JewelryGate 2010

Almost two weeks ago, I wrote a pretty detailed account of my daughter’s  experience with four jewelry store chains while trying to purchase herself a purity ring.    I think after everything that has happened, it would be better to now refer to the whole ordeal as “JewelryGate 2010.”

After posting our story, I received several comments.  Some through my blog, and some of you emailed me directly.  Many people suggested that I contact each of the stores and let them know about my experience– the good, the bad, and the ugly.   

 So, on Monday, February 22nd, I did just that.  I went to each of the store’s corporate websites (Rogers, Greenbergs, Helzbergs, and Zales) and posted my contact information with a write-up of my review, exactly as it appeared on my blog.  I also included a link to my site, should they wish to see the post themselves.    

And then I waited.

That same day, I received automated responses from both Zales and Helzbergs, both indicating they had received my comment and “someone will be contacting you shortly.”

On Wednesday the 24th, I received another automated response from Zales, as follows:

 Dear Jenni,

We have received your concern, please provide the store location in which you had your experience as well as some detail on what occurred. Thereafter, we can forward your concern to the appropriate executive.

Should you have any further questions, or require additional assistance, please contact us at 1-800-311-5393, or email us at customerservice@zales.com and a Customer Service Representative will be happy to assist you.

Sincerely,

Zales Customer Service

That same Wednesday, I received my first REAL reply from a store. I received a call on my cell phone from Kevin, the store manager of the Helzberg’s store we visited. He had been contacted by his district manager, who had been contacted by their Corporate offices as my complaint made its way through the company. 

Kevin, also being the father of a teenager, was appalled at the treatment my daughter received in his store, and promised that it is NOT how they do business. He indicated that he believes every customer should be treated with respect, whether they have $1 in their pocket, or $10,000 and whether they are purchasing something or not. I explained to him that while I do not suggest people boycott their store (I hate to have a repeat of the recent local Legends restaurant saga), I will make sure I visit Rogers first should I ever be jewelry shopping again. Kevin also informed me he would be sharing my review at their next employee staff meeting, as a training tool for how to deliver great customer service. (Go Kevin!)

A few minutes later, I also received a call from Art, the store manager at Rogers, the only store in which we had a GREAT experience. He thanked me for my blog post, and told me that he very much appreciated our honest review of their store. He indicated he printed off the review and had it framed, and proudly displayed it in their store window. Art told me he was also contacted by Jody of Iowa Geek to inquire about their store participating in the 2010 Moms Nite Out coming soon. (See what good customer service gets you?).  

I had planned on writing this follow-up several days ago, but I wanted to give all four stores the chance to respond first. As of today, I have yet to receive any further response from Zales, and I have not received ANY response at all from Greenberg’s.

I did, however, get another phone call from Art at Rogers Jewelers on Friday, February 26th. He let me know that if I should happen to stop into their store, I would no longer see my review posted outside their store for all to see. Apparently, some of the other jewelry stores complained about it, and mall management asked them to take it down. If you’d like to see it, though, it’s now posted INSIDE the store, in a display case.  (I’m sure it has absolutely NOTHING to do with the fact that one of the jewelry stores in question — HELLO ZALES!– is located right next door.)

Sometimes I think people underestimate the incredible buying power teenagers have.   They do have disposable income, and they are more than willing to spend it.  While my daughter may have walked around with the intentions of spending $50 that day,  she also sat in the jewelry store and texted all of her friends, letting them know she bought the ring, and also WHERE SHE BOUGHT IT.   Word of mouth is a powerful tool, and it doesn’t matter how old you are.  If anything, its more powerful with the younger generation, as I am sure her friends would be more than willing to just go to the exact same place my daughter went to, simply based on her suggestion.

Bottom line, like cars, jewelry is not something that we go out and purchase every day.  And with the current state of the economy, every company is fighting even harder to earn your business and mine.  The best way for them to do it is by providing excellent customer service.  It might be the advertising or the sales that draw people in, but when it comes down to it, it’s all about how they treat you.  

Disclosure:  While I was not compensated for writing this, I was informed by both Rogers and Helzberg’s that their Corporate Offices would be sending me “something” in the mail.    This did not in any way influence my review, especially since I dont even know what they are sending me. 

I should have gone all “Pretty Woman” on them

Sometimes the best posts come to me during a simple conversation with some friends.  Last weekend, my husband and I were at the mall when we ran into Shelby and her husband, who are some very good friends of ours. We sat outside the Dairy Queen at Jordan Creek Town Center and chatted for an hour or so.

Shelby and I began discussing the purity ring my daughter got. After telling her about the experience we had, I decided it would make a good blog post. Because I am very insistent on receiving good service at places I give my business to, I decided to share our experience with all of you.

When my daughter first mentioned wanting to go look at rings, she said she had researched them online and knew exactly which jewelry stores at the mall carried them: Zales, Greenberg’s, Helzberg’s and Rogers.

Our first stop was to Helzberg’s where there were NO customers,  and three employees working. My daughter walked in, looked in the cases for 2 minutes and no one ever asked if they could help her. When I walked into the store to check on her, they immediately approached me and asked if I they could help me find something, and my response was to point to my daughter and say, “No thank you, I am with HER.”

My daughter asked the employee (who had food stuck in her teeth–YUCK) if they sold purity rings.

Employee: No, we don’t have those.

Daughter: OK, well, I saw them on your website.

Employee: *sigh* Well, when you looked at them, did they say “Online only”? If it does, we don’t have them here.

(Yes, she really did SIGH at my child.)

Daughter: I don’t remember it saying that.

Employee: Well, when you go home, look at the website again and if you can remember to, write down the item number. Because it’s probably something you can only get online.

Daughter: Um, OK.

Oh yes, this really happened.

Seriously, they work for the jewelry store! They couldn’t look up their own damn website and see what she was talking about? Do they not have any of those fancy newfangled computer doo-hicky things in there? Not only would the employee not go to any lengths to help her, she also wasn’t even going to suggest seeing if they had something similar to it in the store. Her suggestion was to “go home and look at the website.”

Walking out of there disappointed, I told my daughter we’d head to Greenberg’s. That was where husband and I had bought my wedding ring, and hopefully they’d be able to help her. Again, my daughter walked into the store several steps ahead of me, and again, she waited for someone to ask her if she needed anything. There were two customers in the store and four employees, so like the other store, NOT BUSY. Once again, not being approached by anyone, she went up to one of the employees who was just standing around. Upon asking about a purity ring she had seen online, the employee responded:

“Um, no. We don’t have those here.”

End of discussion, apparently. Because the employee immediately dismissed talking to her, looked over to me standing at the other end of the jewelry case, and said “Is there something I can help you find?”

Again, I responded with “No thank you. I am with HER” while pointing at my daughter.

By this point, I was getting plenty upset, to put it mildly. We began walking to the other side of the mall, where the last two jewelry stores were.

The next jewelry store to be put to the test was Zales. Again, another store that had NO customers in it the weekend before Valentine’s Day. (Are we seeing a trend here?) There were a couple employees working, but after waiting for them to finish their conversation with each other, we again were told they didn’t sell purity rings, in the store OR on their website.

Really? Then they must not be familiar with their own website. Because it’s FULL OF THEM.   <==Seriously, go take a gander.

Finally, our last stop was Rogers. I had never even heard of Rogers Jewelers before, let alone bought anything there. They had a few customers in there, and four employees working. When my daughter walked in, she was immediately greeted.

Immediately. 

My husband and I stood outside the jewelry store to see how things went down, because I was getting to the point where I wanted to scrap the whole shopping expedition, except that the reason we were there was very important to my daughter.

Within seconds, an employee came over to her and asked if they could help her. Here’s how the conversation went down:

Daughter: I am looking for a purity ring. I have seen them online but wanted to find some in the store I could actually look at and try on.

Employee: Well, we don’t have anything in the store specifically called a “purity ring” but we have this entire section here that people have purchased as promise rings or purity rings. What’s more important is that you find a ring you like, and YOU decide what the reason is you are wearing it for.

*Me (thinking): Score one for Roger’s Jewelers.*

Daughter: OK, that sounds good.

They asked my daughter to sit down in one of their comfy chairs, and they proceeded to treat her like a queen. When another employee was done waiting on a customer, even he came over to help.   She had two employees waiting on her, making her feel very special.    They showed her ring after ring, and I swear they spent a good 30 minutes with her, as she debated which ring she liked best. What originally started out as a $50-$60 purchase turned into a ring on sale for $199. A customer in the store donated her $50 coupon to my daughter, which brought the price down to $149. Honestly, it was a lot more than I was initially planning on spending, but she picked it out, was happy with it, and the customer service was STELLAR.

While I was sitting with my daughter looking at rings, my husband mentioned looking at rings for ME since our 10-year anniversary is coming up. The employee helping my daughter (whom we later discovered was the store manager) motioned for yet another employee to go over and start helping my husband. 

Bottom line, to keep this long story from getting any longer, not only did Rogers Jewelers make a sale to my daughter, but their excellent customer service prompted my husband to buy my ring there, as well. And it was NOT a cheap ring. We were NOT treated as if we were a bother, and my daughter was NOT made to feel stupid or insignificant.  

The other stores failed to realize that my daughter was wanting to buy something very important to her, and whether the store carried the ring she was looking for or not, they could have offered to show her something similar or CHECKED THEIR DARN WEBSITE! (That one still bothers me!)  Not a single one of them even asked her what the ring looked like that she was referring to.  They saw a 14-year old girl come into their store, figured the sale would be small, and decided they weren’t wasting their time on her.  

Amount we originally planned on spending that day? $50-$60

Total amount of money we actually spent that day at Rogers? $3,889.11

The experience my daughter had in that jewelry store? PRICELESS.

It reminded me of that scene in “Pretty Woman” where Julia Roberts’ character Vivian walks back into that chic Rodeo Drive store full of snotty women that refused to help her only a day before:

Shop assistant: Hello, can I help you?

Vivian: I was in here yesterday, you wouldn’t wait on me?

Shop assistant: Oh.

Vivian: You people work on commission, right?

Shop assistant: Yes.

Vivian:Big mistake. Big. HUGE.   Well, I have to go shopping now!!!

Note:Obviously, I wasn’t compensated to write this post.   The opinions are mine, and the experiences are mine.  However,  if you are ever in the Des Moines, Iowa area and are looking to shop for jewelry, stop in to Rogers’ Jewelers at Jordan Creek before going anywhere else.  We had a great experience there.