They ruined my ring!

[cobaltgirl]

I took two rings into Hannoush to be resized, one was my engagement ring. A week later, I have them back and damn the e ring setting is kind of destroyed.

I had it go from a 4.5 to a 5.75 in size. The store manager said they don''''t stretch metal but the gold markings inside the ring are gone (I think maybe I can make out a faint indentation but its not something you can just see or read anymore).
It feels like cheap tin, not white gold. The resized part is oddly shaped (its not dramatic but when you look close its not right).

I don''''t know much about this stuff. Am I being stupid or do I have a right to be pissed off?

The other ring is in much better shape, though its metal marking is off now too, but at least its still there.

I feel sick when I pick it up. It looks like cheap costume stuff and like I said, feels like cheap tin.

 

[Patty]

Oh no, Sarah, how frustrating!

Did you say anything to them when you picked up the rings?

It seems like they should be willing to put the gold metal markings back in the rings at LEAST.

 

[Jennifer5973]

This is unacceptible.

I have all my rings sized--platinum, gold, thin and thick shanks...and they all come out looking like brand new rings, as if they had never been sized.

They need to make it right.

Once, when my jeweler himself was away, one of his newer assistants sized a ring for me and I wasn''t 100% happy...it was too thin, a little "off." When i went back and my jeweler was there, I showed him and he was horrified--he immediately fixed it and I know the assistant was "spoken to."

 

[Kaleigh]

Oh I am so sorry this happened to you. Guess the store manager didn''t have to much to say. What exactly did he say??

 

[FireGoddess]

Sarah,

Have you spoken to them about your dissatisfaction? Have you explained that, as others have said, at the very least the 14K or PT950 or whatever markings denoting the metal should have been restamped? Or that you should have been advised if they weren''t going to do this?

Further, as Jennifer has said, your rings should look brand new, as if nothing has happened to them. There should be no evidence whatsoever that the ring was resized. Have they stretched out the metal so thin at the bottom of the shank that it feels cheap?? If so, did they not discuss adding more metal at a slightly higher cost?

This is horrible, and I''m so sorry. There''s nothing like wanting something simple done to a piece you love, and having it come back ruined so much that you can''t bear to look at it.

Please go talk to them and rectify this...you owe it to yourself, and they certainly owe it to you!!

 

[ame]

They should replace it. No hesitation. There''s no fixing that.

And, while this might be abrasive and blunt to some, I hope you learned to never trust a maul store with your items and the work needed.

 

[Kaili]

Cobalt, I am so sorry this happened to you!! I would take it back and tell them your frustrations, so they have a chance to fix it to your satisfaction.

 

[sjz]

Date: 3/8/2005 4:22:57 PM
Author: ame
They should replace it. No hesitation. There's no fixing that.

And, while this might be abrasive and blunt to some, I hope you learned to never trust a maul store with your items and the work needed.

I'm not sure that's a fair statement. The jeweler should be able to fix the problem if it's only with the band. I think that they can re-stamp it, too. Most of the time if you nicely explain your concerns, the jeweler will bend over backward to correct the problem. But you have to let them KNOW there is a problem and give them the chance to fix it. If they CANNOT fix it, then I agree, they should replace the mounting.

I also don't agree that you should never trust a mall store to work on your items. I know some of the stores in my area retain very skilled and excellent jewelers who work on their jewelry. I've had good work done in "maul" stores and shoddy work done by independent jewelers.

Oh, and I should also say visa versa with having excellent work done by independent jewelers and not so excellent work done in chain stores. It's all relevant and depends on the skill of the jeweler working on the piece, not the store who employs them.

 

[WTNLVR]

Sorry to hear about your experience.

I took my e-ring in to get sized a few months back and when I got it back the entire inscription my husband had engraved on the inside 15 years ago was gone!! I was totally miffed! Now I think I know why, they must have "sanded" it or at least polished the heck out of it. It came out otherwise o.k. They could have at least warned me it would happen though. Hopefully they will make the situation right for you. Good luck.

 

[PhillipSchmidt]

Is sanding common in the states?

We call it emerying, but it isn''t used to size a ring. Occassionally I can get rough with a file and use course emerey paper to gain 1/2 mm or so. I would have suspected it was tapped up a few mm (I have to say mm as our sizes are much different yo the US). You can tap a ring up 1mm or 2-3mm if it is a gents wedder.

If you are really bad at your job you are going to save the time soldering a piece in, and tap it all the way, way beyond the 1-2mm ''safe'' zone. The band warps and bends if you are not careful and if you don''t swap sides and even tap it on the sides to straighten it, it will get pretty deformed, so by the time your at the size your after the sides will need to be filed straight loosing more metal. The whole things needs to be filed and emeried then polished and if the guy sizing the ring is really bad he/she might have used a rough looking hammer that left extra large dents. It may be broken during the process which is far from uncommon even in good jewellery shops and he/she being rough perhaps soldered it back together badly and needed to use the file again to get it straight. I might sound extreme but this is the way 1st year apprentices often approach their work and if there is nobody to stop them they keep on working like that until something happens or they leave the trade and get a less skilled job for better money.

All from a bad resize. Where is my head?

 

[AndyRosse]

Date: 3/8/2005 7:11:31 PM
Author: Feydakin
If the markings are gone the ring was sanded.. Heavily.. I can''t see sanding up 1.25 sizes, but I can see them sanding more than they should have.. But, maybe they did try to just sand up that far, we''ve all seen some strange stuff over the years.. There are several issue with sanding up sizes.. The biggest is that you loose weight while increasing the finger hole.. It will make the shank thin all the way around, and make the ring feel far lighter than when you originally had it..

I don''t think it was sized this way since you said you can see an area that looks different where it was sized. So some metal was added to the shank to enlarge it.. But I think they may have gotten overly agressive with the sanding drum..

The fix?? I am assumming that the picture you posted and is now a red X is where that was.. I wouldn''t want to guess as solutions to your problem without seeing it..

Steve,

Just curious, but I have a platinum ring that was sized down about a size and a half that no longer has the platinum mark inside. Well, actually, you can kind of make out the P of the old PT950 mark. Does that mean it was sanded? Is this supposed to happen? I just assumed that because I had the ring sized, the mark was lost as part of the normal sizing process.

Thanks!

 

[AndyRosse]

Thanks Dave! I was just making sure that this wasn''t a sign of poor sizing by the platinumsmith

 

[AndyRosse]

Thanks!!

 

[ame]

Date: 3/8/2005 6

2:41 PM
Author: sjz

Date: 3/8/2005 4:22:57 PM

Author: ame

They should replace it. No hesitation. There''s no fixing that.


And, while this might be abrasive and blunt to some, I hope you learned to never trust a maul store with your items and the work needed.

I''m not sure that''s a fair statement. The jeweler should be able to fix the problem if it''s only with the band. I think that they can re-stamp it, too. Most of the time if you nicely explain your concerns, the jeweler will bend over backward to correct the problem. But you have to let them KNOW there is a problem and give them the chance to fix it. If they CANNOT fix it, then I agree, they should replace the mounting.


I also don''t agree that you should never trust a mall store to work on your items. I know some of the stores in my area retain very skilled and excellent jewelers who work on their jewelry. I''ve had good work done in ''maul'' stores and shoddy work done by independent jewelers.


Oh, and I should also say visa versa with having excellent work done by independent jewelers and not so excellent work done in chain stores. It''s all relevant and depends on the skill of the jeweler working on the piece, not the store who employs them.

I say what I said bluntly and abrasively and apparently typically, because I have been in her position, and their "fixes", if they even bothered to try, were way worse than what they were fixing. I don''t trust chains that have to send my items away to have these things done. I have had several really bad experiences with all different types of stores but by comparison its 1 bad B&M in 15 bad maul/high end maul stores.

I just gave my opinion/advice based on what I have had happen to me.

 

[ame]

Author: crankydave
Date: 3/9/2005 9:26:11 PM
1-What would it take (if possible) to convince you otherwise?


2-What would it take (if possible) for you to stop the negative sweeping generalization?


I ask this in all sincerity


Dave

[/quote][/quote]


I hold grudges, and hold them forever. There really is nothing that can take back what happened to me and to the items destroyed, some were irreplaceable and I cannot even forgive myself for being stupid enough to trust them with anything worth more than a quarter. And the companies, not just the stores, Im talking corporate, couldn't have given a sh!t less when I complained and demanded they be fixed and/or made right and/or replaced, as the cases may be. They ruined any possibility of a positive image to me and pretty much anyone I know or am related to. And as a result of their neglegent employees and lack of concern for what happened, I make sure that I ruin their name to everyone I speak to who asks anything about jewelry.

Yes, it's probably excessive to some, but until they close permanently and are replaced by reputable establishments, it won't stop and even then I will probably continue to talk badly about them.

I cannot forgive and will not forget.

Edited to fix my coding. If after 3 tries it's still wrong, I give up. My coding skills are weak. And evidently, since a 4th was required, so is my grammar.

 

[sjz]

Date: 3/9/2005 9:26:11 PM
Author: ame

Date: 3/8/2005 6

2:41 PM
Author: sjz

Date: 3/8/2005 4:22:57 PM

Author: ame

They should replace it. No hesitation. There''s no fixing that.


And, while this might be abrasive and blunt to some, I hope you learned to never trust a maul store with your items and the work needed.

I''m not sure that''s a fair statement. The jeweler should be able to fix the problem if it''s only with the band. I think that they can re-stamp it, too. Most of the time if you nicely explain your concerns, the jeweler will bend over backward to correct the problem. But you have to let them KNOW there is a problem and give them the chance to fix it. If they CANNOT fix it, then I agree, they should replace the mounting.


I also don''t agree that you should never trust a mall store to work on your items. I know some of the stores in my area retain very skilled and excellent jewelers who work on their jewelry. I''ve had good work done in ''maul'' stores and shoddy work done by independent jewelers.


Oh, and I should also say visa versa with having excellent work done by independent jewelers and not so excellent work done in chain stores. It''s all relevant and depends on the skill of the jeweler working on the piece, not the store who employs them.

I say what I said bluntly and abrasively and apparently typically, because I have been in her position, and their ''fixes'', if they even bothered to try, were way worse than what they were fixing. I don''t trust chains that have to send my items away to have these things done. I have had several really bad experiences with all different types of stores but by comparison its 1 bad B&M in 15 bad maul/high end maul stores.

I just gave my opinion/advice based on what I have had happen to me.

I''m sorry to hear that you''ve had so many bad experiences with your jewelery. I can''t say that I haven''t, but with the exeption of one time, pretty much every problem I''ve ever had was corrected to my satisfaction. The only really bad experience that I had was with a private jeweler who comepletely runied my mother''s ring. I had taken to have it reset for her as a surprise, and the jeweler somehow mangled the setting so much that the ring wasn''t even recognizable anymore. My mom was heart broken, and so was I! And since this jewelery store was privatetly owned...I didn''t even have any kind of corporate "higher ups" to go over her head and complain to! She refused to even admit that she damaged the setting (which happened to be my mother''s original Ering) and wouldn''t fix it OR give our money back. It was her word against ours. Since then I''ve been leery of going back to someone like that.

Most of the other problems I''ve had were things like off-center prongs, or bands that were to thin after being resized. Since these were chain stores and mall stores, all I had to do was speak to the manager, and they were usually pretty darned willing to accomodate me and make me happy by correcting their mistakes.

I don''t like stores that send their work away to be done. I only choose stores with in-house jewelers that you can talk to in person and explain what you want done, and discuss any problems that come up face to face. Maybe that''s why you had so many difficulties. I''d suggest you find a store that has a good in-house jeweler that has a good reputation and you shouldn''t have so many problems. Many times I''ve passed on a certain store''s "free" sizing and repairs because they send them out. I would prefer to pay for it and have it done well than have the freebie. I still buy jewelry from them, because I like a lot of their pieces, but I don''t let them work on my rings.

 

[pyramid]

Ame

What type of thing did they do that could not be fixed. I thought all gold or platinum metal type things could be repaired. I know stones can be repolished too. Did they crack stones in half and so the stones had to be replaced or what. I suppose engraved pieces cut be damaged but then a good engraver would be able to restore it would he not.

I have always found that when I have had trouble with resized rings when I complained it was made right the next time in both B&Ms and chain stores.

I would not buy expensive items from chain stores anymore but am happy to buy a pair of earrings with semi precious stones or small diamond rings and earrings from them.

 

[ame]

A good majority of them were damaged or missing stones, some were just idiotic mistakes that I couldn''t believe someone who claimed to be a jeweler would do, ie yellow solder on a white peice. And I was stupid enough to trust such stores with priceless and irreplaceable heirlooms so it serves me right I guess.