Stolen Diamonds

cakey

hi, i am looking for a bit of advice as i feel pushed into a corner with this.

In December i purchased a wedding ring from said jeweller. it was a channel diamond ring, 18 stones in it, platinum. i bought it in the sale, but when trying it on in the shop it was way too big. 5 sizes to big in fact. the lady in the jewellers (she was the owner) said it wasn't a problem to re size, bring it back closer to my wedding date and they would re size it. so i bought it, took it away and a couple of weeks ago i took it back in to be resized. Anyway, spoke to the daughter this time who told me there was no way they could resize it as it was 5 sizes too big!! Anyway we caused a bit of a stink and in the end they had to agree to re size it, as i only bought it thinking i could be. She took the ring, gave me a ticket saying the ring was being sent away to be resized or re moulded. Anyway, luckily i counted how many diamonds were in the channel, there was 18.

i went in to collect the ring, they handed the ring back, whih was a perfect fit, i counted the diamonds, there was only 15!!! i asked where my other diamonds were, and they said that they had exchanged the ring as it was too expensive to re mould and basically tough!! Again i kicked up a huge stink, they then called me back and said they would send the ring off to TRY and fit the other diamonds in, but couldnt promise they would go in i said thats fine if they couldnt fit them in i wanted the diamonds loose. She said no.

then she said if they took the ring they also couldn't guaruntee i would get it back before the wedding. So i have had to leave empty handed with a ring with 3 less diamonds in and the shop not budging. can i force them to give me my diamonds back?

Hintza

How do you know that the 15 diamonds aren't bigger? If you have 18 diamonds on a ring then they are most probably very small and not worth a great deal of money. Probably less than £10 each.

http://www.cooksongold.com/Gemstones/Diamond-Round,-H-i,-P2,-1pt---1.3mm-prcode-61DI-AHJC

Optimist

Are you upset because the look of the ring has changed or you feel that the ring has lost value by having 3 less diamonds ?

As Hintza has said the diamonds are probably worth very little in themselves, unless of course your ring cost many thousands of pounds.

I think they should have discussed it with you before just swapping rings but value wise its probably very little difference.

However if you feel so strongly have a word with trading standards.

neilmcl

They haven't stolen anything! You bought a ring as whole, not a ring with separate diamonds. They couldn't resize it for you so they offered a new ring of an equivalent value, it doesn't matter that this one has fewer diamonds than the original. Either accept it or ask for a refund of the original purchase and go elsewhere.

Pollycat

Although you may feel that you've 'been done', I think the shop did the right thing in not trying to re-size the original ring (although it was pretty poor that they misled you when you first bought the ring by saying they could).

5 sizes reduction is a lot and it could possibly have compromised the strength of the ring and maybe loosened the diamonds.

When you bought the ring, were you told of the total diamond weight?
As Hintza has said, maybe your new 15 stone ring has the same diamond weight as the original 18 stone one.
What would you do with the 3 diamonds if they gave you them back?
Or is it a matter of principle?

Noctu

In your situation, I would also be curious to know the quality of the new diamonds compared to the old ones...

Foggster

Ask for a refund. Go somewhere else. I would be peeved to choose an 18 stone ring and then be fobbed off with 15 without me agreeing to it. I am sure there are a lot of people who wouldnt be happy if it happened to them.

mealeys

Does the new ring have the same carat weight of diamonds as the previous ring? I should check that, because then you have the equivalent diamonds you are paying for.

Hintza

Was it a ring like this? If so how can it be made 5 sizes smaller without losing some stones?

drsquirrel

That has like a billion stones in it, I can count more than 18 already... if it was like that the ring must have been super small *AND* they most likely would have said in the shop that it couldn't be resized.

fluffnutter

OP, well done for clearing 17 grand's worth of debt in one year! I can understand how every penny must seem precious to you... But in this case, I don't think you've been ripped off. I think the shop should have told you that the ring had been replaced rather than resized without you having to have prompted this response with your fevered diamond counting. But other than that, I can't see that they've done much wrong.

On two occasions you've admitted that you 'caused a bit of a stink'. On both occasions the shop staff have tried to accommodate you. If the shop can't guarantee that the rings are of equivalent value, or you don't like the new design, ask for a refund and go elsewhere. And stop ranting.