Damaged diamond?!? Are You kidding me?!?!

[rhbgirl24]

OK, this is going to be a little long, I''m sorry! ..... so many of you already know my engagement ring and the whole tragedy of a story behind my fiance getting it made with a less than superior company. Story Here

Well I have come to the conclusion that nothing is perfect and I love love love the ring and the design anyway. My fiance is still upset about some of the little things (well, not sooooooo little) the trillions on the side aren''t the same distance from the center stone. This has been driving me nuts for the past year. When my fiance first got the ring back from the designers, the side stones were set almost 5mm from the center stone! He promptly sent it back to be fixed, no we have this.
And the sides stone do NOT match the center stone. When we got it appraised the center stone was a E color VS1 (we knew this - its certified) and the side stones are lower in color and quality. He paid for matching sidestones and I believe they ripped him off - plus one of the two looks a bit dark in the center.

I came to terms with this knowing that its hard to match completely, but still disappointed that they are like an H-I color.

So we go to our now custom jewelers who are doing our wedding bands for us. These guys are exactly what we wanted and needed! They are precise and their work is excellent! Anywho, we were talking to them about the wedding rings and the necklace my fiance is having made for me for the wedding and we brought up the little things that bothered us about the e ring. So they say they will look at it. They cannot move the side stones closer (they are afraid of the welding with the wirework and don''t want to break it) but they moved them down a bit for us. They also took out the side stones and SUPER polished the basket underneath so they face up a bit whiter to match center stone. This REALLY helped!

Here is the point of the WHOLE long story. When they took out the stones to polish underneath, they found that the point on one of the trillions is chipped!!! Therefore making it look darker in the middle and much lower in color!!! Its damaged!!!!!! They told us that the was probably already like this or maybe happened in original setting of them! So not only did the original company sell my fiance inferior side stones to what he paid for, but ONE IS DAMAGED!

I was so upset, I just wanted to cry

................... so, I ask every one here, because we are all so educated on these matters and everyone is so helpful with opinions and such.

Would you:
A) call Raru (original jeweler) and see if they will source another set? I think it should be their expense, b/c they ripped us off in the first place... but if you read original thread, they dont seem to care.
B) Eat the money for the sidestones (not too cheap here - they are .25 each) and buy new ones yourself?
C) Just live with the ones you''ve got....

If this helps, I''ve already decided we are having our new fantastic jewelers redo the top part of the ring (the knot work) the way my fiance wanted it to begin with and so the sidestones sit level, lower, and straight! Im excited about this, but just a little annoyed that we are RE-paying for something that should have been right to begin with.

So HELP everyone. What would you do here? And if you would replace them yourselves........ can you please please please help me find two trillions around .25 (maybe up to .33) D-E-F-G color as low as VS2?? I''m drawing blanks!

Wow that way a lot. Thank you everyone. Youve always been so helpful.

I just had to share. I was devastated with this to begin with and now THIS has brought it all up again!

 

[rhbgirl24]

Some pics. On the first one the left stone is the one in question. See how they both are darker and the left one doesn''t sparkle as much. Plus left one is farther away from center than right.

 

[rhbgirl24]

This one its the right stone

 

[rhbgirl24]

Oh, first thread here:

First SMTR Thread

Didn''t work on first post

 

[Diamond*Dana]

Ugh, what a total disappointment! I would say that you should go back to the original jeweler and demand that they replace the stone if that is indeed where the damage was done, but I see your point where they might not be in agreement. I do remember your original thread when you and your FI were not very happy with the jeweler...what a shame.

I still think that your ring is gorgeous, I absolutely love the design!
I think that I would attempt to bring it up with the original jeweler and see if you can come to some sort of agreement. If not, I would see what it would cost you to repair the damage on your own...could you just replace the one stone, or are they both noticeably different from your center?

 

[CharmyPoo]

How would you prove that the diamond was not damaged after? I think it will be difficult but it doesn''t hurt to ask for them to replace it. If not, you will just have to replace it. Is the diamond insured?

 

[K9]

If it were me I would not want the original jeweler to provide the stones or even touch my ring. I would likely replace them myself with my own money and ask the original jeweler for some monetary compensation for the misrepresentation of color and clarity, let alone damage to the stone.

They likely will give you nothing (as charmy stated, it will be hard to prove they came that way), but you can at least try.

 

[rhbgirl24]

They are both noticably different from center stone, even though they claimed they were E VS1 also. My now jeweler says there is really no way I could have damaged the bottom of the stone with the way they are set, that it would have HAD to be done before setting or while they set it. Plus its looked this way since I got it, so it wasn''t done after...... not that I can really prove that. I do have pics..... but.

No, I am not letting them touch my ring again, ever. And thank you Diamond*Dana I do love the design too, but now we''re just looking at making it better!! We would be more than willing to send them their stones back for a refund and then buy our own........ we will see.

Thanks everyone. Its good to have others opinions.

 

[K9]

I like the idea of returning them for your money back - I''d definitely try. The difference in color from your glowing center stone would bother me (as would a chip

).

 

[AprilBaby]

I would take the sides and make earrings and start all over with the new jeweler for the side stones.

 

[gemgirl]

Date: 5/31/2009 12:39:31 PM
Author: k9muttlover
I like the idea of returning them for your money back - I''d definitely try. The difference in color from your glowing center stone would bother me (as would a chip

).

I wouldn''t let that first jeweler near my ring if I were you, but I would take back both trillions for a refund. And if they don''t satisfy you, you file a report with the Better Business Bureau.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Ditto to telling the original jeweler that the sidestones are not as promised and you want to return them for a refund. They may not do it, and in that case, I''d just pay for two new sidestones. I''d make the ring as perfect as possible or you won''t be happy with it. I also like the idea of making the current stones into earrings if they won''t take them back.

 

[Diamond*Dana]

Date: 5/31/2009 12:34:22 PM
Author: rhbgirl24
They are both noticably different from center stone, even though they claimed they were E VS1 also. My now jeweler says there is really no way I could have damaged the bottom of the stone with the way they are set, that it would have HAD to be done before setting or while they set it. Plus its looked this way since I got it, so it wasn''t done after...... not that I can really prove that. I do have pics..... but.

No, I am not letting them touch my ring again, ever. And thank you Diamond*Dana I do love the design too, but now we''re just looking at making it better!! We would be more than willing to send them their stones back for a refund and then buy our own........ we will see.

Thanks everyone. Its good to have others opinions.

Oh no, I would definitely not let them do any of the work on your ring...just see if they will replace the stone and then have the other jeweler do the work.

 

[marcy]

Your ring is lovely. I like the idea of making earrings and starting over with different diamonds and a different jeweler.

 

[kaori]

That's horrible

!! I am so sorry to hear that.

As to reply for your request on finding matching trilliants.... I found something for you...
http://rockdiamond.com/index.php/jewelry/matching-diamondsside-stones-65-tw-trilliant-diamonds

Good luck

 

[rhbgirl24]

Date: 5/31/2009 10:55:46 PM
Author: kaori
That''s horrible

!! I am so sorry to hear that.


As to reply for your request on finding matching trilliants.... I found something for you...

http://rockdiamond.com/index.php/jewelry/matching-diamondsside-stones-65-tw-trilliant-diamonds


Good luck

Wow, thank you for the link! Those are beautiful. I know they are 4mm now and these are a little bigger, but I will pass the link on over to the fiance to see if he is willing to go bigger.

We were also referred to a company called Trillion Diamonds in NYC, so we will be checking them out as well. Thanks again!

 

[Stone Hunter]

Oh I''m so so sorry that this has been such a hassle for you and your fiance. But I''m glad you''ve found a good new jeweler.

Good Luck with whatever you decide.

 

[rhbgirl24]

Update: fiance called Trillion Diamond Co. in NYC. They can replace the trillions we have now D or E color, VS1 for not too much more than we paid for the ones we own now. They will send a few pairs to our current jeweler for us to pick from!

Fiance called Raru (original jeweler) and got one of the salesmen, who was clueless (I dont know why I''m shocked every time we get horrible customer service there!)- so I''m just hoping they were take a refund - I will more than happy send them their inferior diamonds back! lol But feeling a little more at ease.........

 

[motownmama]

I''m glad things are moving along for you - good luck!

 

[rhbgirl24]

Well it seems that Raru is ignoring our phone calls (my fiance got the salesman who dealt with us the first time around and he just wanted to blow us off. Told us to email the owner) so we emailed and nothing of course..........

Think they will even give us the respect of a response? urg. We wrote out the problem and possible solutions (refund or replacement) nicely - no attitude, nothing. So annoyed.

 

[Jypsie]

I know this isn''t what you are looking for in this thread, but regardless of what happens with the ring and the jerk jeweler - please remember, in the end your fiance was trying to do a wonderful thing - and I have to say, even though it may not be 100% what either of you wanted, it does have character and it''s beautiful!

Ok, now you can go back to figuring out the answer to the problem with the bad jeweler - I have no idea what to do, my hot italian temper makes my mouth open first and lets my NYer vocabulary (read many not so nice words, as described by Websters and many other sources LOL) flow, I leave the questions for another point in time... or for my husband to deal with. I''m definitely not the diplomatic one in this family.

 

[rhbgirl24]

Date: 6/2/2009 6:02:43 PM
Author: Jypsie
I know this isn''t what you are looking for in this thread, but regardless of what happens with the ring and the jerk jeweler - please remember, in the end your fiance was trying to do a wonderful thing - and I have to say, even though it may not be 100% what either of you wanted, it does have character and it''s beautiful!

Ok, now you can go back to figuring out the answer to the problem with the bad jeweler - I have no idea what to do, my hot italian temper makes my mouth open first and lets my NYer vocabulary (read many not so nice words, as described by Websters and many other sources LOL) flow, I leave the questions for another point in time... or for my husband to deal with. I''m definitely not the diplomatic one in this family.

I know, I have to keep my mouth shut too. Just hoping they will do the right thing. Either way we are getting the stones replaced and the sidestone baskets redone. And thanks for the compliments - regardless i LOVE it.