Advice on repair pricing??

[meresal]

I''m not getting much response in RockyTalk, so I''ll try here as well...

I am needing to replace a small diamond, in my Blue Topaz Albion necklace, that fell out of the pave halo in this setting.

My issue... We bought it in St Thomas in 2007, and the jeweler we are using for my ER and the David Yurman store at the Galleria, said they would have to send it in to be fixed. Fine, we used our jeweler(closer to home) sent it in and 3 weeks later, the jeweler calls to say that DY wants $113 to replace the TINY diamond. The necklace only cost $600, and there are probably 20 of these things around the halo.

Is this an absurd price, or am I overreacting? Is there anyone around here that would do this for less? I live in Houston.

Any advice would be very helpful. Thank you!

 

[jewelerman]

My take on the situation.A retail store is going to send the pendant to David Yurman and then they will mark up the quote from Yurman to make a profit and cover costs of shipping and employee time to wrap it for sending.The mark up is 30-50 percent.I would leave the pendant at the vendor for now, but find out the size and quality of the diamond that needs to be replaced and bring a picture into at least two jewelers and ask for a quote on a card.Im sure it will be less.In some cases you may find that the setting/labor charge exceeds the cost of the diamond.Go to the store that has your necklace and ask them to match prices(give them the written quotes) as a customer service (remind them how much you love your ring and want to do more business with them.)