Zales: Your Diamond Bill May Last Forever

Once upon a time ago, I fell for a girl. I would say it was love, is love, passed and gone. They say that diamonds are forever, therefore the precious stones have become a symbol of devotion in romantic relationships. So, once upon a time ago, I bought a girl a ring with a diamond in it. Diamonds are expensive and I went with a payment plan option at a Zales jewelry store to make sure I got a respectable rock. I'm not sure what happened to the diamond, the ring, or the girl: two probably got sold and the other became a woman I'm sure. However, I do know what happened with the Zales payment plan when the love died, seems diamonds aren't the only thing with lasting power.

My life took a turn around a dark bend and I found myself without romance, without a will to live the life I was in, and fairly quickly without a job. Depression blocked out the world around me and the creative world within me, making me a walking corpse. I did not pay my bills, except for the ring bill from Zales. I was given a last couple of thousand bucks to help with my financial situation and symbolically I wanted to make sure I took care of the one bill that could mentally haunt me if I were to continue seeing the statement. I called up Zales and made a payment over the phone, completely paying off the expensive diamond ring I had received from them. I figured never to hear from Zales again and after I moved from living in that region I'm not sure if they tried to contact me or not.

Years later I was surprised when a bill collector caught up with me via the mail. I was not surprised to hear from a bill collector, but I was by the debt they were trying to collect: my Zales account. It was laid out for me in writing why Zales wanted me to pay them over $200 on a ring that was already paid for in full. When I paid over the telephone there was a service charge for paying in that manner: I was not aware of that. I did not pay the extra charge when I paid off the ring, and so the money was applied to my account as owed and then every month that went by there was a large late/ no payment fee applied.

By the time of this writing I have never figured out how to fix the issue, as I do not want to pay anyone a dime on the principal that it was never advertised or told to me that there was a phone fee to take care of. I would have gladly paid it at the time of the phone payment itself. Further more, so much time has passed that I do not know who is a real bill collector and who is not and am not one to go blindly sending money off to an entity I have never done business with. My credit score reflects this unfortunately.

Diamonds may or may not last forever. I think to some degree both love and heartbreak do because they shape periods of life. Zales credit accounts, likewise, do their best to last forever and that's just a jewel of information I thought I might share.