Kay Jewlers Kay Jewlers either completely disfigured my wedding ring, or gave me the wrong ring after a routine cleaning. Owings Mills Maryland

My husband dropped off all of our rings for a routine cleaning on 7/8/09 at Kay Jewlers. The newbie on duty that night mention that mine needed replating. I didn't even know it was plated, but that's another argument all by itself. I will be a much more informed customer next time. So anyway, we agree to have them sent off for cleaning, stone inspection and replating.

They call to say the rings were back yesterday, 7/17. He went to get them at the end of the night by himself, as I was giving the kids a bath. Remember that voice inside that you always wish you had listened to AFTER the fact? Well, mine told me I should have told him, 'lets wait and go get them together tomorrow'.. but I didn't..

He comes home at 8:57, I am excited to see my rings and quickly open them as he goes to kiss the kids goodnight. I yell, THIS ISN'T MY RING! immediately, with the lights dim in the living room, at the end of a long day... a woman knows her ring. He comes rushing out of the kids room, we call the store, as they are probably closing right as we speak. The guy on the phone tells me all I can do is come up first thing to speak with the manager.

By this time at night, I have the close up picture of our bands on our wedding day, and the ring in front of me, second guessing myself 1000 times. My wedding band is a 14K white gold band (plated band, now I hear), with 9 1/4ct princess cut diamonds across it. The first thing I notice is-
1- it doesnt fit me
2- three diamonds in on one side is a HUGE gap between two diamonds, enough that you can probably fit a piece of paper through
3- the span of diamonds is not as wide as my ring was, its much more narrow, and looks completely dumn next to my engagement ring
4- the band itself is shaped like an oval, where mine was completely round
5- the width of the band, both inside and out, is at least 1/4, 1/3 in some places, smaller in size than mine was. It used to be way bigger in size than my engagement ring. Now they are they same size
6- the ring is completely, i mean completely, lopsided and distorded in shape...
7- the karat engraving is missing on the inside..
More concerning was that the receipt of requested repair included-'reshape ring'... who asked for that? not us, and how do you reshape a ring without speaking to a customer about it? The ring is so distorted, you would have to pay me to convince me a jewler actually did this. The easiest explaination is that it just isn't my ring.

We go back the next morning, which was today 7/18/09, and ask for Aundre the manager. He listens to all that I had said, looks at the ring under a microscope, and gets right on the phone. Not sure who he called first, but it seems he phoned the repair shop and his customer relations department. I over heard him mention the split between the diamonds, so it wasn't like he was disputing the fact that the ring was messed up. It was no denying it.

He came back telling me a number of things..
-they are 100% sure this is the ring you sent
-why didn't you bring this up last night when you picked them up (my HUSBAND was supposed to notice this? Are you serious?)
-they had to tighted the diamonds, and there may have been dirt between the two where the gap is
-they replating may have covered up the 14K engrave that was on the inside (why are they replating the inside of a ring?)
-in terms of the way the ring is mishaped, he sees no lopsidedness, and rings wear over time... I HAVE HAD THE RINGS SINCE 2/16/07.. DURING THAT TIME I ONLY WORE THEM WHEN I LEFT THE HOUSE (as i have two small kids, so what is the point when i am home) I STOPPED WEARING THEM IN 7/2007 BECAUSE I WAS 7 MONTHS PREG AND THEY COULDNT FIT, I STARTED WEARING THEM AGAIN IN JANUARY WHEN I RETURNED TO WORK FROM MATERNITY LEAVE...I WORK AT A DESK!!!!...Someone PLEASE explain to me how my ring essentially wore away by 1/4 of their size (1/3 in some places) over the course of around 2 years of wearing them when I type at my desk or grocery shop? I don't think so.. if that's the case I was sold a piece of s*&t from the beginning, and they should be ashamed of themselves for suggesting that could even happen...
When I realized I had no options left, he just told me all they can do is try to send it off to be repaired, i pointed to the case and said, get out that ring, the one IDENTICAL to mine.. I asked him to hand it to me, then i asked him to hand me mine.. WHen I held them up together I literally burst into tears.. I had spend the entire last 14 hrs second guessing what I remembered it to look like, and there was the upmost obvious proof.. I threw 'my' pathetic little ring down on the counter at him and said, this is not my ring, look at them side by side!!! This ring was everything that mine was- a wider band all the way around, and a wider span of diamonds.. JUST like I said I remembered mine before he even pulled this one out of the case... I told him if they are so interchangable, put this peice of s*&t in the case and TRY to sell it and give me that one.. NO one would buy that ring, it looks horrible.. He said flat out NO you cannot have an exchange, they can only send it off to try to work on it.
Im babbling, long story short, i call cust relations in the store, he advises I let them send it off to be reworked on, and ask the store manager to send off the new ring for them to model it after. They firmly stand by their 90 day policy, and I will NOT get a refund or exchange.. period.. He even tries to tell me, as does the manager, that the maker of that ring changed the design over the last few years to make the band wider... Right, convinient.. They also try to tell me that it's common to think your ring is smaller when looking at a new model.. I WASN'T LOOKING AT A NEW MODEL AT 9PM! NOR WAS I WHEN I FIRST CAME IN!! I am not an idiot..
Not having any other options, that is what I agree too.. I assist the manager in writing the description of what I want done, short of saying, send it back like the one in the store!
When I got home, i went through every picture i have on my computer, zoomed in on my ring, and cropped it. Printed it out, called the cust relations guy back and said 'i have visual proof that my band was BIGGER than my engagement ring, and the one in the store is the same size'. He states, they take a head on pic when the ring arrives at the shop, so all he can go off of is the pic they can take when it gets back there this time. I ask if they can do that before they start to work on it, he says no, he would have to check back with them all day Monday to see when they start.. I say- if they say 100% that they didn't mistakenly swap it, and I say 100% this is not my ring, who calls them to talk about this? who are they? he tells me they use various shops to have repairs done.. I said so you don't know who did this? He says yes, but they cannot disclose the shop for security reasons.... WHAT! That's like getting your car worked on, you get out of the shop and it's messed up, and the guy at the front desk tells you he can't tell you who the mechanic is...and they DIDN'T do anything wrong.. HUH??
I demand that he call them and have them explain, IF this is my ring, how did a routine replate end with separated diamonds, an oval shaped ring that was a circle before, the decrease in size, the lopsided shape its in, and the missing engraving?? He puts me on hold to call them. They have confimed that no other ring the same model as mine was in the shop that day, so there's NO way it could have been swapped...All they can do is try to repair it, and that's what they would like to do for me at no cost...
I just say, since I have no other options.. I guess that's all I can do.

I went BACK up to the mall with my camera and my pictures. I ask the newbie who is there again (manager is gone now) to get the rings out so I can take pictures. She and another guy come over, as if they didn't trust me at all. I take as many pics as I can, 'my' little pathetic ring next to my engagement ring, the EXACT way my pic shows it so you can see the size. I then do the same with their store one, and take pics of the two together- mostly so you can see the smaller size and shorter length in diamonds. The guy tells me to stop photographing the tags, i want to slap him, f your tags right about now. The newbie, who had not a WORD to say when the whole thing went down in the AM, and the guy next to her, are really shocked now that they are looking at the ring up close, their manager gone. It is seriously messed up, she even mentioned the space in the diamonds.. the guy just keeps saying 'customer relations has to handle it, not our problem...' Unreal.. I hand them back the rings to be sent off, and put my pics in the bag. IF that ring doesn't come back like my pictures and that store model, they better have another plan...Please pray for me. NO one deserves this, especially with material things that hold so much value. You don't want your money back, and you don't want a replacement, you want your ring that you wore and exchanged vows with... So sad.

Elaine
Baltimore, Maryland
U.S.A.

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Kay Jeweler's