Scam ??

[Daygloboo]

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.

🤣🤣🤣
I could do much better insults than that but im a nice person.

Im sorry it didn't go your way.

That is the point though, because if you thought it was a scam then why buy it. You should have put it down on the counter and left the shop.

You're being defensive because you don't like people pointing out that you fell for a potential scam and are now complaining about it.

Actually that's not true.It's my fault for putting it in the wrong thread. I genuinely think AIBU isn't a good thread to properly discuss anything . I've seen it before. Its really not a good thread for discussing issues. A lot of people go off at odd angles and double down. Have a look at some of the threads. Just weird arguments that have got nothing to do with the main point. Anyway, its not even important. Its got nothing to do with wanting to win. It's to fo with debating a valid point..

You've lost the debate when you called me a bat and told me to 'drop it'

Simultaneously calling ME the thread police

I think it’s on you OP as you decided to buy it.

Whatever

And yet, you stayed and bought the item which you say wasn’t the item you originally chose.

What are you looking for here? You had a strange experience and you didn’t like it. You gave them your customer anyway but now want…what?

Nobody here is going to know why this woman, according to you, acted strangely. Regardless of what issue you believe is important, the actual issue is, do you want this necklace and do you think it was worth £125. If the answer is no, take it back. If the answer is yes, then how could you have been “scammed”?

It's weird but how can it be a scam? A scam is selling something else for the same price.

If that had happened to me, I wouldn't bought it. If she showed you the catalogue and there were three sizes, why did you not ask to buy the large one or was that "not in stock".

How's about going back to the store to see if the one you wanted is back in the cabinet?

But that furthers the point - if you thought it was a scam, why on earth did you buy it??

Just leave. Walk out. Say “no thank you, you’re behaving oddly and you won’t sell me the item I want. Goodbye.”

Then you can’t possibly have been scammed, you have time to take stock and think it over, and could maybe go back in the following day to see if it was different staff or the necklace was back. Or order it from the catalogue if they’re claiming they don’t have one in stock?

No one can possibly answer whether this was “a scam” as we weren’t there. It doesn’t sound like any scam I know of unless they have swapped it out for a fake, in which case, again, you should have walked away.

“I could be wrong here, but I reckon if you are shown something in a shop at a certain price then you have the right to buy that thing at that price”

Yeah, you’re wrong

Correct, @Daygloboo you are wrong to assume that. This is called an invitation to treat in legalese - you invite someone to look at your product and to make an offer, you don't have to sell it them and you don't have to sell it at that price.

Thanks. That's interesting. Useful to know.

I think it was more likely to be a personal decision to mislead for whatever reason rather than a scam , her colleague is going to back her up and probably had no idea what had actually happened either .

You went to a coffee shop and wanted to buy a large coffee for £4.50 (advertised price).

She made you a medium coffee for £3 (advertised price).

You said ‘ok’ and paid for it, despite the fact you were thirsty and would have preferred the large coffee.

I don’t see where the scam is. She somehow brought the wrong thing back, you should have said ‘I’m thirsty, I want the large one’.

I agree

@Daygloboo , I doubt if you will ever know the answer but it doesn't sound like a scam .
It could be any , or none , of the following.

1. It looked bigger in the window and was incorrectly priced and it is the same item.
2. She broke it cleaning and either in error or deliberately , brought out the smaller one .
3. She couldn't find items to clean it and brought out a new one , thinking it was the same size .
4. She has been told to keep one item for display only and sell the new ones .

There appears little to be gained for selling an item of less value when you could sell a more expensive one . The fact it isn't back in the window may indicate it was damaged in some way or was the same item . You have an item you like , to give as a present , and that is the main thing .

I'm starting to think maybe they put a bigger one out to lure you and then bring out a different one. I thought it was odd when she kind of snatched it off the display stand and said she was going in the back to clean it. She was gone AGES. Far longer than it takes to clean a necklace. And when she came back out and I queried the size, she wrapped her arms around herself and didn't look me in the face when she was talking. And the other assistant was looking down as well.sort of muttering. It was weird. But as many people have pointed out, I'll never get to the bottom of it, so what the hell.......might as well forget it.

Yes, they absolutely do. I went to a reputable high street jewellers and saw a sapphire and diamond band with a quirky design that would go perfectly with another ring, similar design & colour. So, the lady seats me in the trying on area and goes to get the ring.. when she brings it, it's not the same one, the sapphires are a slightly different colour. I said it's different, she said "no it's the same, sapphires can be all types of blue". I said, "it won't do, this one doesn't go with my other ring."

She wasn't happy, but I left. They obviously didn't want to sell the one in the window, when I went past it was still there.

It could be a potential scam.

You saw the item in the window at £145.00, you looked at it, agreed to buy it ?
then they went in the back to clean it ?

If you had not noticed the difference in length and complained, would they have rung it up at £145.00.

Something tells me they would have.
You know the window display said £145.00

They rang it in at £125.00 after knowing you had noticed.

Threes sizes, I believe they were going to palm off the smaller size on you and charge you for the longer one.

You are right to feel perturbed, you ended up buying the smaller one at the correct price, would it have been the correct price if you hadn't noticed. I don't believe so.

You got your present, job done but you feel it was a horrible shopping experience.

Don't use them again.
I wouldn't.

Yeah well that is what I thought you see. You get an instinct. I knew something was going on. I could see instantly that they weren't the same size snd I could tell.they were acting suspiciously. Thanks for that post because I knkw what I saw and a lot of people have disputed it and made me out to be so w kind of idiot, which I think is a bit unfair. As if me buying
a smaller one somehow out trumps them being deceitful in the ' naughty' behaviour' stakes.

Yes some good points. I won't be going there again. It was an unpleasant experience. But I bet everyone on here whose read these posts will now be that little bit more observant next time they go into a jewellers😂

And maybe you yourself might learn not to shout unfair unfair at posters who point out you got what you paid for and perhaps use your words when you got all these wooooooo vibes at the time that something wasnt right.

And you may also have learned that using personal insults to the point that moderators have to remove your posts isn't helping your argument.

So alls well that ends well eh? Jobs a goodun

Thanks for that post because I knkw what I saw and a lot of people have disputed it and made me out to be so w kind of idiot, which I think is a bit unfair.

Nobody is disputing what you saw. Everyone wonders why, when you saw something dodgy happening, you bought something you didn't want and left yourself open to being the victim of a scam. Again,when you knew something dodgy was going on! And the fact that you can't see why people wonder this.

Well, I think I explained earlier. First, I liked the design and wanted it for my cousin, so I settled for the smaller one rather than not having it at all. Second, yes I do get why people might think I was a fool to go along with it if I thought I was being scammed. But there's something you perhaps dont realise. We are talking about something that was happening in real time but we are discussing it here with plenty of time to think about it. When you are in the shop, it is not quite as simple as you imagine. There was CCTV and if anyone saw the incident played back on that they would probably see my confusion and me looking back at the cabinet puzzled and so forth and trying to work things out. Im sure its like being pickpocketed or your car being deliberately pranged for the insurance . You know you are experiencing something done to you, and you know what you saw, but you are also trying to grapple with two people behaving weirdly and you've got nobody to back you up etc etc. It's all very well saying " oh I wouldn't fall for that" " I I wouldn't do this " etc. It's not as easy to deal with as you think. Loads of different thoughts start flying round your head at once. And as I said, I wanted a necklace like the one I saw anyway. And from what some others have said on here, Im now more convinced than ever that they do get up to dodgy things in order to flog stuff. Just be careful everyone.