My fiance purchased an engagement ring from John Ross jewelers sometime back in late December/ early January. The ring was pre-made, but had small diamonds added to it by John Ross jewelers. One month or so after I received the ring, one of the small diamonds added into it fell out. My fiance traveled to Albany (we live in Atlanta) to have the ring repaird by John Ross Jewelers. They fixed it in approximately three hours.
Over the next few months, the prongs holding the smaller diamonds began to turn a bit yellow. I didn't have concern however, because I had heard this happens to white gold rings. However, bbout eight or nine months later, three more of the small diamonds fell out. At this point we were certain that the quality of the customized mounts that held the small diamonds were not good. When my fiance returned again to Albany, he enoountered the store's manager (owner?) Chuck Roberts who informed him that he would repair the ring again. When my fiance asked Chuck as to why the diamonds were falling out, Chuck informed him that "some new chemical women are using in some product" is causing erosion and/or pitting of the gold in the diamond settings and thus causing the diamonds to fall out.
My family has rings that have been passed down from generation to generation. Some of the women who wore them worked in factories as far back as the 40s and 50s. Some of them were domestics. My mother now wears three of these rings. I have NEVER heard of any cleaning or hair chemical strong enough to erode the gold off of rings. My mother and myself don't work in any strenous environment- I'm an accountant and she's an attorney. There is NO reason why the gold should have eroded and cause my diamonds to fall out.
Having said that, I called Chuck myself and inquired about this "mysterious chemical". He could/wouldn't identify what he thought it was. He also claimed that it "happened all the time" which I don't think is a good thing in his line of work. Therefore, I told him that as I am no chemist, that means nothing to me as a consumer and that I would like to return the ring for a refund. He repeatedly interrupted my speech during the process and finally said, "Well, Babyhoneychild, we don't do refunds. It says so right at the bottom of the receipt. We do store credit only." I said, "Am I to understand that if a product is defective you not only do not give a refund?" I didn't think I should be expected to use my "store credit" to get another potentiall defective product. I then informed him that I would be making a few phone calls and hung up.
My fiance went back to retreive the ring before it was repaired so that we could have it evaluated by a professional. Upon returning, the repair that was originally estimated to take a week to repair, was miraculously finished. (I hope that doesn't mean they rushed through yet another faulty repair).
The short version is this: I'm not willing to have my fiance travel 3 hours to have a ring repaired for a third, fourth, fifth, or however many times. I can hardly believe that someTHING that I am using is causing all my diamonds to fall out. I don't appreciate being interrupted or being called "Babyhoneychild" by a strange man. At this point, I don't want to do any more business with him, but I felt compelled to say something because other people may encounter his shoddy work and shoddy attitude.
Thank you for listening and be warned.
Skegeeace
Atlanta, Georgia
U.S.A.