Kay Jewelers Shoddy Product, Inept Representatives, and Poor Customer Service Kennewick, Washington

I've purchased thousands of dollars in merchandise from Kay over the past three years, but my past few months with them have been horrid.  First, a diamond ring I bought for my girlfriend had a stone fall out within a few weeks of having received it.  That was the first time I'd had a diamond go missing, so that wasn't a big deal.  Kay replaced it with no questions asked.

Christmas comes around, and I buy more jewelry for family members.  Two of the three rings purchased had a stone fall out.  I brought them back to Kay (mind you, Kay is an hour's drive from my house), just to be redirected to the online store.  I called the representatives, and they (again) redirected me back to the Kay store.  This time, the store took them, and said the would call me for an estimate.  I thought this to be curious, as both items were worn less than a week before the loss of the stones.

Tonight I receive a call from a gentleman from the Kay store.  He seemed quite apprehensive and nervous.  He informed me that the replacement for the stones would be nearly 3X the cost of the rings themselves.  So a total purchase of about $150 would cost over $400 to repair.  When I asked the representative how this was possible, he informed me that "this just happens sometimes," and I would be "better off cutting my losses with these rings [by scrapping them]" and "buying new rings from the showcase."

It would seem that this is a scam, and I caution those who intend to purchase from this company.  As a side-note, my brother-in-law has recently gone through the same situation with them.