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unhappy about the way a side stone was fixed...opinions?

ooeemusic

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Nov 22, 2011
Messages
230
I took my ring in to the place I purchased it(I won't name names, *cough* a chain jeweler *cough*), to be inspected for the extended warranty plan. When I took it in they told me one of my side stones was loose. I picked it up today, and of course, under their make-your-ring-look-new-again lights, everything looked fine. I took it home and took a closer look at it, and discovered how they have "tightened" the side stone, is to lower it in to the setting farther. This would be fine, had they 1) explained to me that is what they were going to do, and 2) LOWERED THE STONE NEXT TO IT!!! So I now have two side stones on the same side, that are at different depths. Granted it is not noticeable unless you really look at it, but, given that lowering the stone also changed the angle, they now both catch the light different, which to me, makes it very noticeable.

Am I over-reacting?? I've had problems with them before when I take it in once a year or so to have rhodium reapplied where they have totally ignored scratches instead of buffing them out.
At the very least, shouldn't they have explained to me that to secure the stone, they would have to sink it deeper in to the setting? and then give me the option of having the same done to the one next to it???

Thoughts?

On my hand from the side
croped_side.jpg

Side view in box
cropped_box.jpg

View from top of ring...this one is where I see they don't catch light the same way...
cropped_top.jpg

For reference...this is an old picture with both side stones at equal height...
1130.jpg
 

Bonfire

Ideal_Rock
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Feb 22, 2014
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Yes I see what you mean. That would drive me crazy :wall:
If it were me, I would definitely take it back and show them. Ask to have the stone leveled to it's neighboring stone.
Give them a chance to remedy this. But yes it's visibly crooked and they need to fix it. Good luck.
 

Lorelei

Super_Ideal_Rock
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42,064
Bonfire|1407118816|3725605 said:
Yes I see what you mean. That would drive me crazy :wall:
If it were me, I would definitely take it back and show them. Ask to have the stone leveled to it's neighboring stone.
Give them a chance to remedy this. But yes it's visibly crooked and they need to fix it. Good luck.


Nice post Bonfire!

I agree with the above, take it back and explain why you are unhappy - understandably IMO - and give them a chance to make it right, I am sure they will be able to. Lovely ring by the way!
 

ooeemusic

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Nov 22, 2011
Messages
230
Thank you both! I will definitely be taking it back and asking for it to be raised back to the level of the one other stone. I will certainly give them a chance to fix it, I'm just very wary of them, considering this is not the first mistake they have made with this ring. I think it's the "we have to fix it fast" mentality. I would much prefer they keep it a couple of days and fix it right the first time, than to do it the "fast and easy" way, and me have to take it back and make them fix it.

And thank you! My husband picked it out all on his own, I was very impressed. He actually bought the center stone in a different ring from a different(private) jeweler and then bought the setting I had previously expressed interest in and had it built.
 

Lorelei

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Messages
42,064
ooeemusic|1407156628|3725746 said:
Thank you both! I will definitely be taking it back and asking for it to be raised back to the level of the one other stone. I will certainly give them a chance to fix it, I'm just very wary of them, considering this is not the first mistake they have made with this ring. I think it's the "we have to fix it fast" mentality. I would much prefer they keep it a couple of days and fix it right the first time, than to do it the "fast and easy" way, and me have to take it back and make them fix it.

And thank you! My husband picked it out all on his own, I was very impressed. He actually bought the center stone in a different ring from a different(private) jeweler and then bought the setting I had previously expressed interest in and had it built.



What a clever and enterprising chap you have there, he did an excellent job!
 

WinkHPD

Ideal_Rock
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May 3, 2001
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7,516
ooeemusic|1407112074|3725570 said:
I took my ring in to the place I purchased it(I won't name names, *cough* a chain jeweler *cough*), to be inspected for the extended warranty plan. When I took it in they told me one of my side stones was loose. I picked it up today, and of course, under their make-your-ring-look-new-again lights, everything looked fine. I took it home and took a closer look at it, and discovered how they have "tightened" the side stone, is to lower it in to the setting farther. This would be fine, had they 1) explained to me that is what they were going to do, and 2) LOWERED THE STONE NEXT TO IT!!! So I now have two side stones on the same side, that are at different depths. Granted it is not noticeable unless you really look at it, but, given that lowering the stone also changed the angle, they now both catch the light different, which to me, makes it very noticeable.

Am I over-reacting?? I've had problems with them before when I take it in once a year or so to have rhodium reapplied where they have totally ignored scratches instead of buffing them out.
At the very least, shouldn't they have explained to me that to secure the stone, they would have to sink it deeper in to the setting? and then give me the option of having the same done to the one next to it???

Thoughts?

On my hand from the side
croped_side.jpg

Side view in box
cropped_box.jpg

View from top of ring...this one is where I see they don't catch light the same way...
cropped_top.jpg

For reference...this is an old picture with both side stones at equal height...
1130.jpg

As a non bench jeweler, (I do not do the actual bench work to make or repair the jewelry) this is one of the issues that drives me crazy.

I give a simple job to a bench to be done and it comes back botched, but not obviously so, and then given to a client. Of course, the client notices, either immediately or within a short period of time and back it comes, as it should.

Over the years, I have developed procedures to prevent this from happening, and our jobs get looked at carefully with the intention of catching such "minor" errors. (This one is NOT minor in my opinion, it is just pure lazy slop on the part of the bench that did it.)

Now, as a small business, it is much easier for me to catch these things and either have them corrected by the same bench, or to fire that bench or benchman and hire someone else. (I have fired several over the years, but have not had to fire one for the past several years, thankfully.)

At a large " *cough* a chain jeweler *cough*" this is going to be much more difficult to control. Chances are that they have no choice in which bench they will use, and their attempts to pay the benches the same price in a place like Boise, with only the bottom end of the benches willing to accept peanuts, as they do in New York, which has a surfeit of hungry jewelers happy to get anything at all, only heightens the difficulty of ensuring that such poor craftsmanship is caught. You have bottom tier workers doing the work and poorly trained non bench personnel looking at the pieces before returning them to the client. They may or may not know how to properly use a loupe, and most of them will not have access to a microscope to do a proper analysis if they are not very experienced at using a loupe.

In addition, they probably do not have the advantage that a smaller independent jeweler does of either having a gifted craftsman on staff or knowing which bench gets which job based on their skills at the various jobs that need done.

For example, I use one local bench for simple repairs, refurbishings, rhodium plating, sizings, stone setting and stone tightening. I have several other benches, in other cities, that I use for different styles of custom design and complicated repairs requiring the use of a laser welder, etc.

Your larger chain store does not usually allow this degree of autonomy to its store managers, thus these types of issues are a much bigger problem for them.

So, when you take the ring back, ask to speak with the manager. Ask him/her to take a look at the ring and explain to the manager that you are not willing to accept this level of craftsmanship. While you are doing this, observe the manager's ability to look at and assess the issue that you have so clearly shown us, and also his/her willingness or lack thereof to fix the issue. If the manager does not seem interested or concerned, you may wish to simply ask for a refund and go find someone competent to have the ring properly fixed. If the manager does seem interested in fixing the issue, then the store deserves a second chance, at no additional charge, in delivering the ring as it should have been delivered.

Mistakes happen to every one. In my opinion, it is more about how the mistakes are handled than whether or not they happened. If the store takes ownership of the mistake and quickly agrees to correct it, that will tell you that you are dealing with someone who cares. If you have to fight with them to get them to even admit there was a mistake, then clearly you will want to go elsewhere, as the mistake is extremely unlikely to be correctly fixed.

Just my Monday morning thoughts...

Wink
 

ooeemusic

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Nov 22, 2011
Messages
230
Thanks for your thoughts, Wink. I know that there is (or was?) a gentleman there who should be capable of fixing this issue. He is the one who built my ring, which I was very happy with in the beginning. We also purchased our wedding bands from this chain of stores, but from a different location. I have very small hands, and we had my ring sized to a 4.25. We picked it up(from the 2nd store) and the sizing job was HORRIBLE. there was a clear joint where they had cut the ring an pulled the one side down, the thickness at the bottom of the band where it had been cut Jumped from 2mm to about 2.5(no settle transition, just a sudden jump) I also noticed there was quite a large gouge out of the side of it(it was literally brand new, never worn!) I took that ring back, pointed out the two issues, and the whisked it away, without even discussing with me how it was going to be fixed...A few minutes later it was brought back to me, the gouge was gone, but the way they had solved the issue with the re-sizing was to thin the band even farther down so it appeared to be a smooth transition...it was still horrible. At the thinnest point, my band, that had started at about 3mm tapering to 2mm at the base was not much less than 2mm. I returned it two days later for a refund, and went to the store that had built my ring. My husband made it very clear to them that we only wanted this one particular person to size my ring, because we knew he could do it right, and that the band was NOT to be thinned.
We picked it up the next day and it is perfect, you can hardly tell it was sized at all. That is why I am so disappointed with this mistake. I know they have someone there that is capable of doing things properly. I know this is a hazard with the "big box" stores, but it never ceases to disappoint me. I realize they probably try to go the cheap route in terms of hiring/paying, but to me, if you are dealing with jewelry that is not just a fashion statement, such as this case with my engagement ring, and my previous experience with my wedding band, the utmost care should be taken to preserve the quality...

Again, thanks for your thoughts, I will be taking it back and asking to speak to whomever is responsible for overseeing the work so that it is done correctly this time, and should I have a loose stone in the future, I will be making it abundantly clear that I expect the quality of the work to match the value I place on my jewelry.
 

WinkHPD

Ideal_Rock
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Messages
7,516
Excellent. I wish only the best for you! I am glad you are going in prepared and I expect a good result.

Wink
 

denverappraiser

Ideal_Rock
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9,150
Definitely talk to the manager and make sure you're absolutely clear about what your problem is. Communication is almost always part of the problem here. 'Tightening' stones is a standard sort of job that any shop sees quite a bit of. For the most part it's an easy job that's given to the apprentice type workers. That's no longer the job. Now it's a reset. In fact it's a job of repairing the channel walls and THEN resetting. That's still not all that bloody hard but because it's now a do-over, it's certain you'll be even picker when you pick it up than you were the previous time. That all means it's a problem job and it needs to land on the bench of one of their top people. That, of course, is their problem, not yours, but it's good to understand what's going on in the background. Yes, it can and should be fixed and although I certainly wouldn't push it through as a rush job, It doesn't need to take weeks either. This is a textbook example of the rule that it's easier to do a job right than to do it over.
 

ooeemusic

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Nov 22, 2011
Messages
230
denverappraiser|1407181303|3725939 said:
Definitely talk to the manager and make sure you're absolutely clear about what your problem is. Communication is almost always part of the problem here. 'Tightening' stones is a standard sort of job that any shop sees quite a bit of. For the most part it's an easy job that's given to the apprentice type workers. That's no longer the job. Now it's a reset. In fact it's a job of repairing the channel walls and THEN resetting. That's still not all that bloody hard but because it's now a do-over, it's certain you'll be even picker when you pick it up than you were the previous time. That all means it's a problem job and it needs to land on the bench of one of their top people. That, of course, is their problem, not yours, but it's good to understand what's going on in the background. Yes, it can and should be fixed and although I certainly wouldn't push it through as a rush job, It doesn't need to take weeks either. This is a textbook example of the rule that it's easier to do a job right than to do it over.


Thanks Denverappraiser, I will definitely throw some of that wording in when I talk to the manager, so they know 1) that I know what I'm talking about(because every one here has told me :wink2: ) and 2) that they have created a bigger problem by doing it wrong. I didn't think of the fact that they will actually have to repair the channel wall, plus resetting the stone. And you bet I'll be pickier when I get it back :angel:

Thanks again for all the info everyone! I'm really glad to know that I'm not over-reacting, and that it can be fixed to it's former glory.
 

pyramid

Ideal_Rock
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Nov 10, 2002
Messages
4,607
What did the jeweller do wrong, did they squeeze the walls of the channel in too far causing damage to them or why do they have
to rebuild the channel walls? As there are little prongs around the stones why did they need to touch the walls?
 

denverappraiser

Ideal_Rock
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Messages
9,150
Pyramid|1407183813|3725955 said:
What did the jeweller do wrong, did they squeeze the walls of the channel in too far causing damage to them or why do they have
to rebuild the channel walls? As there are little prongs around the stones why did they need to touch the walls?
The edge of the diamond is sitting in a little slot called the ‘seat’.
There are two ways to easily tighten. You can use a graver to raise a bead above the seat and press down, or your can use a hammer on the top of the channel wall to make the seat pinch tighter (these are how it was set in the first place by the way). They can do either or both (bead on the inside, hammer on the outside is common). Both have the effect of lowering the stone in the seat. Usually this is ok, but they are one way trips if you push too far. There’s no way to push things up from the bottom without taking the stone out, filling the metal at the bottom of the seat and resetting the stone at the proper depth.
 

pyramid

Ideal_Rock
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4,607
Thanks Denverappraiser. Just wondered how it was done/caused.
 

pyramid

Ideal_Rock
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ooeemusic

I hope they repair it to how it should be. So frustrating things like this. Wish every benchperson would do work like they were
doing it for an exam. I have had this type of thing happen before and the resizing of rings too where they were lopsided and thin
at the back. I learned to just go to a proper jeweller, I won't go to chain stores with things like this. I have even been know to buy rings I like at a chain store, like gold plain designs or amethyst dress rings etc and if they are not my size get them a size for my middle finger because I know anything they resize I would not be happy with. Now I won't even buy those rings from them because I just look in the windows and think I will go to a family owned jeweller instead for anything.
 

ooeemusic

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Nov 22, 2011
Messages
230
Thanks Pyramid,

I will hopefully be taking it back this evening and let you all know how it turns out. I had forgotten that we actually are acquainted with someone who works at this particular store so I'm going to try to go in when she is there and express that I want a watchful eye on this repair, and that if it comes back to me in a condition my husband and I are not approving of, I will from now on be taking it only for the "inspection" and having repair work done elsewhere...Hopefully it does not come to that, and all I will need to do is warn them in the future that I won't accept sloppy work.
 

ooeemusic

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Nov 22, 2011
Messages
230
Hi Everyone,

just wanted to do a quick update. My husband and I took my bring in last night and explained the problem. The person we were dealing with (whom we know, and is the one who helped my husband build my ring, and we bought our wedding bands from) took it back to have the repair department look at it. She came back a few minutes later and said he told her he would have to rebuild that portion of the ring (e.g. take out the stones, rebuild the wall, reset the stones). Said it should take about a week.

So...I will let you all know when I get it back...

My husband and I have already discussed that if there are still issues when we get it back, we will be asking for a refund of the warranty and taking it somewhere else for repair. Let's hope that when we get it back, it's properly fixed and we don't have to do that!
 

diamondseeker2006

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Jan 11, 2006
Messages
58,547
ooeemusic|1407593703|3729155 said:
Hi Everyone,

just wanted to do a quick update. My husband and I took my bring in last night and explained the problem. The person we were dealing with (whom we know, and is the one who helped my husband build my ring, and we bought our wedding bands from) took it back to have the repair department look at it. She came back a few minutes later and said he told her he would have to rebuild that portion of the ring (e.g. take out the stones, rebuild the wall, reset the stones). Said it should take about a week.

So...I will let you all know when I get it back...

My husband and I have already discussed that if there are still issues when we get it back, we will be asking for a refund of the warranty and taking it somewhere else for repair. Let's hope that when we get it back, it's properly fixed and we don't have to do that!

No, absolutely do not keep it if it is not fixed. Ask for a refund for the ring itself. The ring may need to be remade. Multiple repairs can make a mess. If you took it back not fixed and then took it elsewhere and it was not fixed there, then you could not return the ring.
 

ooeemusic

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Nov 22, 2011
Messages
230
diamondseeker2006|1407596254|3729176 said:
ooeemusic|1407593703|3729155 said:
Hi Everyone,

just wanted to do a quick update. My husband and I took my bring in last night and explained the problem. The person we were dealing with (whom we know, and is the one who helped my husband build my ring, and we bought our wedding bands from) took it back to have the repair department look at it. She came back a few minutes later and said he told her he would have to rebuild that portion of the ring (e.g. take out the stones, rebuild the wall, reset the stones). Said it should take about a week.

So...I will let you all know when I get it back...

My husband and I have already discussed that if there are still issues when we get it back, we will be asking for a refund of the warranty and taking it somewhere else for repair. Let's hope that when we get it back, it's properly fixed and we don't have to do that!

No, absolutely do not keep it if it is not fixed. Ask for a refund for the ring itself. The ring may need to be remade. Multiple repairs can make a mess. If you took it back not fixed and then took it elsewhere and it was not fixed there, then you could not return the ring.


I will keep that in mind. I'm really not at all interested in getting a whole new ring, even if it's the same setting. Lets hope they get it right this time.
 

diamondseeker2006

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jan 11, 2006
Messages
58,547
Yes, I certainly hope so!!! Let us know what happens! (Just don't even take it from the store if it is not right.)
 

ooeemusic

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Nov 22, 2011
Messages
230
Well I will be getting a "new" setting. I am so upset. We went to "pick up" my ring this evening and the two side diamonds on one side are still noticeably uneven. I was able to see it at just a glance, confirmed by my fingernail and then confirmed by the sales associate under the microscope :snooty: ...she first tried to say it is hard to keep rings in "perfect" condition over the years :hand: . I quickly pointed out that besides a loose stone, it was "perfect" when I brought it in. What caused the issue was their attempt to "fix" the loose stone by forcing it in to the channel and causing the need to have the channel repaired and the stone reset, which they clearly didn't do properly. I basically said I am not willing to except the setting back in any condition but the one I brought it for it's inspection in. She said she was going to personally talk to the jeweler tomorrow and would give us a call by the end of the day with an update. We left, pretty irritated that the "jewelery" store can't fix their own jewelery...

On the ride home my phone rang. It was the lady that had helped us. She said she had talked to the general manager about the situation and she had gone ahead and ordered a new setting, and that I can come pick up my setting to wear while we wait for the new one to come it...

I think this is the best solution considering they have messed up my setting to the extent, but I can't help but be incredibly sad that the ring my husband proposed to me with is basically being replaced with a look-a-like. :(sad I know I could take the ring back in the condition it is in, but since I'm not the one that caused the problem...I don't really think that is a good idea. If I had been the one to damage it, I may have considered that...but since this is all their fault, I think the "new' setting is the way we are going to go.

:( I really am just so sad. ;(
 

marcy

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Feb 27, 2007
Messages
26,275
I am sorry they can't fix your ring but I am glad they are getting you a new ring. That is sad they can't fix the ring that has sentimental value but it will look the same and have your pretty diamond. Hopefully that helps.
 
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