1 /5 Shannon Helgeson: The past several years I’ve mainly had contact with the owners wife, and she’s a real gem of a woman! I’ve always enjoyed going in and visiting with the staff. Early December 2022, I took my wedding set and a diamond eternity band ring to Dunbar’s to have them serviced. This includes checking prongs, rhodium plating, and cleaning. (the owner’s wife told me in December I had a few diamonds loose, which is usual after 6+ months of wear) I do this approximately every six to eight months to prevent losing stones in my rings and to check for any damage. I am aware that stones can be lost regardless of the efforts I put forth, especially small diamonds. To my surprise, I lost a stone in my eternity ring today. It has 80 diamonds (small!), yet the center channel diamonds being a good decent size. I took it in, naturally disappointed at losing one of the large center set stones. I explained to the younger sales woman I had just brought it in for servicing a “few weeks ago” and I was surprised I lost a center stone since they are set between two bands of gold and not just prong set. Nonetheless, I just wanted a quote for repair. Obviously, I’m not going to throw my diamond ring away. She excused herself and eventually returned with a sticky note stating the last time I had my jewelry serviced was in 2019. I had to pull up my checking account transaction on my phone to show her this was not the case. I come every six/eight months. She then said that it was only for a cleaning in December 2022. No it wasn’t. I paid for other services. I’m thinking, does it matter anyway? I just wanted a quote for repair and diamond replacement. She then informed me that two additional diamonds were cracked, so now I have three diamonds needing to be replaced. This was odd, since I just had it serviced and had worn it only a couple times - and limited wear during those times. I had not dropped my ring, banged it, nor done anything that would have cracked two stones and cause one to simply fall out. Still, I know that I, the owner, am ultimately responsible for the wear and tear of the diamond ring. I was not questioning this. Unfortunately, this sales person was wanting to dispute the cause of the damage and even brought to my attention that I had not purchased the ring at Dunbar. She excuses herself again and I could overhear her discussing with the gemologist/repair person the “issue” I had of my ring not being serviced properly and what to do. She sounded annoyed! At this point I’m irritated and feeling defensive. My only request was just to get a quote on repair, not compensation. For heaven’s sake! After returning yet again, I could tell she was stuck on the idea I felt I should be compensated. So, I asked her if she felt that I was responsible for the damage and she just gave a big, exaggerated shrugged. At this point, I wasn’t going to spend the energy trying to change the mind or convince the “friendly-combative” representative and her weird 2019 sticky note. Just listening to customers and what they truly want and not making assumptions would go a long way.
