Independent Jeweler faulty repair of engagement ring

pinkshoes

olivia2122 said:

@TELLIT01 I don’t work in a jewellery repair shop so how would I know what happens when a ring is resized? I’ve had it resized at Ernest Jones when I was given the ring as it was the wrong size and nothing was changed in the ring apart from the size. It looked exactly as I sent it in bar the size difference and so I thought that would be the case again. Showing Ernest Jones the photos of the ring now they have said it is not to the standard that they would have repaired it. 

So this is the second time the ring has been re-sized? The first time by Ernest Jones as it was bought as the wrong size (too small) and again now I assume as you've got older and your fingers have got fatter?

Why didn't you use Ernest Jones again as they did it well the first time?

As for not knowing... to make something bigger you either need to add material or stretch material. If you stretch something it cannot possibly remain the same size. So did Ernest Jones ADD material to it to resize it? 

Resizing something for a second time is always going to be tricky. Did the second jeweller know it had already been resized?

TELLIT01

There still has been no answer to the question of how many sizes it has increased by.

Sandtree

olivia2122 said:
they have said that no jeweler should have attempted to resize the ring if they saw the branding. 

I have to say that is an immediate red flag, or you've misunderstood what they said.

Cartier, Tiffany, De Beers, Channel etc all offer resizing of their rings which are vastly more expensive, their branding adds much more value and their secondhand buyers are much more sensitive to damage. In effect they've said their rings shouldnt be resized which, in my mind based on the above suggests a fundamental issue with the ring.

Jewellers are often in a bit of a difficult spot, someone comes in with a full eternity ring from their recently passed husband and wants it resized so they can wear it again... its the worst possible ring for resizing but there is clearly an emotional plea from the customer. Do you turn the customer away and leave them at the mercy of the next one they try or do you try your best for the customer knowing its somewhat risky. 

At the end of the day however  if you feel they havent shown due skill then you need to get your independent expert evidence to support your case. This will be a report stating that due care/skill was not shown and either 1) an estimate on repairing the ring or 2) an estimate of the reduction in 2nd hand value due to the unreasonable damage

Having looked on ebay the average Leo branded ring is selling for 20-25% of the claimed original sales price. The "damage" if an expert states its evidence of not showing due skill, is probably going to be 10-20% of that (ie best case probably 5% of the original sales price) to give you an exceptionally rough idea of the sorts of monies involved

theoretica

It is pretty common for people to charge for a not particularly good job, and ring resizing isn't a regulated trade. I fear you don't have much hope - other than paying a different jeweller to do what they can towards tidying it up. The loose stone will be simple to secure but doing anything to the uneven stretching short of melting it down and remaking is going to be a nightmare.

Cutting the ring and adding more metal would have been the more expensive but likely better way of doing it - stretching it on a conical stake can be OK for small changes of plain bands but...

Are you sure the ring was resized the first time? I know some jewellers openly offer a placeholder ring initially and swap for one of the right size if needed.

sheramber

Did you check the professional ability of the jeweller you used?

If you don't go the  high quality professional you can't expect their standard of workmanship.

Pollycat

How did the conversation go?
Did he discuss the effects of resizing by stretching the existing gold?
Did he suggest adding extra gold to retain the ring's integrity?
Did you mention the brand on the inside of the ring and tell him you expected it to be retained?

olivia2122

@pinkshoes the Ernest Jones local to me has closed with no others nearby and I was recommended this jeweller so thought it would just be easier to get it done locally. They have added material so if I’m not sure why it needed to be stretched at all.

@Sandtree they didn’t say it’s not to be resized at all, they’ve said it should be resized only by Leo Diamond so that they resize it correctly due to the branding inside the ring and the diamond on the inside of the band. 

@th@theoretica they did add the material to the ring, I’m not sure if I was clear previously but I definitely paid for more material as I was told the price had gone up for white gold. I am pretty certain that they did resize the ring initially at Ernest Jones because they offered to just give me a new one in a bigger size but I said no as that was the ring my husband had proposed to me with 

olivia2122

@TELLIT01 it was increased by 2 sizes and material was added to do this. 

@Pollycat I was told that there would be material added to the ring to increase the size, not that it would be stretched. I had had a few recommendations from people who had been to the jeweller and so thought a good job would be done. I didn’t mention the branding inside the ring as I was told by him that a full inspection would be made prior to the resize. 

TELLIT01

I am getting totally confused as to whether the latest jeweller inserted more material or stretched the ring.  In one post the OP says that because it has been stretched it is now very thin but later says material was added.  The sequence of the actions can become confused when different people's questions are being responded to.

cx6

I think the OP is saying

1. the original re-sizing by EJ was done by adding material

2. when she took the ring in to this jeweller she was told more material would be added but instead they stretched it.