Buying engagement ring in USA

hoxtonbabe

I suppose on who you get your White gold from. Some places say every year or so could be more as it depends on if you keep it on for housework, etc..and even then it's like £20, but every 6 months is madness and greed.

I purchased a platinum Victorian style ring with 0.50 worth of bezelled diamonds on the shoulders ( not including my centre diamond) and that was £800, custom made and it was a heavy !!!!!!. So if you get any quotes for a plain thin/medium platinum band for more than £400 then be cautious.

Voyager2002

pusscat_1 wrote: »

Though big savings at American stores such as Tiffanys can be made, my daughter got engaged this year in June in New York and her fiance bought a ring there at an independent shop. After taking to a well known UK jeweller yesterday, to have a minor scratch polished out, she was informed the gold was of a very poor standard and porous, the setting shaky and was advised to get the diamond [ok luckily] re- set asap, at a cost of nearly £700, not such a bargain as was first thought! Not sure if there is any way of reporting the store or getting any re-imbursement, any ideas anyone?

Better Business Bureau?

JaneTalks101

If you something fancy go to Tiffany's..

SaveTheEuro

Victoria and David Beckham know about this issue:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/55707.stm

jackieblack

As this thread is nearly two years old I wouldn't have thought that the OP needs any further advice

ferf1223

my white gold rings are still not yellow though!

ChizzleMint

claire16c wrote: »

I agree £700 just for the gold sounds horrendously expensive.

Also, I dont even think it has to come from another country for them to rubbish stuff, my friends husband (then fiance) bought her a white gold ring, from a uk high street jewellers. As the ring didnt fit her quite properly, they went back into a couple of jewellers ( I cant remember now if it included the one where he bought the ring from) to change the size.

The jewellers told them that white gold needs recoating in the rhodium every 6 months which over a few years will end up costing a fortune and theyd be much better off changing the ring for the platinum version. Neither of them knew much about jewellery and ended up doing this!

This cost them £700 to get it changed to a platinum version, and my friend couldnt believe it when I said well Ive had my white gold ring for 18 months and it doesnt need recoating yet but I got a quote from my local jewellers for £10 to redo it for when it does. So youd have to be married for 70 years (if you even got it done every year) to match the cost!!

So lets face it, they are just out to make money!

The jeweller was correct, White gold is man made, it does not exist in nature and does require some maintenance. There are many factors that will determine how often you do this.

The main thing is the purity of the gold and its composition.

9ct white gold is made up of 37.5% gold and normally 62.5% silver and may tarnish due to its high silver content.

18ct white gold is 75% gold and normally 25% palladium so will generally be harder wearing and less likely to have the same signs of wear as the 9ct equivalent.

However as white golds natural colour is an off white colour it is plated in rhodium to give it a highly polished look.

I would also point out that I would personally be wary of going to a jewellers who only charge £10 as the plating may only be a few microns thick. Some jewellery will charge up to £30 and plate it as thick as 10 microns and it will last a little longer.

When it comes to plating though it's purely down to preference. Some people aren't as precious about there jewellery discolouring a little.

Platinum is a naturally accruing white metal and won't discolour or require plating but I'd still recumbent having it professionally cleaned and polished now and again.

Find a ring you love and buy that one. Remember though if you buy abroad buy from a dealer with a reputation so that your not sold sub-standard metal and be aware if you have any problems with it you can't just pop into the shop and have it repaired under guarantee.

And by law you need to declare it to customs and you may need to pay taxes on it

phatbear

im always amazed at how people come across these threads as it was originally posted 3 years ago.

your info may well be right but i feel it may be a tad late