Apologies if this is covered elsewhere but couldn’t find a close enough match on searching. Bit of a standoff between myself and a shop at the minute and would be interested in others’ take on it.

Last year I bought my wife a ring from a well-known jewellery store, costing £165 (on sale from c. £220). Within a couple of months one of the stones fell out. We took it back and they offered a repair which my wife accepted. The ring was sent off and, after a few days, they contacted us back to say they were replacing the ring free of charge.

My wife basically stopped wearing the ring routinely as she was paranoid the stone would fall out again. She wore it maybe 12-15 times in the next 6-8 months until, last week, she noticed a stone had fallen out of the new ring. We brought it back again and my wife and I were quite clear that we wanted a refund at this point as the ring is clearly not very well put together if two consecutive ones developed the same fault with minimal normal wear. They are taking the line that we are not entitled to a refund as we have not let them try to repair the item - I pointed out the tried before and that we were under no obligation to let them try but they are adamant that, as it’s a new ring, they get another chance to repair (which they’ve offered free of charge clearly). I’m not convinced - part of me is tempted to go straight to my credit card company and go for section 75 cover.

Who’s in the right here? Any suggestions gratefully received.