Refund for wedding ring and hallmarks

monty77

Am in the process of buying wedding rings for me and the future Mrs Monty and we've been supplied with a ring (Platinum) that doesn't have a hallmark. We obviously returned it and they couldn't have been more apologetic but understandably it's made me think twice about using them for our rings so I've requested a refund.

I would also add that this unhallmarked ring is the 2nd we've had already as the 1st arrived was 'light' weight after we were told it was 'medium' at the time of sale. Wedding rings are an emotional purchase and we're just a bit miffed with the whole experience.

Is it illegal to supply the ring without a hallmark? Would it missing be a sign of anything dodgy within the business? I need some ammunition to apply pressure on them to get them to refund .. they're saying they wont refund as the replacement ring they prepared was sized for us, I don't buy this as we were told before that they order in the size and nothing is made specifically.

Any idea where we stand here?

Thanks!
Monty

Freddie_Snowbits

Try this

http://www.britishhallmarkingcouncil.gov.uk/hlaw.htm

bryanb

Does platinum require a hallmark? I thought only gold & silver.

skintchick

bryanb wrote: »

Does platinum require a hallmark? I thought only gold & silver.

Both my platinum rings have a mark.

ETA
[URL="javascript:void(0)"]How do I know that a piece of jewellery is platinum and not white gold?[/URL]All platinum jewellery must have a hallmark applied by the assay office and this is your guarantee that the jewellery is platinum. Look for the following marks: Jewellery is 85% pure platinum
Jewellery is 90% pure platinum
Jewellery is 95% pure platinum
Jewellery is 99.9% pure platinum
Most platinum jewellery is 95% pure and may also bear this quality symbol.

baddiebasher

Any precious metal described as being such (gold, silver, platinum) MUST have the correct hallmarking. It need not however have a hallmark if it was not described as being a precious metal, even if in fact it is.

Did you go to a shop or was this online? If it was a shop I would avoid it. Come to that, I would avoid buying from them full stop. Any decent jeweller should have a sound knowledge of the requirements of the Hallmarking Act.

If in a shop, check that they have a board displayed showing the hallmarks required and NEVER be afraid to examine items and question the seller.

CRANKY40

My platinum wedding and engagement rings were made by my husband. He maintains his own personal hallmark at the assay office, so after my rings were made, they were then posted special delivery to the assay office.

The assay office scrape a sample off the ring, verify that it is made of the metal stated and them hallmark it. It is returned special delivery. It may be possible that if this company have people actually making rings for them, one or two have slipped through the net.

CRANKY40

p.s. I have read your original post again, and it may be possible that as it has no hallmark it was made specifically for you and they have just forgotten to send it off as above.

My husband is a very experienced goldsmith, and even he had trouble with my wedding ring. He made it from a wax cast, so it is a single solid band and it is about twice the weight that it should have been. He admits that he misjudged it, but says it is relatively easy to do so.

Jo_F

Doesn't pieces under a certain wieght not need hallmarking? I know that if I make something in Sterling, and if it's over 7.8g then I have to get it hallmarked, if not hallmarked then I can't describe it as Sterling.

So I would have thought maybe there are wieghts for gold and platinum.

baddiebasher

Not as far as I am aware.

The purpose of the legislation is to stop worthless metals being pass off as precious ones. That would not justify excluding certain weights.

I am not aware of the Hallmarking Acts having any limits, though it is a while since I last looked. I'll take another peep in case.

baddiebasher

Whoops! My apologies.

Gold less than 1 g, silver less than 7.78 g and platinum under 0.5 g are exempt.