Complaint Review: Steven Singer Jewelers

I wanted to buy an engagement ring for my girlfriend. Living in Philadelphia, and having access to Jewelers row, I thought would be an advantage since there are many jewelry stores in a few block radius.

So naturally I wanted to shop around for the best price. I've only been working for a year after graduating college so my budget wasn't huge, I had half the money saved up and planned to finance the other half.

After visiting several stores I stopped into Steven Singer Jewelers, I'll admit that what pulled me into the store was their advertising of their great financing plans. Most independent jewelers can't afford to offer financing so I thought I'd be safe in a bigger store like Singers'.

Well, I was wrong. First off, they wouldn't even give me the time of day until they ran my credit report; I wasn't even really interested in anything they had in the store. But my previous trips to jewelry stores taught me that they always have better stuff not displayed.

So finally someone sat down to help me and before I could even explain what I was looking for he slapped a credit application in front of me, mumbling something about my price range. I filled it out, mostly because I was interested in what I'd be approved for and also it was apparent that he wasn't going to show me anything until he found out how much money I had.

Well the credit report went through, I was approved like I had been at the previous store and then he began to show me some stones and settings, nothing I really liked, so after a half hour, I left and went onto another store.

A couple weeks later I found the perfect ring at a reasonable price with a store that had financing, I was all set, I went through the motions like I had before, except this time my credit was declined. Shocked, I told the jeweler to keep my money as a deposit and I'd get back to him after I had figured out what went wrong.

Keep in mind I wanted to propose to my girlfriend on our anniversary Feb. 10; all this shopping I was doing over Christmas so there was no real hurry.

I call the finance company and all they would tell me is that I'll receive an explanation in the mail, so I wait and wait and finally it arrives, it had ten different things listed as to why I didn't receive financing, and suggested I order a copy of my credit report and I did, nothing out of the ordinary on there, still no reason why I should be denied.

No one at the credit company could tell me anything. So finally one day last week I get a courtesy call from the financing company, they go on to tell me, what a great customer I am and that they are glad to do business with me and would I like to take out any other forms of credit or consolidation.

I tell them that they declined me and that I've spent weeks trying to get an answer. They said that my credit is in perfectly good standing and my line of $1500 credit at Steven Singer Jewelers had never been used!!!!!

Turns out that both stores used the same financing company and the credit check-- turned into a line of credit, and because of that the next time around I was declined because I was overextended with the credit company.

Now I have to close the line of credit opened in haste by Singer and reapply with the Jeweler I decided to go with. Not to mention that as a back-up plan I tried to get a credit card in case I couldn't get the financing, which was also declined.

So now I have two declines against my credit, I have numerous inquires into my credit report trying to figure out what went wrong, all because Steven Singer Jewelers' wouldn't talk to me without knowing what was in my wallet.

I have two days until our anniversary, a ring on lay-away, and no possible means of getting it out until my credit report comes back from limbo.

I called Steven Singer's and explained what had happened and they said they'd get back to me the next day, which was four days ago, I guess they have to run another credit report before they can talk to me again!.

Dave
philadelphia, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.