What would you do if you found out you've paid for diamonds but instead the store gave you cubic zirconium? This is what happened to me at the Fred Meyer Jewelers Meridian, ID location. As a victim of diamond fraud, I feel I have the responsibility to others to warn them, so they won't be ripped off by any jewelry store.
Beware if you had bought diamonds from FRED MEYER JEWELERS because you might have received cubic zirconia instead of diamonds, but had paid the price of diamonds.
Back in Nov/2010 I paid well over $2,000 for a pair of 1ctw Princess Cut DIAMOND earrings that came with its GSI report; everybody knows that these reports guarantee the quality and state of the purchased merchandise, right? Well, that's not the case here, because when I went back to the store with the intention to return them, the store manager, Josh Wittchow, performed an inspection test which at the time, I wasn't aware of since I'd never returned any jewelry before); to my great astonishment he informmed me that they weren't diamonds but CUBIC ZIRCONIA set on sterling silver! I was just dumbfounded by this news, especially because the first thing he asked me is if I had switched the original ones from the box or if anyone else in my household had done it???? He didn't accept the return and offered to get in contact with their Loss Prevention department and with the supplier of the diamonds, then he or someone else would contact me with their findings. To this date (5/7/2011), I haven't heard a word from him.
I had sent a written complaint to Peter M. Engel, President of Fred Meyer Jewels, Inc. (Portland, OR), who in reply to it delegated the problem to his Regional Supervisor, Abir Elaimy, who called me not to find a resolution to my complaint, but just to inform me that they couldn't have sold me cz earrings because they don't sell any, they're a "very reputable nationwide jewelry retailer", and because their sales reps. are diamond certified??? Why she said all this, I don't know because it doesn't explain why the cz earrings ended in the jewelry box they gave me, instead of the diamond earrings the sales rep. showed me before I bought them. I asked her if they had done anything to determine I'd been a victim of fraud by the store, meaning if they had reviewed the security feeds surrounding the time since they got the diamonds from the supplier until the date I bought them. She didn't give a solid answer to this question. Although, she get very upset when I suggested to her that it might had been one of their store employees who swapped the merchandise.
Long story short: Nothing is being done so far to clear my name from the fraud knowingly and willingly committed by someone else at the store or their supplier.
I've been thinking that I or any other customers buying diamonds are not diamond experts, so why is it that jewelers don't perform an inspection test on diamonds in front of the customer to guarantee that they're taking home with them, what the store says is selling to them; regardless if the merchandise comes with a Gemological Report.
Beware if you had bought diamonds from FRED MEYER JEWELERS because you might have received cubic zirconia instead of diamonds, but had paid the price of diamonds.
Back in Nov/2010 I paid well over $2,000 for a pair of 1ctw Princess Cut DIAMOND earrings that came with its GSI report; everybody knows that these reports guarantee the quality and state of the purchased merchandise, right? Well, that's not the case here, because when I went back to the store with the intention to return them, the store manager, Josh Wittchow, performed an inspection test which at the time, I wasn't aware of since I'd never returned any jewelry before); to my great astonishment he informmed me that they weren't diamonds but CUBIC ZIRCONIA set on sterling silver! I was just dumbfounded by this news, especially because the first thing he asked me is if I had switched the original ones from the box or if anyone else in my household had done it???? He didn't accept the return and offered to get in contact with their Loss Prevention department and with the supplier of the diamonds, then he or someone else would contact me with their findings. To this date (5/7/2011), I haven't heard a word from him.
I had sent a written complaint to Peter M. Engel, President of Fred Meyer Jewels, Inc. (Portland, OR), who in reply to it delegated the problem to his Regional Supervisor, Abir Elaimy, who called me not to find a resolution to my complaint, but just to inform me that they couldn't have sold me cz earrings because they don't sell any, they're a "very reputable nationwide jewelry retailer", and because their sales reps. are diamond certified??? Why she said all this, I don't know because it doesn't explain why the cz earrings ended in the jewelry box they gave me, instead of the diamond earrings the sales rep. showed me before I bought them. I asked her if they had done anything to determine I'd been a victim of fraud by the store, meaning if they had reviewed the security feeds surrounding the time since they got the diamonds from the supplier until the date I bought them. She didn't give a solid answer to this question. Although, she get very upset when I suggested to her that it might had been one of their store employees who swapped the merchandise.
Long story short: Nothing is being done so far to clear my name from the fraud knowingly and willingly committed by someone else at the store or their supplier.
I've been thinking that I or any other customers buying diamonds are not diamond experts, so why is it that jewelers don't perform an inspection test on diamonds in front of the customer to guarantee that they're taking home with them, what the store says is selling to them; regardless if the merchandise comes with a Gemological Report.
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