Bad custom experience

[innerkitten]

I bought a sapphire about a year and a half ago and recently decided to have it set with a halo of diamonds and a plain shank. I contacted quite a few vendors. Not that it''s anyones problem but mine but only a few got in touch with me, I think Whiteflash was the only one that contacted me as quickly as she did. I chose the non pricescope jeweler because she was really nice on the phone and she ( the owner) really made herself available to me as far as questions and things. We talked on the phone a few times and I sent her photos and she said yes she could do it no problem and we agreed on a price.

When I got the ring it wasn''t quite what I''d expected. First of all I had asked for a prong set center stone and it was a bezel set center stone and not a very good setting at that. The milligrain was kind of lopsided , but the worst part was that the diaminds were crooked and at different levels. Some were set to deep to shine others were tilted in one direction and others in another direction. I was really shocked that they would let something like that out of the store.

I contacted her and she claimed that I said bezel set although I have it in writing that I said prongs... whatever. So basically we agreed they would fix the diamonds. So five weeks later the diamonds looked okay still not perfect but I felt like I just don''t want to deal anymore so I figured I''d have to live with the ring and some day have the whole thing re done even though I was really unsatisfied.

Last night I noticed the center stone is loose and I''ve only owned the ring two months! she says it''s just normal wear. I don''t think so. I think it''s poorly made. Any suggestions?

 

[Stone Hunter]

No ideas. Just so sorry to hear about your setting trials.

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 11/17/2006 7:41:22 PM
Author:innerkitten

Last night I noticed the center stone is loose and I''ve only owned the ring two months! she says it''s just normal wear. I don''t think so. I think it''s poorly made. Any suggestions?

I think you''re both right.... normal wear on a poorly made ring

I''m sorry.... I hope you can get it resolved!

 

[innerkitten]

Just wanted to mention they fixed it but the stone has a new inclusion which is a major bummer. I think it''s from the heat. I will probably never be able to re set this stone now w/out it cracking. I have accepted my loss and will be very careful in the future as far as who I use.
This was my first custom piece and I had saved up for this sapphire and then to have the ring made.

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 12/12/2006 5:42:01 PM
Author: innerkitten
Just wanted to mention they fixed it but the stone has a new inclusion which is a major bummer. I think it''s from the heat. I will probably never be able to re set this stone now w/out it cracking. I have accepted my loss and will be very careful in the future as far as who I use.
This was my first custom piece and I had saved up for this sapphire and then to have the ring made.

can you get it appraised? Maybe prove they harmed it? or.... ??? I would be way too bummed to just walk away from this without more of a fight!

 

[AndyRosse]

Oh innerkitten, I''m so sorry

I sure hope you find an acceptable solution!

 

[strmrdr]

If you want to fight load up some ammo first.
Contact Richard Sherwood or Rockdoc and get an evaluation done.
Tell them why you need it and have them document and give an opinion about the ring.
They both have experence with these situations and can give an opinion on what damaged the center stone amd why the setting failed.
Because its not a diamond, I wouldnt have anyone but one of those 2 do it.

 

[RockDoc]

Innerkitten......

Sorry to hear of your disappointment in the ring, and potential damage to your stone that you saved up for.

If it is insured ( and I hope it is ) the insurance company should replace the saphirre, and potentially the ring too, if it was modified to the extent that it is not to a reasonble standard of quality.

You get a new ring from the insurance company, and they keep the old one. If you have Chubb Insurance they cover new purchases even if you haven''t yet submitted them for coverage. There is a time requirement for this however with Chubb.

So if another item you have is insured with them, this item MAY be covered.

The stone might have damage from tightening it where unequal pressure was used, or if it was left in the mounting while soldering was done which resulted in damage from heat.

It is fairly obvious that the quality of the workmanship is questionable if YOU could see defects in it.

Hope this helps,

Rockdoc

 

[starryeyed]

Oh man, InnerKitten, I'm so sorry this has happened! It sounds like the woman is difficult to deal with too and things could get ugly fast. I would feel pretty upset.

Nonetheless, I think you should either pursue this with your insurance company, as RocDoc suggested, or confront the woman, in a courteous way, about the damage. The more time that goes by, the less strong your case. Who is actually responsible for a stone when it is being set/reset? I would think a jeweler has insurance for this kind of thing.

 

[widget]

Oh, wow...IK...I''m so sorry to hear this! What a bummer!

I have no advice, sadly. I''m really bad at "fighting" myself...

You have my sympathy!

widget

 

[gailrmv]

I''m really sorry to hear it, Inner Kitten

I meant to tell you on your other thread, thank you for the info you gave me about Whiteflash''s ready set go earrings. I appreciate it. i hope you are enjoying your earrings!

 

[angeline]

That is just TOO bad! I''m really sorry IK. I truly hope you can get some big guns on your side like Rockdoc or Rich Sherwood. All the best, let us know what transpires,

a

 

[RockDoc]

Been thinking about what you wrote below:

When I got the ring it wasn''t quite what I''d expected. First of all I had asked for a prong set center stone and it was a bezel set center stone and not a very good setting at that. The milligrain was kind of lopsided , but the worst part was that the diaminds were crooked and at different levels. Some were set to deep to shine others were tilted in one direction and others in another direction. I was really shocked that they would let something like that out of the store.


Setting a stone in prongs is essentially pretty easy......... setting a stone in a bezel is a bit more laborious.

So I''m thinking why would the jeweler set the stone in a bezel when you asked for a prong setting setting?

One thought comes to mind, that maybe it was orignially set in prongs and the edge got chipped, so they changed it to a bezel to cover up the chipping. I can''t say this is factual without seeing it, but it COULD be a logical reason as to why it was bezel set instead of prong set.

Rockdoc

 

[:)]

Oh, IK, I am so sorry. I know you must be so bummed, because I would be too.

Date: 12/13/2006 12:07:49 AM
Author: RockDoc
Been thinking about what you wrote below:

When I got the ring it wasn''t quite what I''d expected. First of all I had asked for a prong set center stone and it was a bezel set center stone and not a very good setting at that. The milligrain was kind of lopsided , but the worst part was that the diaminds were crooked and at different levels. Some were set to deep to shine others were tilted in one direction and others in another direction. I was really shocked that they would let something like that out of the store.


Setting a stone in prongs is essentially pretty easy......... setting a stone in a bezel is a bit more laborious.

So I''m thinking why would the jeweler set the stone in a bezel when you asked for a prong setting setting?

One thought comes to mind, that maybe it was orignially set in prongs and the edge got chipped, so they changed it to a bezel to cover up the chipping. I can''t say this is factual without seeing it, but it COULD be a logical reason as to why it was bezel set instead of prong set.

Rockdoc

WOW - whether this ends up being the case or not, what a really good and well educated hypothesis. This is a really great part about the PS community - everyone with all their knowledge working to come up with ideas to help each other.

 

[gail013]

This just isn''t fair, I am hoping you can get it resolved. Eventually maybe you can tell us all who not to have design our custom pieces of jewelry.

 

[kcoursolle]

Innerkitten, I''m so sorry you are going through this.

I don''t have any advice to add to this thread, but I did want to share my experience with you. I once had a custom ring done and it went terribly wrong. Shoddy work and not what I wanted. However, I ended up eating the cost because at that time (before ps), I didn''t think to get my description in writing, so I did not have proper documentation of what I wanted in the first place. Anyways, since this bad experience I have had wonderful custom experiences with incredible results. I just want to wish that your situation gets resolved (with I do think you would have enough evidence to find a sollution) and that you have better custom experiences in the future.

I will cross my fingers that everything works out for you.

 

[Londonchris]

Date: 12/12/2006 5:42:01 PM
Author: innerkitten
Just wanted to mention they fixed it but the stone has a new inclusion which is a major bummer. I think it''s from the heat.

I can`t see heat being involved anywhere.
Just sounds like bad setting work to me.
What a disaster.

 

[denverappraiser]

Innerkitten,

You need an appraisal. This is not as difficult a job as some of the above have suggested but a 3rd party expert evaluation is essential. ‘New inclusion’ is not an accurate description. That would be called damage.

The repair for most loose stones does not generally involve heat although this will depend on what the problem was. Have you spoken to the jeweler about the damage? What did they have to say?

Are you insured? What paperwork did you submit to the insurance company and who prepared it and when?

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[innerkitten]

Thanks for all the advice. I don''t have insurance which is really lame of me. Ever since we bought my engagement ring well over two years ago we had planned on getting insurance but didn''t get around to it. I realize it''s pretty important.

I have been dealing with this woman for six months now over my ring and am pretty fed up. I really would like to give her a piece of my mind over the phone actually.

Roc Doc, yesterday when I got the ring back, and I noticed the damage, the thought that the bezel was covering something up had come to mind.

 

[oldminer]

I feel for you. I have bought and sold thousands of sapphires which we mounted in custom jewelry or into estate mountings over the past 30 plus years. Every once in a while one broke one in the process. Sometimes they were quire costly, too. The saving grace was that they belonged to us and not a customer yet. They had not been sold and we were just building pretty pieces on the speculation of eventually selling them through cooperating retailers. Well made items rarely have a problem with a lost stone or even with stones loosening, but when it happened, we just fixed them as best we could without complaint. It gave our customers confidence and cost us very little to keep them happy.

You highlight the reason a consumer should get a good appraisal during or soon after a purchase. The condition of the sapphire would have been a certainty and no one could wonder who damaged it. The other thing is the value of insurance to some people. I don''t promote insuring jewelry to everyone, but there are times that it would be a good thing to have done. Of course, you need good health insurance first, but when all the necessary things are in place, there is nothing wrong with getting jewelry insured if it fits your needs.

If you want a second opinion and possibly a suggestion on how to proceed we''d be glad to take a look at the ring and the sapphire. Maybe there is a solution or something that might improve the situation. Glad to take a look if you feel like spending some money on shipping.

 

[RockDoc]

Kitty


SIX MONTHS and it still isn''t "right"!

By now I would have called "Guido". Sheesh...

You''ve been too nice and too patient.

Calling her and giving you a piece of you mind, will probably feel good to you, but having the problem resolved, and having the jeweler cough up the costs out of THEIR WALLET ( If appropriate), will be far better.

Rockdoc

 

[strmrdr]

Dave, I didnt know you had that kind of background in gemstones, ill add you to my list of gemstone appraisers.
Do you do treatment and origin reports?

Not every appraiser is experenced enough with them for me to recommend them for it.

edit: kewl offer too I'd take him up on it.

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 12/13/2006 2:42:20 PM
Author: RockDoc
Kitty


SIX MONTHS and it still isn''t ''right''!

By now I would have called ''Guido''. Sheesh...

You''ve been too nice and too patient.

Calling her and giving you a piece of you mind, will probably feel good to you, but having the problem resolved, and having the jeweler cough up the costs out of THEIR WALLET ( If appropriate), will be far better.

Rockdoc

Well said Rockdoc

 

[starryeyed]

InnerKitten, I am not a gemstone expert, but I just thought I''d share a bit about a couple of sapphires I had reset.

The two sapphires (about 1.80 ctw) were custom set in a ring that I wound up hating and never wearing. I decided to trade-in the setting for earring jackets to hang off my studs. I moved, so the jeweler who made the ring was 1500 miles away. They credited me the setting, made the jackets, and shipped them to me. Unfortunately, they weren''t quite right, but rather than pay for RT shipping, I went to a local jeweler.

The local jeweler told me that in order to correct the jackets, they would need to do metal work, and the sapphire would have to be unmounted, lest they risk damaging them from the heat. It wound up being more expensive than I thought because of the unmounting and remounting.

Maybe this was a line to charge me more, but the sapphires were not damaged. You may want to ask her how the piece was handled if you suspect damage "from heat".