“He got it at Jared.” A Cautionary Tale

My daughter (T) became engaged over Thanksgiving. She and her fiancé found the perfect ring at Jared, the Galleria of Jewelry. There it was, right in the case, just waiting for them. It was kismet. Rather than purchase a center diamond, they wanted to have their own “sentimental” diamond mounted in the ring. (A little side note: this diamond was guaranteed and upgradable) “Of course, no problem,” said the store manager, who kept the ring to set the diamond.

That’s when the problems started. It is l-o-n-g story, especially if you are the bride to be, but I will try to give you the abbreviated version.

• The Jared technician cracked the diamond while setting it.
• The store manager offered to replace the cracked stone with a “perfect Jared diamond.”
• The ring was sent to headquarters to search for that perfect diamond; the search took weeks.
• In the meantime, T made many phone calls and trips to the store to check on the status of her ring.
• No calls were returned; no one had any information.
• T began to express impatience. Where was her ring?
• Finally, after many behind-the-scenes phone calls, the ring and the perfect diamond arrived, separately. The stone would have to be mounted at the store.
• T finally received her ring the day before Christmas.
• Meanwhile, back in the manager’s office, the news was not good. The diamond, though perfect, was neither guaranteed nor upgradable. ,
• Why? Because it was a “replacement diamond,” and that was Jared’s policy.
• T tried logic, reminding them that she wouldn’t have a replacement diamond if they hadn’t cracked her original one.
• Logic did not prevail; policy was sacrosanct.

T is what we call a “consumer vigilante” (a phrase coined by Faith Popcorn in The Popcorn Report, 1991). She swung into action.
• She wrote to the president of Jared and the district manager, explaining the sequence of events and the problem. No one responded.
• She called the president, who apparently does not speak to customers, and the head of customer service, who apparently doesn’t either.
• By this time, it was mid-January.
• In the meantime, T made many phone calls and trips to the store to check on the status of her request.
• No calls were returned; no one had any information.
• Meanwhile, back in the manger’s office, the news was not good. The manager had a copy of the letter to the president, but no decision. She would have to call her district manager to resolve this matter.
• Finally, after many behind-the-scenes phone calls, Jared issued its verdict: it declined to guarantee its own diamond but agreed to upgrade it.
• T said no thank you; she wanted to return the ring. That, unfortunately, was no longer an option.
• Why? Because it had been purchased more than 30 days ago, and that was Jared’s policy.
• T tried logic, reminding them that the ring had not been in her possession for 30 days because Jared had sent it back to headquarters; that when she tried to resolve the issue through letters, phone calls, and visits to the store, no calls were returned, and no one had any information; that these delay tactics had effectively “run out the clock.”
• Once again, logic did not prevail; policy was sacrosanct.

It is a maxim of customer service that when a person has a bad experience, he or she will tell at least 11 people, who in turn may each tell 11 other people, and so on. In today’s world, telling only 11 people is a pretty obsolete approach. As the mother of the now-distraught bride to be; a blogger; and member of Facebook, twitter, and several other widely read social networking sites, I thought it would be more effective to tell 11 million people.

So the next time someone tells you he’s going to Jared, you might want to share this story.

Addendum to story: After all of the above, Jared agreed to take the ring back. Lots of bad PR for no good reason. That's why corporations should not have "personhood" status. They don't behave like people.