I guess honesty really is the best policy

Last week I took a couple rings into a local jeweler to have them rhodium plated again, as the white gold was fading to yellow. Then I got an amazing ring for a combo anniversary/birthday present from R, so we took that in to the same jeweler to have appraised. He bought it online, so we just wanted to make sure it was genuine and he wasn’t getting ripped off with a piece of glass costume jewelry. I decided to have them appraise my wedding band while they were at it, since it was one of the rings I’d dropped off to have plated and we never did receive an appraisal from the store at which we originally bought it. So in all they had a nice little chunk of business from me – 3 rhodium platings and 2 appraisals.

When I picked them up at the end of last week they just gave me one lump sum total, which I assumed covered everything. I didn’t pay much attention in the store, because I was just more anxious to get the rings back and see if my new one was real or not. When I left, however, I started thinking that the amount they charged me was much lower than I was expecting. Like $225 lower. Hmm, did they forget something? I checked my receipt when I got home, and sure enough, it only had the 2 appraisals on it.

Now I’ll admit, usually when I get a bank error in my favor I run with it – how often do you get stuff for free? Um, never. But this one nagged at me. That was a lot of money for them to just not charge. R said maybe they threw in the platings since we were having the appraisals done too, but I said no way, that’s too much to just be gratis. By this time the jeweler was closed, so I would have to go back the next day if I was going to say something. What to do, what to do?

The following morning I almost forgot all about it. Funny how sleeping on something can really diminish the “severity”, if you will. But I still felt really guilty not fessing up about such a large error. So I went back to the jeweler that afternoon on my way to my pedicure (which was awesome, btw! complimentary mimosa and second glass of champagne has that effect on me) and told them that I didn’t think they had charged me for any of the rhodium plating for the rings I had in with them earlier in the week. The saleswoman actually remembered me and thanked me very much for my honesty. She then went into the back to discuss with her coworkers while I browsed through the cases and made a mental wish list. 🙂

When she came back out she had a new receipt with her, and my charge was another $100 (the first charge was only $100 – $50 for each of the 2 appraisals). Ok, still less than I was expecting originally, but I’ll take it this time. They knew I had 3 rings in to be plated, but this new receipt only showed a charge for one, so I chalked it up to them appreciating my honesty and giving me a break on the total amount this time around.

It’s funny, because the whole time I was debating what to do on this one in my head, I kept returning to the thought that if D were in this same scenario, what would I want her to do? Tell the truth. Then how could I possibly do anything but that? So you see my friends, the moral of the story is true – honesty is the best policy. And who knows, it may just get you out of $125 in jewelry charges. 😉

Oh, and that amazing ring mentioned above? It was real all right. Yahoo!! Here it is, and R ended up getting it for an absolute steal based on the appraised value. Please excuse my gross-looking hand. For some reason it appears to have missed the memo that I only turned 32 this week and decided to age to about 80 years old instead.