Ritani eternity band question

[jguy80]

A few years ago I bought my wife a Ritani eternity band at BB&B. It is a beautiful ring with heart design shared prong shanks. My wife loved it so much that about a year ago we bought a matching engagement band to go with it. This ring was purchased from a local jewerly store. We sent our original eternity band to Ritani so they could match up the two rings. Ritani added two "buds" on the bottom side of the engagement ring so that the diamonds on the two rings wouldn''t rub. Well unfortunately that didn''t really help and it turns out that both rings are now damaged. Between 4-8 of the diamonds on each ring are chipped! Fortunately we bought a jewelry protection plan for both rings so we will be able to get the rings repaired.

The problem is that this will just continue to happen unless we do something. The jeweler recommended laser welding the two rings together, which my wife does not want to do. We checked if we could get the value of the rings back from Ritani as credit to apply to a different set of rings, but Ritani said they would only give us the value of the diamonds and the platinum. Obviously that will be a lot less than we actually paid for the ring so it is not an option. Another option they recommended is to turn the engagement ring into another eternity band, and then get the center stone set in a solitaire ring to go in between the two eternity bands. That is a better option, but not ideal.

I guess I am wondering if anyone has any thoughts. I was really hoping Ritani would give us the value of the ring as credit towards something else. But they actually said our engagement ring was a custom design even though they have a picture of it on their web site. And the picture I included with this post is from an on-line jeweler, so they obviously sell the two rings as a set. I just can''t believe that no one else with those rings has had this problem. We also thought about just getting a platinum "spacer" ring to wear inbetween the two existing rings, but my wife doesn''t really like that either...

Any thought??? Thanks!

 

[gracioso]

I smell something fishy

 

[cara]

Time to suck it up. This kind of damage has been known to happen to shared prong ring sets on ps unless they are carefully made such that the metal extends out past the girdle of the diamonds, so that the rubbing between the two rings is metal on metal and does not allow the diamonds to attack each other.

Since Ritani is willing to "repair" the rings, you might ask if they would remake them with a different design to help with the rubbing issue. There are some very detailed threads on ps about this issue if you do a search, so you should be able to get pictures to go into your jeweler with if you try this route. But they may say no, or they may say yes but deliver rings to you that still have this problem and you will have to go through it all again.

I recommend you choose the most palatable of the other options that you have already identified, since you seem to have a good grasp on your options, you just don''t happen to like them.

1) solder the rings together

2) buy a thin spacer - these can be quite dainty and your wife should really try one before ruling it out entirely.

3) convert the e-ring to a plain eternity and get a solitaire setting for the center stone

4) take the pittance Ritani will give you for materials and buy a set more sturdy and attractive. You may lose money, but its better than starting completely from scratch.

I personally would probably do 2) or 3), unless I was so annoyed at Ritani after this fiasco that I wanted nothing more to do with their rings, in which case 4) is appealing if its financially possible.

 

[jguy80]

Thanks for your thoughts. We are going to the jewelers today to talk to them again. I also want to see what Ritani will give us for the current ring just to see what our options are.

thanks again!

 

[justjulia]

I like the option of having a new solitare ring sandwiched beween the newly-remodeled eternity bands. The new solitaire band could be very slender, knife edge, and the play of light between the center rock and adjacent eternity bands would be strking.

I wear an eternity band very much the same design as yours (shared prong, hearts) and sometimes have it nearest my knuckle, then thin wedding band, then solitaire band.

It''s too bad the buds you had built didn''t keep the rings from damaging each other. At least you have that repair policy. I''d try some different combinations on at the jewelers. A vertical, knife edge band might do the trick.