Millennium Jewelers engagment ring fraud - 3 times!!! Columbus Ohio

In December of 2003, my boyfriend (now my husband) purchased a ring from Millennium Jewelers at Easton. He wanted it in all white gold, so they said it had to be ordered. We recieved the ring about a week later. As the wedding approached, we took the ring to another jeweler (in March 2004) to have a custom band made. When the wax from the cast was cleaned off, the ring was bright yellow gold! It had been plated in rhodium to make it white! I took it back to Millennium, who tired to say they got it that way, but they would correct it.

I got a call a couple days later from the store owner, and he stated the designer "no longer did white gold" but that they were going to replace it in platinum for me at no additional cost to make up for this. I agreed and they said the replacement would be in soon.

The replacement did not come in for nearly two months (on May 20, 2004) , and when it did, it was the wrong style and the wrong metal! When I pointed this out, the owner told me I should just take that one since it was more expensive than the one I wanted. But, it didnt fit my band that had been custom made, and it was not what I wanted! OH, and this was two DAYS before my wedding! I ended up having to wear the original (wrong color) one for my wedding.

I decided to contact the designer myself. I explained what had happened and they did say that Millennium had now put in the correct ring order, and as soon as it was done and they got payement from Millennium, they would send it out. They also informed me that they had NEVER worked with white gold. This means Millennium knew they could not sell us what we wanted and they should have stated that.

I got a call from Millennium saying my ring was in (sept 2004). When I picked it up, I noted that there was a gouge from them (millennium) setting the stone, but I was so tired of dealing with them that I opted not to have it corrected then. I noticed a few months later (February 2005)that my supposedly platinum ring had a yellow cast to it. I also noticed that it did not have the designers stamp inside it. Two days after I noted these things, I got an email from the designer asking me what was going on. I told them about the ring Millenium gave me. They then informed me that the ring that had been ordered was still there because Millennium had never paid for it.

So, the question was - what did I have on my finger? I took it to another jeweler, who did an acid and a scratch test on it, and he determined it was 14K gold, rhodium plated again , NO platinum! Our best guess, judging by the circumstances and the lack of the stamp from the designer, is that Millennium had this one made by someone else and tried to pass it off again.

To further complicate matters, the designer has had so many problems with Millennium they will no longer deal with them at all. To get the ring that Millennium promised me, I will have to get a refund for the original ring from Millennium and pay the desinger the difference. I feel that Millennium still needs to be held responsible for this additional cost, since they are the ones responsible for the whole mess. They promised to replace it with platinum, and they have not held up their end of the deal.

Oh, and the ring is stamped as being platinum, which is a violation of the Federal Trade Commision as well.

Tiffany
Columbus, Ohio
U.S.A.