White gold ring faded after 2 weeks

sulphate

I'm not sure if we have any recourse here not knowing anything about this kind of thing...

My husband and i got married in march. We bought our white gold wedding rings from a well known jeweller in august last year. From august til march they sat in their box.

A few months after we got married we noticed that the satin finish around my husband's ring had yellowed and it was badly scratched. We went back to the jeweller in september and they agreed to have it replated for nothing, but said they wouldn't normally do this because it was more than a year since they were bought, fair enough even though he'd only been wearing it a few months.

Anyway so they did it and my husband picked it up around september 27. Last weekend i noticed the finish around the ring had substantially faded again, only 2ish weeks since he got it back. Now we know that white gold is not 'real' gold etc etc and they do need replating once every so often but I expected this to be once every year or so and we are not prepared to get it replated every month for £30 or whatever it is, and that's what we'd need to do to keep it looking like white gold. My husband does not do anything in particular that would make it fade so quickly.

I sent their customer services an email on monday with a picture explaining the situation and got the following reply: "Thank you for your email. We can confirm our return policy is within 30 days of purchase for a refund or an exchange. Should you need to update your enquiry or provide us with more information, all you need to do is reply to this email. Regards". I replied saying that it doesn't answer my complaint in the least and asked for them to advise how to take it forward, no reply.

I am going to write a letter to them (we no longer live close to the store so writing would be quicker as I don't know when we'd be able to go there next), does anyone know if we would have any recourse, ie under the sale of goods act etc? Or are we just idiots for buying white gold in the first place?

monty-doggy

My engagement ring is white gold, I've only had it plated once and that was after 12 months and I wear it all the time and use my hands a lot in my job so it gets scuffed.

Rather than white gold plated try having it rhodium plated. It says whiter for longer and is tougher. Ultimately you can't stop it fading but I'd def try that.

CoolHotCold

As monty says, it isn't real gold and will discolour quickly depending on the planting materials and quality, to reason it discolours can be sweat, natural oils, dust etc etc, essentially everyday tasks will wear it out.


If you want it to last a while, you need to either get a better ring or spend more than £30 on plating.

sulphate

I don't know if it was white gold plated or rhodium plated. I will check with them, thanks.

As i said, I know its not real gold but I'm pretty sure it should not fade after 2 weeks. I've had my white gold engagement ring for much longer and it was probably a similar quality, and it hasn't faded nearly as much as that.

monty-doggy

It could be the place that's plated it. There are different machines and ways of doing it. Rhodium is the best. My ex was a jeweller and he plated more white gold this way than the other.

Try to get a recommended jeweller, independent rather than high street and you'll get a better job.

heart_free

white gold is "real gold" it's just alloyed with different metals to yellow gold. Both have the same amount of actual gold in them 9ct white gold and 9ct yellow gold still have 375 parts gold in every thousand. And 18ct white and yellow gold both contain 750 parts gold in a thousand.

White gold is naturally a grey/slightly yellowy colour. To make it shine a lovely "white" colour it's plated with rhodium. There is no "white gold plating", all white gold items are rhodium plated. If it plated with a different metal (ie a cheaper option) this would explain the plating coming off quickly. Industry standard is rhodium plating, and I haven't come across any other forms personally. It sounds like the plating process used was very poor, as although the plating does wear off naturally through normal wear and tear, it should last a couple of years at least. Of course if you wear your ring while handling harsh chemicals this will affect how long the plating lasts. Another consideration is the quality of the gold, 9 ct gold, being mostly other alloys will not hold the plating as long as 18ct gold.

If you want a ring that will keep the beautiful shiny, white surface you need to pay extra and choose platinum, or palladium.

Try taking your ring to an independent jeweller, preferably a goldsmith, to get an independent assessment of your rings. You may have to pay a small fee, but you could always get them valued for insurance purposes at the same time. If you have any questions just ask, I'm a qualified retail jeweller although I've been out of the industry for about 6 years now.

sulphate

Reviving this as I just found the picture.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v512/lizzabeth/stevesring_zpse74e1ba9.jpg

we don't expect it to stay shiny and white but it would be nice if it stayed the same colour for more than a couple of weeks! No chemicals come near it.

heart_free, thank you for your advice.

I think we are realising that we should have spent more on our rings.

InsideInsurance

As has been said, there is no such thing as white gold really, gold is yellow.

Even 24c Gold is not 100% pure gold, 18c is 75% and 9c is 37.5%. Gold is almost pure when found and so to make a lower carat then it must effectively be diluted. By choosing what other metals to dilute it with can impact the overall colour of the metal.

For rose gold copper is normally added and this achieves the desired colour. For white gold things are slightly more complicated and there is many more options of alloys to create but needless to say if you have 75% yellow colour (18c) no matter what other element you add you are not going to lose all the yellow. To get a true "white" finish then white gold is plated, almost always with rhodium, to make it both white and shiny.

Plating evidently is a thin coat and this ultimately will rub off over time. Whilst what you do for a living, how much you wear it etc will have a big impact on how long the plating lasts so does the exact alloy used (some are whiter than others so show through less) and the thickness of the plate.

My ex had a number of white gold items, necklaces and earrings didnt ever need replating in the duration of our relationship. Her bracelet did require being done every 4 years or so. Her ring had top stones so had an orientation, the top never showed signs of needing being replated but the bottom half showed signs after 6 months, could have done with being done after a year and really needed doing at least every 18 months.

Its not necessarily spending more on your rings, Cartier, Chanel etc all do white gold rings that go up to hundreds of thousands of pounds and all will need periodic replating. Its a limitation of the metal not really a matter of the price

tigerstriper_2

Just to add, a lot of white gold jewellery contains silver as the main alloy which, when tarnished (easily happens), looks yellow. Try dipping the jewellery in silver cleaner before paying for rhodium plating - it may work.

harrup

sulphate...as you rightly identified, the answer you got from the stores customer service team is nonsensical and doesn't relate to your issue and problem at all.

Whilst I can't say that I can cite the sales of goods act off by heart - I DO know ( thanks to the consumer lawyers from the Which Consumer Association Legal team) is that a product's expected durability far exceeds a retailers or manufacturers warranty. Never mind their return policy.

Have a look at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8253915.stm

Or
http://www.parliament.uk/Templates/BriefingPapers/Pages/BPPdfDownload.aspx?bp-id=sn02239

Or just google "sales of goods act, durability" or some such. lots of info.

A wedding ring can reasonably be expected to look presentable for more than a few months or even years. Don't get blown off by the retailer stating that it has to do with the ring being white gold, instead of yellow gold or platinum or whatever blurb they may come out with. Its a wedding ring, for goodness sake, and if they don't think that this particular gold composition can successfully withstand a few month of wear without looking ugly, needing replating, etc...they shouldn't be selling it.

That aside, I have a few pieces of white gold jewellery which I had for a couple of decades and who look awesome. The notion that white gold is a lesser quality to yellow gold just isn't true. Go into Cartier or Tiffany's and ask one of their goldsmiths if you don't believe me;) It is DIFFERENT due to its composition but that has no bearing on its quality or looks. Not after a few months or years anyway.

Good luck and stick to your guns. Hope you get it sorted soon.

hgotsparkle

I have to say, I have worn a white gold ring everyday for 4 years now - never taken it off and I have never had to have it replated, or noticed any discolouring, and this a ring thats £120 from Argos!!