Why oh why can't my diamond just be set properly?

[kitskats]

i need to rant. I just had my yellow gold round solitaire reset in a halo at a chain jeweler. I had 4 prongs removed and a 6 prong platinum head put in. When I picked it up (long story short, here) the peg bottom was visible in side view, ruining the design. I insisted after they said it had to be that way (no!) that they remove it and the ugly stubby peg. Picked it up and it was done but the head was not centered on band, head was at a tilt, and the stone was crooked in the head. They declined to repair it and offered to refund. Not sure why a jeweler can't do it right.

I picked another setting which I thought I loved but then days later found one online. I had my stone set by these other people (in a jewelry district...across the country. They wholesale and set, etc. They offered since they had seen "botched jobs by local jewelers". The ring is in 4 prong gold. I own a loupe and looked at it. Three of the prongs are deeply notched in a scooped out C shape but do not follow the form of the stone, there is no bearing. The stone is only touching the setting at the girdle!! The prongs are crooked. The 4th prong is not touching the diamond at all!!

The stone is not set in the prongs, rather prongs were bent IN to meet the stone.
I think my 3/4 ct is too big for this 2.00 ct setting and they didn't advise.

I'm veryrrrry reluctant to send this back for redo so may have to find yet another jeweler to hopefully repair this...mess. Hoping that the long time jewelry chain in my state is up to the task. Am I alone in experiencing such awful workmanship? I have no family jeweler and know no one that does.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I would generally avoid chain jewelers for repairs. I would choose the most expensive jewelry store in town because they usually have customers who are particular and would insist on quality. They would be more likely than a chain to have decent bench work. Obviously this may not be true 100% of the time, but it has worked for me.

If you'd post a close up picture, you'd get better advice. But my inclination would be to return your setting and start over. To some extent, you get what you pay for, so you may have to pay more to get what you want.

 

[Imdanny]

Double post

 

[Imdanny]

No, we read stories like this all the tIme.

You would think settIng a stone in a wait for it... setting would be something a jeweler could competently do.

I'm sorry.

 

[kitskats]

Thanks for the replies. Here it is...

 

[Gypsy]

Wow that's shoddy. And yes, the setting is too large for the stone. And 4th prong isn't touching and... all kinds of problems. Where are you? If you are near one of us we can recommend a bench we've used.

 

[denverappraiser]

The chains do not, in general, hire the best craftsmen. Many of them actually go the opposite way. They farm out the work to the lowest cost bidder who then pushes through as much work as they possibly can. It’s a bit like going to the diner and then being surprised that the ‘chef’ isn’t especially good.

The one location style stores where the name of the store is the name of the person in it seem to be the best category as a group although capable craftsmen can work just about anywhere. Before you submit the job, take a look at some of their work in the showcase. They should be able to show you some pieces that they’re proud of and give you the opportunity to inspect them with a critical eye. Ask questions, engage them in conversation and get a feel for whether they see things the same way you do.

 

[Imdanny]

The cook doesn't have to have a degree from culinary school but it would be nice if he didn't give me food poisoning.

Is there anything these chains do well other than separate people from their money? They suck, suck, suck. There is no excuse for anything they do in this business and no I'm not going to blame the people who go to them for having unreasonable expectations.

These chains should provide honest work for hard earned money. They should do something else if they can't set a freakin diamond in a freakin setting.

Yes, rant over but this burns me up.

 

[kitskats]

I'm in MA, north near NH. This was actually not done at the chain place. Not that it matters, they gave me substandard work
on the other setting I returned. I feel so traumatized by all this. My stone is from Good Old Gold and deserves a lot better.
I'm thinking Long's Jewelers to get another setting. They've been around a long time and have jeweler on site. I need at least to get my stone pulled and sent back.

 

[kitskats]

Denverappraiser, that store...with the name...was where the first setting was from, with the crooked head and peg showing ruining the design. Somehow I thought they'd be a good choice. The bench is on-site. I'd had a diamomd set in pendant there before and it came out great.

Imdanny - you're right.

 

[denverappraiser]

Imdanny, it's not as easy as it looks. I was a bench jeweler for decades and have literally hired and trained dozens of others to do this. It's a VERY specialized skill set. For the most part they don't teach it in schools and it takes years of practice to get good at it.

The heart of the problem we're looking at the moment is that the stone doesn't fit the setting although there may be other issues that we can’t see. The high skill jewelers would have declined this job in the first place or would have sold it as a retrofit at significant cost. If they sold the mounting and they had the stone in hand to choose, they should have picked something else for you. If they didn't sell the mounting it puts them the position of being married to this piece forever. If a side stone falls out the customer will be ticked and THEY are the ones expected to fix it since they just did hundreds of dollars worth of work on the piece. Fixing EVERYTHING about a piece that you didn’t make is a huge can of worms and a thankless and unprofitable task. Sales people rarely understand the issues so they just take in the job and send it to the shop. Evaluating and declining jobs is time consuming and produces no revenue for anyone involved. It causes friction between the shop and the showroom. It causes problems when one jeweler says that someone else’s job is ‘defective', especially if the store sold it, and it pisses off customers whether they’re right or wrong. It’s a no win situation. The only exception is if the setter doesn’t care. Take the $30 and move on to the next job. Most people don’t notice and you can hide behind the salesteam if something goes bad. You don’t have to face the customer. It’s a living, and mostly it works, but who’s surprised that this doesn’t produce the best workmanship and it doesn’t appeal to the best craftsmen (and women)?

A bit of explanation about the back office:
The chain stores customarily use what are known as ‘trade shops’ for their repair work. These exist for a variety of good reasons but the biggies include that a well-equipped shop involves a lot of expensive equipment that doesn’t get used often but also that takes up space. Shops are noisy and dirty and these things aren’t compatible with the showroom experience that most people want to see. Often it’s even a lease violation for the building to even have a torch on the premises much less a kiln or a drop forge. Lastly, a ‘full service’ shop involves a lot of exotic talents that usually aren’t present with one person and every worker has their strong points and their weak points. You need a team of several craftsmen working together. If you’re going to pay a decent wage, which is the way to get good workers, this means a fairly large operation. It takes more than one store to support this. I would add that the chains tend to occupy very high rent locations like malls and they want to use every square inch of their valuable space for SELLING.

 

[rainydaze]

I'm in MA, north near NH. This was actually not done at the chain place. Not that it matters, they gave me substandard work
on the other setting I returned. I feel so traumatized by all this. My stone is from Good Old Gold and deserves a lot better.
I'm thinking Long's Jewelers to get another setting. They've been around a long time and have jeweler on site. I need at least to get my stone pulled and sent back.

my mom bought a diamond and setting from longs - the setting was for a 1.25ct and she bought a 1ct diamond, with their assurance that the stone could be set in the setting, no problem. in less than a year, her diamond fell out. she was lucky and found it. she took both back to them and they said no problem, we know just what to do and you'll love it. without consulting her or informing her or ASKING her, they switched out the head (the setting was a designer verragio setting, so this wasn't a case of general peg head - it was very much a part of the design and what she loved about the setting), made their own using a basket style head with pave (looked completely different from the original) and soldered it on. she accepted it (not one to make a fuss). in less than a year, it feel off of the shank. again, she was super lucky to have found it, but both pieces have sat unfixed and unloved since. i don't know who at their store worked on either of the settings.

my point? if you do go to long's, i would ask to speak to the bench who would do the work and make sure you are comfortable with them. based upon my mom's experience, you aren't guaranteed a better result from them either.

 

[kitskats]

Thanks, rainydaze,for sharing that. Amazing that she found the stone/ setting after that! Hope she re- sets and enjoys it once again.

This story is going to have a happy ending. I found, virtually in my backyard, a previously undiscovered jeweler. My husband and I spent a fair amount of time with him today, and we were very grateful to have found him. The man is a gemologist GIA grad, he designs, casts and repairs in house. He has beautiful jewelry in a jewel box of a shop. I'm big on supporting small businesses and regret not just thinking to go there first. But, I really had no idea I had this gem nearby. I saw his work, prongs and all (!) and chose one of the settings he created. The price? Very affordable. I have no doubt that when I pick up my ring it will be set properly, and I'm sure I now have a family jeweler. Enough customers stopped by that I see he's got a repeat clientele in the town.

I joined Pricescope years ago to get info on our diamond purchase. I never really used the site, beyond finding GOG and deciding that was where we'd go. So glad we did. I want to thank people that took the time to reply!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Yay, what great news!!! It is so good you found a competent jeweler! But how absolutely AWFUL that a jeweler sold you a setting that clearly was not the right size for your stone! Shame on them! That setting job looks unbelievably bad!

Now please come back and post your finished ring on the Show Me the Bling forum!

 

[Gypsy]

Yay, what great news!!! It is so good you found a competent jeweler! But how absolutely AWFUL that a jeweler sold you a setting that clearly was not the right size for your stone! Shame on them! That setting job looks unbelievably bad!

Now please come back and post your finished ring on the Show Me the Bling forum!

ditto.

 

[Sky56]

Good to hear that you found a good jeweler to help with your ring!

 

[Imdanny]

Imdanny, it's not as easy as it looks. I was a bench jeweler for decades and have literally hired and trained dozens of others to do this. It's a VERY specialized skill set. For the most part they don't teach it in schools and it takes years of practice to get good at it.

The heart of the problem we're looking at the moment is that the stone doesn't fit the setting although there may be other issues that we can’t see. The high skill jewelers would have declined this job in the first place or would have sold it as a retrofit at significant cost. If they sold the mounting and they had the stone in hand to choose, they should have picked something else for you. If they didn't sell the mounting it puts them the position of being married to this piece forever. If a side stone falls out the customer will be ticked and THEY are the ones expected to fix it since they just did hundreds of dollars worth of work on the piece. Fixing EVERYTHING about a piece that you didn’t make is a huge can of worms and a thankless and unprofitable task. Sales people rarely understand the issues so they just take in the job and send it to the shop. Evaluating and declining jobs is time consuming and produces no revenue for anyone involved. It causes friction between the shop and the showroom. It causes problems when one jeweler says that someone else’s job is ‘defective', especially if the store sold it, and it pisses off customers whether they’re right or wrong. It’s a no win situation. The only exception is if the setter doesn’t care. Take the $30 and move on to the next job. Most people don’t notice and you can hide behind the salesteam if something goes bad. You don’t have to face the customer. It’s a living, and mostly it works, but who’s surprised that this doesn’t produce the best workmanship and it doesn’t appeal to the best craftsmen (and women)?

A bit of explanation about the back office:
The chain stores customarily use what are known as ‘trade shops’ for their repair work. These exist for a variety of good reasons but the biggies include that a well-equipped shop involves a lot of expensive equipment that doesn’t get used often but also that takes up space. Shops are noisy and dirty and these things aren’t compatible with the showroom experience that most people want to see. Often it’s even a lease violation for the building to even have a torch on the premises much less a kiln or a drop forge. Lastly, a ‘full service’ shop involves a lot of exotic talents that usually aren’t present with one person and every worker has their strong points and their weak points. You need a team of several craftsmen working together. If you’re going to pay a decent wage, which is the way to get good workers, this means a fairly large operation. It takes more than one store to support this. I would add that the chains tend to occupy very high rent locations like malls and they want to use every square inch of their valuable space for SELLING.

Well, it's not as easy as it looks when I part with my hard earned money and get screwed over either, so sorry my sympathy is with the OP and the 10 other people who have told basically the same story in the last week. I couldn't care less what the malls want to cry about- if they can't perform certain services don't offered them and don't blame it on the customer. I hate these stores. They offer crap for inflated prices. That is stealing from people by manipulating them. Please don't ask me to shed a tear for their stores and their high rent. The store where SO works pays some of the highest rent in Hawaii. You think I wouldn't want to see a tiny fraction on that in his paycheck? Or is it the owner making $1 million while everyone other manager (forget about the sales people- I don't understand whey they're not living in tents- they stay with friends for as long as they can and move on is the only thing I can think of) makes 40k for working 51 freakin days to get 1 week off. Really please don't break out your smallest violin for jewelry chains or if you do please keep it on a high shelf away from me. I despise these people. I have NO RESPECT for the way they do business. They suck. How can we make excuses for their lack integrity and flagrant stealing of peoples hard earned money. They have no respect. Their business "model" is rotten to the core. I hope they all lose their jobs and end up collecting my garbage in the middle of the night. VERY, VERY FEW PEOPLE IN THIS ECONOMY ARE BEING PAID WHAT THEY ARE WORTH; MIDDLE CLASS WAGES HAVE BEEN STAGNANT FOR 30 YEARS, THE ECONOMY HAS GAINED DRAMATICALLY IN PRODUCTIVITY, THE WORKERS HAVE NOT SHARED THIS, AND THE WORKERS HAVE BEEN LOOSING THEIR BENEFITS. If you are going to screw up JEWELRY and CHARGE A HIGH PRICE go get an honest job at Burger King.

 

[Imdanny]

This shocked me. Very few things on PS shock me.

"Evaluating and declining jobs is time consuming and produces no revenue for anyone involved."

Excuse me. The customer is involved.

What you wrote is the business of the company accepting the job, they do not have to accept it not knowing they can fix it.

It is NOT OK to say "well it's too time consuming and produces no revenue for anyone" so we'll just take the jobs anyway and try to hide behind a salesperson to the problem go away. Or at least they hope.

This is bad faith. I don't know how much clearer I can be.

I'm beginning the jewelry industry has exactly the reputation is deserves.

 

[denverappraiser]

I’m not defending it, I’m just explaining why it happens. It’s the reason the best craftsmen won’t do a ‘simple’ setting or sizing job on an item they didn’t sell. It’s the reason some jewelers seem to be 10x the price of others for their work. It’s the reason the stores in the mall and similar high rent districts tend to cost more and deliver less. It’s the reason people experience hostility when they buy a supposed bargain somewhere and want the jeweler to explain to them for free what’s wrong with it and lay out the options for what can be done. This seems to be fairly unique in the jewelry business and I’m not sure why. My mechanic charges me an evaluation fee to inspect the car and tell me what’s wrong with it. So does my plumber, my electrician, my camera repair shop and nearly every other tradesperson I know. I can’t think of a single jeweler who does this.

In the case at hand, it sounds like the ring was chosen and sold by someone else entirely. This selection was the heart of the problem but it was decidedly NOT the question being asked. ‘Why can’t I get my diamond set properly?’ vs. ‘why can’t I find a setting that fits my diamond?’ The complaint is about the setter (legitimately I might add), but the problem didn't start there. The first thing the setter did wrong was to accept the job at all but this was some high-production, ‘wholesale’ setting operation that had nothing to do with the previous parts of the job. That’s not the way these sorts of operations work. They were hired to set the stone, not to evaluate the wisdom of the job.

 

[rainydaze]

oh i'm so happy for your happy ending!! will you share with us the jeweler you found? i'd like to check them out myself!

 

[kitskats]

THANKS!

I can't wait get it and will post it in the "show me..." section. Rainydaze- I'll reveal my new jeweler soon.

Just to clarify, the 2 bad settings were worked on by the ones that sold them, I didn't have someone else's bad job fixed by another.

But wait.... there's more!

I just heard from the jeweler who sold me the setting his people botched (pics above). He will refund me, including the expedited shipping I paid to get the ring next day. I accepted the apology and will be happy when this is out of my hands and I have my refund! Now we have to return the *other* setting the stone was formerly in to the chain store. *sigh*

I'm still scratching my head over the chain store not being able to solder on a head that wasn't crooked and set a stone crooked in mounting. Their ring, their on-site bench. Do you guys like show and tell? I do. The photo shows the now-returned chain store setting with off-center head, crooked head, crooked stone. I photoshopped in a black line to show the head's peg they originally left which was in the site line of the setting profile.
And that's why I said "Why oh why can't my diamond just be set properly?"
I learned a lot from these experiences and I realized my hubby has the patience of a saint!