For too many years, I’ve not been able to wear three rings in my jewelry box. Part of the reason is that my ring fingers have been afflicted with a condition that causes them to lock in the joints. Additionally, my digits, along with my stomach, have increased in size as the years have passed. I decided to have them re-sized in an attempt to wear them again. It’s a simple process…or so I thought.
The business where I took the rings is a twenty mile round trip from the house. Amy and I have done business with them before and received excellent service. I dropped the rings off, and the owner’s wife was friendly and eager to help. She apologized when she took them and told me that it might be a week before they would be ready. I told her that was no problem.
I returned to the store a week later and discovered that the woman who’d helped me had undergone surgery and would be out of work for as much as a couple of months. Minding the store was her father-in-law. He was a gruff person who seemed just a bit frazzled about things. He looked for my rings and told me they weren’t back in the store. Next he took my phone number and promised to call me with an update.
The following week, I still hadn’t received any information, so I called the store myself. No one answered at 11:00 a.m., but a recording instructed me to leave a message and number so that someone could return my call. Again, no one contacted me, so the next day I again drove to the store.
When I entered, the father-in-law was again behind the counter. He didn’t recognize me and asked what I needed. I told him I wanted to pick up my rings and handed him my claim ticket. He walked to the backroom and again searched. He came out and asked what I’d left. By then, I was peeved. I answered that I’d left two rings that were supposed to have been ready a week ago.
Immediately the man was hot. He stomped back into the room to look again. Then he made a call to the repairman. When he didn’t answer, the older man told him to call him. Then this man asked me again for my name and phone number. He told me that
“We’re not going to be rude to each other."
Yep, that set me off. I looked him in the eyes and said that I wasn’t being rude. He interrupted and I finally told him,
“No, you listen to me. I’m not being rude. I was to pick up these rings a week ago. Then I was told by you that you’d call me about them. You didn’t. So, I called yesterday and got a phone machine on which I left a message and was promised a prompt returned call. I didn’t get one, so I had to drive here today, and the rings aren’t here yet.”
He puffed up and said, fixed or not, he’d get my rings back. I replied that that was fine. Then I told him I’d never do business in this place again, turned on my heels and left in a huff.
A couple of hours later, the jeweler called to tell me that he’d inadvertently put my rings somewhere and had forgotten they were there. He apologized and promised to have them fixed soon. I thanked him and told him that I understood. I also told him that I had no intentions of dealing with the older man again. We talked a while and he indicated that I wasn’t the first person to have difficulties with him and then asked that I not give up on the store.
I sent Amy to get my rings to avoid more controversy. I might use the store again because it’s a local company that does good work and offers fair prices. I just don’t want to be told not to be rude by a counter worker when I’ve driven 80 miles and 4 trips to pick up two rings that were lost and untouched for two weeks. Of course, maybe these days “the customer is always wrong.”
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