Zales advertises as “the diamond store”. Note that Zales is not advertising as “a” diamond store but “the” diamond store. This will mean that Zales is the diamond store that will first come to mind when you think of diamond and jewellery retailers.
Zales is a legit diamond store. It is not a scam store because they will never steal your money or financial details. And you will receive any jewellery you purchase from the store without a problem.
The big question is whether that “the diamond store” tag is simply a marketing line, or whether Zales is actually the first diamond store that comes to the mind of followers of the diamond retailing business. In order words, does Zales offer quality product and quality service to make them stand out in the diamond retailing business? In the first place, is Zales material genuine?
This Zales review will examine Zales in order to provide the information that will help you answer these questions and more.
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Zales was established by Morris Zale, William Zale and Ben Lipshy as far back as 1924. Though the company was called Zales Jewelers at the time, their inventory also included cookware, small appliances and cameras. The company started trading in the American Stock Exchange in 1958. In the 1960s, they diversified into shoes, sporting goods, furniture and more; and to reflect this diversity the company rebranded as Zale Corporation.
Zale launched its e-commerce site (www.zales.com) in 1998; and in the years that follow, the Company continued its expansion with the acquisition of the likes of Peoples Jewellers and Piercing Pagoda.
From that one store in 1924, Zale has grown into a corporation with over 700 stores across the 50 US states and Puerto Rico. Their purchase of People’s Jewellers means they also have a presence in Canada. The company strongly pushes the moniker “the jewellery store”, claiming to be one of the largest (and best) fine jewellers in the world.
However, since 2014, the parent Company of Zale Corporation is Signet Jewelers Inc, after the latter purchased Zales. With other brands (such as Kay Jewelers, Jared the Galleria of Jewelers and others) under their umbrella, Signet is arguably the largest speciality retail jeweller in the word.
Signet (Zales’ parent Company) is a founding (and certified) member of the Responsible Jewelry Council whose mission is to promote responsible, ethical, human rights, social and environmental practices throughout the jewellery supply chain. Thus, there’s confidence that diamonds in Zales are conflict-free and responsibly sourced.
The ideal jeweller should hold a variety of products so that you can shop all your jewellery needs in one place. For example, it won’t be super convenient to get your diamond in a store and go to another for its mounting/setting.
Zales ticks the box in this regards. Though the Zale Corporation offers items other than diamond and jewellery such as shoes, furniture, and home accessories; this review focuses on Zales, the diamond store. Thus, we’ll look at their diamond and jewellery offering.
On that front, Zales does excellently well also. They hold all product categories you’ll expect of a jeweller. The different product category that the menu in the landing age of their website will open up is as follows:
This is where you can shop your loose diamonds, settings, wedding bands, engagement rings, anniversary rings, etc. When it comes to diamonds and bridal jewellery, there is a reason Zales is called “the jewellery store” – they hold an assortment of diamonds and jewellery that range from simple (everyday basics) to extravagant (exquisite). Zales holds all the 10 popular shapes of diamonds (Asscher, Cushion, Emerald, Heart, Marquise, Oval Pear, Princess, Radiant, Round) and even less popular ones like Baguette.
You’ll also find different engagement ring styles, ranging from Halo to three stone, solitaire, eternity rings, vintage inspired, and more. You can also shop from a host of bridal gemstones, as well as bridal sets.
Their exclusive collection holds exquisite pieces from Arctic Brilliance, Celebration Ideal, Enchanted Disney, Ever Us, Vera Wang Love, and more.
You can shop rings in different materials, which include diamond, gemstone, pearls, cobalt, gold, platinum, rose gold, silver, stainless steel, titanium, and tungsten. As said, all the popular styles are available; and you can personalize your rings.
There is even a “Price” section which allows you to shop rings by their prices. So you can quickly find bands that match your budget, instead of having to scroll through the whole collection
Necklaces are provided in the different metals –Diamond, Gemstone, Pearl, Gold, Platinum, Rose Gold, Silver, and Stainless Steel.
You’ll find men and women necklaces in different styles which include Bolo Necklaces, Chains, Choker Necklaces, Cross, Hearts, Infinity, Lockets, Monogram, Personalized, and more
There are men and ladies earrings available in different metals (diamonds, gold, and more) and different styles (Crawlers, Diamond studs, Gemstone studs, Hoops, Drop, Front-Back and Personalized).
There are men and Ladies bracelets in a variety of styles – Anklets, Bangles and Cuffs, Bolo Bracelets, Charms, tennis bracelets, personalized and more. They come is the different metals – gold, rose gold, diamond, silver, stainless steel, pearl, and more
There are men and ladies smartwatches and more from different brands that include Bulova, Caravelle, Citizen, Fossil, Invicta, JBW, Movado, Technomarine, and Wittnauer more.
You can shop Zales exclusive collections that include Arctic Brilliance, Celebration Diamond, Elegant Reflections, Endless Brilliance, Ever Us, Love’s Destiny, Vera Wang Love, and others. You can also shop from a host of jewellery brands that include Amore La Vita, Julianna B, Le Vian, Made in Italy, Past Present Future, Stackable Expressions, and others
This is where you can choose a particular diamond and a setting that you’ll want it mounted. You can start with the diamond or the setting.
In this section, items you can shop are grouped by occasion, recipient, popular gifts, and price
This section holds discounted items
You want a jeweller to offer not only a variety of product but also a wide inventory of each product type. With a wide inventory, you’ll have a vast collection to choose from when shopping, and you’ll be more likely to find something that you like and that matches your budget.
In this regards, Zales does so-so. At the time of writing this review, the number of loose diamonds in the online store was just over 20,000. This means that Zales does not even hold a candle to the inventory leaders (such as James Allen, and the Blue Nile who are known to hold around 200,000 loose diamonds). We also found only about 200 settings in the Zales when trying to build an engagement ring in Zales. Needless to say, this number also comes out as too small. Necklaces and Earrings were similarly so-so in numbers; for example, necklaces were about 4,000 and earrings were just over 5,400.
That said; Zales definitely does not have the numbers of some of the other big names in the industry. But that is not to say that you’ll find Zales lacking. Their humble numbers will serve the selection needs of many a diamond and jewellery shopper.
You want the ideal store to hold only high-quality products so that whatever you won’t run the risk of buying items that’ll fall short of quality expectations.
When it comes to diamonds, there are international standards used for rating quality. The Diamond Quality Grade Chart range from I1 (Included first degree) to FL (Flawless); where FL Diamonds are the highest quality diamonds, and I1 diamonds have flaws even visible to the casual observer. That said; many quality-focused retailers do not list these Included (I1 and I2) diamonds. However, Zales has a bulk of these lowest quality diamonds.
However, they list these low-quality diamonds does not mean that they do not have stunning high-quality diamonds. You’ll find a lot of them in the store. You only have to scroll to search through their collection to find these stunning pieces that your pocket can command.
Another thing that has caused eyebrows to be raised towards Zales is their diamond certification. Most of the competing stores list diamonds with GIA or AGS certificates. However, most of the diamonds in Zales are with IGI certificates.
GIA is the gold standard, as it is generally held that IGI tends to be looser in its ratings. Thus where an IGI certified diamond has the same ratings as a GIA certified diamond, the GIA diamond is regarded as a better quality diamond. That said; Zales use of the “inferior” IGI certificate makes it come out as a retailer that does not offer quality.
I don’t know of many shoppers that’ll want to throw money around recklessly. Shoppers want value for money, and one of the first things they’ll look out in a store is the prices of items in relation to their quality. This is best done by comparing the prices of items listed in Zales with the prices of similar (equal specs) items in the competing stores.
When this is done, Zales only comes out limping; as it is quite expensive. For example, at the time of writing this review, we looked at a 1ct D VS2 Radiant Cut loose diamond which Zales listed at $7,868. Looking at Blue Nile, we found better quality (very good cut) 1.01 D VS2 stones Radiant Diamonds at $3,983 – $5,899. Thus, you’ll be saving $1,696 – $3,885, which is 25% – 49.3%. Also, a classic 1 ct I I2 Oval Diamond Solitaire Engagement Ring in 14K White Gold, was priced at Zales at $4,999. However, moving to Blue Nile, we could easily find better quality (I SI2) 1ct Oval diamonds for about $3,000. Put one of those on any of the classic solitaire settings in the store, and you’ll have your engagement ring coming under $4,000. Thus, you’ll save $1,000+ and have a higher quality ring.
That said; whether you are buying loose diamonds, full rings, or any other jewellery, you’ll find Zales more expensive than many of the big diamond and jewellery brands in the market. And it is not just a slight difference; as our example of the loose diamond shows, the price difference can sometimes come in at over 50%. This poor value for money has been underlined as one of the biggest weakness of Zales.
However, we were not surprised that Zales comes in as expensive when compared to names like Blue Nile or James Allen. It should be said that the business model of Zales is different from these jewellers considered the price leaders in the industry.
With over 700 retail outlets, Zales is essentially a traditional retailer with the bulk of its business coming in through its brick and mortar stores. Holding inventory and maintaining these stores have cost implications, and these are passed to the buyer via relatively higher prices. On the other hand, these price leaders have the bulk of their business from their online stores, with one or two outlets only serving as a showroom. With the associated costs of maintaining physical stores eliminated, these “real” online retailers can outshine the traditional store-based retailers when it comes to pricing.
Promotions allow customers to get items in a store for free or for less than the items regular (full) prices. Thus, they represent cost saving opportunities. Therefore, it’s only natural that buyers seek out stores with a lot of promotional offers.
In this regards, the diamond and jewellery stores are not known to be as generous with promotions as their apparel retailers. However, Zales does very well to challenge that. They offer a raft of price slashing promotional offers rare in the diamond spheres.
At the time of writing this review; on getting to the landing page of the Zales website, a pop-up welcomed us, which promised to knock off 10% off our first purchase. There was also a “Dazzling Deals” promo which promised to knock off 50% of the prices of selected items. At the time of writing, 167 items were found to which the Dazzling Deals apply, they include engagement rings, diamond wedding bands, diamond rings, diamond studs, Earrings, and more. Zales also has a clearance page, where a lot of items can be found, discounted by as much as 10%.
If you must have a jewellery piece but cannot completely cover its costs at the moment, Zales is one of the jewellery stores that you can go to.
In fact, Zales blossomed in the late 1920s largely because of it’s “a penny down and a dollar a week” credit plan; so what will be surprising is an absence of a financing plan today. However, Zales does not give us this surprise; they have financing plans that allow you to get your jewellery piece now and pay later. These plans are available via:
There are four financing plans available for holders of the diamond credit cards which include: a 6 months plan, a 12 months plan, an 18 months plan, and a 36 months plan.
While minimum purchase and minimum monthly payments are required, Zales credit plans beat many credit plans in the industry for two reasons. First, unlike financing plans in the diamond industry that requires a certain percentage of the purchase price as down payment, Zales financing plans require $0 down payment. Secondly, Zales plans come with 0% APR (only the 36 months plans comes with 9.99% APR). However, $9.95 is charged for every transaction under the 12 months and 18 months plans.
Cardholders also have access to exclusive promos such as $50 off on birthdays, 10% off any repairs done in-store, and free standard shipping.
This is a no credit needed alternative that allows you to get your item with a $79 initial payment. However, you won’t own the article until you have made all schedule payments (within 12 months) or exercise a cost saving early 90 days buyout option
You’ll have to consider how you’ll get articles ordered online from the Zales website. The most important shipping considerations are shipping destinations, shipping cost and shipping times.
One of your very first considerations should be the locations that Zales ships to. This is because except an online store ship to where you are resident it will be difficult to receive delivery of your orders. In this regards, you’ll want the ideal store to ship to many worldwide locations so that your territory is very likely to be covered. Zales does not come out as that store, because they ship articles to only locations within the US and US Territories.
If you order an item online, you won’t want to wait forever to receive delivery of the order. So you’ll want a retailer with fast deliveries.
In this regards, Zales offers two ways of receiving your orders, which are in-store pickup and delivery to your door. Delivery to store will be available for pick up in three working days. For delivery to door, there are three shipping options – 2nd Day Air delivery (orders are delivered within 2 business days), Next Day Air Saver delivery (orders are delivered the next business day following order placement), and Saturday delivery (orders are delivered on a selected Saturday). However, for next day delivery, you’ll have to place the order before 11:00 am; while Saturday delivery can only be placed on Thursday (after 11:00 am) through Friday (before 1:00 pm). Zales also deliver to US P.O. Boxes addresses, as well as to APO/ FPO addresses; but you’ll have to allow additional time for the military addresses.
However, it must be said that these delivery times only apply to in-stock items; any item that requires personalization or sizing will take extra days for delivery. For ring resizing, you’ll need to allow 2 additional days, while for personalized items may take longer depending on the type of personalization required.
Also, the total cost of acquiring any online piece consists of its purchase price and its shipping cost. Therefore, high shipping cost can easily raise the acquisition cost to undesirable levels. As a result, you’ll want a store with shipping costs that are as low as possible.
Zales offers the lowest possible shipping cost, which is free shipping. All Zales items for in-store pick up are shipped to the selected store free of charge. When shipping to your door; the 2nd Day Air delivery cost $6.95, the Next Day Air Saver delivery cost $21.95, Saturday delivery cost $32.95, delivery to P.O. Boxes cost $7.95, while delivery to military addresses cost $18.95.
However, free shipping is still possible for delivery to your door, but there’s a minimum order requirement of $149. If you’ve looked at reviews of other jewelers you’ll find that the minimum order requirement of Zales is one of the lowest in the industry. In many stores, you’ll be required to spend as much as $500 or more to qualify for free shipping. That said; with the Zales $149+ free shipping offer, you won’t have to spend over the board to have your items shipped to your door free of charge.
However, it must be said here that while Zales promises fast deliveries and quotes relatively fast order processing and shipment times, many customers’ reviews in independent online platforms says otherwise. There are just so many reviews of late deliveries that it cannot be chalked off as a one-off glitch.
The stock of diamonds and related jewellery in Zales are items you use to communicate love and appreciation. Thus, these items should be nothing short of satisfactory. Therefore, you’ll want to be able to return an item that you are not totally satisfied with. Given that almost all online retailers allow returns, it’s not surprising that Zales allow returns.
However, sometimes bobby traps lay in the return policies of online stores; so what follows is a consideration of the return policy of Zales.
Items that cannot be returned to Zales for refunds or exchange include personalized orders, special order watches and clearance items. For the items that can be returned to Zales, for them to be accepted, the items must be in their original condition and must be returned with the necessary certificates.
You don’t want a cumbersome return process that’ll frustrate your efforts to return an unwanted order; thus, you’ll want a store that features easy returns. Zales ticks the box in this regards.
First, the Company allow returns in-store and by mail. All items purchased in store must be returned to store; however, items purchased online may be returned to store or by mail to their distribution centre. Since, Zales operate hundreds of physical outlets, finding a Zales’ store is easy; thus, in-store returns of online orders make for super convenient returns. This is better (more convenient) than the policy of some stores, that demands return by mail for all online purchases.
Also, the return process is easy. In-store return entails simply taking the items to a Zales store along with the necessary certificates and purchase receipt. For online returns, you’ll have to reach the customer support (via telephone) to state your intention to make the return. Then you can proceed to package the item appropriately; include the required documentation (diamond certificates, packing slip or ship confirmation email, or online purchase receipt); then ship the package to the return address indicated on the packing slip (SJIX Processing, 375 Ghent Road, Akron, OH-44333).
While the return process is relatively easy; it could be better with the provision of pre-paid and pre-addressed return labels.
Items returned to a retailer are accepted only if they are received by the retailer within the timeframe allowed for returns. Thus, you’ll want an extended period so that you’ll not run the risk of your returns going in late.
Zales does very well in this regards. They offer a 60 days return policy; where items must get to Zales within 60 days of purchase. If you’ve checked the other stores, you’ll find that the oft-offered is 30 days from the delivery date. While the return window of Zales opens on the purchase date, it’ll start counting even when the item ordered has not been received. But because it will not take the whole of 30 days to receive the delivery, a return window of “60 days from purchase date” is wider than an industry standard window of “30 days from the delivery date”. The only exception to their “60 days” return policy is watched, which has a return window of 30 days from purchase date.
You’ll not want to be put off returning an item because of the high cost of doing so. Thus, the ideal store should feature return costs that as low as possible.
Sadly, Zales does not offer free returns, so customers will have to pay for return shipping. The fact that Zales does not provide return labels will mean that customers cannot take advantage of the discounted prices of return labels; thus, you’ll find that the cost of returns relatively higher in Zales.
Zales issues refunds via the original purchase method. However, if the returned item is over $200, refunds will be via checks. It’s good that refunds get to the customers as cash; which allows them to move to another store for a future purchase if they so desire. On the other hand, in stores where refunds are primarily as store credits, the customer will be tied to using the funds for future purchases in the particular store.
However, Zales states in their return policy that where items are returned to them without the purchase receipt, they can only issue store credits. This also comes out fine because most stores will not accept returns of items if a copy of the original invoice does not accompany the returns.
When it comes to when you’ll receive the refund after returning a Zales’ item, you don’t want to be waiting forever. In this regards, it’ll take Zales 30 days from the day they receive the returned item in their distribution centre to issue the refund. While this is similar to the offering of most other jewellers, it is not the fast returns processing time we’ll want.
Zales is one jeweller that stands by its products. It does this by the “Lifetime Diamond Commitment” which you get with a diamond purchase of $200 or more. The commitment includes:
Zales will replace your diamond at no charge to you if it chipped, broken or lost (from its original setting)
Zales will inspect and clean your diamond free of charge for as long as you own it. However, to maintain the warranty, you must send it for inspection at least every 6 months. All Zales store is capable of cleaning services, and you can take your item (whether purchased online) to any Zales store for inspection and cleaning.
You can get a loose diamond from anywhere and have it set in Zales. You can take the stone to any Zales local store for this service; Zales’ staff will even give you advice in choosing a setting that fits your stone, taste and budget.
Rings are sized items, and it’s common to have ordered a size that does not fit; thus, you’ll want a resizing service. Though all jewellers offer to resize, Zales’ resizing service deserves special mention because its availability in their retail stores gives the convenience that most other jewellers cannot give.
In most jewelers customization is limited to building an engagement ring; but in Zales, customization options are virtually unlimited. Zales uses an in-store feature (Romantic Creation) to offer this endless custom design service. You can visit any of the Zales stores, and with the help of jewellery consultants and design software, you’ll be able to create not just engagement rings, but also pendants, wedding and anniversary bands.
After approving the design, it’ll be sent to Zales’ jewellers to be produced (cast, handset with the diamond/ gemstone and finished). Thus, with Zales, you’re not limited to specific designs in their online store or physical outlets. You can be creative, and design your own Zales jewellery piece.
Customers will always have questions or complaints (especially issues with orders) no matter how effectively an online store runs. Thus, ideal store will have a robust service for handling customers’ questions and complaints.
The first step to getting help in most online platforms is an FAQ page which usually holds answers to questions that customers have asked in the past. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any link to an FAQ page from either the landing page of the Zales website or their customer service page. To be fair to Zales, their “contact us” page meekly tries but fail utterly to function as a traditional FAQ. Given that the self-help articles of the traditional FAQ sometimes provide satisfactory answers to customers’ questions, it’s disappointing that this useful resource is not available.
That said; you’ll find yourself needing to contact Zales (their customer support agents) for almost everything. The contact channels that they support (according to their website) include postal mail, e-mail, telephone, and live chat.
To use postal mail, the address to send all letters is Z-mail Customer Service, 375 Ghent Road, Akron, Ohio 44333. We know the problem with postal mail – long response time; thus, you’ll want to use the other options. For the email service, you can send the company an email by using the contact form in the “contact us” page of the website. You’ll put your email address, and will get a response in your email within 24 hours.
However, if the relatively short response time of the email service is too much to bear, you can use the instant response channels of telephone and live chat. However, while these channels are available 7 days a week, they are not active round the clock. You can only reach an agent between the hours of 10:00 am – 10:00 pm (ET) in the weekdays, and between 12:00 pm – 9:00 pm (ET) in the weekends. For the telephone service, the number to call is 800 311 5393, while the live chat can be accessed from the website. However at the time of writing this review, the live chat feature was unavailable, and it seemed to have been so for quite a while.
Given that long processing times makes postal mail service is unpopular, that the live chat is largely unavailable, and that the e-mail service is merely an online contact form; the available direct contact channels come out as limited. It also does not help that the service is not 24/7.
The disappointment at the customer service will only be heightened when you look up the ratings of the service in the independent customers’ review platforms. Across all the platforms, Zales’ customer support service has very poor ratings; with customers reporting basic customer support failures.
Zales claims to be “the diamond store”; which to us means the diamond store that’ll readily come to mind to followers of the diamond retailing business. Except it is in the aspect of being very visible with their over 700 retail outlets; Zales actually offers very little to make them the diamond store that readily comes to mind.
A store needs to offer quality products to be “the store”; and Zales is found wanting with their IGI certified diamonds. This is because IGI certified diamonds are generally found to be of poorer quality than a similarly graded diamond from labs like AGS or GIA. Also, Zales lists a lot of I1 and 12 diamonds, which you won’t find listed in the quality-focused store. It also does not help that Zales have a relatively small selection.
Also, a store needs to offer quality service to be “the store”; and Zales is also found wanting. First, their pricing means they do not offer value for money; for any product in Zales, you can get a product of the same (or even higher) quality for far cheaper. Also, Zales does not ship internationally; and even to US locations that are served, customers’ reviews show that quick delivery is the exception rather than the norm.
However, Zales has some strong points. Their in-store services are second to none in the jewellery industry with services like mounting, custom design, sizing, inspection & cleaning, and more; and they even allow the in-store return of online purchases. Also, free shipping is available with the lowest minimum order requirement in the industry; while their “60 days from purchase date” returns window is generous. Also, Zales has some cute promotions which are rare in the diamond industry; but where Zales blows away the competition is their financing plans, which feature $0 down payment and 0% APR.
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