A couple is suing Green Hills jewelry store after the family ring was stolen

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) – A Nashville couple has filed a lawsuit against King Jewelers in Green Hills, claiming the store failed to secure their engagement ring containing a valuable tanzanite crystal that was later stolen from a truck FedEx.

Chelsea King and Dawson Blankinship’s relationship blossomed from friendship to romance. In search of the perfect ring, Dawson planned to propose using a $9,500 tanzanite crystal, hoping to place it in Chelsea’s family heirloom ring.

“It’s an heirloom that’s been passed down — my grandmother wore it. My aunt wore it,” Chelsea King said.

The couple paid King Jewelers $1,100 to prepare the ring, and the jeweler sent it to a third-party gem cutter in Florida. But upon return, the package was stolen. Chelsea and Dawson claim that King Jewelers did not insure the items, despite being told otherwise, and that the store refused to reimburse them.

“They told me they insure all items, up to $100,000,” Dawson said. “What I didn’t know was that they were sending it to a gem cutter in Miami.”

Frustrated by the lack of resolution, Chelsea shared her experience TikTokwhere their story quickly went viral.

The couple claims owner David King offered a replacement ring but no monetary compensation.

“They never contacted us behind the scenes, never contacted our lawyer or offered any compensation,” Chelsea said.

Now, Chelsea and Dawson are suing King Jewelers for more than $75,000 in damages, with Dawson hoping to warn others. “We don’t want people to go down this path and feel stuck and hopeless,” he said.

In response, King Jewelers posted a statement online, saying their initial offer was to create a custom ring or compensate the couple at market value.

A spokesman for King Jewelers said: “Our aim from the outset has been to resolve this matter fairly and transparently.” They also suggested that the couple’s online statements constituted defamation and extortion and indicated that the company was prepared to sue.

Despite the ordeal, Chelsea says she is focused on their future together. “I just wanted to get engaged and have that happy ending,” she said.

Here is the full statement from King Jewelers:

“We regret the ongoing situation and the manner in which it unfolded. Our goal from the beginning was to resolve this matter fairly and transparently, and we have provided several options to remedy the situation. These included creating a custom engagement ring using a high quality ring. gemstone free of charge or, alternatively, compensating the customer at fair market value.

Despite our best efforts, the situation escalated publicly and legally. While we respect our customers’ right to express their dissatisfaction, we maintain that we have followed the appropriate procedures. We are now facing a legal matter that we believe constitutes legal defamation and extortion, and we are prepared to sue to address the exaggerations and misinformation being spread online. This case has already been dismissed by the Better Business Bureau because we have offered to assist the customer in any way we can, but we are not willing to be taken advantage of.

As a family owned jewelry store that has been in business for over 100 years, we take great pride in sticking to our principles. We are committed to providing quality service and transparency to all our customers.”

The lawsuit also states that in 2019, King Jewelers was sued and held liable for allegedly selling counterfeit versions of Cartier and Van Cleef merchandise from trademarked collections.

Have more information on this story? You can email me at [email protected].

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