Refurb gone really wrong - what to do?

[Circe]

Yay! Glad it turned out! And I gotta say..love that octagonal setting!

Thanks, TG - SO RELIEVED. And me, too. Right now I'm wearing it as a RHR - haven't wanted to take it off since I got it!

Ah, relief! I think it looks fabulous! Why couldn't they do that in the first place?

I'm so happy for you Circe...I was afraid there was not going to be a happy ending. Nice to be wrong!

Riiiiiiiight? But all's well that ends well - I'm happy to have it back.

Yay! SO glad it is fixed now!

Thank you, honey.

That's a very pretty zircon in the gothic setting! Does it have an open culet?

I think it does! I got it in a completely mangled buttercup setting, so I think there's a chance it's an actual old cut. It's a great stand-in while I decide what to do!

Much better!!!! Thank goodness!!!

I love the other setting, too! It will be fun to find a stone to fit it! Definitely keep that gorgeous double bezel!!!!

Thanks, DS! That's what keeps me going back and forth!

It looks great, Circe!

Thank you, Laila!

I'm glad this all worked out!!! This is probably my worst nightmare, and the more I play in PS the more I am hesitating refurbishing my ring!

Thanks for the read!

Mico, what do you need done? After this, I gotta say, either I don't go for anything more than a little fix, or I go right to the top for repairs. I haven't heard of anybody having a bad experience with Single Stone or OWD for these sorts of things. On the other hand, it sure makes you selective about what's worth rehabbing ....

NIIICE!
Much better than some of the setters here on 47th street.
You've always got to think twice before giving your diamond to some guy called "Chip"


I am glad it worked out well- finally
Both rings looks sweet to me!
Mojo back.....git down!!!

I am flattered!!! And, yeah, re: your warning, SO WITH YOU.

Looks great! Finally.

But I gotta say -- rmeove those two inner bezels and then bead set your honker into your new mount! Add some fine milgrain... DIVINE!!! So low and smooth and protected, so practical. DO IIIITTT.

Thank you! But I do not know what to do when you and DS are at odds ....

Speaking of which, wanted to ask you - I think this setting is similar to your gorgeous antique in terms of construction and style. Do you feel comfortable wearing yours 24/7, or is it more of a "special occasion" ring? I tend to wear whatever my primary ring is for everything but working with my hands.

I'm so happy Circe, the ring looks great!

And that's a pretty sweet little zircon you've got there! I actually really like the cut, and it looks like it has a culet.

And of course I adore your new setting!

Thank you, JuneBug, on all counts!

Thank you to ALL of you for hand-holding me throughout this experience. I'm pretty sure it kept me from losing my cool more than once!

 

[backwardsandinheels]

Got nothing but love for you, baby. Everything is all good now and has unfolded as it should. Also, forget the scritchy scratchiness. No one can see it without a 10x loupe. Fix that if you're having a top notch fixer moment later and for now enjoy. Whew

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Hope it all worked out to your satisfaction. All is lovely, of course!

cheers--Shaorn

 

[chrono]

Circe,
I am so happy that you finally have a wearable ring and I LOVE the octagonal setting to pieces. The engraving, the piercing, the shape and everything is just right. That said, I am sure you already know that it is too small for your stone, right? I think removing the inner bezel and gorgeous milgraining is taking away a good portion of the charm. To me, those little details are what makes the ring special too, in addition to the engraving, shape and all.

 

[Mico]

I recently inherited a ring that needs a diamond replaced, and I would like the stability and settings of the other diamonds checked.

But it VERY sentimental, and I don't want to ship it, etc. irreplaceable is an understatement

 

[Circe]

Well, I take it back about being happy.

Because I finally had a nice, slow day where I could go and admire my ring under the black light again.

And, guess what? They apparently swapped out one of my laboriously located, perfectly matched, pain-in-the-ass to replace, non-fluorescent sidestones with a lower quality one.

With yellow fluorescence.

Wow. This may be the least professional thing I've ever even heard of.

 

[Circe]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand now that I look at it really closely, part of the girdle has been faceted.

So I'm guessing that "this is going to take longer, the second head didn't work out, we're sending it to our GOOD refurbishing guy" really meant "our incompetent bench chipped your diamond and we need some time to have it recut."

I am FUMING.

 

[yssie]

Well, I take it back about being happy.

Because I finally had a nice, slow day where I could go and admire my ring under the black light again.

And, guess what? They apparently swapped out one of my laboriously located, perfectly matched, pain-in-the-ass to replace, non-fluorescent sidestones with a lower quality one.

With yellow fluorescence.

Wow. This may be the least professional thing I've ever even heard of.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand now that I look at it really closely, part of the girdle has been faceted.

So I'm guessing that "this is going to take longer, the second head didn't work out, we're sending it to our GOOD refurbishing guy" really meant "our incompetent bench chipped your diamond and we need some time to have it recut."

I am FUMING.

You're joking, right?
You've got to be joking.
Right?

SO NOT OKAY. OMG!!

Have you talked to them? I'd LOVE to hear what they say.

 

[Circe]

Did I mention that I meant the girdle ON THE MAIN STONE? I am terrified to think of what is under the prongs.

 

[missy]

Oh no! How could they?! I am furious for you! How unprofessional is right. I cannot believe they were trying to get away with it after all of that too. The very least they could have done is be honest with you and explained what happened and given you some options instead of passing it off to you like it was all OK. Oh Circe, I am so sorry about this hot mess and wish there was something I could do besides just offering hugs and empathy. But sending big (((hugs))) your way anyway and hoping you give them hell and get some satisfaction from them somehow.

 

[yssie]

Did I mention that I meant the girdle ON THE MAIN STONE? I am terrified to think of what is under the prongs.

No, I didn't realise that - IMO that takes it from "you've got to be kidding" to "get it unset and appraised, find out if there's anything else to worry about, and oh they'd better have a very, very good explanation"...

Circe, I'm so sorry. For this saga to continue like this is... unbelievable is a tame descriptor.

 

[Circe]

Thanks, Yssie and Missy. I am just so ... taken aback by this. By the dishonesty, by the incompetence, and by the sheer bald faced GALL of it. They sent me home with a mangled ring and a smile ONCE hoping I'd miss it, so when I spotted it but trusted them to make it right, they not only screwed it up WORSE, but also hoped that THIS time, I might ... what, not be paying as much attention? Let it go? WHAT?

When you figure out your client is the type to take freaking macro photos of their jewelry, that should be the point where you should come to the conclusion that honesty is the best policy. I mean, if you haven't already come to it of your own accord.

Unprofessional, dishonest, gives-the-whole-profession-a-bad-name nonsense. I figure most people seeing this thread pop up at this point are figuring it's happy minutia, and I could frankly use some advice about insurance claims vs. other options. I'll start another thread.

 

[iheartscience]

Holy shiz. I cannot BELIEVE they would be so dishonest. Particularly since you clearly know quite a bit about jewelry-it isn't likely they were going to pull one over on you. I'm so sorry. GUH.

I haven't dealt with anything like this before but hopefully when you start a new thread someone can advise you. Maybe your original appraiser can offer some advice?

 

[backwardsandinheels]

Call Jeweler's Mutual.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Unbelievable. Call your insurane provided first. Then take the ring to your trusted appraiser, perhaps the one who appraised it the first time around. Go from there.

Simply too bizarre! It seems unbelievable to me. I mean, I believe you but I hope you are wrong! Could it be that there was always a faceted area hidden under the prong before?

 

[Circe]

Nope. Had it rotated when I bought it originally, and the newly faceted area is just too big.

 

[WinkHPD]

Thanks, Missy, Backwards in High Heels, Dreamer, Demelza, Laila.

Dreamer, I couldn't agree more, generally - the irritating thing is that I thought I HAD. It's just that ... well, it never occurred to me to say things like, "And make sure the prongs are touching the stone. No, ALL of them," because they're pros, KWIM?

And while I think that you and Demelza are right ... this takes the price of what was a cosmetic fix to five or ten times the cost for something urgent enough that I can't wear the ring unless I pony up. Problematic. I really am kicking myself right now.

I agree with Neil that the head will need some substantial repair or complete replacement, but I am at a loss as to why you are having to pony up for such obvious damage on the part of whomever "repaired" this.

I looked to see if you had responded after your Friday visit since this is Sat, but if you did I missed it. Is the owner of the store not willing to stand up and fix the problem his bench caused? This to me is not an issue of a a fragile stone cracking along a feather, this is a case of apparent incompetence.

Perhaps I am out of line since I do not know all of the facts, but this would would end up costing me a lot of money if it were my bench that messed this up so badly. There is no way I would not offer to fix that at my cost if I had done it, and I am sort of expecting a jeweler that you have worked with over the years to stand up and am hoping to hear that he did when next you visit.

Wink

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Wink, she was talking about if she had to send the ring to another place to get them to repair it, I think, because some of us suggested to try somewhere else. But that was back in Feb., and she ended up letting them work on the ring again, and now there is some evidence that they may have damaged her stone and switched out a side stone!

Circe!!! That is unbelievable! I do not know what they were thinking to have not informed you of the damage, but I guess 99.9% of people wouldn't have noticed and they probably thought they could get away with it. Was the girdle very thin or not?

 

[WinkHPD]

Omigoodness. I missed everything after page 1. I am so sorry to have commented after reading page one and if it was not already too late I would erase it.

Circe, I am sorry to come late to the tread thinking that I had read it all. I should have gone to bed instead of coming to check on things at Pricescope.

In fact, I think I will do that now and come read this tomorrow.

Wink the embarrassed.

 

[Hospatogi]

I'm so shocked and angry for you ! Circe you have been way too nice about this whole situation! Working with jeweler even to get a refund may be tricky especially since they seem to be quite dishonest. I would call your insurance company and see how they can help you.

 

[rosetta]

Um, I was about to post a cheer after your champagne picture.

This is like a nightmare that is actually getting worse.

Get your insurance involved and make these yahoos pay.

Most dishonest and unprofessional jewellers I've ever read about. I'm fuming on your behalf

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Circe, is the diamond visibly out of round such that you cannot keep it? They can bring in stones to replace the small one they damaged and replaced.

 

[Rosebloom]

Oh. My.

This is ridiculous!!!! I'm so sorry!

I have no other words, but plenty of gestures for your "jeweler"!!

 

[Circe]

Circe, is the diamond visibly out of round such that you cannot keep it? They can bring in stones to replace the small one they damaged and replaced.

After this, I genuinely don't want them anywhere near anything of mine.

As for it being out of round ... I'm not sure. Prongs like these can conceal a multitude of sins. Below are two pics of the girdle where I tried to catch the brand-new faceting, and then one face-up shot: the faceting is going under the upper right-hand prong as you face the screen.

P.S. - Right now, the only thing I am happy about is that I have macro pics from the day before I dropped it off at the jewelers, from every angle, from the first screw-up.

 

[Circe]

And thank you, Thing, Backwards, Dreamer, Wink, DS, Hospatagi, Rosetta, and Rosebloom. I am going to try to just not-think about this, and go about the day ... nothing I can do right now. But I appreciate all the suggestions. I know this will make me sound like the biggest patsy, but DS, I didn't even THINK about whether it might be out of round. UGH.

 

[bunnycat]

Woah. Circe. This really stinks. And there I was all happy for you that you had come to a closure on it. The unmentioned girdle faceting is the thing that shocks me the most. Really bad. I'm guessing it's not a facetted anywhere else?

I don't have any other words for you than I'm REALLY sorry this is still going on for you!

 

[Demelza]

Holy smokes -- this is a shocking turn of events! I am so sorry you're going through this. Do you have some sense of what you would like them to do to even try to make this right? Also, do you have any pictures of the untouched girdle? I would be interested to see what they did in comparison to how it was originally. I'm just shaking my head here -- truly unreal!

 

[Deactivated member 42515]

Makes me so angry! Why can't they just so things right!!! Just when you think things are ok... I can't believe they did that to your diamond!

 

[Circe]

Hi, BastetCat - nope, the girdle was never faceted anywhere before.

Demelza - sure. Never though I'd be happy to have had such a wonky outline, but ... if you look at my second photo down on the first page, and compare it to the side shot, you can see it looks awfully like the same section (one of the bits was distinctly a different outline, and happily, that part WASN'T faceted). I'm not 1000% it's the exact section, though I think it is - either way, it shows bruted girdle being not-the-same as faceted girdle. Will repost them together below.

As for what I want done ... I genuinely don't know. It depends on what the hell was done to the stone, how out of round it is now, and how much weight it's lost. During the first attempt, they weighed it - it came in at 2.52. If it's below the "magic number" now ... bleurgh. This is a really sentimental piece. But, right now at least, it feels hella tainted by all of this.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

And thank you, Thing, Backwards, Dreamer, Wink, DS, Hospatagi, Rosetta, and Rosebloom. I am going to try to just not-think about this, and go about the day ... nothing I can do right now. But I appreciate all the suggestions. I know this will make me sound like the biggest patsy, but DS, I didn't even THINK about whether it might be out of round. UGH.

I am sorry to bring it up, but for me, that would be the clincher as to whether I could keep it or not. But let me say, it does not look out of round from the pictures. But as you said, who knows what is under those prongs? Ugh is right.

(And I see what you mean about the finish on the head. It is like they didn't polish it at all.)