Diamond fallen out of engagement ring

sofaloafz

Hi all,

This is my first post in this section of the forum so I hope I'm doing this right.

My fiance bought my engagement ring from a small independant jewellers in August 2010. In February 2011, a stone had fallen out and the ring had snapped (a clean break in the section that would be closest to my palm), so we took it back.

They apologised and I got a brand new ring with a thicker band (they said it was too thin and this was the cause of the break) around 6 weeks later.

No mention as to why one of the stones had fallen out though.

Today, I have come home from work (I work in an IT Helpdesk, so nothing labour intensive) and noticed that once again there is a stone missing.

To me this seems like an inherent fault as it has happened on 2 different rings of the same style, however I don't know what to do as it is over a year since the old one was replaced.

My partner spent around £350 on it (as he paid in installments before receiving the ring, this was both in cash and by debit card) and it should have 7 small diamonds totalling 0.25ct and is 18ct white gold.

I am just seeking some advice on what I can do regarding this. I tried to call the jewellers but I was too late.

If it is an inherent fault, I would prefer to choose a different ring, as I don't want another one and the same problem to happen. Alternatively, a refund of the amount paid and to purchase a ring from elsewhere.

Thanks in advance for any advice x

CoolHotCold

I am sorry, but this question is asked quite frequently.

If it is a ring that has feet holding the gem in place you will have no option but to either claim on home insurance or a gesture of goodwill of the retailer.

Those feet are easy to bend or snag on jumpers, clothes bumps knocks etc etc.


It is a inherent issue as all rings with gems mounted in feet come with this potential problem, but it isn't a fault.

themull1

its a fault if the claws are too flimsy to hold the diamonds properly.

CoolHotCold

themull1 wrote: »

its a fault if the claws are too flimsy to hold the diamonds properly.

But due to the amount of time its down to the consumer to prove, besides they've lasted close (18monthish) to two years, the more likely scenario is it got caught or bumped.

VfM4meplse

CoolHotCold wrote: »

But due to the amount of time its down to the consumer to prove, besides they've lasted close (18monthish) to two years, the more likely scenario is it got caught or bumped.

But a diamond ring is supposed to be forever....

Personally I think this bodes poorly for the relationship. A man that spends just £350 on a diamond ring is just not worth the effort!

InsideInsurance

Without any disrespect to the OP.....

The stones in the ring are going to be an average of 3 points (0.03 ct) and so are about 2mm in size.

To hold the stone in place you need to put metal over the top of the stone, be that 3-4 claws or a bar/ring. Now given the whole stone is only 2mm how much of that do you want to lose under the metal mounting it?

It is a natural consequence that the smaller the stone the less your going to have holding it in. A 1 ct stone will have more than 2mm of the stone covered by the mount, if the OPs ring had the same the stone would be encased and not visible.

Being realistic the stone itself is really not worth much given Amazon offer a silver ring with 5 such stones for £69. I'd speak to the jeweller and they may well fix it FOC because itll cost them less than arguing with you

For the long term its really up to you to decide what you want to do, how sentimentally attached you are to the ring etc.... certainly a lot of USA women do "upgrade" their engagement rings and either store their original one or get it taken apart and made into something else.

sofaloafz

If I can show you all a picture of the newly shedded ring which has lost a whole stone :rotfl: (wish I had too!)



Obviously the lighting in here doesn't show it's true colour, but you can see the claws.

In all honesty, I chose this ring because I liked the flower-like design of it (yes, I was allowed to choose my own ring!) but I don't know if I'd like my partner to go out and spend more money on a ring as we're already saving for our wedding next year.

pinkshoes

I'd take it back to the shop and see what they say, as I'd be VERY disappointed if a stone had fallen out AGAIN.

loubel

I would also go back to the shop first of all.

I had a similar problem with my original wedding ring, which had small diamonds inset into the band. After just 4 months one of them had fallen out. It was sent off and the diamond replaced but within a week the replacement had fallen out too and one of the others was coming loose. It went back again but the repair job was awful - the new diamond didn't match the rest and they'd mangled the setting to try to make it more secure.

The shop staff admitted that we should have been told when we bought it that the ring wouldn't stand up to being worn regularly and as such it wasn't suitable for use as a wedding ring (despite being labelled as one and sold to us as one!). We returned it for a full refund and went elsewhere to buy a replacement, without diamonds this time.

Admittedly yours is a bit older so it may be harder to persuade the shop to take it back; but definitely worth a try.

sofaloafz

Ok so to update on this. I phoned the jeweller today and they have agreed it is not good that it has occurred again and would like me to take the ring in to them.

They didn't say whether they will be able to do anything but it is a promising start.

I will be taking it to them tomorrow (it's in a town about 20 miles away) and I can update further tomorrow evening on the outcome.

Thanks all

sofaloafz

Evening all, so the update is as follows:

I took the ring to the jewellers today and they have sent it off to be repaired.

I didn't go in all fires blazing either, they examined the ring and said the claws didn't appear damaged in any way so they'd get it fixed no problem with no charge.

Good news I think thanks for everyone's advice