Broken wedding ring

LW19

I got married in 2011. I have a palladium wedding ring which has split top to bottom. A local jeweller has said it is porosity and although they could repair it is not advised as it will likely happen again due to the porosity. I contacted Goldsmiths who I bought the ring from. They said make an appointment in store, nearest store is now an 80+ mile round trip. They suggested we called the store to see if they could help and the person who answered the phone was simply rude and gave my wife a telling off and that the ring would be out of the 12 month warranty and that a charge would be applied to send the ring away. My expectation and also goldsmiths as it says on their website is that a wedding ring should last a lifetime.

The ring was not fit for purpose and the porosity is a manufacturing fault. The ring is not wearable and obviously has sentimental value too. It feels very much like sharp practice to charge to send the ring away and to have to travel over 80 miles to get it sent away.

km1500

Your wedding ring obviously has sentimental value, but can I just summarise the position - you have an item you purchased 12 years ago, it has now failed, you contacted the store and they have asked that you bring it in so they can look at it (or post it to them instead?). Is this what is happening?

pinkshoes

At 12 years old you are well out of time for any sort of consumer rights claim.

Was this a really expensive ring? 

What do they mean by "porosity"? Are they saying that the density of the ring does not match that of palladium e.g. it was made with many flaws and air bubbles inside?

Rings should not be porous, so this would indicate a manufacturing fault e.g. tiny bubbles of gas within the metal occurring when it was heated. They are usually made in a vacuum so this doesn't occur. 

Has the ring ever had an repair work or adjustments done to it?

km1500

Google 'ring porosity' - it does appear to be a manufacturing fault - 12 years ago.

LW19

I need to go to a store for them to send it away. No work has ever been done to the ring. To replace the ring with an identical ring now would be very expensive as the material has increased in price. It is a palladium 950 ring.

powerful_Rogue

You'll be looking for them to make a goodwill gesture as you are out of time to enforce any consumer rights. Just remember you catch more flies with honey.

km1500

You could ask.the store if you could post it to them rather than go there.

Yes, they will charge you to send it away for inspection. It is 12 years old.

Manxman_in_exile

Could somebody clarify something for me?

If you bought a wedding ring 12 years ago but only found out last month that it had some fundamental fault*, when does the 6 year limitation period run from?  From when you bought it 12 years ago, or from when you discover the fault?


*I don't know.  Let's say for the sake of argument it had been sold as solid gold but it turned out to be gold plate and not at all what you thought you'd been buying.  Or let's say the ring has fallen apart and an expert report establishes beyond doubt that it fell apart because of a faulty manufacturing process introducing bubbles into the body of the ring that shouldn't have been there.

(I'm not concerned about the practical diffculty of proving anything or the question of what would be an appropriate value refund,  I'm wondering whether the limitation period runs from the date of purchase or from when the fault manifests itself)

powerful_Rogue

Manxman_in_exile said:

Could somebody clarify something for me?

If you bought a wedding ring 12 years ago but only found out last month that it had some fundamental fault*, when does the 6 year limitation period run from?  From when you bought it 12 years ago, or from when you discover the fault?


*I don't know.  Let's say for the sake of argument it had been sold as solid gold but it turned out to be gold plate and not at all what you thought you'd been buying.  Or let's say the ring has fallen apart and an expert report establishes beyond doubt that it fell apart because of a faulty manufacturing process introducing bubbles into the body of the ring that shouldn't have been there.

(I'm not concerned about the practical diffculty of proving anything or the question of what would be an appropriate value refund,  I'm wondering whether the limitation period runs from the date of purchase or from when the fault manifests itself)

Six years from the date of delivery. (Five years Scotland.)

Under the law of England and Wales and of Northern Ireland, claims for breach of contract are subject to a limitation period of six years from the date of the breach of contract, whereas in Scottish law the limitation period is five years. Because the protections provided under this Part of the Act operate on the basis of contract law, the consumer has 6 years (or 5 years in Scotland) within which they may pursue remedies for breach of one of the statutory rights. This does not mean that a consumer may seek a remedy under the Act for any fault arising in goods at any time in the six (or five) years following delivery, but only if one of the statutory rights is breached.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/19/notes?view=plain

pinkshoes

Manxman_in_exile said:

Could somebody clarify something for me?

If you bought a wedding ring 12 years ago but only found out last month that it had some fundamental fault*, when does the 6 year limitation period run from?  From when you bought it 12 years ago, or from when you discover the fault?


*I don't know.  Let's say for the sake of argument it had been sold as solid gold but it turned out to be gold plate and not at all what you thought you'd been buying.  Or let's say the ring has fallen apart and an expert report establishes beyond doubt that it fell apart because of a faulty manufacturing process introducing bubbles into the body of the ring that shouldn't have been there.

(I'm not concerned about the practical diffculty of proving anything or the question of what would be an appropriate value refund,  I'm wondering whether the limitation period runs from the date of purchase or from when the fault manifests itself)

It's a bit light the story of the King who chopped off the head of a goldsmith for slipping some silver into his crown, but it took a considerable amount of time and a "Eureka" moment from Archimedes to prove it!

Jewellery should have a life of decades, if not centuries. This ring is clearly faulty - a palladium ring should not fail like this. I also have a palladium wedding ring as it is much harder and more durable than gold. 

A shop with a decent reputation would have no problem sorting this out. 

@LW19 Could you phone a different branch or even headquarters and offer to send the ring to them? I'm assuming this is perhaps a high street chain store? As you're out of time with consumer rights, and if the shop refuse to do anything, then I would suggest online feedback with photos of the ring, a description of the issue, and make it clear to potential new customers that their ring are of questionable quality. 

km1500

The shop has not said they won't sort sort it out - they have asked the OP to take it to them for examination.

The OP thinks this is unreasonable.