Engagement Ring Repair at Kay

CJandRyan

I lost the diamond in my engagement ring and need to have it replaced. I went to a few different stores and they all gave me estimates within the same range but Kay does the work in-house instead of sending it out which I like and they also offer a lifetime guarantee so if anything happens to the diamond again, they will replace it. The ring belonged to my fiance's great grandmother so because of the wear, the whole head needs to be replaced and they need to re-coat the entire ring to make the metals match. It makes me nervous to have all this work done on such a beautiful antique ring. Has anyone had a ring repaired by Kay before? Good/bad experiences?

Ven&Radio

Personally, I don't trust chains.  They cater to the lowest common denomenator.  I would talk to some friends/family/coworkers for reccomendations on local independant jewelers.  If you know anyone who tends to wear alot of nice jewelry, you can bet they have a jeweler they trust.  You will pay more upfront with a local independant shop, but you will also get a much higher quality of work out of them.

I've seen a lot of posts on these boards about bad experiences with chain jewelers.  Jared seems to be the worst of the bunch.  I personally know someone who bought their rings through Kay.  Her husband's ring has been resized about 5 times and still isn't the correct size (the ring has gone from cutting-off-circulation too tight to falling-off-loose repeatedly).

cruffino

I also have an heirloom ring and it needed to have the prongs replaced. I went to a private jeweler who is a family friend. We bought our bands from him too. I would be very wary of a chain store.

hyechica81

i got my rings from beldens that is owned by kays i have had the ring less than 4 years and i had to have it replated. i took it in twice because i said the band on the e ring looks like it might snap there is a mark but they told me nothing is wrong with it . when we bought the ring it went from a size 6 1/2 to a size 10 i was freaking out because the ring had to be sized up so high from such a small ring but they assured me they would add more white gold to it.


they dont fix stuff in house i had to get my ring replated (rhodumed) at kays they had to send it out and  i had to wait about 2 weeks. they send everything out i was told.

if we had known that chains were not that good we would have went to a local jeweler

saacjw

Ven&Radio said:

Personally, I don't trust chains.  They cater to the lowest common denomenator.  I would talk to some friends/family/coworkers for reccomendations on local independant jewelers.  If you know anyone who tends to wear alot of nice jewelry, you can bet they have a jeweler they trust.  You will pay more upfront with a local independant shop, but you will also get a much higher quality of work out of them.

I've seen a lot of posts on these boards about bad experiences with chain jewelers.  Jared seems to be the worst of the bunch.  I personally know someone who bought their rings through Kay.  Her husband's ring has been resized about 5 times and still isn't the correct size (the ring has gone from cutting-off-circulation too tight to falling-off-loose repeatedly).

I agree with all of this. I've heard tons of complaints about Kay. Since it's an antique, you really want someone who will be able to spend a lot of time and energy in your ring and you won't get that from a chain, unfortunately. 

misshart00

I have heard nothing but bad things about the repair department at Kay's. My office mate at my previous job has cried over her ring because they screwed it up so badly.

tammym1001

I would never have them work on my engagement ring, but I have had them do stuff in the past. I wouldn't really trust them. They didn't do anything horrible, but it was just the little things that weren't right. 

In the future, you may want to look into insuring your ring. If you do that then your insurance will pay to have the diamond replaced if it gets lost. The insurance isn't very pricey and it will give you some piece of mind.

CJandRyan

Thank you all for the advice! It was very helpful!

JennyColada

We got my ring from an independent jeweler and the care, quality, and service was amazing. We have the ring insured under a blanket policy on the home and it's nice to know that I just don't have to worry.

majesty318

Just wanted to add Zales to the nightmare chain stores... FI got my ring there and it was the wrong size. When I took it in, they sized me at 4.5 and then proceeded to size the ring as a 4. Needless to say it didn't fit. Plus, the band was uneven - it was no longer a perfect circle but a circle with a dent in it. I took it back again and they fixed the size; the band was better but not perfect. Oh and this took like 2 weeks.  When I picked it up and was clearly not satisfied, the saleslady said, "Oh but at least you have a happy relationship!" I'm sorry, I would like a ring that was repaired properly AND a happy relationship, thank you very much. And then a stone fell out which they did repair using the warranty but it took EIGHT WEEKS.

I hate Zales and will never go back...

CJandRyan

Zales wouldn't even give me a quote on replacing the stone without sending the ring off to the jeweler for a week. I told them that wasn't happening and left!

Dignity100

Zales, Kay, Jareds, JB Robinson, Rogers, LeRoy and several others are all under the Sterling Jewelers brand the complete list is on the Sterling Jewelers wiki page.