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Kay Jewelers Reportedly Ripping Off Customers, Stealing Expensive Diamonds

By Patricia Ramirez
Published on: 08:15 PST, May 28, 2016

Kay Jewelers is reportedly in some pretty hot water. Reports are coming in from all over that the jewelry chain has been engaged in some very shady business practices, practices that some are calling “outright theft.” Kay customers are reporting that they have had expensive diamonds stolen from rings, diamonds that were replaced with less precious stones such as moissanite or lower-quality diamonds.

As KREM reports, at least one customer has come forward and told the media all about her experience with Kay Jewelers – and to say she wasn’t happy would be the understatement of the century. Chrissy Clarius says that she took her one-carat ring to Kay Jewelers every six months for an inspection. Twice-yearly inspections are reportedly a condition of Kay Jeweler’s lifetime guarantee, and Clarius adhered to their policy for five years. In that five-year period, her ring was sent for repairs three times. It was on the third repair that a Kay employee noticed something disturbing; the engraved serial number on Clarius’ diamond was gone.

At that point, the disgruntled Kay Jewelers customer took her ring to two other jewelers for inspection. She was told that the stone in her ring wasn’t a diamond at all, but rather much less expensive moissanite. Kay Jewelers employees have maintained that the stone in Chrissy’s ring is a diamond, but no explanation has been offered as to how its serial number could have mysteriously vanished.

“It was flat-out theft.”

According to Clarius, her Kay Jewelers one-carat diamond solitaire engagement ring had originally cost her husband over $4,000, and she says that while she had never seen the engraved serial number on the ring, her husband had seen it when he bought the ring, reports BuzzFeed.

When she spoke to a Kay Jewelers manager about the missing serial number, she was given an explanation that didn’t ring true.

“The manager told me the repair shop said the number was simply never put [on] it, but the ring does match every detail on my card…minus the number.”

It was then that she decided to take her ring to a different jeweler, Littman Jewelers, to be independently certified. When they tested the ring, they easily determined that it wasn’t a diamond.

Unfortunately, Chrissy Clarius’ case isn’t unique. BuzzFeed has tracked down at least seven additional women who have similar stories about Kay Jewelers. Some of these women have gone to the police, and all of them say that Kay replaced their diamonds with fakes or lesser quality stones. One woman says that she went to Kay Jewelers to get a new setting for her diamond only to receive a stone with a visible flaw on her new ring.

“It’s not the diamond my husband got for me—it has no sentimental value for me anymore.”

Signet, Kay Jewelers’ parent company, has spoken out in defense of Kay. They say that situations like the ones endured by these women are very rare and that the company has safeguards in place (such as engraving serial numbers on stones) to try to ensure that they don’t happen.

“…every year we’ve got millions of transactions and millions of repairs we are processing in our stores [and such cases are] minimal.”

Kay Jewelers’ customers don’t seem to be in the mood to be placated, though. Kay’s Facebook page has been bombarded with complaints and negative comments and reviews. The page’s administrators seem to be trying to keep such messages and comments private.

“We understand your concerns regarding this matter. We’d be more than happy to reach out to you and personally address any questions you may have about our repair process. So we may do that, please send us your contact information in a direct message or at www.kay.com/facebook. Thank you!”

Concerned and angry customers are hitting up Kay Jewelers’ Twitter feed, too.

Kay Jewelers advertises itself as “America’s number one jeweler,” so if even a small fraction of the diamonds they inspect/repair/reset are stolen or swapped out, it could spell big trouble for Kay and potentially thousands of customers.

It’s been a week of bad news for Signet, parent company of Kay Jewelers, too. In addition to the scandal involving stolen diamonds, the company’s stock reportedly plummeted after Q1 earnings fell short of expectations. The Street reported on the company’s dismal earnings, mocking Kay Jeweler’s famous slogan in the process.

“Every kiss does not begin with K today.”

Despite the bad week Kay Jewelers just had, it’s possible that it’s going to get a whole lot worse if the company’s diamond-swapping scandal continues to grow.

So, what do you think? Is the Kay Jeweler’s diamond-theft issue going to spell doom for the company?

[Image by Shutterstock]

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