Ultra Diamond & Gold Outlet

This place sells cheap jewelery at relatively cheap prices (and sometimes not so cheap). I bought my SO a ring at another Ultra store, and while she didn’t like that one, they only let her exchange it for a different piece, not get any sort of refund or anything.
She did find a piece she liked, and the small diamonds on it started falling off within a week. We brought it back, and they at least let us get their service plan/​extended warranty retroactively [0], which is worse than covering their obvious flaw outright, but better than not making the warranty retroactive, I suppose. Anyway, they fixed the ring, and within a month or so, the stones are falling off again, so we’ll be back in to get it fixed.. . again.
On a note related to the warranty plan, you have to bring the jewelry in a minimum number of times a year to have it cleaned, serviced, etc. or the plan becomes void. They know their stuff is cheap, charge you more for a service plan, and then make sure they check up on it regularly (since it clearly can’t go without maintenance for long) or your money is down the drain. This is a huge problem for a place that only exists in outlets, meaning we need to trek out to Leesburg, Arundel Mills, or Potomac Mills multiple times a year.
That said, at least the staff seems to know they suck, and do what they can to make up for it. The people we’ve dealt with at least tried to be accommodating with the exchange, maintenance issues, etc. Unfortunately, when you sell cheap product, and the corporate office gives you very strict policies, they can’t do a whole lot. It’s nice that the the woman we’ve dealt with a couple times keeps trying to make up for a bad experience with discount coupons to the Walmart picture studios[1]. It’s fitting, because Ultra is essentially the Walmart of jewelry stores.
Ultra is what it is. I wish I’d known before I went there, but it was a whim and I tried to do something nice. Even then, if you just want some cheap costume jewelry, it’s not a bad way to go. Just don’t buy anything delicate, or that you expect to last for a while. If you do, get the service plan, and pray that you live close to one of their stores for as long as the piece lives.
Knowing is half the battle.. .
[0] Reason #1 they didn’t get only one star.
[1] I kid you not, Unilocalers. This is why I felt bad enough to give them an extra star.