8 More Ex-Customers You’re Thrilled to Have Seen the Last Of

This month, we’re posting your stories of customers jewelers fired or came super-close to escorting to the door. Find even more “fired customer” stories under INSTORE True Tales in the coming days.

The Homecoming Queen Who Never Grew Up

“A CUSTOMER TRIED to return a garnet ring with stone abrasions. This was six months after purchasing. Clearly she had done it. She wanted a new, different ring. I said I’m sorry but no. She became hostile. She said she’d never come back! I said good, now you need to leave. The customer I was working with at that time and I were working on designing a very expensive ring said, ‘What is wrong with her? Is she nuts?’ She was a Homecoming Queen and from an influential family. Still thought she was all that!” — Kas J., Jefferson City, MO

She Filed a Police Report Over ‘Stolen’ Scrap Metal

“Customer filed a police report claiming we stole her family heirloom. The ‘family heirloom’ was a scrap head we replaced when we set her diamond. Neither she, nor her husband, are allowed in my store.” — Peter T., Show Low, AZ

She Found One for $800 Online. She Didn’t Read the Fine Print.

“We had a long time customer that kept getting worse over the years and one day I fired her. She said we are charging way too much for a sapphire she wanted to buy. It was a Ceylon that was $2,700 and she wanted to pay only $1,000. It cost us a touch more than that. She came in the next day with a picture of a sapphire on the internet that looked like the one she wanted to buy from us but it was only $800. She did not read the fine print and I did not tell her that the stone was lab grown sapphire. I saw the fine print on her picture, I just asked her to leave very politely and please do not come back. She huffed out of our store and we have never seen her since.” — Tim W., Yorktown, VA

We Shrunk Her Ring Three Years Ago. Apparently.

“I have one I am trying to fire now. We sold her a diamond with a new crown three years ago. Now she is claiming her ring is too small and we shrunk it three years ago… Or how about the guy this week? We changed a battery a couple weeks ago, he wrecked the crown and water got inside and rusted it. But it is our fault because we took the back off when we changed the battery… As money gets tight, are people getting weirder?” — Loann S., Stillwater, MN

She Couldn’t ‘Picture It in Her Head.’ After Six Designs.

“Had a client that wanted me to do a design for a large tanzanite she had and gave me a couple of pictures of what she liked. None of the pictures were the same and after doing numerous designs and 3D printing models, which she said she could not picture it in her head I finally told her she needed to go to someone that had a lot of available inventory for her to look at and buy it from them because she was not cut out for custom.” — Scott M., Jacksonville, MD

We Switched Her Ring. Or So She Thought.

“Customer accused us of switching her wedding band when I sized it. I refinished it to factory finish. Had to show her in the company catalog as they (Columbia Ring) went out of business. I finally told her to go to another jeweler in the next town over as they were also a Columbia Ring dealer and see what they said. Told her to report back to me, but never heard from her again.” — Mark R., Seneca Falls, NY

‘You Probably Took Your Classes 20 Years Ago’

“There is a young man who likes to research online and seems to find all of the wrong information. He could be very confrontational at times. He would challenge me on everything I say, and at one point said to me: How do you know, you probably took your classes 20 years ago … Luckily, in my 50s, I did not feel uncomfortable scolding him for being so rude. We tried to tell him, we do not need to do business with him anymore, yet he still comes in from time to time.” — Katrina S., Racine, WI

We Might Not Be For You

“We have a saying for customers who demand more than we can deliver: ‘We might not be your jeweler’ — say that and have a nice day!” — Ragnar B., Vancouver, BC