

She then asked where I was to figure out the closest Kay Jeweler to see if I could go there and have them diamond test the stone. When I told her what mall I was going to, she verified that it had a store, and offered to call them for me to let them know that I would be coming in with the ring for diamond testing. I thanked her for all of her help, and hung up.

I got the girls up from nap, loaded them into the car, and began driving over to the mall. In between talking to Lori and getting into the car, I had also talked to Jim and explained everything to him, where I had gone for the resizing and whatnot. While I was driving to the mall, Jim called me again to let me know that I should see the owner of the store, and that either he would copy my drivers license or accompany me to Kay's for a diamond test before I paid for the ring.

I got to the mall, went into the store, and spoke to both the owner and the jeweler. They showed me the ring, and I asked the jeweler why the repair had even been done if he wasn't able to test the stone before hand (something that I'd thought about after speaking to Lori, who said that anytime they get a stone in, they test it before work is done). The jeweler immediately became defensive and said that he assumed that it was real because it was set in platinum, which requires a great deal of heat to be applied to work with. In my head, I thought, "Well, you've just assumed liability right there since you didn't test it and told me that you assumed it to be real."

I retorted with, "No one asked me what the stone was. It could have been anything." to which the owner responded, "What would you have told me it was?" I said that I would have said a diamond, because that's what I was told it was, but the point was, no one asked me about the stone, and then it wasn't tested.

The color of the stone was a milky white, and sort of reminded me of a Cape May Diamond. For those of you not familiar, a Cape May Diamond is actually a piece of quartz from the Atlantic Ocean that travels down the coast. One can find them on the beaches of Cape May, NJ. I'm sure you can find them elsewhere, but I can remember visiting Cape May when I was younger and finding them. The stone, before it's polished and cut to look like a diamond (hence the name), is a milky, frosty white colored stone.

I told them that I wanted to have it tested, and also made it known that I knew that the owner had spoken with Jim about doing as such. So, both the owner and jeweler decided to accompany me down to Kay's, which was actually right below the store that I had gone to.

We went into the store, and I told them who I was, and Chelsea said that she'd spoken to Lori on the phone. She took the ring from me, and put it under a microscope. Her first question was, "Why is the setting lose?" I think she was thinking what I'd been thinking, but hoping beyond all hope that it wasn't true, that the stone may have been switched and they were trying to dupe me. She then pulled out the testing wand, and said, "It's a diamond." She showed the jeweler, who was on the defense, saying he'd never seen anything like this, and he'd done nothing wrong. They then asked if there were any other stores that might have a tester (which I thought was weird because really, shouldn't any jeweler have one, or not do any repairs to jewelry if they can't test it?), and we ended up going to Zales, which was right next door to the repair shop's storefront. Again, it tested as a diamond.

The two men walked ahead of me and spoke in low tones, and I was thinking to myself, "If you try anything, I will slap a lawsuit on you so fast..." but I was able to squelch this thought pretty quickly because once in the store, the jeweler said that they would replace the stone. He also said that they wouldn't charge me for the resizing, after the owner double checked this with the jeweler. What I was thinking, as was Jim, who's running the show here? The owner or the jeweler?

But anyway, the good news was, I only had to pay for one ring, the other ring is going to be sent out to have the stone replaced, and I at least have my wedding band to wear now (which both rings were resized properly).

After all of this, I had another errand to run in the mall, and on my way back, I decided to stop by Kay's to let them know what was going to happen, because for one thing, while we were in there, Chelsea kept saying that if the ring had been in their possession, they would be replacing the stone. While I was there, I asked her if she could pull up the information about what type of diamond (clarity/color/carat/cut) had been in my ring. The owner of the other store had asked, but I wasn't able to provide him that information off the top of my head.

Chelsea was extremely helpful, and also very compassionate. She told me she was glad that I'd stopped by because she'd been on the phone with Lori, and both of them wanted to know what had happened in the end. I told her that I'd contact Lori and update her, thanked her for all of her help, and left the store. When I called Lori once I was home, she was happy to hear that it had been resolved as well.

I've decided that both of these women went out of their way to help me, and for that I will be eternally grateful. I have a call in to Kay's corporate office so that I can put in commendations for both of these women. I wanted to speak with a supervisor, and none were available when I called earlier today, so I'm hoping that someone calls me back either today or on Monday.

Customer service is still alive!