Zales Outlet — Local services in Alafaya

Short version: I will never ever give any Zales any of my money again. Their lack of care for their customers is disgusting.

Long version: I bought my wife's engagement/wedding band set from this Zales about 2 years ago because they mailed me a coupon that made the set I wanted a great deal. The lady who helped me that day was extremely nice and super helpful. After that initial experience however, we've had nothing but problems.

When we returned about a year ago for a repair under warranty, the associates in the store were unable to find out account. They eventually found it with the wrong phone number and address. We asked them to update the info and add both myself and my at-the-time fiancée (this was an ongoing issue for more than a year). We left her engagement ring for what we were told would be s quick and easy repair. A week later we hadn't been updated on the status so we called the store. The girl on the phone wasn't able to find any record of our work order or even the physical ring at all. We drove to the store and spoke to a manager who was only marginally helpful. After many interruptions and lots of hemming and hawing, the manager found our ring in an unlocked drawer, it hadn't ever been sent out for repair!

We took the ring to a different jeweler for the repair and vowed never to go back.

About a month ago, so almost 2 years after the initial purchase and about 1 year after the repair fiasco, I was looking to buy my wedding band. After visiting several local chains, Zales was the only store that could get me the 5mm white gold band I wanted in time. My fiancée and I went to the Fashion Square Mall location in hopes that our experience would be better. The associates at that store were like the stereotypical used car salesman, greasy and pushy with little-to-no knowledge of their product. Because I knew exactly what I wanted, we still decided to buy my band. I was sized in store and they told me I was a size 8. I came back a week later to pick my band and once I got home I discovered that it was too big. I went back to the Fashion Square store and found out hat the ring was actually an 8.5 instead of an 8. I sent it back in and picked it up another week later, the week of my wedding. The ring was still too big but it was too close to my wedding to send it out to be sized a third time. After the wedding and honeymoon (where I didn't wear the ring for fear of losing it) I went to the Waterford location for seek a solution. The manager there (who I heard tell her staff not to answer the phones when they were busy) was very unhelpful and only agreed to a next-day sizing when I asked several times. She measured my ring and said it was almost an 8.5, not the 8 I asked for. She then sized my finger and said I really needed a 7.75, not an 8! The only way I could get the ring in 24 hours was for me to drive to the Florida Mall location. She called ahead and supposedly spoke to the jeweler to make sure this solution would work. When I arrived at the Florida Mall, the jeweler had already left for the day and the associates in the store didn't have a clue what I was talked my about. Luckily, the first competent employee I'd dealt with since my initial purchase 2 years prior overheard my frustration and stepped in before I blew up. Her name is Brenda and she might be the only reason I didn't fly off the handle. She re-measured my finger to ensure that I really did need a 7.75 and wrote a note to the jeweler making sure that the ring would be sized and delivered to the Waterford store the next day. I left confident that I would have my ring, properly sized, within 24 hours.

Unfortunately, I'm writing this review on my phone in the parking lot because the jeweler is "on the way", 2 hours after he was supposed to be here.

Final notes: the Waterford store looks extremely shabby, the staff (with the exception of Brenda at Florida Mall) are incompetent and unhelpful. My impression of the company as a whole is that corporate couldn't care less about their customers or their...

You would be better off buying jewelry from the side of the road. This is the most inconsistent, unprofessional, and disorganized chain. If I didn't know better, I would seriously think we were dealing with Walmart.

My fiancé first bought my bridal set from this location, then we spent some time in Tucson for the summer. After having picked his wedding band from their website, my fiancé and I went to the Zales in the Tucson mall for him to get fitted and to maybe see the ring in person. The sales associates there ACTUALLY threw the ring mandrel (sizer) at us for him to fit himself, picked up rings that looked NOTHING like the one we showed them (even after having provided the item#), INSISTED that they were the one we showed them, got the WRONG sizes of those [incorrect] rings for him to try on, and then argued amongst themselves in front of us. When we finally tried to place the order with them online, they checked us out using the WRONG shipping address after us having given them all our information repeatedly. Needless to say, we cancelled our order placed it on our own from home.

A few months later, we wanted to upgrade my engagement ring- literally just change out its [peg] head. Little did we know that for a corporation which claims to be a leader in the diamond industry, that was a strange and impossible request.

After calling the Zales in Gainesville (Oaks Mall) to inquire about a consultation with a jeweler (supposedly an "in-store service” on the Zales website), we were literally told they didn't know when one would be there, since they only had one come in every few months. As ridiculous as that sounds, when my fiancé tried to even find out how we would know when that magical time would be, he was told that they literally had no idea: we apparently just needed to keep calling every day for however many months.

It gets worse. We called the Orlando (Waterford) location in November, thinking they might be a little more organized. Sure enough, they told us they could set up an appointment, but we needed to call back after Christmas because they were busy at the moment, which was fine since we would be there for the holidays. We called today, three days after the 25th, and all of a sudden, the same woman who told us to call back then in the first place said it would now take at least weeks to get an appointment, because they were "swamped."

They DID, however, give us the wonderful alternative of mailing my ring off to someone for an indefinite period of time, with no pricing information whatsoever, and without any idea about design possibilities altogether. Given the fine show of competence this corporation has displayed, we had nothing but confidence in that amazing option.

So that's what thousands of dollars on engagement rings, wedding bands, and insurance plans gets you at Zales: service not even fit for a grocery store. Maybe well after our wedding, perhaps in time for 20th anniversary, they will have finally...

I've tried to come in 3 times to have the main prong on my engagement ring fixed and they are never open when they're supposed to be. Each time the door says something about "inventory". Today I looked up online to see if they were open before I drove all the way there. It said they would be open at 11am. I got there about 10:45, I parked in front of the store and 2 women walked up to the door and unlocked it and went in, locking it behind them. I went up to the door at 11:05am and it was still locked. I looked on the door and see that there is a paper on the door that has a different schedule on it that says Monday (today) they're CLOSED. I walk back to my car and I look over and a one of the women put another paper sign on the door. Just then a man parks next to me and he walks up to the door and reads the sign and tries to open the door. At this point I was curious and went up to see what the new sign said. It said "closed for inventory until 4pm" like.... huh?! So then he tells me the story of how they've had his wives ring for over a month, they came Saturday to pick it up and they told him THEY COULDN'T FIND IT! He came back today because they said they found it. The lady came out and yelled that they would be open "MUCH LATER" and he was able to explain that he was there Saturday and she said, "oh you're Mr. _, I'll bring it right out to you" I sat in my car outside observing and he waited for 15 minutes before she finally came out. He asked her why the time on the internet said they were open but her & the door said they're closed. She stumbled around her words speaking in circles saying something about "inventory". She then removed the sign that said they were opening at 4pm from the door. I've been sitting here for 30 minutes and 4 people have tried to go in and all of them were confused and told me it said they were open online. I will absolutely NOT be coming here to have them fix my ring (that we bought from Zales 12 years ago). They aren't open and if they are who says they won't LOSE my ring!?!? I hope corporate investigates and replaces the incompetent people...