Big Survey: 13 Weird and Sketchy Situations That Jewelers Foiled by Meddling

IN THE COURSE of their day, jewelers take measures that occasionally stymie men with both wives and girlfriends, as well as aggravate the occasional thief, untrustworthy heirs and lying grooms-to-be.

In Big Survey 2018, we asked “Do you have a story that could have ended with this quote … ‘And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling jewelers?'” Here’s what readers said:

• A customer tried to minimize the value of jewelry in a large estate to cheat the other heirs out of their due value. Our appraisal thwarted that plan!
• The husband-to-be who gave his fiancee a CZ (bought elsewhere) who brought it to me to be sized and of course I tested it for the repair envelope. She was angry. He threatened to sue me. He lost a bride-to-be with a seven-figure income. She is a regular client now.
• Man buys girlfriend a large diamond ring and gets a smaller one just like it for his wife. Wife comes in to get her ring sized and so does the girlfriend (at the same time) and then the man comes in to pay for sizing and the girlfriend says, “Oh honey, I love my ring” and shows it off. Wife sees the bling and tells me not to size hers as he is buying her a really big ring. Later he comes back and tells us he is planning on taking us to court for causing him to be sued for divorce because we should not have had them both in at the same time. It is all our fault.
• Two associates were in the store bathroom discussing a certain customer’s recent purchase for his girlfriend while they were in the stalls. When they walked out to wash their hands, his wife had overheard everything since she was in the bathroom first. Waah, waaanhhhh. Needless to say, he was furious.
• I set up a sting and caught a girl who stole a ring from another jeweler in town.
• State’s witness, fraud trial. Genuine vs fake.
• Had a gal come in with three nice diamond rings and wanted insurance appraisals. I had her come back in several hours. She was a flight attendant who had her car broken into at the airport on her last flight. I had another lady call me and asked if so-and-so had brought in her rings (and described them) for an insurance appraisal. I said yes. She then told me that she was going to turn those in on her insurance claim for her car that was broken into. I called the insurance agent and let him know. I’m sure she was not very happy with me.
• There was someone selling heavily plated gold, rotating around all the jewelers in the area. For some reason, I was the only one who caught on. I got the entire crew arrested.
• A customer had a Rolex stolen. It showed up in a store in a city quite a distance from ours. The owner of the store called us when our town was mentioned to ask if this watch had been reported stolen. Gave us the model number and sure enough it had belonged to a customer who thought she lost it at the Y.
• I had a gal come in with a brand new “honking” diamond engagement ring, not purchased from us but needing it to be sized. No way was it a diamond — CZ in sterling silver. She told me it was worth $35,000. I told her it was CZ and silver. She didn’t believe me. I told her to look at it under the microscope at the stamp and we’ll use the diamond tester. She called her fiance right after we did all that and broke up with him. He called me up and told me I shouldn’t have meddled! No way was I touching that hot mess!
• I feel that the Diamonds International salespeople are saying that every time I appraise something that was bought on a cruise from Diamonds International.
• Sure. The guy fooling around on his wife who bought an item for the girlfriend but like an idiot gave us the home phone number to call when it was done. Made two sales off this guy!
• The day I had to tell a young lady that the center stone in her ring was not a diamond. I am sure her ex-fiance would have said, “And I would have …”