A VENT: I quit! I give up! I wave the white flag!

[decodelighted]

Even if you are more discerning than the norm it is their job and their business to do whatever and spend whatever it takes to satisfy the most discerning customer out there. Their profits are amortized over thousands of customers, andpart of a fine company doing business is making those few more-expensive customers happy too.

1) Nope. In schoolyard lingo "you are not the boss of them".
2) This particularly narrow definition of "fine company" is one only shared by the very few customers who find it difficult to be pleased period.

 

[ame]

I have been pleased before. Had a local guy I made the mistake of using to size my ring and not destroyed the setting I had from GOG initially I'd probably still be wearing that because I was happy with it. He refused to refund, remake, re-anything despite the whole 100% guarateed satisfaction schpiel he has all over everything and effectively told me to go F myself for calling to his attention that my ring was oblong and not in a good way, and that he did a bad job resetting the stone he wasn't supposed to even unset. So whatever.

I am difficult, I never disagreed with that, and I extremely specific up front, they can choose to tell me to get lost, and they have all been making other people very happy longbefore I came along, but I am far from impossible to please. I think you are mistaking "impossible" for "unwillingness to settle".

 

[decodelighted]

I have been pleased before. Had a local guy I made the mistake of using to size my ring and not destroyed the setting I had from GOG initially I'd probably still be wearing that because I was happy with it. He refused to refund, remake, re-anything and effectively told me to go F myself for calling to his attention that my ring was oblong and not in a good way, and that he did a bad job resetting the stone he wasn't supposed to even unset. So whatever. I am difficult, I never disagreed with that but I am far from impossible to please.

My comment was directed at Kenny in reference to his comment -- as seen in the quoted assertions. Sorry for the confusion!

I don't have much advice about the latest developments in your ongoing ring sitch. Sounds like a real bummer. Someone around here has the quote "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over & over & expecting different results." It sounds *to me* that continuing to ask the folks who have proven time and time again to not be capable of meeting your standards - to try to somehow meet your standards magically (based on some marketing buzz that they have high standards) is a recipe for further frustration. And might possibly fall into the terrain covered in that quote.

Wishing you peace on the matter & in general!

 

[ame]

My bad. Sorry.

Yea I am done with Vatche. They really have remade it more than once over the last year, several were in succession. I just don't think they can do it, rather, I think they just don't want to do it. Having one disappointment on PS vs the hundreds of others is probably fine for them. If I could get my money back at all I would. But that was never given as an option, nor will it ever Im sure. The jeweler is not the problem though. I do think he kind of got abused in this as much as I feel I did. His lack of long term relationship with them, and attempt to actually carry them in his shop probably hindered both of us more than helped.

After this period of fury at these stupid inanimate objects (both rings), I am going to just either wear with shame and hope my rad diamond blinds all would be questions about the ring itself, and let em fall apart as they inevitably will, or put it in the safe for a while til I can set aside enough cash to do yet another reset.

Maybe I need to stop getting solitaires and go with something like a three stone with colored sides or a halo with a plain band (my eyes will probably die a swift death from all that louping!). Not sure. But til I have the money, I won't be looking for a while!

 

[SandyCheeks]

Hi Ame that's sucky that you're going through this with Vatche. I have the Swan but I've never louped it, so long as it looks good to my unaided eye then I'm good. What if you save up money and go with a hand forged solitaire from Victor Canera, seems like he really stands by his work and is someone amicable to work with. If I had it to do over I would probably have had my solitaire made by him. But you should definitely keep wearing your beautiful diamond--don't give up on your stone!!

 

[mrssalvo]

Ame, I'd just sell the Vatche and that will give you a start in saving up and letting Victor make something for you. I've not seen a VC piece in person but the uber picky who has all seem very happy with him so my guess is you would be too! Despite all of your issues with the setting you'd probably still get a fair price for it. I bought my Royal Crown second hand but was able to go through GOG to get the ring to Vatche for sizing etc. So, their are options for a second hand buyer and although it's cause you great distress it may bring joy to someone else...

 

[Laila619]

Yes, sell the RC and Flyer band. You'll get something for them both since they're well-known brands.

 

[Blue-Seeker]

Yes, sell the RC and Flyer band. You'll get something for them both since they're well-known brands.

Agree. Put the money toward a new setting and leave your diamond loose for a while. Give yourself a break until after Valentine's Day.

 

[Rhino]

Always know you have a friend here Ame who can act as a mediator for you.

 

[ame]

Always know you have a friend here Ame who can act as a mediator for you.

THANK YOU!!!

I have waffled on whether or not to email you about all this, and whether or not to just quit and be done for a while. I love my stone, and I don't want to keep setting and resetting and risk ruining it. It's a needle in a haystack, this one.


...then again: Octavia.

 

[susimoo]

Always know you have a friend here Ame who can act as a mediator for you.

This is why I love this man!!!!

 

[ame]

Always know you have a friend here Ame who can act as a mediator for you.

This is why I love this man!!!!

TOTALLY AGREED. Jon is THE MAN.

I am going to take at least tomorrow, maybe Thanksgiving week, to figure out how to proceed. I do feel it should be fixed, but will it ever be to the standards I feel a ring of this price point warrants and will they ever be able to make me feel like I got what I paid for. I also don't want to get mixed up in holiday proposals/Valentine's proposals again, if I press this issue.

 

[frankiextah]

wanted to chime in that my VC ring was a little over $4K, inclusive of all the pave and 90% Plat / 10% Iridium...

so prices do differ, you really won't know unless you reach out to him with your project proposal ... good luck !!

 

[Laila619]

Always know you have a friend here Ame who can act as a mediator for you.

This is why I love this man!!!!

Everyone loves Jonathan, he's awesome!

 

[SandyCheeks]

Always know you have a friend here Ame who can act as a mediator for you.

This is why I love this man!!!!

Everyone loves Jonathan, he's awesome!

He's a marvelous singer and plays the guitar too (yes I've watched lots of GOG videos)

 

[Imdanny]

Kenny is right. There is such a thing as amortizing. This is why you don't (well, this and the fact most people have a conscience) rip someone for less than $1,000 and trash your entire professional reputation in the process, for instance.

Urg. I don't know what's up with these people who can't seem to set a stone in a setting. Set. a. stone. in. a. setting. It's not rocket science.

 

[Maisie]

I know this is probably a daft question but can platinum be melted down and made into a new setting?

 

[pregcurious]

In theory, yes. For situations like this, it usually does not make financial sense to go through the process of melting your specific ring and making into another piece. The OP could get the scrap value for her metal, but the main cost of the ring is labor/design/market/etc.

 

[ame]

I think they can but it has to be re-refined and all that before it can be reused.

 

[Maisie]

I just thought it might work out to be less expensive than buying a whole new setting.

 

[ame]

I would hope so, using the metal again!

 

[ame]

I just sent Jon a mile long email outlining the whole thing from start to finish with dates included. I might have missed a few dates. But this should be sufficient enough to bore the man to tears

 

[emeraldmurphy]

I would hope so, using the metal again!

I saw a similar thread a while back about a Leon Mege solitaire purchase that wished to updgrade/change to a halo.
I believe the Solitaire was in the $1500 - $2000 price range and the scrap value turned out to be $200 or so, generally I would think the setting should fetch a premium to scrap given that 90% of initial charge is normally for labor, design uniqueness and brand etc. i.e. even at it's current state that solitaire might still be significantly better to someone than an unbranded generic mall solitaire at $599

 

[Laila619]

I just sent Jon a mile long email outlining the whole thing from start to finish with dates included. I might have missed a few dates. But this should be sufficient enough to bore the man to tears

 

[LittleRiver]

ame, I am so glad you decided to contact Jonathan about this! Hopefully you can get your money back and start over with another vendor. Your beautiful Star129 deserves a perfect home.

I agree that VC does perfect work but if he is out of budget would you consider Mark Morrell?

 

[Amys Bling]

That's BS! I would stop dealing with them and try to get a refund, or an exchange if they refuse a refund.

They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. At this point, they've shown you they are incompetent morons. You cannot trust them to get anything fixed. I would stop trying, and go for the refund or exchange.

I feel so bad for you, Ame. I wish you could have a set that was perfect! I am sorry for all the crap you've had to deal with.

This! I would get a new setting and tell them im done with this BS!

 

[ame]

As much as i would LIKE a redo/refund, I am almost certain that getting my money back is pretty much an impossibility. If it was an option, we'd already have done that. The most that probably would be done is tweaking this item still. I have exchanged several messages with Jon and I believe we might both agree that while Vatche would probably like to make it perfect to my standards (if only to get me to stfu and go on my merry way), he probably just thinks he is incapable of meeting those standards and is frustrated. I wish that Martin Flyer would either admit that it's why they are done with me or tell me why they really are not interested in making this other ring right since I am only asking for them to fix their own errors. I have already snagged this band four times today alone on JEANS and a tshirt. So I have placed it back into it's ring box to never be worn again I guess, til I can afford to have it remade by a company that gives a crap about making a proper piece for a lifetime of use instead of telling me to wait til it's destroyed for them to care about fixing it because they're done having their poor QC called out by a paying customer.

I would like to work with and own an MWM one day, though I don't believe Mark Morrell is too keen on being 'dictated' to about what a client wants and expects and has told people in the past that he's not the person for them to work with. I have gotten pricing in the past prior to all this that was still above my budget pretty considerably, but really I'd like to have one of his designs just made..."taller". I don't care for "low set" settings for my eng ring and find those to be more "dangerous" and susceptible to whacks than a higher setting, for me anyway.

*shrug*

 

[Natylad]

Dear Ame....<<HUGS>>...
I totally understand how you feel and i just can't explain how upset i feel after reading what you've been through...
I've been through a similar situation with my ER, after i upgraded my diamond from a .50ct to a .90ct. My setting is custom made and obviously has cost a lot of money...When the ring arrived, the stone was set soooooooo high that it looked totally RIDICULOUS...When i told my jeweller my feelings he claimed that it should be set that high so that the entire lower part of the stone shows, bla, bla, bla.... I told him that i insist that he takes the ring back and sets the diamond lower. When i went there to get back the ring i immediately realized that the stone was now set to the right height but the prongs weren't tight around the girdle. Actually, two of them were so loose that my diamond was slightly moving on the setting and it was obvious that the stone could get off the setting and be lost at whatever moment. So he had to take it back again and fix it. After that i go back for the third time to get my ring and i realize that all the previous problems were fixed but the stone wasn't set totally straight and it had a slight inclination (i hope this makes sense...english is a foreign language to me!). Needless to say that i kept the ring as it was and i didn't dare give it back for...further fixing...I was certain that a new problem would arise
I understand that the issue with my ring is not as serious as the problem with yours right now and i feel you when you say that you've had enough with this BS....I really hope that your communication with Jonathan will soon bring to you the solution that you're seeking, because you definitely deserve to be happy and satisfied with your rings after this long journey...

 

[decodelighted]

Ame,
I think you should take a jewelry making class. For reals. I've noticed that you're telling yourself stories about who "wants" to fix things and who doesn't. I'd bet that it's creating a lot of unnecessary stress in your life. Not because of what has happened. Which is frustrating on its own. But because of the way you're reacting to it ... and what you're predicting & assuming & spinning into a particularly Dramatic Tale! We're all just people. People with jobs and lunch breaks and ways to make it through the day. It's SUPER EASY to spot a problem. It's not so easy to fix it. I have a feeling that getting your hands dirty with some clay and metal will give you a greater understanding of what you seems to think is infuriatingly simple. Just a thought.

 

[LD]

Ame

I was in a similar position several years ago. I had bought an expensive coloured stone and was SO proud of it. I decided to work with a new (recommended) jeweller and ............. well, let's just say that it took over a year to get it back and when I did, the workmanship was unbelievable - in fact, I still can't comprehend how somebody can do such a bad job!

Anyway, after all the fighting and shouting and stress I just looked at the ring and realised I had fallen completely out of love with it. To make it worse I then started to think of it as an unlucky ring! It couldn't have been worse! So, I sold it and have never regretted it! I don't think I could have loved it again so it was the best move.

Sometimes, we fight and fight and fight but at the end of the day nothing is going to make it right. I do hope you can fall back in love with your ring if not, bite the bullet and sell it and get yourself something new, beautiful and deserved!