Zales Jewelers made a time in my life that should have been very exciting and special the most horrible experience. My fiance proposed to me with a beautiful ring purchased from Zales. We decided to finance 1000 of the charges and pay 500 in full. We paid off 500 of the 1000 in a couple months. And were scheduled to finish paying off the ring in February.in December my fiance made a payment on our ring of 100.00 taking the balance down to 400.00. Zales took the check we sent them and "electronically" (as they call it) processed the 100.00 check as a 500.00 check. This money pulled out of our account 2 days after Christmas which also happened to be 5 days before our rent was due. They took all of the money out of the account also overdrafting it by 1.87. Of course the overdraft fees were not our fault nor were they the banks, so the bank wouldnt get rid of the charges (which they shouldnt have to if it was zale's mistake). We were left responsible to pay the 10.00 overdraft fees due to zales' mistake because they would not take responsibility. They then took over a month to get the issue resolved. We had to live off of only my pay check, spend a month staying home, not running our heat, and eating ramen to get by. The issue was finally resolved when US bank contacted zales and resolved it for us because zales would not help, call us back or offer any sort of a time line of when they would get everything together.
After going with out for so long, by the time we got our money back in February we were more than prepared to pay off our ring and never deal with them again. We paid our ring off on 02/05/09. After our first ordeal I begged my fiance to get a reciept stating that the account balance was zero. The girl who helped him replied with "I cant print a receipt but I can give you the transaction reciept and show you the screen where your balance says zero." So she did and we thought nothing more of it.
March 20th we returned from vacation to a zales bill in our mail box. They are now saying we owe 500.00! I called the store (which is about 45 minutes away from where we live) where they told me they couldnt help us because they werent able to verify our identities over the phone. (ironically I work at an insurance company where it is my job to verify identity over the phone so I know all of the laws!)
We made the 45 minute drive to the next town to speak with them in person where they told us that the 500.00 charge was from a purchase made 02/06/09 the day after the ring was paid off. They tried to tell us it was made at a different store, called corporate who told them it was made at their store. They have no record of what the purchase was, nor does their bank, nor does corporate.
It is now the middle of April. When we went to the store they said it would be resovled in a week. We have been calling the phone number for their bank trying to get status of this. They promised this time that it would be resolved by 04/15/09.
Today is 04/15/09. I opened my mailbox to a nice letter stating my issue was resolved. There was also a billing statement from zales. They are now charging interest on the 500.00 that I didnt purchase.
In the letter they also state that they have notified all of the major credit agencies of the discrepencies.
At a time when I should be starting my life, planning my wedding, getting ready to own a home, I am spending my breaks, mornings and evenings calling zales. Our credit is now messed up and they are still expecting me to pay for a 500.00 purchase that was never made. They are thieves, fraudulant, provide horrible customer service and have made my life hell. I am getting married soon and I find it very sad that I have to go with out a wedding band that matches my ring. I could purchase one there but who wants to pay 500.00 more than the price tag.
Mallorymarie
Lewiston, Idaho
U.S.A.
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