Faulty jewellery - shop refuses to help!

rooo

I bought my wife a ring in October last year - an opal - and in December she noticed that the stone was starting to chip away at the edge. The stone is completely enclosed, and has not been knocked, so I returned to the shop, and independant jewellers, and asked what they could do. They acknowledged that the ring had not been knocked, but stated that that "is what opals do". They said they could repair it, but it would cost me.

I have contacted HSBC Credit Card services, but they also said they could not do anything.

I bought this ring for my wife on the birth of our Daughter in October (Opal is the October birth stone), and the idea was to hand it down to here when she was old enough. Unfortunately the ring is damaged, and if worn, is only going to get worse.

My opinion is that the ring is either faulty and should be repaired at the shops expense, or if it "is what opals do" it was clearly not suitable for the purpose under which is was sold.

Does anyone have any ideas about what I could do? Or is it tought luck to me?

Voyager2002

Visit a different jewellers and ask their opinion about Opal rings, and then show them your wife's ring and ask them what they think.

Astaroth

Hmm... having looked at a few websites it dos suggest that opals are more easily chipped than other stones - the australian opal society (seems australia is one of the major producers) says that they should always be removed when doing things like washing up.

If this inherent to the stone then you may have more difficulty arguing that it isnt fit for purpose but you may be able to argue that the retailer should have made you aware of the "limitation" of use.

Darksun

You'll have to prove that the product was sold to you faulty - this will mean an expert opinion attesting to that. As others have said, get the opinion of another jewellers

kellyaicken

I used to work for a high street jewellers, so can only base this on what we would have done there, when dealing with independent jewellers it can unfortuanately be a different story. Firstly my argument would be that you should have been informed during the sales process that these stones are more likely to chip than say the hardness of a diamond (all precious stones are graded on a Hardness scale). If it was due to being knocked or damaged by the customer than the customer should pay for the damage, hence if they are saying it is not your fault, it could possibly be a manufacturing fault with the stone itself, or the setting, they should offer to send it away to their independent repair service for evaluation. If it is a manufacturing fault then they should repair the item for free, at the very least seeing as you have had the ring for such a short period of time, the should fix it as a goodwill gesture. HTH

SuperNashwan

This probably won't help, but if you made a specific purpose of any goods known to the retailer before you bought them then the goods must be suitable for that purpose. So if you said to them "I want a ring my wife can wear and then be handed down many years from now" you should have a legal right for that explicit purpose, regardless of the normal properties of the goods.

bluecandy5

Opal isn't a hard stone. It's only 5.5 on the hardness scale so it will chip away easily. Certain chemicals and natural oils can damage it too.

As its a natural cause and effect then they are in their rights to charge for a repair.

tinkerbell84

bluecandy5 wrote: »

Opal isn't a hard stone. It's only 5.5 on the hardness scale so it will chip away easily. Certain chemicals and natural oils can damage it too.

As its a natural cause and effect then they are in their rights to charge for a repair.

They probably did - the thread you've replied to is 20 months old