Pearl ring - broken after 1 day, advice please

astrocat

Hi

My husband bought me a beautiful pearl and diamond ring for my birthday (it was v.expensive!). When we bought it the assistant said that it was not to be worn all the time because pearls are delicate, which I fully understood. On my birthday we went out to a concert and I wore it for about 2 hours, then when I looked at it to my horror the pearl had broken! We took it back to the jewellers who were not very helpful and said that I must have knocked it and that is why the pearl broke. I know that I didn't do anything to it, but they are saying that this damage will not be covered by any warranty, and if we want it repaired we will have to pay. I am devastated and really would like to just hand the ring back and get a refund as it has caused me so much upset, and I feel that I cannot wear it at all if it is liable to break again like this. To me it doesn't seem fit for purpose, but I don't know whether this applies to jewellry.
Can anyone advise me on how to proceed with a complaint?
Thanks
ac

paddyrg

?This will be a tough one - do you have any insurance that covers accidental damage? Sounds like they tried to advise you that it was fragile, the question would boil down to whether that means they covered their obligations of warning you, or if that was an effective admission that their product was excessively weak! Can you get a third party manufacturing jeweller to have a look and give an opinion?

astrocat

Thanks for your reply. We have accidental damage cover on our household insurance so I assume this may be covered under that. I am concerned though that I will never be able to wear it if it is so fragile - I had the ring on for such a short time and was so careful with it; just sitting listening to a concert shouldn't cause a problem I would have thought! The jeweller has sent it to their specialist for a report, so I will see what hesays, but I am just so upset as it was an expensive piece bought from what I thought was a reputable jeweller; if it was £50 from H Samuels I wouldn't be so cross, but it was over 10x that much!
(sorry - rant over!)
ac

melancholly

how did it break? i've lost pearl studs when one fell off the post, but i've never managed to crack or break a pearl....i have one on a ring that has been bashed a fair few times (i'm just accident prone!) and doesn't show any damage. i'd be pretty mad in your situation too. i don't know what the exact legality of your rights are since you were warned, but a ring you can't actually wear doesn't seem fit for purpose.