Last year around Christmas time I purchased a diamond tennis bracelet for my wife from Kay Jewlers. The salesman there gave us a 'santa certificate' which he said was good for $100.00 off our next purchase from Kay Jewlers. The only stipulation he gave for its use was that it had to be redeemed between January 20 and June 15, 2003. He said we could use it on any purchase in the store.

Indeed on the front of the certificate it states that the certificate is redeemable January 20 through June 15, 2003. On the back of the certificate it states the redeem period again and also states that the purchase must equal at least 2 times the amount of your santa certificate. No where on the certificate does it mention restrictions such as 'on in-store purchases only', or 'only redeemable on select items' or anything of that nature.

A few months ago my wife decided to have Kay custom make a three stone ring for her. The sales lady there said that we could not redeem the certificate on custom jewlery, only on jewlery that is actually displayed in the store. I thought that was off base but I gave them that one and paid the $220.00 price for the ring before taxes. I know I should have fought them on this one.

A couple of days ago my wife found some rings on Kays website that she was interested in. The one she most wanted was a 1/4 carot diamond ring for $199.99. We went to Kays this afternoon after work to get her tennis bracelet inspected and cleaned and found the ring she was interested in.

Upon presenting the santa certificate to the sales lady, she said that the rings retail price is actually $299.99, so the $100.00 discount brings the rings total to $199.99, the exact price of the ring as advertised in the case and on the website.

My wife said wait a minute, the website shows it at $199.00 and so does your price tag on the ring now, how come you are saying it retails for $299.99? The sales liar...I mean lady, then tells us that actually the santa certificates are only redeemable on gold rings, that rings containing stones are exempt. My wife had already handed her my credit card and we had agreed to buy the ring so the sales liar...there I go again, I mean lady left to cash us out. While she was gone me and my better half started discussing the scam on the santa certificate. She said she really didn't want the ring now and I told her 'well I have not signed anything yet'. So she went over to the sales liar...I mean lady, and told her to foget it she didn't want the ring because she was counting on redeeming the santa certificate and only paying $99.99 for it.

There was another sales lady there at the cash register who our sales lady turned to for council. The other sales lady asked us why we thought we could redeem the certificate on that ring. I told her that the original salesman told us it was good on any purchase, but if that they are going to renig on that now, we would be on our way.

Now the second sales lady tells the first one to add a penny to the price to make the ring $200.00 and use the certificate to make the net $100.00, imagine that! By now though my wife and I had tired of their games and we decided they did not deserve our money or our business. We told them to forget it, received my credit on my credit card and walked out. Had the first sales liar done this to start with, they would have had a sale. I mean really, the way jewlery is marked up in places like this I am sure that at $100.00 they are still making a hefty profit.

The more I thought about this on the way home the angrier I got so I decided to place this post. I equate this kind of treatment to what you would find at a new car dealership. The only reason I can come up with as to why a vendor would give you a money off certificate that they have no intention on honoring is to get you back in their store. I still feel I should have been able to use the certificate on the earlier custom ring purchase, but its not worth the hassle.

For anyone shopping at Kay Jewlers keep this in mind when they offer you a santa certificate.


Luke
Tallahassee, Florida
U.S.A.

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