An engagement ring bought from this shop was requiring a repair after 3 months from purchase and again 12 months later. We wanted to return the ring, and requested a full refund, as mu partner is an office worker who is not dealing with any heavy manual handling and such ring in normal conditions should not be able to be damaged that easily twice in such a small period of time. In our opinion the ring's quality was unsatisfactory.
Even if our request was supported by legal act it was rejected. They wanted to send the ring to the supplier that they could try to find out why the ring was broken. We couldn't agree to send it to a supplier who has produced a faulty product in our opinion and then put it on the market for selling it, in the first place.
In that case we decided to seek an independent expert that could make a proper report. The report was 3 x A4 long and it clearly said that the ring was poorly done: 'The broken prong clearly contained large porosity locally. This stems from the investment (lost wax) casting process. The manufacturer of the casting is responsible for this. The porosity caused a local weakness of the prong, making it liable to fracture if stressed.' Next part of the report said that 'The setting of the diamond cluster in its mount on the ring is clearly poorly done. There is very little prong contact above the girdles of the cluster. It does not conform to GIA (Gemological Institute of America) guidelines. As such, it is poorly designed and made and not fit-for-purpose in my view'.
We have sent a letter attaching a copy of the expertise report so the shop owner had no any other arguments and this time he agreed to take the faulty ring back and make us a full refund.
It took us almost 4 months to finally close this case and get the refund. We felt that they were trying to get rid of us asap since we first stepped into the shop showing the broken ring. We were very frustrated by the whole situation and they made no any effort to help us deal with this as painless and fast as possible, they only made it more and more difficult.
The whole process of returning the ring was very unpleasant as well. The owner didn't approach us, unless called by a staff member, nobody has apologised to us for the whole unpleasant situation they caused to us by selling us a faulty engagement ring. We can't recommend this place. read more