Something happened to me earlier today that has really upset me and I dont know what to make of it. If anyone else has had a similar experience, or can give some insight into it I'd be interested to hear about it.
I live in a market town and went into the local jewellers to look for a necklace for my cousin's 60th birthday next week. I eventually found a lovely silver necklace priced at £145 . I particularly liked it because it was a good size particularly 'across ' where it looked about an inch and a half wide in a kind of elongated diamond shape with sort of knotty twists. I could imagine it sitting very well on my cousins neck and thought it was a really good price. I pointed it out to the lady behind the counter and she took it out of the cabinet and said she was " going out the back to clean it "for me. She was gone about 10 minutes which I thought was a bit odd. I just stood around waiting getting increasingly confused as to why she had disappeared. I even asked the other lady behind the counter where she had gone as I had bought a necklace and the lady had gone off with it and seemingly not come back. Eventually she did reappear and when she laid the necklace on the counter I could see it was smaller than the one that had been in the cabinet. I said I'm sorry but I dont think that is the same necklace as I chose. I explained that I chose it especially because it was quite wide and I thought it would sit well on my cousin' s neck. I said i can definitely see it isnt as big as the one that was in the cabinet. She said it was the same necklace that I had chosen. She then rang it up and it was £ 125. I said " Look it can't be the same necklace because the one in the cabinet says £145 and you've just rung up £ 125 so it must be a smaller one. She then got out the catalogue and showed the page for my necklace and there were 3 sizes. I said are these the actual size because I can see that the biggest one is the one that was in the cabinet . She said yes they were pictures of the actual size. I could see quite clearly that the biggest one was exactly the one from the cabinet. Her and the other woman then started behaving defensively and saying if i wasnt happy I didnt have to buy it. She said she hadnt shrunk it and sort of laughed nervously. In the end I bought it but I felt something weird was going on. I dont know why she was out the back for 10 minutes supposedly cleaning a necklace that already looked really pristine. I know im not mad, I know the necklace Isaw and I know 100% it wasn't the necklace I saw in the cabinet. Admittedly I only paid £125 but I wanted the one from the cabinet that was priced at £145. I just dont know what was going on. I dont know if the woman was incompetent, or trying to scam me in some way that I can't quite work not, or if the shop itself was up to something scamming customers. Was she going to charge me £145 if I hadn't complained ?? What the hell was going on ? I feel really pissed off because the larger necklace was much nicer than the one i was given and also I feel like some manipulation was going on but I still can't quite work out what. It has really upset me. It's a very popular jewellers in the town. I dont know whether to take it further but it's my word against theirs and I wasnt charged more. I just feel something isn't right and it has made me angry. Can anyone shed any light in this. I honestly dont think i am being unreasonable to think that something weird was going on. I went very quiet as I walked out of the shop and sort of grunted as they were still trying to defend themselves, but I reslly felt like slapping the pair of them because I felt like they were somehow taking me for a ride. But I can't prove it.