Bad news from the jeweler...advice & opinions please!

[Greg]

I recently bought an engagement ring from an online vendor. I ordered a size 5.5 based on a few rings I lifted from my fiancée''s jewelry box. It turns out those rings were worn on her middle finger, and her ring finger is actually sized at 3.5.

I sent the ring back to have it resized. It had an antique feel, and I was worried that it wouldn''t go down two sizes, but when I asked his advice, he said it would be okay. I''d have to pay $150 to have it re-engraved, but that it would look as good as new.

Apparently my vendor farmed the work out (I think the jeweler that resized the ring is also the one who made it). The jeweler told him they didn''t think it could go down two sizes, but he told them to force it. Today he called to let me know the ring had been ruined and they would have to remake it. He said he was sorry, but that he''d have to charge me whatever it cost him to have the jeweler redo the ring.

This setting cost just shy of $2,500. I don''t know yet how much the re-do will cost (it scares me though). Does this seem wrong to anyone? I know I was way off on the size, and I don''t mind paying to have it re-made, but can someone really just take a $2,500 ring, wreck it, then say, "Here, buy another one at cost?"

ANY advice or opinions are welcome. Thanks.

 

[Jennifer5973]

Something sounds way off to me...If you did, as you described, go to them and ask them to tell you whether it could be re-sized and they said "yes" then jeweler took it upon himself to tell the craftsman to "force it" this does not seem to be your fault? Unless you stood there with a gun to the worker's head and told him to "force it" yourself...?

I'd go back and ask him why he feels YOU should be footing the bill...?

good luck.

 

[strmrdr]

Tell him its his responcibility to replace it free of charge.
If he refuses contact a lawyer.

 

[adillus]

I'd be mad if I were you. Can you get a refund on the original price of ring and buy another from someone else?

 

[Greg]

Adillus-

I don't think that's an option. I'm pretty sour right now, and wish I didn't have this problem, but I already gave the ring to my fiancee and she loves it. This vendor is the only one with this design, so I'm stuck with him.

 

[kkeen15]

Greg, there is no doubt that he is responsible for the expense of remaking the ring. He is the expert, not you. He's the one who told you it could be done, it's not your fault for needing a ring resized.

There are a few possible outcomes of this situation:
1- He remakes the ring at his cost (ideal)
2- You pay for the cost of remaking the ring (you DON'T need to do this- but its your choice)
3- He either gives you a choice of refunding your money, or refunds your money b/c he doesn't want to work w/ you anymore (also a possibility)

I'd try to work it out with him so that he remakes the ring at his cost. I think if you contact your attorney he may not want to do business with you anymore, so try to avoid that if you want to stick w/ this vendor. However, I'd rather take a picture of the original somewhere else and have it remade than shell out another one or two thousand to this jerk who obviously thinks he can pull something like that on you.

Good luck! I hope it works out for you!

 

[strmrdr]

any design can be copied there are several people on this board that can make just about anything you can dream up :}

 

[just-ice]

"any design can be copied there are several people on this board that can make just about anything you can dream up :}"




....
Im not an expert on diamonds :}

strmrdr..... names please!!??

 

[researcher]

There's no way the redo should cost the same as the original. My guess is they'll just melt down the platinum and start over. If that's the case, the vendor can't ask you to pay for that cost. Also, I feel the vendor should be responsible for paying the jeweler for his time and not try to get you to cover the cost because that's just ridiculous. One of the two of them need to take responsibility for the damage. If they won't, did you have the ring insured? It's not the best option, but just in case....

 

[strmrdr]

https://www.pricescope.com/idealbb/profile/myprofile.asp?userID=6439

https://www.pricescope.com/idealbb/profile/myprofile.asp?userID=5956


https://www.pricescope.com/idealbb/profile/myprofile.asp?userID=7135

https://www.pricescope.com/idealbb/profile/myprofile.asp?userID=5560

There is 4 links to the profiles of people that make rings.

A lot of the other vendors either do custom work or have contacts who can.
whiteflash and wink do for sure.

 

[WinkHPD]

I think if you talk to your jeweler he should realize that he is not acting properly. He probably needs a little time to realize that he will now pay the price for not having much margin in his jewelry, and that when he has to eat it the pain is great.

He will soon realize that eating is the proper course of action here since it was indeed his screw up. He should probably have informed you that a new ring would have to be made when you told him the correct size, and you should have had to pay something fair to remake the ring when you were the one who had him make the ring in the wrong size. But for him to ruin the ring in an attempt to not do the right thing and then to tell you that you get to pay, twice, is not good business.

By all means, talk with him again, and let us know when he comes to his senses.

Wink

 

[WinkHPD]

StormRider,

Thank you for your kindness in including me in your list of people who can do or get things done. I am priveledged to work with many very fine craftsmen, some of whom I met because of Pricescope and Diamond Talk. This is a wonderful industry, and so many of us competitors share resources and craftsmen so that we can present a better product to the world and raise the image of all jewelers.

For example, I was having some quality control issues with one of my (now former) suppliers. Todd at NiceIce.com gave me the name of a craftsman who could do much of the kind of work I was looking to have done at reasonable prices. I tried him out, great work, and as a result the beautiful ring that Sylversterii posted yesterday under the thread His Turn was made possible. This kind of cooperation between competitors is much more comonplace than you might imagine.

While it would be wonderful to have the God given talents of a true craftsman, it is also a blessing to be able to know who some of those craftsmen are, and even more of a blessing that so many of them will do work for so many of us jewelers so that all of you can enjoy better jewelry!

Wink

 

[strmrdr]

sorry to steal this thread for a second but Iv got a question about what wink said.

Wink,
I know there is a lot of friendship and cooperation between the top few PS vendors and a few others.
How common is that outside of PS in the industry?
R/T have commented a few times that the suppliers are amazed that they talk to each other at trade shows so it has me wondering.

GOG does custom rings also but not over the net and I wasn’t sure about niceice’s policy on it or they would have been on my list also.

 

[verticalhorizon]

Terrible. You should not have to pay for that mistake. DSong had a bad experience with a B&M and came out the other side a winner. Hold your ground.

 

[WinkHPD]

----------------
On 6/10/2004 9:39:17 AM strmrdr wrote:

Wink,
I know there is a lot of friendship and cooperation between the top few PS vendors and a few others.
How common is that outside of PS in the industry?
R/T have commented a few times that the suppliers are amazed that they talk to each other at trade shows so it has me wondering.

When I came back to the states after three years of duty in Brasil and a year in Okinawa I was then assigned to I & I (Inspection and Instruction - training the reserves) staff in Pico Rivera, Ca. I had bought a lot of jewelry for my wife while in Brasil and needed an appraisal. I met a jeweler who did the appraisal and got me interested in jewelry as a profession and directed me to the GIA where both my wife and I got our GG degrees.

Since that time I have met hundreds of wonderful people, suppliers, competitors, and even clients who have shared resources with me. I have always tried to reciprocate in kind, and for this reason try to be very diligent in publishing the name of my craftsmen where appropriate so that other jewelers can contact them if they wish. I like to give credit where credit is due, and if this directs a few of my potential clients to Todd, then that is okay, because he has directed a few my way too. Todd and I are competitors but only just barely. Lexus takes a LOT more of my clients than Todd ever will.

Sharing with my friendly competitors has been a way of life for me since long before the internet existed. It even led to one of my most treasured Christmas Eve traditions.

As a custom design house my business is finished by eleven or twelve on Christmas Eve. For almost twenty years my daughter and I used to go around to the other stores in town and deliver a bottle of rum and some home made hot buttered rum batter to our friendly competitors. If they were in a lull we would enjoy a few minutes conversation and if they were busy just a quick hello and have a great year. Then we would go spend some money on stocking stuffers, what a great way to spend Christmas Eve... Sure wish she didn't have to grow up and leave town, not nearly as much fun without her. Wah!

Actually it surprises me that suppliers are surprised to see us talking when they spend so much time talking with each other too, but I think every club likes to believe that they are the only club that is so friendly and cooperative.

Wink

 

[Greg]

Thanks for the responses. I’m a bit less mad than I was yesterday, and will talk to him again this afternoon.

I think the problem (and thus the frustration) is in that the vendor and I have been confusing transactions. If I were to tell him to go down 2 sizes while he was making the ring, then the burden would rightly be on me to pay for the change in direction.

But that’s not what happened. I bought the ring. His site makes it clear that all sales on custom work are final. So when I brought it back, I wasn’t asking him to change something that he was in the process of making – it was an entirely new transaction. It’s too bad for him, but he assured me that it would be all right, and now, I believe, the burden is on him to make it so. Wink, I hope you were right when you said it will probably just take him a little bit of time to realize what he should do.

Thanks again everyone for the feedback.

 

[verticalhorizon]

I agree. It was a separate transaction. You were willing to pay for the resizing that he said would be do-able. His benchman ruined it, so now it's up to him to make it right.

 

[just-ice]

There is 4 links to the profiles of people that make rings.

A lot of the other vendors either do custom work or have contacts who can.
whiteflash and wink do for sure.



....
Im not an expert on diamonds :}

THANK- YOU!!!

 

[Greg]

Researcher-

Thanks for the post. Unfortunately, the ring isn't insured yet. I was waiting to have it resized before the appraisal.

Greg

 

[Greg]

Thank you all for the advice and encouragement. I talked to the jeweler again and he was pretty cool about it. I think he was a little freaked out yesterday by the mishap too.

He agreed to redo the ring for a very reasonable price (not much more than the resize). If he had told me he couldn't resize it from the start, I'm sure I would have paid much more to get it done right.

Again, Thanks.

 

[WinkHPD]

Greg,

Great! As a jeweler I know how painful making a bad decision can be. We all want to tell our client "Yes" when sometimes the right answer is "NO".

I am glad to hear that he is owning up to his failure to say "NO" and making it right for you. I also applaud you for being willing to pay a fair price for your part in giving him the wrong size.

It sounds to me as if two fair people came to a fair agreement.

Wink