Buying an engagement ring is a huge deal.
For starters, engagement rings are super expensive. Then you have the pressure of making sure your partner actually likes it, and checking that youโre covered if you need to return it within so many weeks.
What you wouldnโt expect to have to deal with, though, is not receiving the ring in the first place.
But thatโs exactly what happened to one man in Houston, when he paid upfront for an engagement ring that never actually took home with him.
John Holden thought heโd got a deal that was almost too good to be true when he found a beautiful ring at ALKU Modern Jewelers at La Centerra in Katy a few months back.
There was one catch, though: while heโd paid up-front, John wouldnโt immediately have access to the ring.
Speaking to KHOU 11, John said:
โ(I) was assured by the store director that Iโd have the ring in two weeks if I paid cash upfront.โ
This was slightly annoying, but not concerning to John at the time. He could wait two weeks for the ring โ so he wrote a check.
In the meantime, John started to plan his proposal. As the two weeks drew to an end, his nerves began to kick in.
But he neednโt have bothered. The jewelry store didnโt get in touch with John to tell him that the ring was ready.
As John recalled:
โDidnโt hear anything after two weeks. Didnโt hear anything after two and a half weeks.โ
By this time, John realized that something was wrong. His calls and his texts were being ignored by the store, and he still didnโt have his ring.
So he did the only thing left: he visited the store in person.
And thatโs when he discovered the very thing heโd been dreading.
The store was locked and dark inside. John noticed signs posted on the windows, one telling customers to call the storeโs owner.
Another note from the landlord revealed all: the tenant had failed to pay rent, so the building was locked.
We all land ourselves in financial difficulty from time to time. But the jewelry store never should have taken Johnโs cash while knowing that the business probably couldnโt afford to give him a refund โ or the ring. Thatโs what makes this dodgy.
Unfortunately, it looked as if John had come across a bad bunch.
He recalled:
โAfter that, they kind of ghosted me. Quit answering texts. It was one thing after another.โ
The lawyer of Santiago Mora, whose name is on the sign, simply said that Santiago had been โwrongfully locked out of his business and has every intention of fulfilling his obligations to his customers.โ
He didnโt have anything to say about whether customers would receive the property theyโd paid for โ or, at the very least, be refunded.
Going forward, Johnโs advice to others is simple.
He urged people to be suspicious of any situation where someone is offering โan extremely big discount for a cash priceโ.
After posting his experience to Nextdoor, John quickly realized that he wasnโt alone. The businessโs Google reviews are also very telling.
Find out whether John was able to resolve the situation โ and whether he actually managed to propose to his girlfriend โ in the video below.
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