Zales — Local services in Wauwatosa

I wish to express my disappointment regarding my recent shopping experience at Zales. As a returning customer, I've previously enjoyed positive interactions with your establishment. However, my visit on April 20, 2024, left me feeling disheartened and disrespected.

I am a 28 year old Aferican American man and upon entering the store to purchase a gold necklace, I was promptly greeted by Sandy, the saleswoman. Throughout our interaction, I couldn't shake the feeling of being racially and maybe even economically profiled. While trying on a pair of gold hoops, priced at $379, Sandy displayed hesitance and unwarranted suspicion, suggesting a lack of trust in my intentions. Sandy's demeanor suggested a lack of trust as if she assumed I had ulterior motives.

Moving on to the necklace selection, I was disheartened by Sandy's lack of guidance and educational support, a departure from the service I've come to expect. In previous experiences, I've appreciated being informed about the materials' origins, witnessing the gold's weighing, and learning about the craftsmanship of the jewelry. Sandy's indifference implied a disregard for my potential as a customer. Sandy seemed disinterested and failed to provide the level of service I had come to expect from Zales.

At the point of sale where I purchased a 22-inch gold Franco necklace valued at 1,500 dollars, an issue with the PIN resulted in an unprofessional and degrading response from Sandy. Her demand for the necklace's return, coupled with her dismissive tone, was both humiliating and unnecessary. It was evident that the issue was a technical one, yet Sandy's reaction implied otherwise.

Returning to the store to purchase additional items, I was met with disappointment and unwarranted assumptions from Sandy. Her incredulous reaction, suggesting a return, rather than a new purchase, was uncalled for and added to the negative atmosphere of the encounter.

As a valued customer, I believe it is essential to address incidents of racial profiling and economic discrimination in any form. Such behavior is not only unacceptable but also damaging to the reputation of your brand. I hope that Zales takes appropriate action to address this matter and ensures that all customers are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.

I have taken the liberty of filing a formal complaint and sincerely hope for a swift and satisfactory resolution. In the end I did purchase both the gold Franco necklace and the gold Huggie hoops.

I will update this when I get resolve.

Update: Store manager Daniel called...

Thankfully my fiancé and I started our ring search over a year in advance.

We went in, got his finger sized, and found his ideal ring! We bought it the same day as it was on sale for $74! We also bought the lifetime warranty for $35. The ring was not in stock and they said it would be shipped into the store for us to come back to pick up. This was October 5, 2019.

I didn’t hear anything until I went back into the store in November. They said they couldn’t get a hold of me and decided to send the ring back to the warehouse. Which was fine, but I wasn’t issued a refund until I went in there. I reordered the ring and updated information so this wouldn’t happen again.

They call me in January to tell me that the ring was finally ready for pickup! I drove to the store to be told that the ring is not there and that someone had already picked it up. I asked to talk to a manager who needed up finding the ring in the drawer. My fiancé tried it on in the store, and the ring was at least 2 sizes too big!! Wasn’t he sized?! We reordered his original size and went on our way.

February comes along and I had to call the store to find out that the ring was there. I picked it up on my way home from school and had my fiancé try it on. lol and behold it was there wrong size AGAIN! Now I am really upset. I went the following week after school and tried returning the ring. I was instantly glared at But I was allowed to return the ring. I then asked if I could get my refund for the warranty I bought as we never got to HAVE our ring and we were definitely not going to be using them as our jeweler. I was told it was beyond the 30 day refund period! I raised my voice and the manager came over. Apologized for what happened and had to see if she could give me a refund. Which I did receive by mail a month later!

I will never even consider using...

Sandy…more concerned with figuring out which headpiece matches her roaring 20s themed outfit than helping her paying customers find their wedding bands.

I am throughly disappointed in the experience my Fiancé and I had today at the Mayfair Mall location, specifically with the saleswoman Sandy. We walked in with a plan in place for purchasing our wedding bands and repairing a previously purchased ring. Sandy from the start was rude and not welcoming. She did not listen to us on what we were actually looking for and was extremely judgmental in her tone and facial expressions the entire time.

She made horrible comments about my fiancés choice to get a black wedding band, stating he would regret it immediately and kept pushing us towards the bold blingy rings. She even went so far as to give my fiancé a degrading and disappointed look when we discovered there wasn’t warranty on the ring we were looking to repair. (when she’s the one who sold him the ring the first time and told him he had purchased it)

No bride should leave their jeweler in tears but that is exactly what happened because of Sandy. She should not be allowed to continue ruin another couple’s experience wedding band shopping. If we HAVE to return to this location we will be happy to wait any amount of time if it means not having to work with Sandy again!

Thank you to Devann and Danielle for stepping in and helping to resolve some of the nightmare that...