A Customer Experience Not to be Repeated
It is hard to put into words the experience I have had recently with a local antique jewellery store ; where I bought a rough-cut diamond bracelet back in December. It has ultimately made me question what I buy and where I will be spending my money in the future. It most certainly won’t be at Bilkey & Co.
These two bracelet don’t look alike!
The bracelet was too big for me when I purchased it, and I made sure that it wouldn’t be a problem to get resized. Nearly 3 months later, and still with no bracelet I have literally given up the fight to get the shop owner to act reasonably and provide me with a refund. The excuses have been numerous; her rude manner intolerable, her lack of customer service astounding. She wasn’t even phased when I mentioned that I would look to get a letter from my lawyer sent to her. She said that it didn’t matter what I did – that I could sue her, take her to court – whatever. She WAS NOT going to give me my money back.
I couldn’t believe what a drama this was turning into. I just wanted the bracelet made smaller. At one stage she accused me of being a liar as they had gone ahead and made me a pair of earrings that I had requested!! I had never asked for any earrings to be made? I began to think I was maybe going a bit crazy as what Jeweller would go ahead and get something made, without permission! She also mentioned that she was doing me a favour by getting me a new bracelet and didn’t have to. I had never asked for a new one. I wanted my original one made to fit.
There was never likely to a happy ending when you are dealing with an enraged, grumpy, obnoxious woman who has no regard for her customers. I decided she could be the long-lost sister of Margaret Thatcher. They did look-alike.
The owner (lets call her Lynda) strung me along for about 6 weeks saying that a new bracelet was coming from New York – knowing full-well no such bracelet had ever been ordered. When it did arrive, not only did it NOT look remotely similar, but it was actually slightly bigger than my original and funnily enough, looked just like one that had been sitting in the store for the last 4 months. This woman could not be trusted and how she is still in business is beyond me.
I am grateful to Sue who did all she could to try make a difficult situation easier. I had no choice but to buy something else from the store (that ended up costing me more money) but I just wanted to put the bad experience behind me and never ever venture into this jeweller store again. I can’t imagine it will be around for much longer, can you?
can’t you sane the store? You are entitled to review it.
I rang Citizen Advice and spoke to someone on the Commerce Commission but it was really hard to know what to do. I have since found out that there is already bad feedback floating on the internet in regards to her business and others that have purchased from her, have been concerned in regards to the quality of the product they have been buying !!
After an experience like that I’d be seriously thinking of “naming and shaming” the store in the guise of a review – after all you review other stores you’ve shopped in and name them! Also I’d be investigating taking the store to the small claims tribunal, commerce commission or the NZ equivalents as I’m sure there are retail laws that have been broken here. Why did you have no choice but to purchase another item?
She was so threatening in her manner and with the store supposedly ‘relocating’, I was worried that I would end up losing any ability to get something for my money, as the situation had gone on for so long. I am going to put a review on goggle to make sure that others don’t go through what I have. To add insult to injury the bracelet is sitting in the store $1000 cheaper than when I purchased it in December !!
Wow, what a horrible experience. Purchasing jewellery is supposed to be a lovely fun experience. This store sounds really bad!
I would not recommend going to Bilkey & Co at all. The worst customer service experience I have ever had and one I hope will not be repeated.