Kissing Kay Jewelers Goodbye

Every kiss begins with Kay.

We've all heard the commercials, and I've bought my wife plenty of jewelery from Kay Jewelers.  I always purchase the insurance as well to protect my assets.

One thing everyone knows is it's easier to pay for the insurance than to get what you deserve once you need to use that insurance policy.  For the most part companies will find some disclaimer to not give you what you feel you deserve.

Good thing I always get the insurance policies because we have a son that likes to yank my wife's chain, literally.  He's snapped one necklace in particular two separate times now.

First time we had it fixed at Kay Jewelers at Galleria Mall in Fort Lauderdale, FL.  Second time we already made our move to Chattanooga, TN and had the Kay Jewelers at Hamilton Place Mall fix the chain.

My wife expressed her concern over losing the charm if the chain breaks again, but the employee told us it needs to break three times before they can replace the chain.  Galleria Mall's Kay Jewelers told us the same thing.

Sure enough, the third time the chain broke we lost the charm.  Yes, the third time was the charm.  This time my son wasn't yanking my wife's chain, either.  We were walking around the neighborhood, came home, and I noticed the broken chain on our couch.  We retraced our steps through our house and the neighborhood, but never found the charm.

We went back to Kay Jewelers at Hamilton Place Mall and received service from what will be known from here on out as the Robot Lady.  I asked if we can somehow be compensated for the charm based on my business and the fact we expressed the concern of losing the charm the last time we came in.  No matter what I said she repeated that they can not replace the charm and can only replace the chain if it is not fixable.  Definitely not what we had been told by everyone else up to this point. 

Unsatisfied, we finished our day of shopping, mind you with our one year old son, and went back home.  I decided to call the Kay Jewelers corporate office to give it one last shot.

Luckily, the woman that answered was charming, pun intended.  She sent over an exchange code to Kay Jewelers to replace the chain and the charm.  What a concept, great customer service.  Not found much anymore these days, especially with the Robot Lady. 

Now I inform my wife, so we grab our son and head back to the mall.  When we get there I speak to what will from here on out be known as the Hag.  I explained to her the issue, which she already knew because she was there the first time we came in listening while rolling her eyes.  She said no one from corporate called them.  I then asked if she had numbers to the other local Kay Jewelers because maybe corporate called one of them by mistake.  She said, "No, you can look it up on your phone."  I walked away at that point without saying a word.

Coincidentally at that moment a man from Kay Jewelers at the Galleria Mall called me saying my necklace and charm are ready.  I explained that we now live in Tennessee.  I then called corporate again and spoke to the same charming woman.  She apologized for making the mistake and contacted the Kay Jewelers at the Hamilton Place Mall.  Mind you, we are at a mall with a one year old.  He's running around getting antsy and who can blame him at this point?

We then walk back to the Kay Jewelers and I can see Robot Lady on the phone.  Hag is standing in the back and I hear her say to Robot Lady that she refuses to help me.  She apparently didn't like that I didn't acknowledge her moronic statement about how I can find a phone number.  Then Hag walks up to me and says, you know I didn't do anything to you, in which my response is to just stare at her and not say a word.  Nothing nice came to mind so I said nothing at all, and she slowly backed away.  Meanwhile, there are two younger employees with a look of disbelief on how the Hag and Robot Lady are treating us.

Robot Lady then gets off the phone and tells us we need to get the Galleria Mall to send the necklace to their store.  I replied, no corporate said you will have the chain and charm ready for us here.  Robot Lady then repeated her self as usual and also said they do not have the chain and charm we are requesting.

My wife then points out the chain and charm, while holding our napping one year old in her arms, and from across the room without even looking or knowing what chain and charm my wife was referring to the Robot Lady says, "No that's not it."  Good thing my son was asleep in my wife's arms or the Italian would have come out of her.

I realize at this point the Robot Lady is in need of finding the yellow brick road and would make a great wife for the Tin Man.  I called corporate again, but had to leave a message.

So we go to eat at a restaurant down the street when the woman from corporate calls me back and is taken a back at what has happened with us.  She then calls the local district manager, who calls the store manager in order to get this taken care of.  Of course, neither the Hag nor the Robot Lady are managers.  Wonder how they couldn't get a managerial position?

The charming corporate woman then calls me back and says the store does in fact have our chain and charm and that we can pick it up from the store manager the next day or day after due to the fact that the mall was now closed.  My response is that my wife is getting her wisdom teeth pulled the next day, which was the truth and why I wanted to treat my wife to a lovely day at the mall, so I would come in two days.

In two days I came in and the manager was charming as well.  We got our chain and charm.  The manager apologized to me for how we were treated.  I'm not sure if the women were fired and frankly I don't care.  I got what we came for even after The Robot Lady and Hag were yanking our chain.

The lesson here is although you may not win every battle, continue to fight and you can still win the war.  And just go straight to corporate when you have a product issue, don't deal with the Hag and Robot Lady at the store.

And use a local jeweler.  Use a local everything because they care about the customer in the store and out of the store.  Big businesses give customers big problems.