Zales — Local services in Durham

I would give a ZERO if it is an option. The WORST Zale branch ever! I moved to triangle area for almost two years, and visited this branch for 4 times at least, never had good experience. and now I finally decide to give them a review. (Note that I used to love Zale. I had amazing experience with other branches. But this one in Southpoint is horrible!) This is my experience: the people work at this branch do not show respect to their customers. They never greet me. Does not matter if there were other customers around, they never greet me when I was in the store. There was a guy work for the weekend shift. One time I walked in in the early morning. There was no other customer at that moment. He saw us, did not see anything, turned around and worked on the computer. (Seriously!?). My husband and I tried to say hi to him and told him we want our jewelry checked (as part of their life warranty). He took our jewelry, cleaned and returned, without any smile the whole time. Past weekend we went again, there were only one customer. And I was surprised to see the Zale rep is smiling and talking to the customer at the check out. He saw me, still did not say anything. I originally thought that was because they were busy doing the transaction. So I waited. After 10 min, I was still waiting, without knowing if someone is trying to take care of me or not, because no one came to greet me. the guy at the cashier even passed me several time, I did not get greeted. He did not even say a word or trying to make eye contact with me. In other Zale branch, I would at least got a sentence like, “sorry I am with other customers, can you wait?” Or “ I will be with you after this”. Anything would be nice rather than ignoring your customer. Then a lady came out of the back room. I though finally someone is coming to help me. Nope! She went directly to the computer. Again, NO greetings. She also passed me several times, yet Did not even look at me, as if I do not exist. I finally cannot handle and ask them to find someone to help me. While I was asking the lady “do you have anyone else to help me?” She pick up the phone in front of her. Yeup, she picked up the phone while I was asking her a question. How polite! I think they finally got the point that I was pretty upset at their service so the lady help me. But there was NO “sorry for the waiting” nor a smile throughout the time she cleaney my jewelry. NONE! At the end, she handed back my jewelry without a word and started to walked away. I found it very annoyed but still asked “is that it? (Do you finish what you had to do with the inspection process?)”. Seriously! You cannot even tell your customer you are done while you give back their stuff? Such a turn off to shop at Zale. I don’t even want to step into...

I brought in a gift I had received and wanted to exchange because the necklace was tarnished and also because I wanted something different. I worked with a young man who was trying to help me but what I assume was the manager kept insisting that I needed to wait and she would handle it. After a lot of back and forth for over 20 mins, and her complaining to ME that it was going to be a lot of work to do the exchange and that she was going to give me cash back so I could purchase the item I had selected in its place, she finally finished SLOWLY gift wrapping an item for another customer to come back and tell me the exchange wasn’t possible. She said since the original item was purchased online, they couldn’t exchange it, she could only return it to the original form of payment. She had an attitude the entire time and the last straw was when she asked me why I couldn’t just ask the person who gave me the gift to just GIVE ME THE CASH from the item I was returning. WHAT?! So I now have a defective item which is ZALES’ FAULT and I can’t do anything with it. I will never do business with another Zales or any of their affiliates since they can’t figure out how to provide a basic exchange service to their customers. They shouldn’t sell goods online if they can’t do exchanges in store. If they’re different companies they shouldn’t be doing business as if they’re the same, and they certainly shouldn’t hire management who doesn’t understand customer service. I didn’t want cash, I didn’t want a return, I was willing to leave my money with her company but never, ever again will I do business with this company. I’m going to take the item to a different Zales location to have it returned to the purchasers card and never go back. In this market, when everyone is trying to buy cruelty-free jewelry, they’ll be out of business soon since the only hope they have is to offer great customer service and they can’t even offer...

I've been a loyal customer at Zales for years, always appreciating the exceptional service provided by Jasmine, Mrs. Angela, and Dre. However, my recent experience was a tale of two visits.

During my first visit in March, I encountered Cassandra, whose approach to customer service left much to be desired. Despite my clear need for assistance with my mother's jewelry repairs, Cassandra seemed uninterested and unwilling to help. Her demeanor came across as indifferent and lacking in professionalism. Instead of proactively finding a solution or offering to look up my information in the system, she simply dismissed me due to the absence of physical receipts.

Cassandra's lack of initiative and reluctance to assist left me feeling frustrated and undervalued as a customer. It was disappointing to encounter such a stark contrast to the exceptional service I had come to expect from Zales. While I understand the importance of having proper documentation for transactions, her unwillingness to explore alternative solutions or provide any level of assistance was disheartening. Cassandra's left me questioning whether I wanted to continue doing business with Zales.

Fast forward to my second visit in April, and my faith in Zales was restored, thanks to Dre's outstanding service. He not only helped me with my mother's jewelry repairs but also went the extra mile to ensure I had all the necessary documentation, even though it wasn't required.

Upon picking up the repairs on yesterday, I was greeted by Jasmine, Mrs. Angela, and Dre, who exemplified the positive, knowledgeable, and personable service I expect from Zales.

While my experience was mixed, it's clear that the exceptional service provided by certain staff members makes all the difference. I hope Zales takes note of both the highs and lows to ensure consistency in customer service...