Itty bitty chip on my stone. Wah!!!

[jadeleaves]

Hi Kristydarling,

Sorry to hear about your chipped stone

Re: Mindclean thing - I think the chip will always bother me if it happened to my stone. You didn't suggest this as an option, but is replacing the stone feasible? Your insurance should cover that?

I know I'm in the minority, but at the back of my mind I will always KNOW my stone is now 'imperfect' (although I like Si stones, but those inclusions are natural!) and having spent the money on the stone + beautiful setting like yours, I would want it to be perfect.

Having said that, if that is not an option, I would definitely go for repolishing.

Hope you can get your rock back the way it was!

 

[kenny]

Your situation is very different from mine, which was a brand new stone, never set, also I was positive I didn't chip it.
My vendor, GOG, was very gracious and happy to make it right.

Considering everything you've said about your situation I think I'd try to just forget about it.
Key word: try.

 

[DBM]

kaleigh i wanted to wait a little for the thread to peter out before sort of hijacking it.

I can't say i know what the right answer was but I decided to NOT tell the woman about her chip and instead just rotateted the round piece and covered it with a prong. The logic being that since it was not a damage she was up for being reimbursed for anyway, telling her would only either not want to spend the ~$200 to replace the stone and then she'd not be "mindclean" the rest of the time wearing it OR she'd have to spend $200 to be mindclean by my telling her whereas i could let her be just as mindclean without telling her and saving her $200 to get that same joy with the product. Of course if it were something like a engagement ring stone it would have been totallly different but one round stone on an eternity band which is highly unlikely to ever be resold as is anyway without being taken in as partial scrap... i didn't see how it ultimately would be constructive for her to know.

zhuzhu's flattering compliments don't exactly make me feel any better about my decision either

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 12/24/2006 11:32:53 PM
Author: DBM
kaleigh i wanted to wait a little for the thread to peter out before sort of hijacking it.

I can''t say i know what the right answer was but I decided to NOT tell the woman about her chip and instead just rotateted the round piece and covered it with a prong. The logic being that since it was not a damage she was up for being reimbursed for anyway, telling her would only either not want to spend the ~$200 to replace the stone and then she''d not be ''mindclean'' the rest of the time wearing it OR she''d have to spend $200 to be mindclean by my telling her whereas i could let her be just as mindclean without telling her and saving her $200 to get that same joy with the product. Of course if it were something like a engagement ring stone it would have been totallly different but one round stone on an eternity band which is highly unlikely to ever be resold as is anyway without being taken in as partial scrap... i didn''t see how it ultimately would be constructive for her to know.

zhuzhu''s flattering compliments don''t exactly make me feel any better about my decision either

I don''t want to hijack this thread any further. Perhaps after the holiday you can start another thread.

 

[Beacon]

Ohhhhhh, noooooo! I am so sorry about the chip KD, especially on that fabulous stone.

If it were me, yes, I would be bummed. It''s a downer. But, if it were me, I would realize that the tiny chip is quite invisible and even I can hardly find it and no one else will and it really does not affect the beauty or utility of the stone. Now, I am *not* a big clarity junkie, so that''s just me.

I think the chip is no big deal and has not impaired your diamond which is still every bit as beautiful as ever.

The businessperson in me would pursue it with the insurer and find out what they can do for you. Taking it out, polishing, reset - gosh, it sounds like agony and I would personally try to avoid it. On the other hand, I would want whatever compensation I am due under the insurance since, after all, that is what insurance is for.

Emotionally it is hard, but visually there is nothing to it. How it happened, no one can ever tell and it could drive you pretty crazy to focus on that. Given the position it does seem likely it could have happened during reset. But, what can you do? Done is done. Can only move forward.

Try and put it out of your mind and give that diamond a hug, since it got that boo-boo. It''s still a remarkable and fantastic stone. You can hand it down to anyone with great pride - anyone would LOVE it.

 

[KtIceRN]

KD, just wanted to say how so sorry I am about your stone. I just had a chip myself so I know how you feel.

I would leave it alone if it wasn''t going to be a problem as time goes on. But I do understand about the mind clean thing...so it is a tough call. I guess the best advice I can give is go with your heart, you have to look at it eveyday and it should make you happy.....esp in that awsome Leon setting!!

Good luck with which ever you choose.

KT

 

[KristyDarling]

UPDATE below. I thought there might be helpful information here for the greater PS audience.

I finally called my insurance co, Jewelers Mutual, and they said that the chip is covered under "accidental damage" and my policy has a $1000 per incident deductible. So I should get an estimate for re-polishing the stone and then go from there. If it's less than 1K, I pay out of pocket. If it's more than 1K, I'll file a claim. I have 90 days from the date of my appraisal to file a claim. Also, the diamond will be fully covered while it's being repolished, so if any further damage occurs during that process, I'm protected.

I'm still not sure if I'm gonna go ahead with this. Although the chip is tiny enough not to be seen with the naked eye, I know that it's visible with a loupe, so it's not really THAT tiny.

Now the question is -- who would repolish the stone? Do I send it back to Leon and have one of his people do it? Does he even have diamond cutters on staff? I doubt it. I'm guessing I'd need to send it to a diamond cutter and then have him send it to Leon for re-setting. Ugh. What a hassle. Sigh....if there wasn't a 90 day limit on this, I'd probably just pass on the whole thing.

Does anyone know how much repolishing a tiny chip would cost???

 

[:)]

Thank goodness for Rockdoc letting us know about the possible time limit on letting the insurance company know - I never would have thought of that. I have no idea how much it costs to polish it out, but since it is a Leon, it would be really nice if he were able to be the one to unmount and remount it. Would it be possible to contact him, explain the situation, and ask if he works with anyone (ETA: local to him) he would recommend that you could get a quote from? Maybe then the stone could go to him, be unmounted, go to the cutter, and then back to him for resetting?
Just an idea...

 

[KristyDarling]

Smiley Face -- thanks for the suggestion! I actually called JM back after I posted and they said that the setter (Leon) would probably be my main point person for this. She said that in most cases, the setter farms out the repolishing part (assuming he doesn't have a cutter on his own staff). Regardless of who does it, the stone will be covered in the event of further damage. I trust that Leon knows and uses some of the best cutters in the business so I think I might just go through him. Again, assuming I actually go through with this! It sounds like a HUGE time committment. Not to mention the anxiety I'd feel about sending my precious ring across country again!!!!

 

[RockDoc]

RE: Cost to repolish

Most of the charge would be for the cutter to set the stone up and align it for the polishing so that the angle is precisely the same.

Probably would take about 30 minutes of time maximum to do this.

The polishing would only take a few minutes. Most of the charge would be the set up labor.

Probably $ 35.00- $ 90.00 with a lot depending on which facet it is and the location and depth of the chip.

The good part about getiing it done now, is that if something unfortunate does occur it''s covered by JM. The bad part is that your deductible is greater than the repair. But the advantage is if you have it done later JM MIGHT not offer any coverage for loss of value or something else that might happen.

Rockdoc

 

[KristyDarling]

This is GREAT information, thanks so much, Rock Doc! $35-90 isn''t much for repolishing, but I''m guessing the bulk of the cost will be in Leon''s removal of the stone and re-setting afterwards. I guess I should make a decision soon!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI KD:

I missed this thread, but am sorry to hear of your newest discovery!

I''d be mortified, and you "appear" so calm! Hope the repolishing can be done without much trouble.

cheers--Sharon

 

[Beacon]

Wow KD, glad to hear you have many options available. I hear you on the hassle factor. Would definitely make me think twice. Cost wise it sounds fairly reasonable, but the incidentals, like the shipping and the take down, reset might get costly.

If they do recut/polish, do you think the stone would lose weight? Would that require a recert from whoever graded it? I guess it is not that important unless you were selling the stone down the road, but if it were me I would wonder about this.

Provided the stone lost minimal weight and the total cost was workable, I feel that it is one of those things you wish you didn''t have to do, but once you did it would be glad that all was put back right.

Good luck sorting out your decision. No matter what you do, yours is still one of the most beautiful diamonds I have ever seen.

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 1/4/2007 6:23:00 PM
Author: KristyDarling
This is GREAT information, thanks so much, Rock Doc! $35-90 isn''t much for repolishing, but I''m guessing the bulk of the cost will be in Leon''s removal of the stone and re-setting afterwards. I guess I should make a decision soon!

Hi KD,

Sorry to hear about your stone, but the glad to hear it won''t cost a fortune to repolish it. I am pretty sure LM will reset for free or for a very small (~$100 or less) fee.

When I sold my LM setting to someone else, they had LM reset a CZ into it and he charged them $100 b/c he said it was a CZ and therefore harder to set, so I am thinking he would not even charge you anything.

I don''t know if it would be worth it to have to repolish it and then send it back out to NY to have LM reset it. Especially if you plan on changing the setting one day. If that''s the case, I would just keep it the way it is.

It might get even more chipped down the road and it wouldn''t make any sense to take the diamond out everytime to repolish and then reset.

Although the anal side of me probably would do it, but then again, I live in NY, so it''s very easy for me to get to LM.

Anyway, good luck with your decision.

 

[RockDoc]

Just a thought here........


If you had Chubb, there wouldn''t be a deductible. All the costs including the shipping, unsetting, resetting, and polishing would have been most likely covered.

Interesting for claims under 1 K with typical policies....and something to consider when there is a repair under the deductible amount. Maybe JM offers policies with lower or no deductibles?

Rockdoc