Kay Jewelers review: ruined engagement ring 11

After 21 yrs apart, (we were kids and circumstances beyond our control separated us. Families moved and addresses got lost) my fiance' and I have reunited. Only DREAMED of ever finding each other again and having a future, never thought it would actually happen. We are still living in seperate states, but see each other as often as we can and can't wait til we are married and together every day. Well, our dream has happened and our engagement was the happiest moment for us and Kay took that away!

February 20th, we got engaged, with the ring we both picked out originally from Jared's, but economy has hurt us both and we decided we had to get it from Kay instead. BAD DECISION! I needed to get the ring sized to a 4 1/4 and we didn't have the extra $100 for the warranty immediately, so we were told we could get the warranty any time. So, we came up with the money within a weeks time. I took the ring to Kay at Chapel Hill Mall in Akron, where we purchased it and they told me it would be 10 days before we got the ring back. I asked if they could put RUSH on it and they said they could try, but with Valentine's orders from week before, they weren't sure it would matter. Said they would call me if it came in earlier than the 10 days. Well, I hated to give up my ring for that long, but it had to be done. We had taken photos of it and sent them to our families so they could see it. My fiance had put it as a screen saver on his computer and showed it off to everyone.

Well, Kay gets their rings in, in the afternoon, so, when I called first thing in the morning 10 days later, Sarah said pretty rudely that they had the ring in. I was trying to remain calm so I didn't say anything about when it actually came in because hey, I just wanted my ring at that point. I went straight down to the mall to pick it up and Sarah was obviously still in a bad mood because she pretty much just threw the ring on the counter at me. I signed the receipt and went to the food court, took a couple photos with my camera phone and sent it to my fiance so he could see I got the ring back. I went out to the car and I kept looking at my ring. I quickly noticed that there was a knick in the gold on the top of my channel band next to the baguettes. So, I took the ring off and looked at every detail of my ring and there were scratches all inside the band. I mean, deep scratches you could feel! I was mortified and tried to wipe them off with my t-shirt, but no, they were really deep and covered the entire inside of my ring. I called my fiance and told him and we decided I needed to take it back in. So, back in I went, and knowing Sarah was still in a bad mood, I hated to go back in there.

I told Sarah that there was damage done to my ring that wasn't there previously. She looked at the knick on the top and the scratches inside and said they would send it right back out. I begged her if there was anything else they could do because I had already gone 10 days without my ring. She said they could probably get it made for my size and swap the ring out when it came in. I said "Great!". Then she said they couldn't do it because it was discontinued. So, my heart sank. I didn't have a choice but to give up my ring again. I asked if they could get it back ASAP as this was damage done during the sizing. She said they would call shop manager and make sure to turn it right back around, but couldn't promise anything. Now, this was on a Friday. So, I knew shop wasn't even going to get the ring til Monday.

Something else had been bothering me about the ring, but I kept telling myself it was just my imagination and they would think I was crazy for bringing it up, BUT I had photos! So, I put the photos on my computer and printed them out. I was NOT crazy! What I noticed was that the channel bands were pulled away further from the center stone! Now, with this ring, they are pulled away a little bit to begin with. Kind of makes the center stone look like it is floating. Well, now ther is just this HUGE cavity on either side making the ring look awful! It looked like we couldn't afford a stone big enough for the ring cause now there was all this space on either side of the stone! My fiance had already called the store to try to talk to the manager about rushing the ring back anyway and let her know how unsatisfied we were already with the service we were getting.

So, when I sent him the photos of the returned ring, he noticed what I was talking about. It actually completely changed the entire look of the ring. I just kept telling myself it was just me and I only had it for a few minutes before I returned it and maybe it just looked that way. Thank God for the photos!

Sunday we decided I should go to Jareds and see if the ring was discontinued. They looked it up and said their vendor has not discontinued it and they could definitely order it for us if we decided to do that. I told them what happened at Kay and they said Kay should be able to fix the situation and help us out, but if not they were there to help us.

So, I called my fiance and we decided I should go back to Kay while the ring was still out being repaired and it hadn't even gotten to the shop yet, so, they should be able to fix it. I went straight from Jared's to Kay and told them I had another concern about my ring. I spoke with Christine and the shop manager. (Lady, I don't know her name) I showed them the photos and I was told I just needed to return the ring because I wasn't going to be happy with it. I told them I didn't want to return the ring, I wanted them to fix it. Manager told me it wasn't going to be fixed, that it was impossible for them to bend the channels back to the normal position and that my fiance as an engineer would understand that. They had other rings in the case and felt that sending any of them out to get sized would only result in the same issue. I said they custom design rings, couldn't they design the same ring in my size since they told me it was discontinued. Manager said well, they could, but it would cost alot more. I said "It shouldn't cost me anything because I wasn't the one who damaged it". She just kept saying I needed to return it. I was in tears and so upset because I didn't want to give up my ring. It was the ring we both picked out 2 years ago and had been working towards purchasing and now we did and Kay says it is discontinued and I should have known it would come back differently since my size was a 4 1/4! I said, "if you knew it was going to come back looking that much different why didn't you tell me that when we bought it?" As a matter of fact, they should have told me that BEFORE we bought it and said we needed to have it ordered for my size from the vendor. If they had done that we would have found out right then that it was discontinued and wouldn't be able to be made for my finger and we would never have bought it in the first place! Especially if they would have said it wouldn't look the same!

I walked away so I could call my fiance and talk it over. We decided to go ahead and return it and get our money back since they made it sound so final it wouldn't get fixed. So, I went back in there and told them we needed to return it if there was nothing they could do. The manager again said it would never look like the original and it was the best thing to do. She then told one of the other girls to immediately put a stop order on the ring getting repaired. I said, "But the ring still needs fixed no matter what. There is physical damage done to the ring on top of it not looking the same. There is a nick on top of the channel band next to the baguettes and it is all scratched up inside." She looked at the girl and again said to put a stop order on the ring. So, I guess it doesn't matter to them that the ring was damaged by the repair shop anyway.

The girl at the counter told me it was going to be a check because they didn't have enough cash to give me my refund. I said, "So, we pay cash and you have to give me a check?" She said that was the only way to get my money back. Then she told me it was only going to be $800 something instead of the $1224! I said, "I don't think so!" We had returned a ring and they gave us the $350 or so for it and then we put the other $800 something towards the purchase of our ring which was $1150 or so and with tax it was total of $1224. I had to fight for the correct refund too! I mean, every which way I turned I was having to make sure the right thing was done! It literally took 4 of them over 20 minutes looking at my paperwork to figure out I was correct! It really isn't that difficult! The one girl kept trying to say they credited me the $350 they didn't refund it. They all 4 finally came to the conclusion I was owed the $1224. Then, they were going to have it done in my fiance's name since his name was on the paperwork and that it would be 7-10 days to get the check in the mail. WHAT?!? My fiance was coming in town on Wednesday and he planned a nice romantic Post-Engagement weekend. This was Sunday, so, obviously we weren't going to be able to replace the ring during this trip since the check would take that long. He would be gone again before the check came. So, I told them that wasn't going to work. He lives in another state and if they send the check in his name I wouldn't be able to put the money in my account because he wouldn't be there to cash it! So, they did put it in my name.

I don't understand why when Kay's corporate headquarters is in Akron, and I am in Akron, why it would take 7-10 days to get the check and why couldn't we go pick it up when he came on Wednesday.

So, he called customer service about the check and was told that it would go out Wednesday and we should get it Thursday or Friday and we could call daily to see if the check had been cut. So, Tuesday I called to see and the lady told me we probably wouldn't get it til the NEXT Friday! So, again, I was in tears, telling her my story and that we were both so upset that now I will never have the ring he proposed to me with and that Kay took that from me when they decided they couldn't help me. 21 years dreaming of this day and now it came and I don't have my ring. Told her he was coming in the next day for our romantic Post-Engagement weekend and I don't even have my ring. I had it when he left and now I don't when he comes back. What if I was getting married this weekend? I would be getting married without my ring! There is nothing you can do? She said she was sorry and she understood but there was nothing she could do. I asked to speak to her supervisor.
Cynthia who was her supervisor got on the phone and she listened very carefully to my whole story again and she said she was very sorry that this all happened and she understands because she has a 4 3/4 ring size and has to special order all her jewelry and she was very surprised that the store knowing my ring size, didn't tell me anything about having to special order the ring since my ring size was practically a 4. She said that I should certainly call the customer relations line and see if there was anything they could do for us. Even if it was to give us a gift card to Jared where we originally wanted to purchase it anyway. It obviously wouldn't be for the full amount of the ring, but any token to say hey we are really sorry for the bad experience you have had and we want to try to make things right with you by doing this... Nothing! Nothing at all was done when I called and spoke with Michelle. She was nice and she listened to my complaint, but nothing was done to try to keep us as a customer or to offer us any sort of consolation for what happened. She just said that she would call the store and inform them of our complaint and that the district manager would also get involved with the store. I said, so, you guys aren't going to do anything either? She said all they can do is deal with the store and take my complaint. She said she was sorry for the experience, but there was nothing they could do.

I said, so, even though Jared is a part of Sterling's jewelers you can't do anything in way of a gift card for all our heartache and trouble. We have his ring picked out at Kay, but we don't want anything more to ever do with Kay since we now know what kind of customer service they have. Sure don't want to ever deal with them ever again! Now, we will go with Jared or another local jeweler. She just said all she can do is take the complaint.

I have had nightmares about my ring, and have obviously been emotionally scarred from this whole ordeal.
He was trying to be romantic and had the photo of the ring we took in front of some roses he gave me (beautiful photo) and had it framed and was going to mail it to the hotel and have them put it in the room before we arrived. Because all this happened, he tore it up. Tore the photo and said it isn't the ring anymore. We will never have the original ring he proposed to me with, so he doesn't even want the photo. I mean, it has affected us both so greatly. Probably because it is something we really never thought would ever happen, and when miraculously we found each other again through reunion.com, our dream came true and now we have this heart wrenching engagement nightmare. So, thank you Kay for putting all this negativity into our engagement. AND not ONE time did the manager or anyone in the store ever say they were sorry this happened or show any kind of sympathy for us. All she could do was just say, return it, there's nothing we can do. Not even I am sorry there is nothing we can do! So, please don't go to Kay, you will only be sorry! After reading all these other horror stories on here, I wish we had looked them up before we made our purchase. Our situation is apparently not unique, they just have really bad customer service and God forbid you need any kind of repair done to the ring. I cringe just thinking about what else might have happened had we not purchased the warranty before we sent the ring out for repair. I am attaching before and after photos of the ring so you can see for yourself how horrible it looked after the repair. Channel bands are pulled further apart from stone. I regret I did not have my digital camera with me to take the pictures of the scratches and the nick in the band. Camera phone isn't clear enough to show those marks.

Totally distraught,
K.H. Akron, Ohio

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