Spoke to Rebecca and received the worst customer service in a long while. My concerns start when I began receiving emails a few months back, when avid shopper with both my first and last name was now suddenly using my email address to purchase items in places that I do not even shop at. QVC, Nordstrom, other boutiques... At first, I considered what most people probably do, that because we share the same first and last name, that there must be some kind of mix-up and now I was getting this other person's emails. But then I noticed these items all started getting returned. One by one, another email notification with another service return receipt. It's as if they were buying these items all for that reason.
But here is where it gets really bad. I went to Jared in North Carolina on January 10th, 2020. I did in fact purchase a ring for myself. Another three days after that, a new email came through from Kay's Jewelry in Springfield Ohio, with a photo of a half carat diamond ring set that was also purchased with my name and email address, the same as I have been dealing with for months now. As a customer who shops at Both Kay's and Jared myself, I know already that they are sister stores. But to add an even further oddity to the situation, was that this foreign purchase happened just three days after I bought my ring. Three days. Let me say that again. Three days after I did this, the person also using my email address did the very same thing state lines away. This, I realized, was no longer a coincidence. Sometimes there are mix-ups, sometimes there is money laundering. It is as though the person who is also using my name and email address saw what I bought at Jared through the email account we are apparently sharing with each other and thought to themselves what a great idea it was. So, they went out and did the exact same thing. They will also likely in fact, return it like they've done with so many other items I have seen going through this account. Fortunately for me, it doesn't seem to be affecting my credit cards or other forms of income, but if I had to guess, I bet they are using someone else's, creating a mutt of a mix-matched person that they are calling me.
I've spent the entire day creating new passwords, syncing credit cards and other important accounts to the new email address I've made for all the essentials. Then I of course called Kay's. I first spoke with Rebecca early in the morning and her response after I told her what was going on was abruptly, "Ummm, our store opens at 10." It was about 8 minutes till and then she simply said she would remove my email address, and hung up on me. Completely missing the point! I waited a few hours later and tried again. This time someone different answered, heard me out and tried to work through the situation to see what we could potentially do about it, as we both agreed it was certainly odd and not so coincidental anymore. Then I was put on hold. That horrible Rebecca picked back up saying, "Umm, you shouldn't be receiving anymore emails from us." But that is not at all my concern. It's like she wasn't even listening. As a paying customer to these stores, I expect my privacy to be handled more carefully and taken more seriously. Especially when it comes to things like expensive jewelry. Just because someone provides a working phone number and email address, that doesn't mean that they are who they say they are. I tried telling her that whoever bought this ring is likely to return it, as I would know, I get email about their shopping habits each and every day. Now this purchase was just too large to ignore and I thought the store might appreciate knowing that they could be part of a money laundering scam. She simply stated, "There is someone else here with your name. You won't be getting anymore emails." Then she abruptly hung up on me, again. It was as though she was completely annoyed at me for something this scam artist out there is doing to other people.
I've got to say I am hugely disappointed with how I was treated. I have bought a number of things from these stores, but now I'm concerned to try again if it is that simple to go unprotected. I know not all staff members are as rude as she is, and surely someone out there on staff understands how potentially serious this could be. Which is why I'm writing this review. Please consider a plan for when there are issues such as the one I am describing here. Although the other staff members I spoke to were much kinder, they were still at quite a loss on how to handle a potential fraud. This person is getting away with using my name and email, and it is more likely that they are also getting away with using another person's money. My intent is to draw attention to something very suspicious, however about what comes of it. Be it now, or later. Just remember that when it does comes to light, that this also happened...
A photo of the ring that said person bought was sent to my account: read more
