Complaint Review: Jared the Galleria of Jewelry

My now husband and I went to Jared in February to have an engagement ring designed. We went in at least 4 or 5 times and were directed to different people each time before anything was started with the ring. We had to go in numerous times to review the design drawings, which were never close to what I wanted. That is due to them not having any kind of design tools for their design creating, so as a person who has never designed a ring, I just had some drawings and what I explained to them and some other ring examples. If I had an exact ring I liked for them to design off of, I would have just bought that ring.

We also were having a lab created diamond as the center stone. We informed Jared of this prior to the start of the creation process and they told us they could not set the center stone and that we would need to bring in the exact measurements of the stone for them to design to ring to fit the stone. Our ring was created, finally, at the very end of June. The ring itself has some minor quality issues: one side has a ridge or line where it was not ground down to the same level as the rest of the ring or was poorly cast, the side diamonds are visibly not the same size (there are two small diamonds on each side), and the side diamonds are not set in the center, but off to one side, but I was willing to overlook them as they were smaller issues and I had waited some long to have the ring finished and I was finally happy with the overall design.

They had also put in a metal "webbing" presumably for the center stone to sit on, but the lab that set the center stone said there was no reason for Jared to have done that and it had to be ground out since the center stone wouldn't fit with it in there and the metal couldn't be cute out and sent back to us. Now, that is several hundred dollars of extra, useless metal they charged us for, which they had the exact center stone measurements, so there was no reason for that error in the dimensions, if it was supposed to be a decorative element that we never requested. Again, I've never had an engagement ring created, so I had thought that was standard.

Additionally, we were never given any kind of itemized receipt or receipt period to know what we paid for. I had to ask our final total when we were leaving the register as we had only received an estimate of the metal quantity needed etc. previously. My husband had been making payments since may on a ring they hadn't created. Honestly, I can't even know for sure if they are charging him the estimate price they gave us or if the total was adjusted to the actual ring price. We also, we're never told of services and coverages on the ring we were or we're not getting, nor did we receive any documentation indicating that information. We were told verbally by the sales people how, once we got the center stone set elsewhere, it'd be great and Jared would take care of it.

How wrong was that statement! We sent the ring out to get the center stone set and were informed by the lab that a side stone had fallen out. It was sent inside a closed, taped box. I took pictures before shipping and believe I see the missing stone, which means it fell out within a week of the ring being created! That lab asked if we wanted them to replace it and set it. I said, "no, that is something Jared will do as they created the ring and it is covered through them."

I had called Jared to see to how long it would take for setting the missing stone and thought I had gotten all of the needed information so I could get the repairs done and finally have my whole, completed ring.

I got my ring back with the center stone set on 7/13/12. I brought it into Jared that same night and was told they will not replace the stone that fell out without me sending it back out to have the center stone removed again! That involves me paying for the insured shipping again and the fees for that service, then paying to send it back and have it re-set and those same shipping and service fees one the side was put back. Jared could also give me the loose diamond and I could pay another jeweler to set the side stone and do the job Jared should be covering for free.

I spoke with a manager who was going to speak with their corporate office on Monday regarding that issue as that will involve numerous fees to us over the life of my ring and had we been informed that they wouldn't touch the ring again with the center stone in place, we would have gone elsewhere for our ring design! Why get a ring created by a jewelry store if they will never service it again, wouldn't a person just pick a store that would help them with their ring throughout the life of it? And why would a store sell a customer a ring knowing that and not inform them of those issues? Oh, that's right, because they wanted our money and didn't care about providing the services they were supposed to or informing us of issues that would have made us not purchase anything from them!

When I spoke to the manager I also found out we were never charged for or received a metal warranty. That is good in the sense that they couldn't honor that warranty, but bad because we didn't know that if I ever need metal work done to my ring like sizing or anything, it's not covered. Again, not getting a receipt or being provided that information, we had no idea and had someone informed us originally, we wouldn't have purchased our ring from Jared. I also had them look at my ring for the 6 month check up to ensure nothing was loose and everything was set correctly.

7/14 I went to another local jewelry store to look into getting my side stone repaired so I could finally have my finished, whole ring that Jared wouldn't fix while I was waiting for the manager's corporate phone call Monday to see if they would help us at all for their error and reimburse us for the cost of repairs at this other jewelry store. When I had the other store look at the ring they told me (without me telling them any of the issues I was having with Jared) there were 2 or 3 other weak prongs that the side stones will fall out of at some point, if they aren't beefed up and better done.

Between Monday and Wednesday of the following week, I spoke with their corporate customer service department and even a manager who was so rude and was yelling at me and getting attitude with me and actually said, "if I was getting a ring created and they wouldn't set the center stone, I would automatically know they wouldn't work on the ring ever." If Jared has done what they should and is proud of their work and customer service, why use that as excuse and not just be honest with your customers and let them decide if they still want your services knowing all the facts? That lady also told me we have no way to prove we didn't get a receipt from them.

They also never gave us all of our completed design documents, which they are supposed to and said they did, but only some of the preliminary, incorrect designs were with those documents, so going with her logic, can they prove they actually designed the ring I'm wearing for us to continue making payments on?

They told us they will not do anything to help us such as reimbursing us for costs associated with the repair work they should cover or allowing us to return the ring and get a refund since it was designed. If we could get this information on their website or documents they might provide, that might be different, but we can't, so how is this anything but Jared's negligence and improper business conduct? I've never known a company to not make amends or not take refunds for things that are completely their error and within a month still of getting the ring. The only ways they have offered to "help" us involve us paying a bunch of additional costs to have our center stone taken out each time or have another jeweler do their work and them do really nothing for their error!

Next step may be to talk to a lawyer and stand outside the store to tell everyone going in there of my personal terrible experience.