If ever there was a case in the diamond jewelry industry that proved the power of social media to force retailers to move sharply to fix consumers' complaints, then we saw it at the start of this week.

 

Requitta Darshae East who lives in Chicago used Facebook to criticize Kay Jewelers, part of the huge Signet Jewelers chain.

 

The post gained enormous traction, especially after it was picked up and reported by media in the United States and elsewhere around the world.

 

Darshae East claimed that staff at a branch of Kay Jewelers tried to give her back the wrong ring when she went to the store to pick it up and failed to find her ring.

 

Following her post, many other Kay Jewelers shoppers shared their own similar stories in the comments on Facebook.

 

Kay Jewelers, part of the Signet Jewelers stable which includes other large jewelry chains such as Zales, Jared the Galleria of Jewelry, H.Samuel and Piercing Pagoda, swiftly sent two senior company executives to meet with Darshae East at her Chicago home.

 

"This week I met with the Divisional Vice President of Kay Jewelers, (Jenn) & the Vice President of the Midwest region, (Crystal)," Darshae East wrote on her Facebook page.

 

"They literally flew to Chicago, and we met in my home," she wrote, clearly impressed with the efforts the jewelry chain had made.

 

"We discussed thoroughly how there was a breakdown in their repair system as well as their customer service department (from the store to the actual corporate office). Jenn not only OWNED the responsibility of the error, but she ensured me that they are working to immediately revamp the customer service department.

 

"Jenn & Crystal meeting with me spoke volumes. It is very evident that they believe in restoring the trust of the customer in the company they represent. With all of that being said, I never set out to bash Kay Jewelers, only 2 use social media as a platform to REACH. And it did just that...!! Kay’s upper management has taken the very necessary steps to begin to reconstruct their customer service department, and review their processes, including employee training, to ensure that an issue such as this will never occur again. Jenn’s attitude and approach to this entire situation has restored a bit of the faith I had lost."

 

Unfortunately for Kay Jewelers, Darshae East's complaints then led other Facebook users to complain that they had been disappointed with the jewelry chain's service, to which the firm swiftly replied promising to deal with the issues.

 

In an effort to understand the concerns, Signet has launched an internal investigation, saying its goal is "to treat all customer concerns with a high level of integrity, seriousness, and care."

 

As Darshae East wrote, if a company "owns" a mistake then they would do well to set about fixing it as soon as possible. Sounds like pretty obvious advice, but unfortunately not all retailers devote the right level of care and concern to their customers. And when it blows up in their faces, the potential damage can be huge.