Problem with a Jewellers

ShinySnail

Hi,
I was wondering if anybody could offer me any advice on how to deal with this?
　
8 months ago I bought a ring on Ebay from a jewellers called Nuttalls of Chester Ltd.
This arrived poorly made, and I have had to return it to them for repairs on THREE occasions, the last time was in March.
I have been promised refunds for my postage costs on many occasions, which now amount to approx £20.00 - but they refuse to send me the money. For months I have received apologys and promises but more recently the staff have been evasive and have started to tell me that my cheque has now been posted - there have been four or five different dates that my cheque was supposedly sent on so it's clear that I am being lied to.

Nuttalls would not admit at any stage that the ring was faulty, though repairs were carried out each time I returned it. They rarely replied to my emails so I have very little in writing anyway.
I'm wondering if they won't give my this postage refund as it is the only thing I could use as proof that I have had to return it so many times?

Understandably I'm quite unhappy about the whole thing, I saved up and spent £400 on a ring that turned out to be substandard. The claws holding the stone in had not been finished properly so they caught on every piece of clothing I wore and actually snapped off on one occasion, along with this some baguette shaped diamonds have been set wonky and the claws for these do not even reach the edges of the stones meaning they could fall out at any time.

I asked the guy at Nuttalls what his opinion on my problems were and enquired about getting a refund but was told that as the ring was handmade then it was unique and one of a kind and imperfections were to be expected and it was far superior to any 'perfect' factory produced one anyway...
I accept that I may not be eligible for a refund unless something further goes wrong with it as it was a good few weeks after my last repair that I brought up the subject with them. (Once I realised that they were messing me around with this postage thing)

I expect that in the future I will have further problems as the ring remains pretty flimsy, I just wonder how i'm going to manage getting them to repair or refund it after all this has happened? PLUS they still owe me 20 quid!

unholyangel

How long did you first have the ring when you contacted them to say it was faulty? And was it buy it now or bidding?

ShinySnail

I had the ring for about a month before I realised there was a problem with it and sent it back - and it was a buy it now

Thanks

unholyangel

Your statutory rights wont be affected then. You could have claimed a dispute with ebay/paypal (if you paid by this method) however, i think someone posted here last week saying the window for paypal/ebay claims was 45 days - check this out just to be sure.

Have you enquired after a refund or replacement?

And they dont have to admit it was faulty. If the fault is apparent in the first 6 months after purchase, it is assumed the fault is inherent and the onus is on the retailer to prove otherwise.

ShinySnail

Yeah it's a shame - I did investigate the paypal thing it is 45 days...
I noticed the problem a little earlier than I reported it, but I bought it in the run up to Christmas so put off dealing until the new year. Plus it took them a few weeks longer than anticipated to make it and post it to me anyway so the 45 days rule wasn't much of a window.

Initially I either asked for, or was under the impression that the ring would be re-made from scratch when I first returned it but since then I found out that this was not the case.

I did ask for a refund, but it was a few weeks after I had received it back for the last time. The gent said that because I didn't reject it straight away after the repairs then I had no right to decide i'm not happy now.
Unfortunatley I did email them when I received it back to say thanks and that I was happy, but yet again I was trying to convince them to send me back this postage money so was using the thank you email as a way of approaching this!

Stephb1986_2

I would take it to a independent jewler local to you get them to inspect the ring and ask them to quote a price on how much it would cost to fix it to how it should be. You then could send a photocopy of the quote to the bad jewlers and tell them that it would cost you this to get it fixed so they can either, give you the money for it, they fix it to how it should be or you could possible take them to small claims court?

Good luck

Steph xx

unholyangel

ShinySnail wrote: »

The gent said that because I didn't reject it straight away after the repairs then I had no right to decide i'm not happy now.

Not quite true. If you dont object within a reasonable time you dont automatically have a right to a refund. However, you're still entitled to a repair/replace and although it is mainly up to the retailer (you can request replace but if repairing is cheaper the retailer can attempt this first) it must not be of significant inconvenience to the customer, nor should it cost you anything (although customer paying for postage and receiving a refund is quite normal).

I would write them a letter - recorded delivery - stating that they have had several attempts to repair the ring and have failed and that you are formally requesting a replacement and refund of postage/refund including postage costs you have had to pay. Give them 14 days to respond. Title it "Letter Before Action".

If they do not hold true to their promise, follow through and file a claim at the small claims court.

ShinySnail

OK thanks everyone, I will enqiure a bit further about my rights, I have been to trading standards and they also advised that I write a letter.
I'll do that, thought i'd just enquire on here first to see if I could get any other ideas on how to deal as the letter idea seems like a bit of a final resort and i'm not holding out much hope on it!

I did go to another jewellers, the stone in the ring is Tanzanite and it's quite breakable so the guy said that due to this there is a possibility that if they were to attempt a repair they could damage the stone so it's best to go to the original company as they will be liable for replacing it if it did break.
They did say that the ring was poorly made and the gent said that personally he would have insisted on a refund as soon as he realised the problem, but he advised me to see how it went and try for a refund if it started to fall apart again given the response I had already received.

It's a shame, this is the only expensive piece of jewellery I have and all this has ruined the appeal of it now! Providing the ring stays in the condition is is now i'll be happy to keep it, but I have very little faith about that. The claws seem stronger this time, but are still slightly catchy and sooner or later I expect that they will start to go again

unholyangel

Well tbh, i'd say 3 chances to repair it was more than fair on your part.

hollydays

Thread bumped any update?
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