They lost my ring and handled it terribly.
I purchased a ring from the fine jewelry department and added the care plan so it could be resized. When we first went in for the resize, the staff couldn't find the plan, was rude, and sent us away. Not great, but hey, that's just how it goes in retail.
We came back later and they were finally able to locate the plan. The ring was sent out and we were told it would take about four weeks, which was perfect timing for Valentine's Day.
Unfortunately, the ring was apparently lost before it even got to their facility.
Months went by and nobody informed us. We were completely in the dark. When my partner called the store to check on it, she spoke with the same employee who was again rude and dismissive. She simply said they didn't know when the ring would be back, but never mentioned that it had already been reported missing. She could not get a clear answer or ETA.
At that point I went into the store myself to get answers. Thankfully I was helped by a very kind employee who was honest with me. She told me directly that the ring shipment had gone missing and that my name was on a list of customers affected. No big deal, they had the same ring in the store, so I assumed replacing it would be simple. Things happen, it's no reason to get upset.
But this is where things got strange.
The manager then came over and initially said she wasn't aware of the missing shipment. She said she had no clue. She checked a list that clearly had my name and several others on it and acknowledged that the ring was reported lost. Despite that, she refused to replace the ring and walked away without offering any timeline or solution, leaving the cashier to deal with the situation with no direction or leadership and putting her in a weird spot.
The cashier was called to the back and later returned visibly upset, saying the situation was putting her in an uncomfortable position and that she is expected to lie about it but won't. And that her managers are upset now. And as a customer seeing what is going on and being caught in the middle, it was a strange situation to say the least..nobody seemed happy, honestly is being punished, and they are not showing people how to do their job and just trying to cover for themselves.
The only reason this situation was eventually resolved was because the younger employees stepped up and tried to help. One of them tracked down HR to get someone else involved. They didn't agree with how things were being handled and took it upon themselves to try to find a solution. Without them I would have never found out they actually knew my jewelery was missing or stolen, and even with that information the department manager was not helpful either.
In the end, I was able to get the ring replaced with the same model before leaving the store, but only after months of waiting, being misled about what happened, and dealing with very poor and non-transparent management and eventually an employee taking it to their HR.
Credit to the honest employees who tried to do the right thing. Especially the one who was willing to be transparent about the situation despite the pressure around her. Integrity goes a long way.
And to anyone else who may be on that list of missing jewelry, I would encourage you to start asking questions. No one told me the truth until I showed up in person. They lost my jewelery, misled me, lied to me about it and put me in a very weird situation. Not at all what I expected and you were also really rude to my partner, which made this whole this really unpleasant and a bad experience. read more
