Advice needed

[mia27]

I went in to my jewellers to get my engagement ring cleaned and fell in love with a setting. It has 5 rows of tiny diamonds. My jeweller brought out some coloured stones and I ended up choosing an emerald cut sapphire for the centre stone and my husband bought it for me. I got the ring at the end of November and realized that the sapphire wasn''t wide enough for the setting (you could see the stuff underneath if you know what I mean - sorry don''t know the terminology). Well, I took it back and she agreed that it wasn''t wide enough for the ring, so I paid for a new head and an upgrade in the size of the sapphire. Kind of annoyed that she set the stone that was obviously too small but she fixed it. Since then three of the small stones have fallen out...each time they have been replaced no problem until the last one. I left the ring with them for a week so they could look it over and make sure it was perfect and hopefully no more stones will fall out. Well I got it back and the stone was replaced but the stone looks darker, is set crooked and has uneven globs of gold on the corners. Now the average person looking at the ring in passing prob won''t notice - but I do and it is really bothering me. I have lost confidence in them getting it perfect and am so frustrated! My husband spent a lot on this ring and now I feel that it wasn''t worth the money.

Sorry this is long, but thank you to those of you who read and give me advise!

At this point is it appropriate for me to ask for a refund? Or should I ask for a store credit? Or should I take it to a different jeweller and hope they fix it properly?

 

[Indylady]

Sometimes tweaking a ring can have major effects on its structural integrity, especially on a pave setting. If you chose the center stone yourself, I can''t quite fault her for setting it...while I agree she might have suggested a larger stone for you, its not her "fault".

All of these other consequences (having stones fall out) are most likely a result of changing out the head. I agree that it is a nightmare, and I certainly feel your pain. Are we talking about the single melee stone in your ring, that is now set unevenly and darker looking? Or the center sapphire?

 

[mia27]

She is the owner and she helped me choose a centre stone that would be appropriate for the setting - I was trusting her judgement as to what would work in the setting. The stones that fell out were three of the small stones - and the last one that fell out and was replaced looks darker than the other diamonds in the ring and is set very poorly - crooked and with uneven globs of gold on each corner.
I bought both the setting and sapphire from her.

 

[chrono]

Whatever you do, do NOT bring it to another jeweller to get it fixed because it will cause further headaches, muddies the line of who is responsible for what and more importantly, nullifies whatever warranty you might have on the stone and setting.

 

[LD]

Oh no. Poor you.

I would echo''s Chrono''s comments that you shouldn''t take the setting anywhere else to be looked at. A setting with melee/pave set diamonds can sometimes be compromised when worked on and it sounds like this may be the case here. What I would also suggest is that you go back to your original jeweller and say "I love this setting but I don''t want to keep coming back for repairs so I would like [insert what you want in here]". I guess you have several options:-

1. Keep the central sapphire and ask for a new setting;
2. Ask for a full refund;
3. I wouldn''t ask them to repair it again because you''ve said that their work isn''t of the best quality;
4. For the same reason as 3 above I wouldn''t ask for a credit note.

 

[mia27]

My preference is to get a full refund because of the quality of work. I am unsure of what is typical in a situation like this, and I don''t want to go in with unreasonable expectations.

 

[Indylady]

Are you hard on your rings? Are you cleaning it in an ultrasonic?

Being set crooked might have been necessary to hold that melee in there...sometimes bench men do things to funky things to make things work; while this messy look might have been carelessness, there''s also a chance it might have been necessary. Check out page 3 of this thread link; an artist named Leon Mege set a ring with one prong longer than the other. Why? Because her native cut stone had a tilt window, with was basically eliminated by setting the stone in a way which seemed funky at first glance.

For a single melee stone, I would not return the ring. Having melee fall out is traumatic, but comes with the territory of a pave set ring. I do not think it is appropriate to ask for a refund because I do not think they are responsible for the problems you are having. You''re asking the jewelery store to swallow a refund a very customized piece for a single bad melee stone? I just don''t think its fair.

You are certainly free to give it a shot, but I think that if they say no (which I would guess they will) it will be all the more frustrating to wear it after. If that''s what you want though, you should try it; if it doesn''t work, selling it is always an option, though it will be hard to recoup all of your costs.