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Would you like me to clean your ring for you?

Rubymal

Shiny_Rock
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Feb 27, 2019
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423
I'm wondering if anyone knows why jewelers are always so eager to offer to clean your diamond ring (that you didnt purchase from them)? Is there a business reason? Or is it just a nice offering that is similar to offering a cup of water?

I always feel bad declining but I just get paranoid taking off the most expensive piece of jewelry I've ever owned in my life and handing it off to a stranger. But the most worrisome thing is, what if it gets damaged or dropped? Accidents can happen!

Over the weekend, I was contemplating on buying a necklace in a jewelry store and the women helping was gushing over my ring and offered twice to clean it. I declined the first time and then when she brought it up again, I thought, heck, why not. I started looking at some other items and then looked over to see her vigoursly drying off my ring in a scrubbing motion with a paper towel. Now, I've read here and there that paper towel can scratch and do not use it at home when I clean, I only use a qtip to blot gently dry and a microfiber cloth for the rest.

But after seeing that, I think I will decline more strongly now each time when jewelers offer to do this. But I'm curious as to why it's so common?
 

Bron357

Ideal_Rock
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Jan 22, 2014
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A paper towel certainly can’t scratch diamonds or metal but what it will do is leave bits of fiber everywhere, totally negating the cleaning!
Use a microfiber cloth or just “air dry”.
And I think it’s just a goodwill offer. No, they don’t want to steal your jewellery but they hope that their lovely customer service will make you consider them next time. Besides if the shop is empty I think they are bored!
 

MissGotRocks

Super_Ideal_Rock
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I clean my own rings everyday so if asked I tell them just that. No, thanks, my rings are clean. I think Bron is correct - just trying be helpful and show their level of customer service. The longer they engage you in the store, the more likely you might be to buy.
 

missy

Super_Ideal_Rock
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53,986
It's good customer service and affords you the time to browse while they are cleaning your bling. The only jewelers I allow to clean my earrings and rings are my favorite estate jewelers and I love it when they offer. Plus then my ears are then free to try on all their earrings they have in inventory. Always a fun activity and I couldn't as easily do it if I was still wearing the earrings I came in with so win win. While they are being cleaned I try all the other earrings in inventory. 8-)
 

MissStepcut

Brilliant_Rock
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Every time they clean my ring they try to get me to pay for a fresh rhodium plate. My ring is unplated white gold by design, so I get annoyed. They’ll also see if they can charge you for a prong repair, etc.
 

Karl_K

Super_Ideal_Rock
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a: its tradition
b: Gets you to stay a while and look around
c: Desire to do good/pay back the community, It makes them feel good to find problems before it becomes a huge problem even if they dont fix them.
When i was trolling the stores around here you would think some of them had won the super bowl when they saved someone from losing their diamond.
d: there are some that use it mainly to try to generate work. As long as its honest there is not really a problem with that but sometimes its an issue.
I always say show me please and they were happy to do so or i just left.
 

pearlsngems

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Some years ago, while my H and I were browsing in a nice jewelry store, they offered to clean my diamond ring, which was a 1930s illusion setting that had belonged to his great aunt. I never really liked that ring, but it was what I was given when my H proposed and I wore it for 16 years. It trapped a lot of grease and grime because of the setting. I handed it over to be cleaned.

That evening my H asked to look at the ring with his loupe to see how much cleaner it was. He used to check it for me periodically, and I always had it inspected 2x per year by our jeweler. The last time we'd checked it, the prongs were fine. Well, that evening he saw that one of the 4 prongs was gone!

I can only assume that the prong had been cracked and the steam cleaning provided the coup de graçe. Certainly I didn't fault the jeweler who had cleaned the ring. But now the question was, do I fix it or is it time to change the setting to one I like better? Or even to get another stone, since I really prefer colored stones anyway?

I visited my own jeweler who said the entire head really needed to be rebuilt. That clinched it for me. It was time to replace the ring. The diamond that was the great aunt's became one of a pair of diamond studs that I enjoy wearing. All's well that ends well.

I'm sure the readers of Pricescope are a careful lot who check their prongs often, but I just want to say this: if you get your ring cleaned, check the prongs right away afterward, with your own eyes. I could easily have lost my diamond when one of the 4 prongs was lost.
 

lyra

Ideal_Rock
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5,249
It totally turned me off, that's what it did. They wanted to tell me my diamond had a chip, which it doesn't have as I've had it appraised twice since then. The criticisms are subjective. Oooh, it's such a LOW colour. Look at these H-I, I1, poor cuts instead. The prices are 3 times higher than necessary. If only they'd said something NICE, I might have left with a good feeling. They really blew it with me, being that I know at least as much if not more than they do!:eek2:
 

lambskin

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I wish I could get a polish of the metal with the free cleaning. I can clean my own rings just fine but can't polish the platinum.
 

Bonfire

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Some years ago, while my H and I were browsing in a nice jewelry store, they offered to clean my diamond ring, which was a 1930s illusion setting that had belonged to his great aunt. I never really liked that ring, but it was what I was given when my H proposed and I wore it for 16 years. It trapped a lot of grease and grime because of the setting. I handed it over to be cleaned.

That evening my H asked to look at the ring with his loupe to see how much cleaner it was. He used to check it for me periodically, and I always had it inspected 2x per year by our jeweler. The last time we'd checked it, the prongs were fine. Well, that evening he saw that one of the 4 prongs was gone!

I can only assume that the prong had been cracked and the steam cleaning provided the coup de graçe. Certainly I didn't fault the jeweler who had cleaned the ring. But now the question was, do I fix it or is it time to change the setting to one I like better? Or even to get another stone, since I really prefer colored stones anyway?

I visited my own jeweler who said the entire head really needed to be rebuilt. That clinched it for me. It was time to replace the ring. The diamond that was the great aunt's became one of a pair of diamond studs that I enjoy wearing. All's well that ends well.

I'm sure the readers of Pricescope are a careful lot who check their prongs often, but I just want to say this: if you get your ring cleaned, check the prongs right away afterward, with your own eyes. I could easily have lost my diamond when one of the 4 prongs was lost.
So glad you thoroughly checked your ring afterwards. I feel the jeweler was derelict for not noticing this before it was handed back to you.
 

Arcadian

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Sep 17, 2008
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9,086
My rings are colored stone rings, so I definitely decline for those . If I'm with my husband and he's taking forever then sure I have them cleaned. Might as well.
 

stracci2000

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Jun 26, 2007
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Nobody cleans my rings but me.
Some years ago an overzealous jewelry store employee took my ring to the polishing wheel and wore my prongs down noticeably. Never again!
 

anne_h

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pearaffair

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In addition to goodwill, I think it creates an opportunity for the customer to browse which can lead to a sale.

Yep! This. When I worked at a store it was the above reasons but also- many people NEVER clean their rings and are too shy to ask. So we’d offer. One woman said her ring hadn’t been cleaned in a couple decades, and when I gave it back she had tears in her eyes! She told me, “Why, it looks just like it did on the day he proposed!” Awww :)

So yeah pretty much just the pain of seeing dirty ring size and the delight of seeing clean ones and the owner’s sparkly eyes!
 

Madam Bijoux

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I always say “No thanks, they’re clean.”
 

foxinsox

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Jul 18, 2015
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Yep! This. When I worked at a store it was the above reasons but also- many people NEVER clean their rings and are too shy to ask. So we’d offer. One woman said her ring hadn’t been cleaned in a couple decades, and when I gave it back she had tears in her eyes! She told me, “Why, it looks just like it did on the day he proposed!” Awww :)

So yeah pretty much just the pain of seeing dirty ring size and the delight of seeing clean ones and the owner’s sparkly eyes!
I know I'm among friends here who clean their rings frequently but I can never work out why people don't clean their rings. Like they know to wash their clothes and hands but jewellery is somehow a magical thing that never needs cleaning? My friends most frequent comment on my rings is how sparkly they are. Um, yes I clean them at least twice a day. When I say that, they usually look surprised and say they've not been in to get them cleaned for a while. WIERD Like it never occurs to them they could... clean their own jewellery?
Mind you, looking at a vintage watch I bought, it had clearly never ever been cleaned and the scurfy stuff between the links and around the bezel was revolllllting :sick:
 

canuk-gal

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Apr 19, 2004
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25,649
HI:

The only time I let someone clean my eternity ring--I immediately regretted it. I don't believe the ultrasonic machine had a basket--so I just heard a loud clunk given she plopped my ring into the bath and it hit bottom (metal on metal). I was--just a little--pissed...

cheers--Sharon
 

tkyasx78

Brilliant_Rock
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May 28, 2017
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I only let my jeweler that I originally bought my ring from, clean my ring now.

The last time I let a maul store clean my ring I left very annoyed, as I felt the salesperson treated me like I was an idiot. They louped my diamond, looked up the GIA number on their iPad and “informed” me that I could always look up the GIA stats online.:eek2: I was probably being overly sensitive but I do not appreciate being treated like I am senile or do not know even the most basic things when it comes to my jewelry.


SMH
 

bludiva

Ideal_Rock
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Sep 23, 2017
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I don't think people realize their jewelry needs upkeep
 

Octo2005

Brilliant_Rock
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May 23, 2016
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I only let my jeweler that I originally bought my ring from, clean my ring now.

The last time I let a maul store clean my ring I left very annoyed, as I felt the salesperson treated me like I was an idiot. They louped my diamond, looked up the GIA number on their iPad and “informed” me that I could always look up the GIA stats online.:eek2: I was probably being overly sensitive but I do not appreciate being treated like I am senile or do not know even the most basic things when it comes to my jewelry.


SMH
I wouldn't take it personally. I think you would be surprised at how few people shopping at mall jewelers bother to educate themselves on even the basics.

Even at stores outside of the mall. A few years back a small mom and pop local jewelry store was having a going out of business sale so I popped in to see if anything caught my eye and was available for a fair discounted price. To make a long story short the SA was happy to show me a Fancy Light Yellow that caught my eye. He mentioned several times what a nice emerald shape the center stone was, only thing was that the stone was a radiant cut.o_O He looked at me like I was crazy when I said that it was a radiant not an emerald and argued that it was rectangular and radiants are square:confused2:
 

marcy

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Feb 27, 2007
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26,278
I wish I could get a polish of the metal with the free cleaning. I can clean my own rings just fine but can't polish the platinum.

One of our mall jewelers will polish my rings too. I have 2 rings from them so I usually wear some of my wedding bands in that day so they will clean and polish them for me.
 
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