Hi all...just looking for a place to vent and perhaps get some advice.
On our 5 yr anniversary last month, my husband and I returned to the same jeweler where we purchased our wedding bands. We wanted to get my engagement ring and eternity band polished, as well as see about purchasing a 2nd eternity band. My wedding band is a 1 carat, channel set, white gold band with 29 stones. We inquired about getting this band re-set at a larger size (from a 4.5 to a 5) and the owner told us it would be easier to just shave off some of the metal from the inside and it wouldn't be noticeable at all. A few of the stones were loose and were sliding back and forth as well.
The owner said he would clean up the band, tighten the stones, size it up to a 5, as well as create a duplicate 1.0 ctw band for us. He charged us $40 for the maintenance of the original band, plus $695 for the new band.
After wearing the new band for THREE WEEKS, I looked down and discovered a stone had fallen out. My original band also already had loose stones again. They had shaved off too much from the original band and now it was very thin and weak looking. My husband took both back to the jeweler, and the owner was very rude and mocked him. When my husband told him that I was 8 months pregnant and NOT hard on my hands, he held up both hands in the air and said "What, does she walk around like THIS all day?" Another employee at the shop commented on my original band, saying it was too weak now and should be re-set...after they were the ones who recommended shaving it down!
This isn't even the worst part. They finally agreed to replace the stone for free, but of course charged us another $45 for labor. After picking up the new band AGAIN, I took it to 2 other recommended jewelers in the area. The first jeweler right away said "This is not 1 carat." Both jewelers inspected the bands with a loop and commented that the metal on the band was so thin, it was barely holding the stones in. In other words, the eternity bands were poorly constructed, stones were overlapping, inconsistent gaps, etc.
I had one jeweler remove all the stones from the new band and they only weighed .77 total carats. NOT 1.0 as indicated on my receipt.
I know I should have gone right back to the original jeweler and demand an explanation but I didn't have the energy to deal with their attitudes and rudeness, especially being 8 mths pregnant. I ended up asking the 2nd jeweler to just re-set BOTH bands because I didn't want to have to deal with more stones falling out in the future.
Now, I know it is too late to go back and demand a refund (They refuse refunds anyway) but I'm wondering what is the best way to let the jeweler know that i know they scammed us? Write a letter? call? what would you do?
BTW, i live in Los Angeles, and the jeweler is in the downtown jewelry district...
On our 5 yr anniversary last month, my husband and I returned to the same jeweler where we purchased our wedding bands. We wanted to get my engagement ring and eternity band polished, as well as see about purchasing a 2nd eternity band. My wedding band is a 1 carat, channel set, white gold band with 29 stones. We inquired about getting this band re-set at a larger size (from a 4.5 to a 5) and the owner told us it would be easier to just shave off some of the metal from the inside and it wouldn't be noticeable at all. A few of the stones were loose and were sliding back and forth as well.
The owner said he would clean up the band, tighten the stones, size it up to a 5, as well as create a duplicate 1.0 ctw band for us. He charged us $40 for the maintenance of the original band, plus $695 for the new band.
After wearing the new band for THREE WEEKS, I looked down and discovered a stone had fallen out. My original band also already had loose stones again. They had shaved off too much from the original band and now it was very thin and weak looking. My husband took both back to the jeweler, and the owner was very rude and mocked him. When my husband told him that I was 8 months pregnant and NOT hard on my hands, he held up both hands in the air and said "What, does she walk around like THIS all day?" Another employee at the shop commented on my original band, saying it was too weak now and should be re-set...after they were the ones who recommended shaving it down!
This isn't even the worst part. They finally agreed to replace the stone for free, but of course charged us another $45 for labor. After picking up the new band AGAIN, I took it to 2 other recommended jewelers in the area. The first jeweler right away said "This is not 1 carat." Both jewelers inspected the bands with a loop and commented that the metal on the band was so thin, it was barely holding the stones in. In other words, the eternity bands were poorly constructed, stones were overlapping, inconsistent gaps, etc.
I had one jeweler remove all the stones from the new band and they only weighed .77 total carats. NOT 1.0 as indicated on my receipt.
I know I should have gone right back to the original jeweler and demand an explanation but I didn't have the energy to deal with their attitudes and rudeness, especially being 8 mths pregnant. I ended up asking the 2nd jeweler to just re-set BOTH bands because I didn't want to have to deal with more stones falling out in the future.
Now, I know it is too late to go back and demand a refund (They refuse refunds anyway) but I'm wondering what is the best way to let the jeweler know that i know they scammed us? Write a letter? call? what would you do?
BTW, i live in Los Angeles, and the jeweler is in the downtown jewelry district...
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