Engagement ring broke! What are my rights?

Jbradley

I purchased an engagement ring from DeBeers in November last year, the ring was subsequently resized and remounted in December. In August this year, my fianc! noticed that her engagement ring was scratching her finger, she checked it and the band had snapped at the bottom. This is a platinum ring so I wouldn’t have expected such a thing to happen. I spoke to DeBeers and took the ring in with my fianc!, and they agreed to replace it with a new ring free of charge. In my opinion this should have been the absolute minimum as the product was faulty. They have offered a good will gesture of a bottle of champagne which, considering the price I paid, is a bit of an insult. Do I have any further consumer rights with regards to a refund of any sort?

shaun_from_Africa

Jbradley wrote: »

and they agreed to replace it with a new ring free of charge. In my opinion this should have been the absolute minimum as the product was faulty. They have offered a good will gesture of a bottle of champagne which, considering the price I paid, is a bit of an insult. Do I have any further consumer rights with regards to a refund of any sort?

The retailer has already gone well beyond what was expected of them under UK consumer law.
Firstly, they were under no obligation to do anything until it had been proven that the ring broke due a manufacturing defect and not because of misuse and they could have insisted that you provided this proof.

If they had asked this and you provided the proof then they would have been required to provide a remedy.
They could have opted to repair it, replace it or refund and this refund could have a deduction made to cover the 10-11 months you have had the ring for and thirdly, they didn't have to offer the Champagne.

In answer to your last question.
Provided that the replacement ring is of satisfactory quality and is comparable to the old one then no, you don't currently have the right to get a refund.
If the replacement breaks then you can reject it and get a refund but as above, this doesn't have to be the full price originally paid.

Jbradley

Ok understood, that’s really helpful. Thanks very much!

unholyangel

If its any consolation, it doesn't mean anything about the quality of the rings - it can happen to almost any ring (although softer metals might misshape rather than break).

I had it happen to 2 of my rings within the last 2 years but never before that. One ring was around 15 years old at the time and the other 30-40 (unsure of exact age as it was my mothers).

Carrot007

You bought overpriced nonsence that was made for peanuts. Most of their money goes towards stopping other people come tyo the market and keeping up the propaganda that their product is worth it. (It can be mined many more places than it is, it can be made indistiguishable in labs, they pay to stop it).


But as far as customer service goes they are providing better than 99% would.

peter_the_piper

Bought ring, ring broke, shop replaced with new ring plus bottle of champers. Sorry but what more can any shop do?

Paul_DNAP

I must say that I never thought I'd see the day when someone called a free bottle of champagne "an insult".


They've repaired it, they've apologised, they've made a nice gesture for the trouble, as has been said above, this is way over what you're entitled to in your basic consumer rights.