Wedding Ring Disaster

H_C_T

I got married in May 2005 and I had my wedding ring made to incorperate my grans and I bought my husband a similar one to match it was nine carat gold (I wanted 18 but the sales asistant advised that 9 is more hard wearing for men) it only cost £175.00. In the past three years it has broken twice. It is a two coloured gold ring made up of a white gold band with a yellow gold band inset into it. The yellow band has snapped and subsequently part of it has been lost and the white gold band is snapped too with another small crack appearing. I must emphasise this is the second time in three this has happened, and the ring was purchased from a bespoke jeweller not a chain store. I have contacted the shop and asked what they are prepared to do and the answer I got was nothing as you cannot guarantee the life span of jewellery. The first time it happened they repaired it for free as a 'gesture of goodwill'
Does anybody know if this is fair? I have given it to another jeweller who isn't prepared to fix it as the cost of the repair would outweigh the price of the ring and he couldn't guarantee it would last, which I think indicates there is something wrong with the gold.
Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

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skintchick

It is probably a design issue. As it was three years ago and it was only £175 i'd be tempted simply to buy a new ring and move on.

myrnahaz

I wouldn't get my hopes up if I was you. I had my eternity ring made larger at Clive Ranger (I think they welded/soldered an extra bit into the band). They didn't charge for doing it as I'd bought it there 3 years earlier, but, 6 months after having it enlarged, it broke in half so I had to take it back; they repaired it once but, when it happened again a few weeks later, they refused to repair it as they said it was wear & tear, and said all they could do was weld a new shank on to it. I wasn't happy as it seemed like their bad workmanship was at fault. Anyway, eventually I agreed to pay £150 to have a new band welded onto my lovely, delicate diamond band, but when I got it back, it was hideous and looked like a huge, chunky man's ring. I was horrified and pointed out a picture on the wall of how my ring should have looked - the cheeky assistant said I should be lucky to have had 'all that extra gold'. I actually burst into tears, and the manager intervened and told me to call back in an hour and they'd sort it out - which they did (except for the saw-mark left on the shank). I thought it was just my bad luck, but you've obviously had a similar experience.
PS - to be fair, it hasn't broken since then.

heart_free

9 carat gold is quite brittle due to the other metals the gold is alloyed with. Don't forget 9 carat gold has only 37.5% gold in it, gold itself is quite malleable, so 18 carat gold is less likely to crack as it contains 75% gold. On the other hand 18 carat gold is softer in the way that it will show dents and scratches more than 9 carat. Does the design of your husbands ring match yours? Are they both 9 carat? What activities does your husband do while wearing the ring? Jewellery is not indestructable and if you don't look after it correctly it will break.

The ring has been repaired free of charge within your guarantee period, however any repairs or alterations are bound to weaken the integrity of the item, and it is highly likely to break in the same spot again. This is why another jeweller will not guarantee it will last. The current cost of gold is very high, however a minor repair should not cost too much, look up a local gold-smith and go to him direct, rather than a jeweller.

heart_free

myrnahaz wrote: »

I wouldn't get my hopes up if I was you. I had my eternity ring made larger at Clive Ranger (I think they welded/soldered an extra bit into the band). They didn't charge for doing it as I'd bought it there 3 years earlier, but, 6 months after having it enlarged, it broke in half so I had to take it back; they repaired it once but, when it happened again a few weeks later, they refused to repair it as they said it was wear & tear, and said all they could do was weld a new shank on to it. I wasn't happy as it seemed like their bad workmanship was at fault. Anyway, eventually I agreed to pay £150 to have a new band welded onto my lovely, delicate diamond band, but when I got it back, it was hideous and looked like a huge, chunky man's ring. I was horrified and pointed out a picture on the wall of how my ring should have looked - the cheeky assistant said I should be lucky to have had 'all that extra gold'. I actually burst into tears, and the manager intervened and told me to call back in an hour and they'd sort it out - which they did (except for the saw-mark left on the shank). I thought it was just my bad luck, but you've obviously had a similar experience.
PS - to be fair, it hasn't broken since then.

Did you get the advise of another jewller? If you thought that the fault was bad workmanship, you should have got a second opinion. How did you think a ring was made larger? You can't stretch gold so the only way to increase size is to add a piece into the band.

I don't think you really have much to complain about.. You had an alteration free of charge, then a repair free of charge when it broke, then you expected another free repair when it broke again which the jeweller refused due to apparent wear and tear and advised you to pay for a new band. When you were obviously not happy with the replacement band they replaced the band yet again free of charge. This is nothing like the same experience of the OP, who IMO was given bad advise on purchasing 9 carat gold for her husband.

H_C_T

Having eventually getting to speak to the actual jeweller at the jewellery store (his bulldog wife always answers the phone) he has looked at the ring and agreed there is indeed a quality issue with it. It has been replaced free of charge