gabriele Whaley sent a message to Marvin R. Ellison President of J. C. Penney Company Inc.- email address that said:
To whom it may concern
In May this year my husband and I visited the jewelry department at the JC Penney location at the River Oaks Mall in Calumet City to purchase a 10k gold rope chain. The chain was purchased with my JcPenney MasterCard. In addition we were offered a warranty plan for the chain and added this to the purchase for an additional cost.
Recently, in the beginning of October the chain clasp broke. We subsequently were advised by the warranty plan customer service representative to return to the store for the repair of such item. We did as told on or around October 5th and were given a warranty repair slip with an approximate pick up date of October 19th. We made arrangements for the pick up and my husband returned to the store shortly thereafter for pickup.
Only a short period later we discovered that the rope chain could be engaged with a magnet. Appalled my husband returned to the jewelry department to advise them of the peculiarity as the purchased chain was clearly advertised and sold as real gold. To my dismay he was treated extremely disrespectful by being accused not only of an incorrect purchase date, but also of switching out the chain. By the tone and demeanor of your sales personnel as well as the supervisor it became clear that the accusations were clearly racially motivated (my husband is African American) and they went on to accuse him of being a thief and a crook. He was extremely embarrassed by the scene your personnel created, despite the fact that he presented the purchase and repair receipt.
Let me tell you, not only are we local business owners, but I also work for the Federal Bureau of Prisons were I am in charge of 34 nationwide prison facilities. To accuse me or my husband of criminal activity is unbelievable. We have no need to steal or switch out jewelry and to be even accused of such, being that I have been a loyal platinum customer for nearly 20 years, is outrageous to me. To top it all off, my husband brought the magnet to the store to show the sales representative. He also requested for the display case to be opened and more than one rope chain, Jewelry marked as 10 - 14 K gold jewelry could be observed to engage to the magnet.
You tell me what kind of business you are running to sell $500 gold chains which are not real. I have notified my attorney of this event; while he was also extremely outraged he not only recommended to contact the police for fraud, but also to contact your customer service department in an effort to give them an opportunity to fix their "error". However, during the recorded conversation your representative was again accusatory, extremely unpleasant and unhelpful, but most of all, after believing the phone call was disconnected, was observed to call my husband names such as "this guy is a crook. I am not wasting my time with him."
I am making you aware of this situation and what steps we will take if we need to proceed with legal action should my concerns not ne addressed. I am looking forward to a prompt response.
Sincerely
Gabriele Whaley
