Lost a 4pt melee in my engagement ring - cost to repair?

[dukie114]

I just noticed I lost a 4 pt melee diamond in my engagement ring. It is a custom made setting from a store highly recommended on this website (although more for their diamonds rather than their custom work). I've only had the ring for 10 months and only wear it when I leave my home. I am not rough with my hands. The place where I bought the setting quoted me 75-100 dollars to fix it. Does this price seem reasonable, especially since it is a setting that they custom made for me? Also, should I be concerned about the workmanship of my setting if I lost a stone in under a year while not wearing it all the time? I am concerned this will be a recurring problem and 75-100 dollars to fix it each time is not an insignificant cost to me. The store already told me if it was manufacturing defect, I would have lost stones right away but I feel like 10 months still seems rather fast to be losing stones. The jewelry store did not offer me a warranty on my ring when I purchased it. I am curious to hear about other people's experience with this issue. Thanks for reading!

 

[SparklySoprano]

First, I'm so sorry that you lost a stone. No matter when it happens, it is never fun to deal with. Based on your post, I don't believe you have insurance. That is one item to consider for the future. You never know what can happen (I almost lost my spacer down the drain and I am extremely careful with my rings -- it bounced off the center of the counter where I was setting it down and then plopped halfway into the drain. There have been other recent stories on PS about this, too.) However, I slightly digress here....

To me, ten months to lose a stone seems quick especially when you are so careful. I would pay the $75/100 to replace it and then purchase a policy to cover it for these occurrences, as well as any other "bad" thing that could happen.

Also ask the jeweler to do a thorough inspection of the piece when s/he has it. Best of luck!!! I really hope it all works out to your best satisfaction.

 

[Michael_E]

Small stones are generally held in place with even smaller beads or prongs. These can be broken, bent or suffer a type of corrosion if they are nickel white gold and exposed to chlorine or bromine in water. It is often possible to tell why the metal let go of a diamond by examining it under a microscope. If you have a loupe and can see that the metal holding your diamond was bent, then it was something you did and probably won't happen again unless you're doing something very rough. If the metal has been broken off, then it could be all kinds of things only one of which is something that you did. This is probably not something that you can figure out, (unless the metal all around the missing diamond is beat up), but it is something which the maker should be concerned with since you will be very unhappy if this keeps happening and you aren't being rough with it. I would express my concerns with them and have them show you the area under the microscope with an explanation of why this probably happened.

It can be difficult to find good custom clients and keeping them happy is the most important thing that one can do to keep them and the friends coming back. The cost to them to make that repair is less than 1/2 of the cost charged to you and they pay WAY more than that in advertising to get good clients in the door. Why would they work so hard to get someone in the door and then not support them once they have them as clients? (Hint, that's a good question to ask them when you go back for this sort of service).

 

[VirginiaZee]

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this, frustrating and never a fun time.

What area of the setting was the missing melee in (underside of the shank, corner of a halo, etc.)?

 

[dukie114]

Thanks for the replies!

First, I'm so sorry that you lost a stone. No matter when it happens, it is never fun to deal with. Based on your post, I don't believe you have insurance. That is one item to consider for the future. You never know what can happen (I almost lost my spacer down the drain and I am extremely careful with my rings -- it bounced off the center of the counter where I was setting it down and then plopped halfway into the drain. There have been other recent stories on PS about this, too.) However, I slightly digress here....

To me, ten months to lose a stone seems quick especially when you are so careful. I would pay the $75/100 to replace it and then purchase a policy to cover it for these occurrences, as well as any other "bad" thing that could happen.

Also ask the jeweler to do a thorough inspection of the piece when s/he has it. Best of luck!!! I really hope it all works out to your best satisfaction.

My ring is insured but after reading about this issue on the internet, it seems people advise against using my insurance to pay for small repairs such as this since it will increase my premium and to save using my insurance for a big loss (such as if I lose my entire ring). Do others agree with this?

Small stones are generally held in place with even smaller beads or prongs. These can be broken, bent or suffer a type of corrosion if they are nickel white gold and exposed to chlorine or bromine in water. It is often possible to tell why the metal let go of a diamond by examining it under a microscope. If you have a loupe and can see that the metal holding your diamond was bent, then it was something you did and probably won't happen again unless you're doing something very rough. If the metal has been broken off, then it could be all kinds of things only one of which is something that you did. This is probably not something that you can figure out, (unless the metal all around the missing diamond is beat up), but it is something which the maker should be concerned with since you will be very unhappy if this keeps happening and you aren't being rough with it. I would express my concerns with them and have them show you the area under the microscope with an explanation of why this probably happened.

It can be difficult to find good custom clients and keeping them happy is the most important thing that one can do to keep them and the friends coming back. The cost to them to make that repair is less than 1/2 of the cost charged to you and they pay WAY more than that in advertising to get good clients in the door. Why would they work so hard to get someone in the door and then not support them once they have them as clients? (Hint, that's a good question to ask them when you go back for this sort of service).

Thanks for the suggestions. I will definitely ask about why they think I lost a diamond. The setting is platinum and there are 4 small prongs holding each melee. I am also surprised they don't seem to be that interested in keeping me a happy customer. I am happy to pay the actual cost for the repair but if they are using this as an opportunity to profit from me, I don't think that's nice.

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this, frustrating and never a fun time.

What area of the setting was the missing melee in (underside of the shank, corner of a halo, etc.)?

The shank of my engagement ring setting has seven 4 pt diamonds on each side of the center stone. The one that is missing is the one farthest from the center.

 

[WillyDiamond]

Yes, reasonable cost

 

[RissaLou]

I have been quoted similar prices for similar repairs, so it's a common price I would say in my personal experience. Since you don't have to use the original maker for the repair, I would shop around local places to you. It sounds like a fairly simple repair so it shouldn't be too difficult for most jewelers. I was actually quoted $85 for the same repair by the person that made my ring. I shopped around and found a little "mom and pop" shop that does watch and jewelry repairs, next to my house that did the repair for $55. But you also want to insure that you get the same quality as the original, so it might be worth it to send it back to the original jeweler for the repair.

As far as being concerned about the stone falling out after only 10 months. My 1st engagement ring literally had three melee stones fall out during the 1st week of owning it, so I wouldn't worry so much about it happening after 10 months, unless it happens again right away.

 

[baby monster]

I paid about the same to replace a similar size stone in an earring so I'd say it's reasonable. Same store where I originally bought the earrings. I had the earrings for longer than 10mos but then earring don't have the same level of use. I'd ask them to check the setting and explain why the stone fell out.