I am walking around sans engagement ring. Again.

It’s in for repairs. Again.

This is, in fact, the third time in 8 months that I’ve had to take the ring in, and every time it’s been because of the setting. The first time (with only a month of wear under it’s band) the setting was loose, the stone was rocking in the setting and it was rattling.

Within 2 days of getting it back it was rattling again but I just chose to live with it. Turns out, they never actually sent it to the jeweler that time (which I suspected when they called me to come get it the next day when they’d originally told me it’d be a week), a fact I found out when I brought it in this time.

But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.

The second time, this past January, I reached into the fridge with my left hand and one of the prongs caught on the shelf, snapping it clean off. My bad, totally, and since I’m right-handed not something I’d normally do. A fluke. I brought it in, dropped it off on a weekend (because they send out the repairs on Mondays), and got it back within a week. Unfortunately, I could clearly see which prong had been replaced–it was not a seamless job by any means. Kinda shoddy, honestly, but the repair was covered under the Care Plan so I didn’t want to cause a scene.

Here it is, the end of May, and the stone was so loose in it’s setting it was rotating like 30º. It looked like MC Esher had designed the ring. And not in a good way.

So I decided to take it in and talk with them about shoring it up a bit better. Fact is, I don’t think those 4 measly little corner prongs can handle the stone. It’s just not enough. My plan was to explain that this was the 3rd repair in 8 months and that the setting being loose was a constant problem. As a solution, I suggested making the 4 corner prongs double prongs, couching in each corner of the cushion cut stone better, or adding 4 prongs, 1 on each side of the stone at the mid-points. This would make the stone more secure and ensure that I wouldn’t need to constantly bring in the ring for tightening. A win-win for both parties, right?

Wrong.

First I was told that it would be $45 per prong to change the setting. I get that the price of gold has gone up since the last time I had a ring worked on (about 6 years ago, or so, I had an antique ring–WWII era–repaired, all 12 prongs retipped and several re-seated, for around $50), but $180 for 4 prongs? Really?

But that turned out to be a moot point as another associate (I’m guessing the manager from the I’ve-been-doing-this-26-years speech he gave me*) told me that they couldn’t add prongs to this ring. That no jeweler, anywhere, would do it (which, you know, sounds like a dare to me!), and it’d be like creating a whole new ring.

I get that I’m not a jeweler. But I’m not your average consumer, either. I can look at the side of the ring, especially when the stone is cock-eyed, and see there’s a rim running just under the top of the ring, a rim that the stone partially sits on, a rim that runs the entire inner circumference of that setting. You’re seriously telling me that prongs could not be attached to that to secure the primary stone?

Not to mention that there are 26 stones in the halo and band that would not have to be reset, so spare me the “create a whole new ring” crap.

They even asked me if I just wanted to get a different ring.

Uh, no. It’s my engagement ring, it’s the one Todd officially asked me to marry him with, no I do not want a different ring. I want this ring to be sturdy enough to wear every day without rattling around like a bird in a cage!

But, again, we have the “Care Plan,” so I left the ring there. Supposedly Mr. Manager is going to chat with the jeweler, once said jeweler has had a chance to evaluate the situation, and will be calling me to let me know what my options are. Supposedly they’re going to bulk up the prongs that are already there, to handle the sturdiness issues, but we shall see.

I’m not exactly holding my breath.

*He also did the hold-up-one-finger-mid-sentence (my sentence) so he could go back to another client. I get that he was helping someone else, but you finish with them before you come help the chippy out whose not helping me, rather than adopt a supercilious air. I’m willing to bet he works on commission. At this point I doubt I will support buying anything from this store again.

Have you had any problems with your engagement ring?
How did the store handle it? Were they willing to work with you
or did they blow you off?