shape
carat
color
clarity

James Allen - poor experience

Bobobanana

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jul 1, 2009
Messages
9
Hi, has anyone got any experience of claiming under James Allen’s warranty? I bought my engagement and wedding rings from them and then 4 years later bought another French cut pave ring which is the same as my wedding ring to wear stacked. Despite it being the same in as my wedding ring and worn on the same finger at the same time, the pave has lost a number of diamonds.
Whilst I completely understand that you need to be careful with pave, I now can’t even wear it as the diamonds drop out. It’s really strange given that it’s newer than my wedding ring, is exactly the same and worn on the same finger at the same time. I still haven’t lost a single diamond from my wedding ring. I can only assume it’s faulty in some way.
I contacted James Allen in January to see what they could do to fix but they just keep dismissing me saying that they’ve got a backlog which I think is pretty poor service. I completely understand that this year has been a bit nuts but I would expect them to do something in the 9 months since I first emailed them.

Has anyone got any tips as to how I should resolve this? I’ve started looking for a ring for our 10 year anniversary and would have ordinarily looked at James Allen’s but this has really put me off.
 

OoohShiny

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Apr 25, 2014
Messages
8,228
I'm sorry to hear that.

How long have you had the pavé ring now? (if you ignore the 9 months its taken for them to fail to do anything useful following your raising of the issue, lol).
 

seaurchin

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Nov 2, 2012
Messages
3,541
Unless the warranty covers anything regardless of fault, I'd first determine if the ring design really is faulty. That's one possible explanation for why the stones fall out from the newer ring, but it's not proof.

If you don't see any difference under a loupe or magnifying glass (such as shorter prongs on the newer ring) but still think there's a structural problem, you could try taking the rings to a jeweler who makes settings.

If the newer ring design is faulty, take pictures of it compared to the older one and write a description of what the problem is (or have the jeweler do it). Then you have something concrete to send to the company, and possibly beyond.

Good luck with it. Please let us know how it goes. :)
 
Last edited:

mommylawyer

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Jan 27, 2020
Messages
502
I don't have any experience with James Allen, but I own two pave diamond rings (engagement ring/wedding band) that I am very rough with, and I haven't lost a stone yet (knock on wood). Last night, for example, I accidentally scraped both rings across our tile floor while playing with my son. I thought for sure I had damaged the rings but they were fine.

My wedding band is the Riviera Petite Micropave Diamond Eternity Ring in 14k White Gold (1/4 ct. tw.) from Blue Nile if you're looking for a replacement for yours.

 

Bobobanana

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jul 1, 2009
Messages
9
I'm sorry to hear that.

How long have you had the pavé ring now? (if you ignore the 9 months its taken for them to fail to do anything useful following your raising of the issue, lol).

Hi, it has been nearly 6 years. I am kicking myself for not doing something about it initially as a stone fell out within a year of me buying it. I just assumed I’d done something wrong and wasn’t being careful enough so had it replaced.
I think I’ve probably lost around 6 stones now in total. I had the first 4 replaced (around 1 a year) and just put it down to it being a delicate setting but then in January this year 2 fell out in one evening and one of the stones was on the walk from the restaurant to the car when I hadn’t even touched anything and that made me think there was something amiss.
 

Bobobanana

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jul 1, 2009
Messages
9
Unless the warranty covers anything regardless of fault, I'd first determine if the ring design really is faulty. That's one possible explanation for why the stones fall out from the newer ring, but it's not proof.

If you don't see any difference under a loupe or magnifying glass (such as shorter prongs on the newer ring) but still think there's a structural problem, you could try taking the rings to a jeweler who makes settings.

If the newer ring design is faulty, take pictures of it compared to the older one and write a description of what the problem is (or have the jeweler do it). Then you have something concrete to send to the company, and possibly beyond.

Good luck with it. Please let us know how it goes. :)

Thanks for the tips-I’m in the UK which complicates things a little bit but I’ll definitely take your advice and get it checked over and a report written. It’s definitely a little odd that it’s been worn in exactly the same way as my wedding ring and on the same finger yet I haven’t lost stones from that.

I’ll definitely let you know how it goes. This is such a valuable resource and I wouldn’t want anyone else to get caught out with this problem. I’m just a little bit disappointed that James Allen has been so reluctant to engage with me on this as the lifetime guarantee and positive reviews on here were really great piece of mind since I bought from overseas.
 

Bobobanana

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jul 1, 2009
Messages
9
I don't have any experience with James Allen, but I own two pave diamond rings (engagement ring/wedding band) that I am very rough with, and I haven't lost a stone yet (knock on wood). Last night, for example, I accidentally scraped both rings across our tile floor while playing with my son. I thought for sure I had damaged the rings but they were fine.

My wedding band is the Riviera Petite Micropave Diamond Eternity Ring in 14k White Gold (1/4 ct. tw.) from Blue Nile if you're looking for a replacement for yours.


Your set is beautiful-really sophisticated and the wedding band is a great replacement. Thanks so much!
 

OoohShiny

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Apr 25, 2014
Messages
8,228
Hi, it has been nearly 6 years. I am kicking myself for not doing something about it initially as a stone fell out within a year of me buying it. I just assumed I’d done something wrong and wasn’t being careful enough so had it replaced.
I think I’ve probably lost around 6 stones now in total. I had the first 4 replaced (around 1 a year) and just put it down to it being a delicate setting but then in January this year 2 fell out in one evening and one of the stones was on the walk from the restaurant to the car when I hadn’t even touched anything and that made me think there was something amiss.

I am no lawyer or anything like that, but I'm inclined to think that six years might be too late to do anything about the situation :(

If you paid by credit card then you might have six months? 12 months? to lodge a complaint through them that the goods weren't fit for purpose, but six years is a long time in terms of any warranty, either implied or given!

I don't think JA has a presence in the UK so I don't think you'd be able to go through Trading Standards (in the limited form they seem to exist now) because something being 'fit for purpose' is not really defined in terms of how long a ring should last (as I understand it).

Six years is quite a long time and for all they know you could have been wearing it to dig foundations for your house with a pneumatic jackhammer :D lol


I think it's worth chasing JA again - they do have a member of the senior staff on here but I can't remember their name, but perhaps someone might tag them into this thread :) - but I think it's also worth starting to look around for other options. It might just be that the design you have is beautiful but not that sturdy (how wide is it?) and will therefore always suffer with lost stones, so taking the hit to buy something that will be stronger might bring peace of mind (albeit at additional cost).

:)
 
Be a part of the community Get 3 HCA Results
Top