Ez Pawn Claimed they had "Lost" my FAMILY HEIRLOOM JEWELRY that had very high sentimental value when I went to get out of pawn. Wheat Ridge Colorado

This happened several years ago & I figure that its been too long to take any legal action. However, I want people to know how risky it is to pawn your belongings for a loan! Especially if you are dealing with Ez Pawn. If you put up collateral for a loan, you have already told them you are hurting financially. Ez Pawn will take advantge of the situation! My story begins when I had just gone through a horrible divorce. I was several hundred short when it was time to pay rent. Having gone to this same pawn shop for years & thinking I could trust them, I took the only valuable thing I had left to get a loan. I took nearly all the jewelry I owned. Most of which had been jewelry that I had inherited. The value is hard to put a dollar amount on as it had never been appraised and most of it was vintage. I estimate around $5,000.00 to buy everything in new condition. However, some of it was very old and had a lot of wear & obvious damage from years of being worn by my grandmother & then by me. I did have a very expensive brand new gold necklace that was $500 & diamond stud earrings over $1000 from my ex husband as well. So, I seperated the jewelry into 2 seperate loans. I did this because most the newer jewelry I had received during my marriage, I knew I could do without if I couldn't pay the loan. The 2nd loan had all of my Heirloom jewelry and jewelry that my parents had given to me over the years. Needless to say this jewelry was extremely important to me. Had high sentimantal value. I had been very close to my grandmother whom had left most of it to me. I don't remember everything that was on the 2nd loan but I do remember there were 4 rings. A vintage black hills gold ring with a large oval aqua colored stone, a 14k gold ring with an ankh on it, a 14k white gold or platinum band that had hearts moons and stars stamped around it, and a 10k gold oval emerald ring with diamond accents around the emerald. There was also a pair of 14k gold earrings, a matching necklace, etc.... On the last day I had to pay the loans, I went back to Ez Pawn with more then enough cash in hand to pay both of my loans and pick up my jewelry. I went up to the counter and gave them the copies of the loans & asked to pick up my jewelry. The woman went in the back to find it all. After an extremely long time she returned empty handed. She then proceeded to tell me that she couldn't locate it. She added this was nothing to be alarmed over. She said the person that set up th loan would know its exact location. She would not take my payment. I voiced concern over the fact that the following day would then show me as not paying my loan on time. She assured me that when I returned the next day that I would get my jewelry just fine. The next day I went in 1st thing in the morning. This time the person that set up the loan was there. He went back to get my jewelry & returned with only the jewelry on the 1st loan. The jewery that meant nothing to me. He explained that they had just cleaned out the back room & the jewelry on the 2nd loan must have been "misplaced." I was again asked to return. This went on every day for over 3 months! All the time I was being assured they had my jewelry & they would locate it. Several times I broke down in tears while I was there & explained the importance of the jewelry. After months of this, finally when I went in to see if they had located my jewelry, I was finally told that they had actually sent it to be melted down several months ago! The MANAGER of the store told me that damaged & worn jewelry was rarely ever claimed. So basically, they assumed I would never claim the older jewelry & melted it down. They kept the jewelry on the 1st loan seeing that it was newer jewelry & figured that I would claim that. I then pointed out the word "heirloom" on the loan & he shrugged! He then told me since it had been 90 days since the loan was due & that I had never paid that loan that I had no legal rights to the property anymore anyways! Remember, it had been 90 days because they couldn't find my jewelry & wouldn't take payment until they located it. Which they never did. BEWARE! DO NOT TAKE HEIRLOOMS TO THE PAWN SHOP! THERE'S NO GUARANTEE YOU WILL EVER SEE THAT ITEM AGAIN! I have lost so many nights sleep & so many tears over the jewelry I lost! I've even tried to locate pictures that the jewelry could be seen in so I can someday have replicas made & haven't found any! I was foolish. But I was also taken advantage of by these careless scammers!