engagement ring from Zales

Zales @ Staten Island Mall, NY

My husband proposed with an engagement ring from Zales last August of 2005 and by October 2005, it was in repair for loose prongs. I couldn’t wear it as a newly engaged person, and that broke my heart.

When it came back from repair, the center was crooked! I was completely appalled by this, considering that didn’t need to be touched, they were only supposed to tighten the prongs. I went to THREE Zales locations before one in NJ offered to exchange the ring, no questions asked. (The first two even argued that “nothing was wrong”! I placed it on the counter and it wobbled all over and I said, “how do you not SEE this?!”)

That ring lasted ok for a little while, I was able to wear it for the wedding, nothing seemed wrong, except a couple of months ago, I looked down one day and a stone was missing. (Not the center, but one of the surrounding stones). I brought it in for repair back to the original place of purchase which was the SI Mall Zales. They told me it would be 6-8 weeks! Again, no ring on my finger. It JUST came back this past weekend and I was assured that the ring was fine again.

Well, you guessed it, yesterday, one of the stones was catching on things, so I looked down and it’s coming out. I went back to a Zales today at lunch in NYC, WITH ALL MY RECEIPTS and paper trail of this nonsense. They told me that the “other” Zales must have had a shoddy jeweler that fixed it and THEIR Zales is better.

I told them that I want to exchange the ring completely, that I don’t trust this ring anymore, (and what kind of a chain are they that they’d throw each other under the bus like that?)…..This was something that I wanted to pass down for generations, and it’s only been a year since it was purchased and I don’t feel like I have any security with this ring.

They somehow convinced me to leave it for repair today, a THIRD time. I’m sitting here at work, sick to my stomach because I have to keep going through this and they make ME feel as if I’M crazy.

I’m torn between going back there right now and demanding a new ring, or just leaving it and seeing what happens. No one should have to go through this.