Can someone please help us out?
My finace purchased 2 rings from Whitehall Jewelers in December 2006 and poposed on 06 Jan 2007. He gave me both rings to wear as an engagement set with a third to be purchased for our wedding in September 2007. The main ring consists of a 1ct princess/whitestar cut stone set in a .75 ct pave 18kt white gold band. The second band is .50 ct pave in 18kt white gold.
All was great until the morning after the engagement when I saw my rings in the daylight. The main ring''s center setting was clearly off-center and the prongs were uneven and mis-shapen. I reluctantly pointed this out to my fiance after a few days, having confirmed my thoughts with some of my friends. I also brought it to another jeweler without telling my fiancee and he bawked at the condition of the ring. I did not want to hurt his feelings as he was very proud of the ring, he insisted on picking it out himself and only took me to stores to get an idea of what i wanted, as I wanted the pave setting with a square/rectangular stone.
He brought the ring back to Whitehall and they reset it; the setting was setill not perfect but I could not bear to tell him again so I let it go. About 2 months later, I was taking off my rings to wash my hands when one of the pave diamonds fell out of the second ring. My fiancee brought the ring back and they reset it.
Last Friday I was in the Mall and went into Lundstroms jewelers (the sister company of Whitehall) and asked for my rings to be cleaned. The lady took both my rings to the steamer and gasped....the center stone had fallen out of the main ring. The steamer had not even turned on, she had simply turned the ring upside down and the stone fell out. She would not clean the second ring and graciously gave me the first ring and the main stone in 2 separate bags to bring back to my jeweler. She was in shock as was I and could not believe this happened to a five-month old ring.
Because this was now the third issue with these rings I was done and have lost any confidence in Whitehalls work.
So last night we brought the ring back to Whitehall and to cut a lon and extermely frustrating story short they refused to give us a refund. They offered to "reset or upgrade the stone/setting" When i asked who would be paying for the upgrade i found out it would be us!!! How nice!
They refuted any claims that this was their fault and claimed I caused the stone to become loose through wear & tear......for 5 months! The manager never once aplogized for my distress, nor was he in any way polite or concerned about the fact that I came close to losing my diamond. He brought over a nother salelady who claiming on eof her prongs broke once and she almost lost her diamond.....i was fuming! I aske dif her ring was 5 month sold when this happned, to which she asnswered no.
The manager then brought one of the jewelers out, who proceeded to accuse me of loosening the stone and began to ask me to be quiet when I told him I had never heard of a center stone falling out of an engagement ring, my mother''s ring is 33 years old and this never happened, how the hell did it happen to mine? He then began laughing at me because I was upset which was unbelievable. I repeated my stance that I did not want any more products fromt hem as i had no confidence in their products after all of the issues we had. I explained how I had a desk job, did not got to the gym, took my rings off every night and every time I wash my hands or bathe and could not understand how the setting became loose!
I told them this could have been resolved if they agrreed to give me refund in the firast place as this was a faulty product, not simply a case of me not liking the ring. They said they could not authorize a refund after 90 days as this would need to come from higher management. I then asked for the contact information for the corporate offices and voiced my disbelief at how I had been treated.
I called the Customer Service number which was an answering service and was told a Regioanl manager would be in touch with me within 24-48 hours.
I have not heard anything as of now. I am devastated about this.
Does anyone have any inout or advice for us on how to proceed?
My finace purchased 2 rings from Whitehall Jewelers in December 2006 and poposed on 06 Jan 2007. He gave me both rings to wear as an engagement set with a third to be purchased for our wedding in September 2007. The main ring consists of a 1ct princess/whitestar cut stone set in a .75 ct pave 18kt white gold band. The second band is .50 ct pave in 18kt white gold.
All was great until the morning after the engagement when I saw my rings in the daylight. The main ring''s center setting was clearly off-center and the prongs were uneven and mis-shapen. I reluctantly pointed this out to my fiance after a few days, having confirmed my thoughts with some of my friends. I also brought it to another jeweler without telling my fiancee and he bawked at the condition of the ring. I did not want to hurt his feelings as he was very proud of the ring, he insisted on picking it out himself and only took me to stores to get an idea of what i wanted, as I wanted the pave setting with a square/rectangular stone.
He brought the ring back to Whitehall and they reset it; the setting was setill not perfect but I could not bear to tell him again so I let it go. About 2 months later, I was taking off my rings to wash my hands when one of the pave diamonds fell out of the second ring. My fiancee brought the ring back and they reset it.
Last Friday I was in the Mall and went into Lundstroms jewelers (the sister company of Whitehall) and asked for my rings to be cleaned. The lady took both my rings to the steamer and gasped....the center stone had fallen out of the main ring. The steamer had not even turned on, she had simply turned the ring upside down and the stone fell out. She would not clean the second ring and graciously gave me the first ring and the main stone in 2 separate bags to bring back to my jeweler. She was in shock as was I and could not believe this happened to a five-month old ring.
Because this was now the third issue with these rings I was done and have lost any confidence in Whitehalls work.
So last night we brought the ring back to Whitehall and to cut a lon and extermely frustrating story short they refused to give us a refund. They offered to "reset or upgrade the stone/setting" When i asked who would be paying for the upgrade i found out it would be us!!! How nice!
They refuted any claims that this was their fault and claimed I caused the stone to become loose through wear & tear......for 5 months! The manager never once aplogized for my distress, nor was he in any way polite or concerned about the fact that I came close to losing my diamond. He brought over a nother salelady who claiming on eof her prongs broke once and she almost lost her diamond.....i was fuming! I aske dif her ring was 5 month sold when this happned, to which she asnswered no.
The manager then brought one of the jewelers out, who proceeded to accuse me of loosening the stone and began to ask me to be quiet when I told him I had never heard of a center stone falling out of an engagement ring, my mother''s ring is 33 years old and this never happened, how the hell did it happen to mine? He then began laughing at me because I was upset which was unbelievable. I repeated my stance that I did not want any more products fromt hem as i had no confidence in their products after all of the issues we had. I explained how I had a desk job, did not got to the gym, took my rings off every night and every time I wash my hands or bathe and could not understand how the setting became loose!
I told them this could have been resolved if they agrreed to give me refund in the firast place as this was a faulty product, not simply a case of me not liking the ring. They said they could not authorize a refund after 90 days as this would need to come from higher management. I then asked for the contact information for the corporate offices and voiced my disbelief at how I had been treated.
I called the Customer Service number which was an answering service and was told a Regioanl manager would be in touch with me within 24-48 hours.
I have not heard anything as of now. I am devastated about this.
Does anyone have any inout or advice for us on how to proceed?
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