9 More Tales of Customers You Had to Fire

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.

This One Still Haunts Me

“IN 57 YEARS, sadly the one we had to fire was because she was drinking so much that it caused an issue. She came in to get her rings cleaned and then two weeks later she came back accusing us of not returning her gold band. I knew we had given it to her, but to make her happy I gave her a new band from our scrap. She had been a very good customer for many years before this. Two weeks later she came back and again accused us of not giving her back her wedding band. I spoke with her daughter and said I think your mom is confused, at that time she told us of her declining health from alcoholism. The next time she came in she was loud and belligerent while we had other customers in the store. Unfortunately the only thing I could do was to call the police, she was out of control. They came in and escorted her out and told her to not come back. Shortly thereafter she was put into a nursing home and passed away. This one still haunts me because she was such a good customer over the years, but the alcoholism ate her away.” — Sue P., Escanaba, MI

Five One-Star Reviews Later, Divorce Final

“One of my female staff called a client that had not picked up their chain repair in four months. Right off the start they acted indignant that they were called but then they asked if the second repair they left was completed. It had four calls and a text with no response to give us a go ahead. And because the gold prices went up it was going to cost more. My staff decided to give them the repair at the original estimated cost and they said fine but wanted it for the next business day and the call was at 4 p.m. on a Friday. We said we could not as our load was crazy with promised deadlines. They were becoming more belligerent with the staff and then when they were told to go ahead they had to give us half down to start the work. Then they got more upset as we stopped taking credit cards over the phone, only etransfers. That got them more upset and swearing as well as yelling. My staff person was so upset she warned them that she would not tolerate that behaviour and would hang up. And it continued so she did. They called back 10 minutes later and seeing the caller ID I took the call and told them I would not do the repair at all. If they wanted the work done, apologize I told them. That got even more heated and while I kept my cool in the face of a barrage of bullying tactics and ‘I have been a client for decades’ talk, I said it doesn’t matter when the client is rude and swearing. And they swore a few more times with ‘f’ bombs at me. I told them they could come get their items and that was the end of our relationship. They even said they were not going to pay for the first repair. So I asked if they wanted me to break the chain! I concluded the call telling them they can have the first repair at no cost, just take it and go! More swearing and threats and then I said the call is over and hung up. They topped it off with five one-star reviews that were all copy and paste. We had those removed. Now two months later and the two repairs have not been picked up. Divorce is final!” — David B., Calgary, AB

She Said We’d Pay in the Afterlife

“Our worst customer would come in to the store at least once a week, always looking like she just rolled out of bed, always whining about her various ailments, and always insisting that our (already suicidally low) prices were ‘killing her.’ She would practically rend her clothes at the sheer injustice of it all. One time, she actually suggested that we would pay for our inflexibility in the afterlife. She undoubtedly had mental health issues, but she was also fairly well-heeled (i.e., she had the resources to take a whack at some treatment) and since her impairments manifested themselves in such an unpleasant way, it was really difficult to keep our Compassion Pants on while she stalked around the store, muttering curses at us. When we went to an by-appointment-only model, she thankfully disappeared.” — Gretchen S., Sherman Oaks, CA

He Was More Afraid of His Wife

“Twenty years ago, we had a woman wanting to restyle her tennis bracelet. It was a very pricey restyle, but that’s what she wanted. We agreed on the design and price, and started the CAD work. Her husband, a retired CEO, must have NOT known the price and came in, saying he thought it was too high, and he wanted the same design but cheaper. We explained the price (again) and said, here are the options, but ‘your wife didn’t want those options.’ He didn’t want the options, just a lower price. So… we said forget it. Here’s your bracelet and your deposit (which btw we normally do not refund, but since he was so angry, we didn’t want his consequences, and we had only just started designing it). The sale was a good one and it was going to hurt to lose it, but also, we weren’t backing down on price because of bullying. Well, he immediately changed course. His wife REALLY wanted that particular design and he was obviously more afraid of her wrath than the price! He begged us to do it, and to not tell her that he tried to get a lower price. He ended up being not only a loyal, repeat customer, but even a good friend and sent many others our way.” — Beth C., Dublin, OH

Every jeweler has his or her limit when it comes to firing customers. IMAGE: GENERATED BY MIDJOURNEY

Ready to Fight, Got Paid Instead

“We had a guy who approved an estimate on a repair that had to go to the manufacturer. When the work was completed, he claimed that he hadn’t approved the repair and that it should have been under warranty. Had the repair been $50, I may have let it slide, but the repair was in excess of $600 and I knew that he approved it as I took the call and documented it. Well, though he was a foot taller and 20 years younger, I was prepared to kick his ass in the parking lot. A LEGEND IS BORN! Almost a year later the embarrassed customer returned very quietly and paid for the repair and picked up his timepiece.” — Jon W., Virginia Beach, VA

Too Embarrassed to Show His Own Face

“I’ve actually fired a couple of customers but one in particular comes to mind. The husband would always bring his wife’s broken jewelry in for repair (none of which came from me) but we always took care of it. One day he decided to look at new wedding bands for her. I showed him several options and he left loving a particular band. Fast forward a month or so later. A woman brings in a brand-new wedding band to be sized. We didn’t recognize her because only her husband would come in. It wasn’t until after the ring was sized that I saw her name on the repair form and it was the guy’s wife who had looked at the band. He bought it online and had her bring it to us because he was too embarrassed. Fast forward another two months and she brings in a brand-new mounting to set her diamond in that they also bought online. I came out from the back and told them we wouldn’t work on it and they needed to leave. She wrote me a bad review, and I blasted her in my response. I despise people like this who just use us for service that they don’t deserve.” — Marc M., Midland, TX

Happy Birthday B*tch

“Crazy woman! Year one, called to complain about staff but we couldn’t figure out who worked that day. Year two, called about a second coworker. Year three, complained face to face to coworker about coworker. Coworker said to customer ‘maybe stop being so bitchy.’ She left, cried to her adult son. Son wrote us a note of how upset his mom was and that she would not be returning. Best Day Ever! Coworker’s birthday cake read ‘Happy Birthday Bitch’ that year.” — Ellie M., Michaels, MD

She Loved It — Until She Didn’t

“In the retail store I worked at previously, we had a good customer special order a new wedding ring to set her diamond into. When it came in, she absolutely loved it, and raved about it on social media. A week later, she came back in to say it was the wrong ring, and she didn’t like it. Perplexed, we ended up taking it back, as she had been a good customer. She chose another ring, and the same thing happened! She loved it and raved about it, then, a week later, she brought it back to say it wasn’t the right one. She even called the manufacturer to ‘tell on’ us. We didn’t outright fire her, but we told her we couldn’t continue to do this. She had been going through a strenuous lawsuit with her employer, and I think that was causing her turmoil. Sometimes, you are the villain in someone’s story, but I know we did everything we could for her.” — Angela C., Atascadero, CA

She Found a Chain Under Her Bed

“It has to be the woman who insisted I find her the ‘perfect gold chain’ for her special pendant. I spent days ordering in chain, scheduling appointments which she often was too busy to pop in for. She wanted to drink coffee and talk about how important her jewelry was. It was getting hard to be nice. Then she showed up one day and announced that she found a chain under her bed that she’d use. I declined her offer to let me attach the pendant for her.” — Susan M., Dunedin, FL