Mary Bell is the loss manager for Abrick Jewelry Store. Abrick focuses on diamond jewelry for special occasions like engagements and anniversaries. Abrick's markup is as much as 10 times cost. For example, the store's cost for a ring might be $500, but Abrick may be able to sell it for as much as $5,000.

Abrick is able to maintain such high profit margins for three reasons:

1. It uses diamonds that are very clear and the best color but are not the best cuts.
2. It has a very expensive storefront in one of the best malls in the area, with the inside of the store decorated like the inside of the Manhattan Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
3. It is extremely liberal in granting credit. So, given the high markup, it can afford to take losses.

Abrick provides prestigious white glove service, treating its customers like royalty, even serving them refreshments and hors d'oeuvres while they are in the store. This type of service is backed by sophisticated advertising designed to boost its image as the place to buy "when you want the very finest for your loved one."

Mary Bell's job includes chasing customers who don't make the monthly payments on their financed purchases. In many cases, she is able to recover the jewelry and settle the accounts for a small percentage of the balance due. She's pretty generous in settling, especially in broken engagements. But she is very good at collecting payments for anniversary rings and engagement rings bought by those who successfully married. She knows that not many couples want their engagement ring repossessed.

Mary is currently trying to collect from Peter Jones, who purchased a diamond necklace, a pair of diamond earrings, and a very large diamond ring. Peter Jones had purchased some of the best jewelry in the store, which had cost Abrick over $6,000. Mary had doubts about extending such a large amount of credit to Mr. Jones, so before completing the sale, she called his private club to verify that there was, in fact, a wedding scheduled to take place. Further, the wedding gift registry had been registered in all the best places in town and with very expensive gifts on the lists.

Mary was very good at "looking over" her customers. She could easily see that Peter Jones was wearing a $20,000 watch and the shoes he was wearing alone put him in the super wealthy group.

She later found that Peter did come from a truly wealthy family, but he had no money of his own. His credit report had come up clean but with very little credit experience. So, she was really disappointed when the wedding was cancelled and Peter said that he couldn't pay. Moreover, he could not return the jewelry because his girlfriend had sold it.

It turned out that Peter owed a lot of people a lot of money. Many had granted him credit based on his family name and appearance as a wealthy person.

Peter filed bankruptcy before anyone could even file a lawsuit for one of his debts.

Required

How might Mary pursue a recovery in this case?  Response should be detailed.

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In this case Mary Bell the loss manager for Abrick Jewelry Store faces a difficult situation where Peter Jones a customer who purchased a diamond necklace a pair of diamond earrings and a very large d... View the full answer