Ritani Engagement Ring/Wedding Band Issues - Advice needed

[snowdaygirl]

Good Afternoon,

I am having some major issues with my Ritani ring. I''''ve had the engagement ring for a little over a year and have been wearing the wedding band since June. Both were purchased from an authorized Ritani retailer. Since this time, I have had to take in the engagement ring 3 times and the band in 2 times (in eight months) for multiple loose stones. At this rate, I will have to pay four times a year for stones to be tightened for the lifetime of the rings...thus paying a fortune. Already my husband spent well over 15 grand for the rings.

Needless the say, I believe there is a design flaw with the rings. I NEVER wear them during anytime of physically stressful event for fear of loosing a stone at this point. So, they have not been through the normal wear and tear that an average ring goes through. Ritani set my center stone and also did the sizing. But my authorized Ritani local retailer did the tightening of the stone there after. Due to my retailer doing the tightening of the stones, Ritani is not standing behind the rings. In addition, my local retailer is not providing me with options at this point. It seems right now I am stuck with a 15 grand set of rings that I am afraid to wear due to poor design. Plus, the thought of having defective wedding rings and not being able to wear them is crushing.

Can anyone lend some advice? I am truly saddened by the whole experience. Here is the description of the rings: Platinum Ritani Setting engagement ring surrounded by microset diamonds set on center setting, shared prong set diamond shank and mini heart tipped prongs. Style Number: 1RZ3272 **Please note these are not pave style rings like others have issues with.

Thanks to anyone with ideas/advice!!

 

[stone-cold11]

Why did you allow the retailer to void your warranty?

 

[snowdaygirl]

Good question, I didn''t know about the warranty, and truly didn''t think we would have problems with the ring. They didn''t disclose Ritani''s warranty nor did they ask me where I wanted the ring fixed. They have been in business for over 50 years and handle high end merchandise, so I guess I trusted them. My family has been making purchases with them for years until now.

 

[mrssalvo]

oh boy. I'm so sorry! Ritani makes such a high quality product but for some reason it seems you got a lemon. I do know that sizing rings that have diamonds in the band can lend itself to multiple future losses. That is disappointing that your jeweler did any work on the rings b/c they know by doing so that it will void any Ritani warranty. I would probably complain to your jeweler about this and see if they will go to bat for you one more time. I would also let Ritani know what the jeweler did. If I were in your shoe's I would also probably try contacting Pearlmans or Goodoldgold, both Pricescope vendors who carry Ritani and see what advice or help they can offer you. Since they didn't sell you the rings they may not be able to do anything but it surely wouldn't hurt to email or call.

 

[stone-cold11]

Ditto on the complaining part. That is not what an authorize vendor should do on the ring.

 

[Jim Summa]

This is hard to believe that a store would put you through this kind of nonsense.
I went on the Rintani site to take a look at the ring before I speculated in what is going on.
When I entered IRZ3272 in search nothing came up.
Could you check the number or post a photo? Out of curiosity what size did they make your ring?

 

[snowdaygirl]

Thanks so much for the advice. The bands were actually made for me by Ritani, so that shouldn''t have been an issue. I have a size 3.25 finger, so maybe the size of the ring compromised the quality. I am still hoping my jeweler will step up to the plate, but it doesn''t look good. It is just all so disappointing. The ring is beautiful but can''t be worn very often. It is the ring I was married with so it is special to me for that reason, but at this point, I just want a ring I can wear. And so does my husband

!!

 

[Laila619]

Ugh, I''m so sorry. Your jeweler should never have done the work, they should have told you it would void the warranty. How awful this is happening to you.

 

[snowdaygirl]

Here is the ring.

 

[snowdaygirl]

And the band.

 

[Jim Summa]

Which stones are loose...have been giving you problems?

 

[snowdaygirl]

Hi Jim,

Well, this last round (the ring is being fixed again right now) there was 3 on the engagement ring near the top - this ring is not eternity style, the diamonds only go 3/4 of the way around. As for the band, there were five loose in various areas. Both of these rings were just in 3 months prior for the same thing. Thanks again for your help!!

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 2/9/2010 6:03:19 PM
Author: snowdaygirl
Thanks so much for the advice. The bands were actually made for me by Ritani, so that shouldn''t have been an issue. I have a size 3.25 finger, so maybe the size of the ring compromised the quality. I am still hoping my jeweler will step up to the plate, but it doesn''t look good. It is just all so disappointing. The ring is beautiful but can''t be worn very often. It is the ring I was married with so it is special to me for that reason, but at this point, I just want a ring I can wear. And so does my husband

!!

don''t give up. Ritani is a reputable company and I believe they really do want their customers to be happy and have problem free rings. You''re small finger size should not effect the quality. I understand how disappointed you are feeling but I really do think you should keep fighting and try every avenue possible to get your desired outcome or at least hopefully get some type of satisfactory compromise from Ritani. I really would be very upset with the jeweler for working on the rings. I think they should foot the bill to have them remade. You can always complain to the Jewelers Vigilance Committee as well if your jeweler really did do something unethical by not letting you know of the Ritani warranty and proceeding to do work on the rings.

 

[Jim Summa]

Sorry Snowdaygirl about the delay.
Your finger size at 3.5 is quite a bit smaller than most vendor stock sizes, and my first thought was that they (Ritani) sized down an existing ring they had in stock 2 or 3 sizes which will cause the problems you are now having.

This is one of the jobs of your jeweler, to make sure things are properly done from the Vendor (Ritani) to you the customer.
What really bothered me was your jeweler charging you anything to resolve this, this they should have taken care of without putting you through all the stress.

At this point mrssalvo''s advice about talking directly to Ritani sounds like your best way of getting this taken care of.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Yup, talk to Ritani.

And we would love to see photos of your rings!

 

[waterlilly]

Could you post pics of the ring and band? I''m interested to see what the prongs look like...thanks!

 

[mrssalvo]

snowdaygirl, have you made any progress on getting your rings fixed?