SHOULD HAVE ORDERED FROM AMAZON.COM

I was shopping for affordalbe wedding rings for my fiance and me. I found a great diamond eternity band for a reasonable price at Ross-Simons (R-S) and placed an order for it. It will be on backorder for several more weeks - not a problem becuase the wedding is several months away.

Since I found such a deal on my ring, I decided to get my fiance's ring there as well, even though I found comparable prices at Amazon.com, Ice.com, BlueNile.com --- and even Costco! I placed my order online with Ross-Simons based on my previous experience. Seemed ok at the time.

The next day, I logged into their website to check on my order status. I couldn't find my order so I called Customer Service. Apparently the sale hadn't gone through and the representative was very helpful and all too happy to take my money. This ring was also on backorder but several retail stores had it in stock so they were going to send the ring asap.

My fiance's ring arrived the next day. It was lovely! Around 5 pm that day, I checked my bank balance online and saw the account was overdrawn by several hundred dollars. The amount was oddly enough similar to the price of the ring. I called R-S to see if they had any information for me. It started off well enough. Two stores had responded to the request and both had charged my account. It seemed plausible but I know from personal experience that most stores have a process to avoid this sort of thing from happening.

Then the rep. informed me that since another ring was on its way, I would have to wait until the merchandise arrived and then return it and wait for my account to be credited. SERIOUSLY? You make a mistake and I have to pay for it? I don't think so. The rep. started to have an attitude and I responded in kind. Eventually she tried to pass me off to a supervisor until she found out that noone was available. I've never heard of such a thing --- no supervisor, noone else in the entire company that I can speak with? "Nope, " I was told. They were all in a big meeting and couldn't come out.

So I decided to call back repeatedly until I got a supervisor. It took around 30 minutes. They stuck to their guns about that meeting! The supervisor informed me that she could put in a request to have my account credited for the 2nd ring but it wouldn't happen becuase I had just missed the manager who was authorized to do it. Makes no sense to me.

The next day I finally spoke with a very helpful supervisor who credited my account and was making arrangements to reimburse me for any overdraft fees - totalling nearly $200. It seemed as if this was resolved. Imagine my surprise this evening when I checked to see if my refund had been posted. It had, and the the same amount was immediately withdrawn from my account by Ross-Simons of Providence, RI. They can't find a charge so I will probably have to work with my bank since this pretty much amounts to theft.

And by the way, I'm cancelling my ring order that is on backorder and going right to Amazon.

AVOID ROSS-SIMONS IF AT ALL POSSIBLE. THEY STEAL YOUR MONEY AND THEN TELL YOU YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO WAIT.