does anyone else get treated like this?

[vip0802]

after seeing me search endlessly on PS for e-ring designs, BF made the monumental suggestion that we go look at some engagement ring settings today. i was ecstatic! i mean looking at pics online is great, but i needed to see some IRL and actually try them on.

we had happened to be at the mall to run some errrands, and popped into a "maul" store just to see what they had. the lady behind the counter greeted us, and we politely informed her that we were just looking. she continued to follow us with every single step around the cases while staring at us. whatever, we just shrugged it off and continued to look. i saw one that looked interesting, and asked if i could see it. as she was about to hand it over, i took off my eternity band that i wear on my ring finger to try it on, and she asked, "is that real?". i was kind of taken aback since i feel that's such a rude question to ask. i said yes and she replied back, "oh, it's umm...cute.". i wanted to slap her! my dear BF gave me that ring and she basically insulted it in front of him. yes, the ring looks dainty on my finger but i would never degradingly call a 1 ctw eternity band "cute" as if it was a kid's toy.

we left the mall and headed over to a higher end jewelry store. it's a pretty reputable store that caters to the rich folk in my area. when we first walked in, the guy gave us the once-over and ignored us. ok, we were dressed in t-shirts and shorts but so what? BF is 30 and i'll be 29 in a few weeks so, i don't think we looked "too young" or inappropriate in any way. i thought part of the job description of being a sales associate was to make people feel welcomed. i used to work at a high end jewelry store too, and the people that were actual millionaires and spent boat loads of money, were the ones that wore t-shirts and baseball caps. anyway, we started looking and they had really nice pieces! they were so nice that my BF mentioned that my eyes were sparkling as much as the rings. haha! we sat down in some of the stools in front of one case and started pointing out different designs. no one else was in the store, and we were clearly interested in seeing some but the guy continued to ignore us and talk to his co-worker. BF had to actually walk over and ask one of them to open up the case. reluctantly, he came over and sighed heavily as he fiddled with his keys. i was getting heated at this point, but decided to ignore it since i didn't want to ruin our first "ring outing".

we were looking at this gorgeous vintage-style setting with an EC center. last week, we had looked at a loose 1.5ct EC that i loved so naturally, we were curious to see the carat weight of the EC on display for comparison. when we asked, all the guy said to us was, "that's a CZ". seriously?! i was getting fed up with the rudeness, but i politely said, "i understand CZ's weigh approximately 75% heavier than a diamond, but why don't you just tell me the approximate carat weight of that stone if it were a diamond based on it's spread." he got stumped and ended up having to look at the tag.

he even started impatiently drumming his fingers on the case while i was trying it on.

now, another reason why i had picked this place to look in was because i knew they carried ring designs by Mark Silverstein. i had been drooling over his rings and have been dying to try them on for months. i found out through his website that the closest retailer that carried his collection was this particular store. i finally spotted some in another case and i excitedly asked the guy if those were in fact, Mark Silverstein rings. he laughed and said, "yeah, no. we design our pieces ourselves and i've never even heard of whoever you're talking about." he even rolled his eyes at me when i informed him about MS's website saying the store carried them. so, either the website or this guy is lying and i think it's the latter. i asked him if could try it on and he rudely said, "i don't think it'll fit you." WHAT?! BF got mad at this point, and we decided to leave.

we were so annoyed by then that we didn't even bother to check out other places. i'm so upset that our first ring-shopping experience was so horrible! especially since it was my BF who suggested this outing and was just as excited about going as i was. we weren't rude to anyone and i don't believe we were wasting anyone's time by trying on different rings. to me, this is all part of the whole "picking out an engagement ring" process right? i mean, what if we were a couple that knew absolutely nothing and were looking to these people to actually help us?

anyway, i was just curious if any of you had experiences like this while jewelry shopping.

 

[asscherisme]

Wow, thats awful. I really like internet shopping for this reason. I have encountered snobbery and people who have no knowledge and just say what they feel like it. Add that to severe overpricing.

there is NO excuse to treat a customer like that. And you would think in this economy, chasing customers out the door is just stupid.

I was engaged before internet shopping (early 90''s) and even back then we encountered lots of snobbery. Turned me off jewlery buying. Found out years later that the stone my ex husband bought me was not what it was sold as.

What the worst thing is when they insult what you are wearing and expect to make a sale.

I would walk out and you did the right thing.

Have you considered online buying?

There are so many great vendors here that will be happy to have your business and treat you in a way that reflects that. And you will save money too.

 

[Moh 10]

What jerks.

I remember when I bought my first piano.
I was in flip flops, shorts and a tank top.
The sales guy ignored me.
I called him over and pulled out my checkbook.
His jaw dropped.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 7/19/2009 1:04:44 AM
Author:vip0802

anyway, i was just curious if any of you had experiences like this while jewelry shopping.

yes,at Shreve & Co. in S.F.,till the manager notice the watch i was wearing.

 

[lovegem]

Date: 7/19/2009 1:45:59 AM
Author: Moh 10
What jerks.


I remember when I bought my first piano.

I was in flip flops, shorts and a tank top.

The sales guy ignored me.

I called him over and pulled out my checkbook.

His jaw dropped.

Sadly, many sales persons do that. They still don''t get it that some people just don''t wear what they earn.
BTW, I wouldn''t even give him the commission. I would give it to another sales person if possible.

 

[MonkeyPie]

I''m sorry this happened to you

The dumb woman at the maul store, well, that''s to be expected. But I would call the other place and give the manager this guys name and let him/her know that this particular SA lost a possible sale.

 

[Gypsy]

Call on Monday. Ask to speak to the manager or owner. Explain why they lost your business.

As for whether or not I''ve been treated that way. I have a horrid memory. Probably. I''m kinda "done" with non-PS BM''s though, except for browsing purposes and research so I don''t even notice the service and usually just get amused at the ignorance or the "are you in the trade" questions.

AH... I do remember one time now. We were in LV a couple of years ago and Cartier, and Leighton had been WONDERFUL. Sincerely fabulous in letting me run wild and try ANYTHING I wanted on so I didn''t think twice about walking into Harry Winston. Boy, was the sales guys JERK about letting me try on one of the micropave cushion halos. He pulled out the smallest one (there were six in the case) and just was unpleasant. I went back to Leighton. Leighton rocked.

 

[VRBeauty]

It's happened to me, and it had nothing to do with age

. I'm sorry those jerks got in the way of what should have been a memorable time.

BTW both of the stores that treated me that way are now kaput.

Not that I noticed or anything...

 

[LGK]

Date: 7/19/2009 2:00:09 AM
Author: Gypsy
Call on Monday. Ask to speak to the manager or owner. Explain why they lost your business.

As for whether or not I''ve been treated that way. I have a horrid memory. Probably. I''m kinda ''done'' with non-PS BM''s though, except for browsing purposes and research so I don''t even notice the service and usually just get amused at the ignorance or the ''are you in the trade'' questions.

AH... I do remember one time now. We were in LV a couple of years ago and Cartier, and Leighton had been WONDERFUL. Sincerely fabulous in letting me run wild and try ANYTHING I wanted on so I didn''t think twice about walking into Harry Winston. Boy, was the sales guys JERK about letting me try on one of the micropave cushion halos. He pulled out the smallest one (there were six in the case) and just was unpleasant. I went back to Leighton. Leighton rocked.

That was my exact experience in Las Vegas too. I couldn''t believe the stuff they let me play with there- I guess what with the burly security guards, they don''t flinch at letting you try on the six figure goodies. What awesome sales people! The Tiffany''s folks were incredibly nice too. And I was dressed down- WAY down, like tatty converse and silly kitty t-shirt dressed down.

But yeah, there have been some crappy experiences too. Mostly in lower end stores. I also hate when some sales clerk is snotty to you at first, then blatantly looks at your left hand, sees a nice ring, and then is all helpful and nice suddenly. I kinda hate that more than just honest rudeness.

 

[Gypsy]

LV is great. I'm hitting Canturi the next time we go.

It bothers me too LGK. But when I go to stores now I wear my engagement ring and my pendant and usually a RHR too. Perks them right up. I've stopped showing how much I know though. I act like I know next to nothing about jewelry and let them 'inform me'... always fun. Except for the two jewelers who KNOW I'm a PSer and what that means. Them, I'm myself with. And they are cool no matter what I'm wearing.

There is one other jeweler I let on what I know with, an independant locally. Them I just let babble until they say something that causes a flag for me, and I correct them. They are my local Bev. K dealer, but don't advertise the line. It's one of their house lines-- so they pretend it's exclusive to them (I know all thier house lines now). Whenever I go in to look at Bev K pieces they start telling me stuff... unless it's the owner, he's gotten wise to me... but I just correct them, and usually tell them that their prices are high and not to bother qouting me anything, just tell them to hand it over and let me try it on, then tell them nicely that if I were to buy from them, I'd know exactly what I'd pay for a piece and I'd tell them what that price was... and they could then decide if they wanted my business or not. The owner now just cops to the designer straight off and doesn't bother to try to tell me anything is exclusive.... and just qoutes me "real" prices... doesn't even bother with the tag except for the ID number so he can look it up in the system. We get along. His sales staff though... they're fun for me. The deer in headlights look is always entertaining. "NO, that's not exclusive to you. The designer is Beverly K. I don't care what the tag says, it's wrong."

 

[whitby_2773]

vip -

i''m so sorry this happened to you - how lousy! kinda puts you off going again and i can imagine you''re concerned it''ll put your BF off wanting to try again at all!

this has happened to me when i was young, but no more. i''m always polite, but i''m a serious consumer, and if you''re not a serious sales person, don''t waste my time. these days, like Gypsy said, i tend to have favorite vendors who know me (increasingly they seem to be PS vendors), and i call ahead of time and make appointments. if i''m going to drop down a few thousand dollars or more in some store, i just EXPECT some of your time. and why should it be an assumed thing that i will? why should a vendor not have to work for my business?

nobody wants to have those sorts of exchanges attached to their e-ring experience, so it''d be worth finding some vendors that give the sort of sales service they should.

like VRBeauty mentioned - this economy seems to be sorting bad service out. in boom times, anyone could make money. but now i see stores closing which were renowned for bad service; people are voting with their feet.

again - i''m sorry this happened. i hope the next experience is a completely different story!

 

[gwendolyn]

Yeah, this same sort of thing happened to me too. Probably the worst was when I was shopping with one of my best girl friends to show her what I would want (since I didn't know at the time if J wanted everything to be a surprise) and the sales guy at T&Co actually told us to leave and "come back with the men" before he'd take anything out of the case!

Little did he know that I'm the one with all the money.

Just take your business elsewhere. There ARE nice and knowledgeable B&Ms out there; you just have to know where to look to find them.

 

[atroop711]

so sorry this happened to you. Ugh...I hope he works on commision..because he blew any sort of sale with his attitude.

Yes unfortunately living in NYC I have encountered this too many times (

). It annoys me beyond anything that ppl make a judgement about you because of the way you look. They assume so much. In my case I would dress up (in my early 20''s) before going into one of these high end full of crap stores. I would still get the annoyed look when I asked to see something (something that many minorities go through). I remember I was shopping for a watch for my husband and the watch I wanted for him was around $1600. I asked to see the watch and she said to me..that''s really expensive. I said to her...did I ask the price? I don''t have tolerance for rudeness. I''ve also had ppl at jewelry stores ask if my rings were real. My look to them was all they needed (and of course my answer: what kind of question is that? with a smile that spoke wonders)

Living here all of my 41 yrs, I''ve learned the stored to stay away from and the stores that are friendly.

 

[Ellen]

Date: 7/19/2009 1:04:44 AM
Author:vip0802


now, another reason why i had picked this place to look in was because i knew they carried ring designs by Mark Silverstein. i had been drooling over his rings and have been dying to try them on for months. i found out through his website that the closest retailer that carried his collection was this particular store. i finally spotted some in another case and i excitedly asked the guy if those were in fact, Mark Silverstein rings. he laughed and said, ''yeah, no. we design our pieces ourselves and i''ve never even heard of whoever you''re talking about.'' he even rolled his eyes at me when i informed him about MS''s website saying the store carried them. so, either the website or this guy is lying and i think it''s the latter. i asked him if could try it on and he rudely said, ''i don''t think it''ll fit you.'' WHAT?! BF got mad at this point, and we decided to leave.

Wow, it''s like the shopping scene straight out of Pretty Woman.

Unbelievable.

I''m so sorry your first outing was less than fun. Unfortunately, many sales people don''t "get" that what we''re wearing/how old we are, has nothing to do with what we''re willing to spend. You shouldn''t have to do this, but the next time you go, try dressing up a bit and see if it goes better. I hope so!

And I echo calling the manager tomorrow and telling them exactly what this jerk said to you.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

If you really want to consider that line of rings, I''d consider going back and asking to have the manager work with you directly. When asked why you chose this, explain the situation and say you want someone knowledgeable about the line. And I''d shoot daggers at the SA if he''s there at the time. That''s so unacceptable. I''m sorry you had to go through that.

 

[jet2ks]

So sorry you were treated that way, vip. I would echo calling the manager and letting them know why they lost the sale. Too many times SA''s behave one way when a manager is around and another when they aren''t. When ring shopping, I dealt with several untrained SA''s that weren''t very knowledgeable, but let that ride if they were sincerely friendly and helpful.

Rudeness is a totally different story. FI and I were ignored in Tiff & Co. when looking at wedding bands and then treated very well in the next store we stopped in. Keep shopping and you will find a store that wants your business and will treat you with the respect that all customers deserve.

 

[D&T]

They are jerks, And to that latter sales person, I would call into the store''s manager and tell them at how unappealing and rude his staff was, I doubt the manager would like to hear how rude his sales people are at the expense of a sale or an "assumption." I used to work in a department jewelry store, and I kid you not, the ones that spent the most were in t-shirts and jeans too.

 

[Tuckins1]

Sadly, yes, we have been treated in a similar way. We went to a few different "maul" stores to look at different styles and a get a feel for different shapes/styles, etc... My husband (then boyfriend) ONLY wears jeans, t-shirt, and tennis shoes. (Unless we are going to a wedding or something) The sales associates took one look at him and decided we weren''t worth the time. They ignored us, or were rude and snotty when we were working with them. It was their loss, because my hubby spent a nice chunk of change on my set, and he LOVES the place we finally got it from and is a repeat customer!

I also remember one time we were at Macy''s looking at watches. DH wanted this Tag watch, which is around $2000 or so... I said, spur of the moment, "you want it? Let''s buy it now!" We waited and waited at the counter... The lady was on the other side, just sitting there! After about 10 minutes, another, older couple, approached the counter, and she went right over to them!!! I said F@*% this place! They won''t get one cent of my money and we left.

People are rude, and quite dumb at times!!!

 

[Tuckins1]

Date: 7/19/2009 6:44:53 AM
Author: gwendolyn
Yeah, this same sort of thing happened to me too. Probably the worst was when I was shopping with one of my best girl friends to show her what I would want (since I didn''t know at the time if J wanted everything to be a surprise) and the sales guy at T&Co actually told us to leave and ''come back with the men'' before he''d take anything out of the case!

Little did he know that I''m the one with all the money.

Just take your business elsewhere. There ARE nice and knowledgeable B&Ms out there; you just have to know where to look to find them.

I had a sales associate tell me this also!! My friend and I were browsing rings for her, and they said "come back with your man when you''re serious about buying..." Jerk a$s.

 

[LadyBlue]

One time we were just hanging around on Sunday, and we stopped at T&Co, wearing jeans and a T-shirt. No body came to talk with us, we did not care b/c we were just browsing. The next time we stopped after work, wearing formal clothes, after we got in the store, someone immediately someone came to help us.

So I guess, this is a pretty commun situation

 

[BlueSki231]

Date: 7/19/2009 10:24:49 AM
Author: Tuckins1

Date: 7/19/2009 6:44:53 AM

Author: gwendolyn

Yeah, this same sort of thing happened to me too. Probably the worst was when I was shopping with one of my best girl friends to show her what I would want (since I didn''t know at the time if J wanted everything to be a surprise) and the sales guy at T&Co actually told us to leave and ''come back with the men'' before he''d take anything out of the case!

Little did he know that I''m the one with all the money.

Just take your business elsewhere. There ARE nice and knowledgeable B&Ms out there; you just have to know where to look to find them.

I had a sales associate tell me this also!! My friend and I were browsing rings for her, and they said ''come back with your man when you''re serious about buying...'' Jerk a$s.

OMG - no way!!

 

[Amethyste]

Date: 7/19/2009 1:45:59 AM
Author: Moh 10
What jerks.


I remember when I bought my first piano.

I was in flip flops, shorts and a tank top.

The sales guy ignored me.

I called him over and pulled out my checkbook.

His jaw dropped.

beautiful............

 

[LilyKat]

I agree with the suggestion of calling up the manager and letting them know just how their employee behaved. The sad truth is that unless they own the store or are working on commission, some sales associates are just too lazy to do their job properly or even be polite to a potential customer. Some of them even get a kick out of feeling "superior" to customers and behaving snottily gives them the only feeling of power they have. Don't give them the satisfaction.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Date: 7/19/2009 1:47:03 AM
Author: Dancing Fire

Date: 7/19/2009 1:04:44 AM

Author:vip0802


anyway, i was just curious if any of you had experiences like this while jewelry shopping.

yes,at Shreve & Co. in S.F.,till the manager notice the watch i was wearing.

This happens to DH a lot...treated like junk until they see the Omega...

 

[cellentani]

vip - I''m so sorry you had a lousy experience! Snooty sales people suck!! You live in my area, so let me know if you want any ideas of where to browse - I''m so curious to know where you went.

 

[LamborghiniGirl]

Stories like this make me so mad! If it makes you feel better, at least you were able to determine the store is not a genuinely nice place for customers, and not a place you want to have a relationship with if something ever happened with the ring. You want a place that is 100% there to make customers happy.

I make a point not to dress nicely or wear brand things when I am in jewelry stores, or any nice stores, for the first time. Think sweatpants, nikes, and a hoodie. Thankfully, more often than not I have been surprised that most stores around me have no problem letting me try on anything and are very willing to help. They are usually friendly, and don't assume anything-- but that may be because up north where I am, a lot of very wealthy people are very conservative and not flashy about money. So, sales people don't want to assume anything. In the end, if things go well, I decide which sales associate I will work with in the future.

I hope the experience won't put you off forever, I understand it is hard enough to get a BF to be excited to come in the first place!

What about this? Call ahead and make an appointment to sit down and be shown the selection with a specific sales person. They will think you are 'for real' about looking, even if this is just for initial browsing.

Maybe if you say where you are located, some members could recommend jewelry stores in the area that have great customer service!

*hugs*

 

[DiamondFlame]

How awful indeed! What nerve! I''m usually polite but if an SA insists in being such an ass, I wd do the company a favor and get him fired.

I second the suggestion to call ahead requesting for their best or most experienced sales staff ''to be made available upon your arrival''.
You''ll be surprised at how different sales staff treat you when they think you are some free-spending royalty. But be sure to avoid busy hours though.

 

[vip0802]

thank you everyone for your replies! you all are wonderful!

i guess i should mention that my mom has a jewelry shop, and we always go to her for jewelry inquiries. BF is dead set in getting the ring from her for sentimental and obvious reasons. i believe he would want my mom's jewelry smith to make a ring for me, which is why we've been searching around for ideas. or, if we end up getting a setting that i like somewhere else, he'll get the stone from my mom and have her guy mount it.

i think i will call and speak to the manager about yesterday, but then again all he/she can offer me is an apology. that's all well and good, but it's the principle behind the guy acting like a jerk. his manager could lecture him all he wants, but in the end, will he really learn his lesson? will it actually make all of his staff be more gracious towards customers? maybe, maybe not. i mean we didn't have the intention of buying at all, but we could've in the future. i mean isn't it the point to be able to try different rings on to figure out what you like? it's like you can't buy a car without test driving it first, you can't rave over a dish at a restaurant without eating it and you can't just buy a wedding dress without trying it on. especially when a person is going to pay thousands of hard-earned dollars, and looking at something as important as an engagement ring, you would think they would be more helpful. i may or may not go back...i guess it's all dependent on how badly i want that designer ring.

asscherisme - i can't believe the ring wasn't what it was sold as. how shady! yes, before our outing yesterday, all we did was look at settings online. i guess i'm a little wary of going by what it looks by pictures alone since i can't actually see it in person and try it on. i don't know if it's the proportions of my finger, but certain ring designs have a lot more girth on my finger and don't feel quite as comfortable as i would like. like this one Mark Silverstein ring i saw on the website, looked a bit more dainty in the store. which btw, i SWEAR that it was really a MS ring. i could be totally wrong seeing how the guy said they design everything themselves, but who knows.

Gypsy - i love it when i'm able to call out a sales person on their BS! man, i wish i could go jewelry shopping with you! obviously for the fun of it, but i'd LOVE to see the look on the faces of the staff.

gwendolyn and Tuckins1 - wow, seriously?!

i think i would've lost it if a SA told me that!

cellentani - we went to Khoury Bros Jewelers at White Flint Mall. i know they have other locations at Tyson's Corner and Arlington, but according to MS's website, the White Flint location was the only one that carried his line of rings. i'm not saying anything bad about Khoury Bros in general since their stores really are lovely, and i'm sure there are other employees that are great. it's just a shame that one person can ruin my personal experience with them. yes, i would love it if you'd share some other places to browse! hopefully we'll be able to browse together if we go to the Gem Show.

again, thank you all for your input. i really do appreciate it!

 

[LilyKat]

Date: 7/19/2009 2:47:55 PM
Author: vip0802

i think i will call and speak to the manager about yesterday, but then again all he/she can offer me is an apology. that's all well and good, but it's the principle behind the guy acting like a jerk. his manager could lecture him all he wants, but in the end, will he really learn his lesson? will it actually make all of his staff be more gracious towards customers?

I guess you're thinking about this in a nicer and more practical way than I was. I would just want the mental satisfaction of knowing I had gotten the rude guy in TROUBLE

 

[brightlight]

Date: 7/19/2009 1:04:44 AM
Author:vip0802
after seeing me search endlessly on PS for e-ring designs, BF made the monumental suggestion that we go look at some engagement ring settings today. i was ecstatic! i mean looking at pics online is great, but i needed to see some IRL and actually try them on.

we had happened to be at the mall to run some errrands, and popped into a 'maul' store just to see what they had. the lady behind the counter greeted us, and we politely informed her that we were just looking. she continued to follow us with every single step around the cases while staring at us. whatever, we just shrugged it off and continued to look. i saw one that looked interesting, and asked if i could see it. as she was about to hand it over, i took off my eternity band that i wear on my ring finger to try it on, and she asked, 'is that real?'. i was kind of taken aback since i feel that's such a rude question to ask. i said yes and she replied back, 'oh, it's umm...cute.'. i wanted to slap her! my dear BF gave me that ring and she basically insulted it in front of him. yes, the ring looks dainty on my finger but i would never degradingly call a 1 ctw eternity band 'cute' as if it was a kid's toy.

we left the mall and headed over to a higher end jewelry store. it's a pretty reputable store that caters to the rich folk in my area. when we first walked in, the guy gave us the once-over and ignored us. ok, we were dressed in t-shirts and shorts but so what? BF is 30 and i'll be 29 in a few weeks so, i don't think we looked 'too young' or inappropriate in any way. i thought part of the job description of being a sales associate was to make people feel welcomed. i used to work at a high end jewelry store too, and the people that were actual millionaires and spent boat loads of money, were the ones that wore t-shirts and baseball caps. anyway, we started looking and they had really nice pieces! they were so nice that my BF mentioned that my eyes were sparkling as much as the rings. haha! we sat down in some of the stools in front of one case and started pointing out different designs. no one else was in the store, and we were clearly interested in seeing some but the guy continued to ignore us and talk to his co-worker. BF had to actually walk over and ask one of them to open up the case. reluctantly, he came over and sighed heavily as he fiddled with his keys. i was getting heated at this point, but decided to ignore it since i didn't want to ruin our first 'ring outing'.

we were looking at this gorgeous vintage-style setting with an EC center. last week, we had looked at a loose 1.5ct EC that i loved so naturally, we were curious to see the carat weight of the EC on display for comparison. when we asked, all the guy said to us was, 'that's a CZ'. seriously?! i was getting fed up with the rudeness, but i politely said, 'i understand CZ's weigh approximately 75% heavier than a diamond, but why don't you just tell me the approximate carat weight of that stone if it were a diamond based on it's spread.' he got stumped and ended up having to look at the tag.

he even started impatiently drumming his fingers on the case while i was trying it on.

now, another reason why i had picked this place to look in was because i knew they carried ring designs by Mark Silverstein. i had been drooling over his rings and have been dying to try them on for months. i found out through his website that the closest retailer that carried his collection was this particular store. i finally spotted some in another case and i excitedly asked the guy if those were in fact, Mark Silverstein rings. he laughed and said, 'yeah, no. we design our pieces ourselves and i've never even heard of whoever you're talking about.' he even rolled his eyes at me when i informed him about MS's website saying the store carried them. so, either the website or this guy is lying and i think it's the latter. i asked him if could try it on and he rudely said, 'i don't think it'll fit you.' WHAT?! BF got mad at this point, and we decided to leave.

we were so annoyed by then that we didn't even bother to check out other places. i'm so upset that our first ring-shopping experience was so horrible! especially since it was my BF who suggested this outing and was just as excited about going as i was. we weren't rude to anyone and i don't believe we were wasting anyone's time by trying on different rings. to me, this is all part of the whole 'picking out an engagement ring' process right? i mean, what if we were a couple that knew absolutely nothing and were looking to these people to actually help us?

anyway, i was just curious if any of you had experiences like this while jewelry shopping.

Did you happen to be in a Tiffany's, b/c that's exactly how we were treated? We were completely ignored by all the sales associates. In fact, another customer told a sales associate that we needed help, and she still refused to help us. Then, I flashed my engagement ring, and she was literally grabbing my hand to put the wedding bands on my finger to try on.