Engagement Ring Woes!

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cH3wY

Original Poster:

287 posts

144 months

Friday 3rd July 2015
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I am hoping for some advice regarding the below, sorry if its long winded!

On the 29th March I ordered an Engagement Ring from a well known 'premuim' high street brand for my fiancee, costing circa £1500. She had found this particular ring and fallen in love with it. She has small fingers and needed a size 'I' which most retailers do not stock. We ordered the ring from retailer who ordered the ring from the manufacturer (also a well known brand) with a lead time of 6-8 weeks. 5 year insurance was also taken out at this time (circa £150 iirc). The ring turned up mid May and was still slightly to big; being top heavy it moved around abit, so we had an alteration done by the retailer. This took another 3-4 weeks to have done and was done at our cost (rightly so).

It came back perfect!...... but unfortunately after wearing the ring once, she lost a stone from the side of the ring. (The ring has one big sapphire and around 50 smaller diamonds around the sapphire and down the shoulders). Obviously my fiancee was not happy (neither was I) as she had waited months for this ring and lost a stone almost immediately. This was just a trip to the cinema so the ring wasnt worn in the shower or doing the washing up etc (anything that could potentially damage the ring or be our/her fault). She wore the ring again the next day to meet some friends and another stone was lost!

We decided to apply for a refund of the ring as it was not fit for purpose. The retailer sent it to the manufacturer for investigation and remarked on the as new condition of the ring and suggested that it must be a mnaufacturing defect. Now 3 weeks later, the retailer says the manufacturer will not give us a refund for the ring as it has been altered. Instead the manufacturer has offered to replace the diamonds and repair the ring FOC. My fiancee no longer wants the ring and wouldnt dare wear it even if it was repaired because of whats happened. Shes just wants us to get our money back and forget about the whole experience - she doesnt even want a different ring.

I am going go speak to the retailer this weekend and just wondered if anybody had any advice especially because the alteration is complicating things. I assume the Sale of Goods act applies and the "contract" is with the retailer not the manufacturer?

I accept that I will not get the cost of the alteration back but I still think the ring is obviously faulty from purchase and although it could potentially now be completely fault fee, I would like a full refund of the ring and partial refund of the insurance, is this reasonable?



Edited by cH3wY on Friday 3rd July 17:21

PurpleMoonlight

22,362 posts

156 months

Friday 3rd July 2015
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Yes your contract is with the retailer but they will likely take the same stance as the manufacturer.

It's to early to reject the goods yet. You need to give the retailer the chance to repair the ring first. If after this it still looses stones then you have a better argument for a full refund.

Ganglandboss

8,294 posts

202 months

Friday 3rd July 2015
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The retailer has to be given the opportunity to repair the problem, which it seems they have done by repairing it. You are not entitled to reject the goods if they have rectified the problem.

anothernameitist

1,500 posts

134 months

Friday 3rd July 2015
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Same happened to my wife with her wedding ring, although she was willing to have a repair.

Think thats the only solution, but the seller may make a goodwill gesture of extending the time of any warranty to longer than usual.

the manufacturer will also probably check the quality of the other settings too

velocefica

4,636 posts

107 months

Friday 3rd July 2015
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Really don't understand the obsession with engagement rings. Women fawn over them but to be honest they should be happy to receive a hula hoop on their finger.

Pints

18,444 posts

193 months

Friday 3rd July 2015
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velocefica said:
Really don't understand the obsession with engagement rings. Women fawn over them but to be honest they should be happy to receive a hula hoop on their finger.
Mrs Pints has always said she'd have been happy with just a crystal ring. It's been over 11 years since I first slipped a ring on her finger.

Oh behave!

drdel

422 posts

127 months

Friday 3rd July 2015
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Retailer's problem. If manufacturers says it now been 'modified' then the repair was sub-standard as it did not put the ring back to original condition which is what you were entitled to expect.

Claim refund from them; they took the responsibility by electing to repair.

barryrs

4,375 posts

222 months

Friday 3rd July 2015
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I also can't see that you can reject based on what's happened so far.

This seems to sound similar to my experience although my wife didn't loose any diamonds. The well known retailer I purchased from offered free annual cleaning and after it being sent off as they didn't do it in store it came back with loose stones. They offered to send it back but rather than be without it we used a local jeweller to correct for a small fee. Lo and behold the following year it came back from annual cleaning with loose stones again. Suffice to say it's never gone back since.

It seems like revenue generating when insurance policies are in place.

Nightmare

5,182 posts

283 months

Friday 3rd July 2015
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Shoddy customer service from manufacturer - very unlikely a small resize would affect the collet of the ring. Sounds like the little extra diamonds weren't set with enough holding them in originally and they should take responsibility in my view.

That said...it really doesn't mean the entire ring is substandard necessarily and re tipping the setting points is a totally normal thing to do to a ring during its life (it shouldn't need it to start with obviously!) and you'll end with exactly the same thing as you would if you returned it and got a new one if that makes sense....

Pm me if you want us to help out

Tomo1971

1,127 posts

156 months

Saturday 4th July 2015
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Having had an expensive engagement ring altered several times over the last 10 years with no issues, I cant see how an alteration on the band of the ring, that is done opposite the stones can have an effect on the stone settings.

Take a look at this thread in Watches and then maybe contact the SP of the thread who quite obviously has some skill and knowledge.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

ruff'n'smov

1,092 posts

148 months

Saturday 4th July 2015
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It would be interesting to know where the missing stone was on the ring, if it was on the shoulders then it may have been caused by the alteration. A good retailer, or experienced assistant wold maybe have remarked that it wasn't a good idea to alter it even more.

If you consider that the design and size of the ring cluster/crown would be the same regardless of the size a size 'P' would be less curved than a size 'H', and it would have been made to suit the most popular size around a 'N' when I was in The industry. So I would lay the blame squarely at the retailers door, and would also think that a great deal of what they sell would be a licensed design, for a particular jewellery house rather than specifically made by that house so the retailer saying it's been back to the manufacturer etc..etc, may be a bit of blarney.

If you get in touch with ecain63 that man know his onions and may give good advice

ED209

5,740 posts

243 months

Saturday 4th July 2015
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You only paid £1500 for a wedding ring? This is piston heads you know! everyone spends at least 20k

gus607

916 posts

135 months

Saturday 4th July 2015
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I don't understand, you fall in love with a woman or a car, but an engagement ring ?

calibrax

4,788 posts

210 months

Saturday 4th July 2015
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gus607 said:
I don't understand, you fall in love with a woman or a car, but an engagement ring ?

stuart313

740 posts

112 months

Saturday 4th July 2015
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Is it this place?




cH3wY

Original Poster:

287 posts

144 months

Saturday 4th July 2015
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ED209 said:
You only paid £1500 for a wedding ring? This is piston heads you know! everyone spends at least 20k
I am an accountant so I'd rather put £18k saving into my investments portfolio wink

calibrax said:
I think this sums it up nicely tongue out

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I've talked the SWMBO into giving them a chance to sort it out. Worst case scenario, I'll take them to small claims court if it happens again and they don't play ball.

Thanks for the link to ecain63, I know nightmare is an expert too. Nightmare summed up my thoughts tbh. The alteration wasn't done near the diamonds, its just a rubbish excuse and poor customer service. The problem is that its causing a lot of upset for the fiancee!

Thanks again and I'll update if there are any developments!

Edited by cH3wY on Saturday 4th July 20:32

Pints

18,444 posts

193 months

Sunday 5th July 2015
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cH3wY said:
ED209 said:
You only paid £1500 for a wedding ring? This is piston heads you know! everyone spends at least 20k
I am an accountant so I'd rather put £18k saving into my investments portfolio wink
Balance your books much? wink

Devil2575

13,400 posts

187 months

Sunday 5th July 2015
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gus607 said:
I don't understand, you fall in love with a woman or a car, but an engagement ring ?
I don't understand falling in love with any inanimate object, car or ring.

shep1001

4,599 posts

188 months

Sunday 5th July 2015
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Tell her to man up! they have offered to repair it FOC, make sure it's insured properly, then wear it & enjoy it. No point in having nice stuff if you don't enjoy it because you're too scared of what 'might' happen.

mikeveal

4,557 posts

249 months

Monday 6th July 2015
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It is very possible that they took a larger ring and resized it. Depending on the type of mount used, resizing can affect the security of the mount for the stones leaving some loose.

There's a high street gold smith that's not a place I'd ever shop again, probably the same one. Poor service, poor staff knowledge and all they want to do is shift high volume, high mark up mass produced stuff. My personal experience is that that their after sales care is awful. Have had exactly the same "hide behind the manufacturer" attitude from them.