Is WF having quality control issues?

[princesarosa22]

Let me say, I love WF. I have my new upgrade and the stone is absolutely beautiful and was well priced. However, the center diamond was set off-center. It''s very obvious. It showed in the photos they sent me and I was hoping it was just the tilt of the ring in the photo. Unfortunately, it wasn''t. There is an airline between the stone and the halo, which I expected. However, 1/2 of the airline is thinner than the other side, by a noticeable difference. I think it will drive me nuts. I''m just surprised that with its wonderful reputation and products, WF would allow a ring to leave without seeing this. Is this an indication of lack of quality control? I know that others have had some other quality control issues lately.

I need to call my sales rep and find out what to do. I don''t want to pay the ridiculous shipping cost to send it back to be centered. I paid for the actual process of setting the diamond. I''m wondering how this will be handled...will keep you informed. Check out the photo. Wouldn''t that drive you nuts?!?!

 

[Lula]

Yes, it would drive me nuts. A casual observer may not notice it when you show them your ring, but most anyone looking at it for a longer time would probably notice it.

 

[Maisie]

It would annoy me if it was my ring. I am sure WF will fix it for you. I would assume that because its a QC issue they won't charge you return shipping.

There have been some issues at the minute with QC. I think some stern words need to be had.

 

[mrssalvo]

It would drive me nuts too. Hopefully WF will be able to make it right for you.

 

[Camille]

It would def drive me nuts, my experience with WF was immaculate......I''m sure they will pay for shipping, good luck.

 

[decodelighted]

Hmmm. Did you request an air line *at all* ? I see the off-centeredness and yes it would bother me. Was the halo a custom job or did you just buy the diamond from them & have it set in your existing setting. It almost looks to me like the diamond is too small for that setting! Really think about if you will like an air line period because if you''re sending it back anyway it is also the time you might think about exchanging the stone for one with a slightly larger circumference.

 

[girlie-girl]

Date: 4/30/2009 12:25:37 PM
Author: decodelighted
Hmmm. Did you request an air line *at all* ? I see the off-centeredness and yes it would bother me. Was the halo a custom job or did you just buy the diamond from them & have it set in your existing setting. It almost looks to me like the diamond is too small for that setting! Really think about if you will like an air line period because if you''re sending it back anyway it is also the time you might think about exchanging the stone for one with a slightly larger circumference.

Like Deco, I too was wondering if you already had the setting or what. I agree the diamond circumference looks a little too small for the ring. Do you know the dimensions for the diamond and the setting''s center stone opening?

 

[btrflygrl23]

It would bother me too and I would ruminate about it and it would drive me a bit batty so I hope WF can take care of it and that you won''t have to be out the shipping good luck

 

[Phoenix]

The lop-sidedness would drive me nuts!!

I had a beautiful garnet pendant with diamond halo and the garnet was set just like yr ring!! I drove me crazy and my local jeweller refused to fix it, so I had no choice but to sell it!

Hopefully, WF will fix it for you. This is clearly a QC issue. Even if they had to set the stone in yr existing setting, they didn''t have to set it lop-sidedly like that. It''s not difficult, I''d think, to make sure the centre stone is centred, IMO.

 

[neatfreak]

If it's something WF can fix they will. But I also wonder if it is the setting. It's a Simon G right?

It doesn't appear that moving the stone will even it out in the way it needs to be evened IMO. But it could be an optical illusion. If it's WF's fault though they will fix it.

 

[Allison D.]

Princess, can you get in touch with Vera Wages and let her know you''d like to send it back? She''ll do so for you on our dime by sending you a label, and we''ll be happy to make any needed adjustments.

I''m still doing a bit of homework on the setting, but I wanted to respond promptly to reassure you that we''ll cover the shipping costs.

 

[decodelighted]

It doesn''t look like there''s any way to center it. Maybe the hole is a bit oval ... because look at how much room there is at the top, yet the bottom is the about the same width opening as the two sides. If the stone was slid down to be equidistant from the top & bottom ... the gap would be larger than the gaps on the East & West sides.

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 4/30/2009 12:36:57 PM
Author: decodelighted
It doesn''t look like there''s any way to center it. Maybe the hole is a bit oval ... because look at how much room there is at the top, yet the bottom is the about the same width opening as the two sides. If the stone was slid down to be equidistant from the top & bottom ... the gap would be larger than the gaps on the East & West sides.

That''s exactly what I was trying to say. But thought maybe it was just an illusion.

 

[decodelighted]

Date: 4/30/2009 12:37:45 PM
Author: neatfreak

Date: 4/30/2009 12:36:57 PM
Author: decodelighted
It doesn''t look like there''s any way to center it. Maybe the hole is a bit oval ... because look at how much room there is at the top, yet the bottom is the about the same width opening as the two sides. If the stone was slid down to be equidistant from the top & bottom ... the gap would be larger than the gaps on the East & West sides.

That''s exactly what I was trying to say. But thought maybe it was just an illusion.

Ya ... we were posting at the same time. It could be an illusion ... hard to tell with just one photo.

 

[girlie-girl]

Princesarosa do you have any other photos you can share? Ones from different angles etc?

 

[Allison D.]

Date: 4/30/2009 12:36:57 PM
Author: decodelighted
It doesn't look like there's any way to center it. Maybe the hole is a bit oval ... because look at how much room there is at the top, yet the bottom is the about the same width opening as the two sides. If the stone was slid down to be equidistant from the top & bottom ... the gap would be larger than the gaps on the East & West sides.

Princess, I just got off the phone with our Production manager on this, and Deco actually hit part of the answer.

He advised that the one factor is the Simon G setting you sent isn't fully symmetrical. On top of that, it previously housed a larger stone. This stone is actually a bit small for the setting, so that will result in the airline.

In this particular design, the prongs are directly attached to the bezel-like portion of the setting, so we can't 'move' them. If there were a basket in the middle where the diamond sits, we'd have more flexibility about how to position the diamond in the setting, but since the prongs are fixed, we can't.

Since we can't reposition the prongs and the setting is meant to house a larger stone, this is the best we could do without adding more metal to the prongs. If we did that, then the prongs would look thicker on the southern prongs than on the northern prongs, and that would be even more noticeable than the airline.

I'll post our photos in a second to give you a better feel for this.

 

[Maisie]

At the risk of sounding like I am vendor bashing (which I''m really not) I wonder why these problems weren''t brought up with the customer before the diamond was set.

 

[Allison D.]

From our photos, it appears the airline is much less prominent, so I think there may be a bit of a shadowing effect going on in the photo you took.

If you look at the photo on the right side, you can see the prongs are fixed to the metal bezel surrounding the opening for the stone. This is why the prongs aren''t movable.

 

[Allison D.]

Maisie, they were. The customer was advised that the diamond was a bit small for the setting and that we could set it but there would be a resulting airline.

 

[Lula]

Maisie, the customer said in her first post she knew there would be an airline. The issue is that the airline isn't symmetrical.
Sorry forgot your screen name -- princearosas

 

[Maisie]

Date: 4/30/2009 1:06:45 PM
Author: Allison D.
Maisie, the customer was advised that the diamond was a bit small for the setting and that we could set it but there would be a resulting airline.

So is it possible to center the diamond in that setting? I can see on your photos that the gap is bigger on the right. Or is there nothing can be done to fix it?

 

[oldminer]

A jeweler could remove the diamond, eliminate the four prong tips which are now there, install a low base, die-struck, 4 prong, tapered setting into the opening and let it fall all the way into the hole before welding or soldering it into position. Then one would remove the bulk of the underneath part of the setting and also remove the excessively long upper portion of the prongs. Reset the diamond, which now would appear more centered and there would be no airline, but a white metal, reflective filling from the newly installed setting upper edge instead, making the centering far less visible as there would be no dark, air-line zone to look at.

In fact, any method to fill-in the air-line with reflective metal, would likely eliminate the very slightly off-set look you see. There''s always a fix, but sometimes it is more costly and problematic that what one might decide to try. Once a person is "off" on something, it often is difficult to get them to see it as properly fixed even when it is way better. Best of luck getting it done to your satisfaction.

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 4/30/2009 1:12:20 PM
Author: oldminer
A jeweler could remove the diamond, eliminate the four prong tips which are now there, install a low base, die-struck, 4 prong, tapered setting into the opening and let it fall all the way into the hole before welding or soldering it into position. Then one would remove the bulk of the underneath part of the setting and also remove the excessively long upper portion of the prongs. Reset the diamond, which now would appear more centered and there would be no airline, but a white metal, reflective filling from the newly installed setting upper edge instead, making the centering far less visible as there would be no dark, air-line zone to look at.


In fact, any method to fill-in the air-line with reflective metal, would likely eliminate the very slightly off-set look you see. There''s always a fix, but sometimes it is more costly and problematic that what one might decide to try. Once a person is ''off'' on something, it often is difficult to get them to see it as properly fixed even when it is way better. Best of luck getting it done to your satisfaction.

whew...that sounds complicated. I vote to just go for a larger diamond to eliminate the airline

 

[Maisie]

Date: 4/30/2009 1:15:19 PM
Author: mrssalvo

Date: 4/30/2009 1:12:20 PM
Author: oldminer
A jeweler could remove the diamond, eliminate the four prong tips which are now there, install a low base, die-struck, 4 prong, tapered setting into the opening and let it fall all the way into the hole before welding or soldering it into position. Then one would remove the bulk of the underneath part of the setting and also remove the excessively long upper portion of the prongs. Reset the diamond, which now would appear more centered and there would be no airline, but a white metal, reflective filling from the newly installed setting upper edge instead, making the centering far less visible as there would be no dark, air-line zone to look at.


In fact, any method to fill-in the air-line with reflective metal, would likely eliminate the very slightly off-set look you see. There''s always a fix, but sometimes it is more costly and problematic that what one might decide to try. Once a person is ''off'' on something, it often is difficult to get them to see it as properly fixed even when it is way better. Best of luck getting it done to your satisfaction.

whew...that sounds complicated. I vote to just go for a larger diamond to eliminate the airline

Lol! Good plan!!

 

[cinnamon013]

yeah it would make me crazy.

 

[Allison D.]

Date: 4/30/2009 1:12:11 PM
Author: Maisie

Date: 4/30/2009 1:06:45 PM
Author: Allison D.
Maisie, the customer was advised that the diamond was a bit small for the setting and that we could set it but there would be a resulting airline.

So is it possible to center the diamond in that setting? I can see on your photos that the gap is bigger on the right. Or is there nothing can be done to fix it?

Please reread the above:

In this particular design, the prongs are directly attached to the bezel-like portion of the setting, so we can''t ''move'' them. If there were a basket in the middle where the diamond sits, we''d have more flexibility about how to position the diamond in the setting, but since the prongs are fixed, we can''t.

The prongs were positioned in the setting to hold a stone of the size intended for this setting.

Can it be fixed? Anything can be fixed if a buyer decides the fix would be worth the cost incurred to fix it.

 

[Maisie]

I understood perfectly well what you said in your post Allison. What I was wondering is if it was possible to do anything else to adjust the setting so the diamond would sit in the centre. You did advise the customer that there would be an airline.. you didn''t tell her that the diamond would sit off centre.

 

[DiamondFlame]

I''m so sorry you had to go through this princesarosa22; I remember you asking if the stone is off centre from looking at the pic. Many of us really thought it was just the photo.

This is a tricky one and by all accounts would drive many PS''ers nuts. I was thinking that perhaps the RB is not perfectly round to begin with? What are its dimensions again? I''d like a close up of the side profile of the ring to see if the table is parallel to the halo top or if it tilts ever so slightly to one side.

 

[princesarosa22]

Holy Moly you guys are fast! I go out for lunch and I get a message from WF to call them. I haven''t had a chance yet to call but will definitely do so this afternoon. To summarize my responses to some of the previous posts (without quoting them all):

1. Yes, they told me there would be an airline. In person, the airline actually looks good as it separates the center diamond and makes it more prominent I believe. I don''t want it to blend in seamlessly with the halo. I''m am definitely ok with an airline. The setting has openings around the pink diamonds and split shanks so the airline seems to make sense to me (as long as it''s fairly on-center)

2. The setting is a Simon G and it is meant to hold a 7.0mm stone (with no airline). My new stone (this was an upgrade) measures 6.89 x 6.92 (approximately 0.1 of a mm less). I just took a look at the online inventory of WF ACAs in a range from 1.20 to 1.40 ct. and the only way to get measurements bigger than what I have would be to go to a G, H or I in color and get better clarity (and would be a minimum of $5K more!!!). I love the J VS2. I am NOT willing to upgrade my new upgrade for double the price to get rid of the airline. I am also not willing to compromise on cut! This ACA is to DIE for! Cut is key that''s for sure! Love the stone! Would consider a bigger measurement ACA upgrade (even now) if I could get very similar to what I have at a very small increase in price.

3. "can be fixed if customer agrees to incur the cost..." - I specifically asked for a quote on whether the prongs would need to be rebuilt and had agreed to pay for whatever was necessary to fix, make the diamond safe and make it look good. I made this clear in my conversation with my rep and this was pulled from my email to him "If there is any pave loose or if the prongs need work, I would be willing to pay extra for Whiteflash to make it nice and safe for my stone." Was told that the prongs were fine.

4. One of the prongs looks like it''s "leaning" inward pushing the diamond over to the side where the airline is too small. This prong is also longer than the others. The distance between the 2 prongs is different on each part you measure. It''s clear that one is leaning over and if it were straightened up (an each of the other ones leaned a little more toward center) the diamond would sit more centered. I agree that the setting isn''t "perfect" but the off-center thing doesn''t make sense to me. Especially because that was never mentioned to me.

Sorry for the long response. I have other photos in the Show Me the Ring Thread but I don''t know how to link to that. The thread is titled WF ACA/Simon G = Yummy. I''m going to try to take some more tonight.

Like I said, I love WF and I love the ACA and I love the setting. I just want them to work in harmony. I know WF''s customer service is great. I''m just sad I''m going to be without my ring yet again!

Sheesh...sorry, long post.

 

[stone-cold11]

OK, I am linking the photos from that thread for those interested.