Tarnished ring

saver_1_2

Hi everyone.
Don't know if this is the right place to post and i apologize if not.

I bought my Wife a dress ring for passing her degree in February and is worn on weekends mainly Friday to Sunday as in her profession only wedding rings can be worn at work so it's around 14 weeks. Two weeks ago my Wife noticed it had turned black in colour so she took it back to the jewellers [ A well know high street chain] and to cut a long story short they sent it off to quality control. It's came back and they have said there is nothing wrong with it it's had a polish and it's ready for collection.
My Wife said over the phone we would rather have our money back [£100] to which the assistant replied you can't. Does any one have any information about our rights in such a case. We would rather get the money back and go to another jewellers rather than wait and see if this goes black again after another 14 or so weeks.
By the way the ring is silver.

Thanks

mygeorgie

Hi
I too have this problem whenever i wear anything silver. I had a beautiful ring fo my 18th birthday but within a short time it had started to look tarnished and very soon went black, This has happened to me each time I have worn silver jewellery, one jeweller told me that this is a common problem with some people who simply cannot wear silver. Chemicals released through the pores react with silver which tarnishes it,
Not what you wanted to hear I know.

saver_1_2

Thanks for the infor.
We collected the ring on Saturday it looked as good as new. I spoke to the manager and he said it's a problem with silver it does tend to tarnish and needs cleaning regularly he said any time you are near the store bring all your rings in and we offer a free cleaning service while you wait. He said our ring had been in a acid bath and had a very good clean. Don't know if he was waffling us or not but we decided to take the ring anyway

heart_free

Silver does tarnish, its just a characteristic of the metal. If you wear the ring when washing up etc, it'll tarnish quicker. You would get the same problem wherever you bought a silver ring from. As long as the ring is hallmarked as sterling silver, then I'm afraid you're not entitled to your money back. Its a case of the old saying "ignorance is no defence". Just because you didn't know that silver was prone to tarnishing doesn't mean that when it does you can claim your money back.
The only way around the problem is to buy another metal. 18ct white gold well stay polished for longer, but after a few years the rhodium plating that gives it its shine will wear off and will have to be redone. Your best bet, but the most expensive is platinum - which doesn't tarnish and doesn't require replating. A slightly cheaper alternative is palladium.
The jewellers offer to clean the ring for you regularly is very fair. Alternatively just give it a regular polish yourself. You can even just buy some Silvo (other metal polishes available). Also be aware silver will tarnish quicker if its not worn - wearing it causes friction between the metal and skin allowing a polishing action. Whereas not wearing it allows the oxygen to react with the metal turning it black.

Sorry, a bit rambling, but hope it helps :-)

themull1

Buy a silver cleaning cloth and keep buffing it with that.