Engagement Ring Advice..

lindsaystewart6 · January 2011

Hey ladies! I am having a horrible experience with Kay Jeweler's and my engagement ring, and wanted to get some opinions from you. I've talked to friends/family members but they "don't know what to say" because they don't actually have an engagement ring on their finger!

My FI got my ring a few weeks before Christmas and purchased the Care Plan to go with it. He proposed on the 24th, and I took it into Kay's on the 27th to get it sized down. Picked it up on Jan. 10th, everything seemed fine. On the 13th, I noticed one of the diamonds had fallen off! I took it into the store, and the salesperson told me to "expect problems with this ring for the rest of the time I own it" because once this style is sized smaller, the setting is messed up and diamonds frequently fall out. WHAT? No one had mentioned this to FI when he bought it, or to me when I took it in to get sized. I was upset, but regardless I sent the ring out to get the diamonds replaced. My ring came back in on the 18th and I picked it up on my way to work. Checked it out quickly at the store, all of the diamonds were there, so I left. Later that evening I had time to really look at everything, and I noticed that the big diamond on top was loose, and it is somehow chipped! Enough was enough.. we called Kay's headquarters. We were told that we had to take the ring in to get the diamond replaced, and then we had three options: 1. Keep the ring that I have now with all of the problems and continue to take it in to the store to get diamond replaced, 2. Keep the ring that I have now until the ring is ordered and made for my size so we don't have to downsize it, but lose days into our return/exchange policy, or 3. Return this ring and reorder it in my size and my return/exchange policy would start over. Problem is, it is going to take AT LEAST 3 months for my ring to come in.

Basically, if you made it this far (sorry for the long post!), it is only logically to return the ring and order it in my size and keep my return/exchange policy. But then I am ringless for three months! As mad as I am right now, I want to just return the ring and buy a new one from a different jeweler - but I am absolutely in love with the ring that I have. Suggestions?? Advice?? Anything, please!!

cgyvhu · January 2011

wow, that sucks. Sorry you had this experience.

I'd say that you're making the right call, unless you would be able to just return the ring and not lose any money - if so, I'd do that and get a ring from somewhere else. And I wouldn't trust the Kay Jewler's you went to - I would go to a different one if you need cleaning, care anything. They sound really crappy.

Certain rings, esp ones with pave side diamonds, do have trouble with side diamonds falling out upon resizing. That said, a good jewler can tighten these small, individual stones after resizing so that this isn't a problem. I had my pave sidestone ring resized 7 months ago, and no stones have fallen out of it.

As for being ringless for 3 months, you can wear another ring you own in its place.

stiffany2012 · January 2011

That's terrible! I would personally get my money back and run far far away from that jeweler. For such an investment, you shouldn't have to deal with constantly worrying about a stone falling out and a good jeweler should be able to handle resizing and tightening of stones to any ring. You probably wouldn't keep a car if it turned out to be a lemon if you could get your money back and I think regardless of the cost the same thing applies with fine jewelry. Good luck!

carlyanne05 · January 2011

I agree with the other ladies. Return and go elsewhere or at least a different Kay's. If it will take a while to get another ring and you feel uncomfortable with a naked finger, you can always buy a cheap CZ to hold you over.

mm4662 · January 2011

I know that 3 months sounds really long... but to not deal with problems for the rest of the time you have the ring, I'd do that.

3 months will go fast and then, hopefully, you won't have any other problems. I would take it to another Kays though.

I'm sorry you're going through this. That sucks :-(

ros3392 · January 2011

That is awful. I have heard that when you get your rings re-sized there is a possibility of that happening. But for someone to say that to you the way the jeweler did, and then to have your ring chipped is totally unacceptable. I would go pick out another ring from another jeweler. BUT if you do have an attachment to the one that your FI picked out, maybe go to another Kay's. I would talk with a manger and be extremely firm and tell them how upset you and that it needs to be fixed and expedited.

carcrashheart · January 2011

ok, this actually happened to me so. bear with me because it was a very long process before it was resolved. WOT ahead:

DH bought the ering setting as a size 7 and had it sized down to a 4.5 (i have super tiny fingers, it was still too big at 4.5). they also did not tell him this was a bad idea. what happens when you size down is the spaces where the diamonds sit get stretched out, so they get loose and leave them prone to falling out. i had my ering for 4 days when a diamond in the band fell out. helzberg educated us-when sizing down dramatically the ring should be ordered in a small size and then taken down, rather than purchased out of the case, which is usually a size 7.

i went to the mall, went straight to helzberg and asked them to check the rest of the stones. of the 24 smaller stones that were in my band, 18 of them were loose, some of them VERY loose. the woman at helzberg immediately took out a little bag, put my ring in it and instructed me NOT to wear it because other diamonds would fall out, it was only a matter of time. so, go have your ring checked to make sure the others aren't also loose.

i paid to ship the ring back to diamonds international in NY so that it could be fixed. this was quite an ordeal and took bout 3 weeks and many, many phonecalls. my ring was shipped back to me with the missing diamond replaced. voila! i had told diamonds international though that i would be taking my ring to several jewelers to have them check the stability of the diamonds.

3 jewelers told me many were loose, so i went back to helzberg so that they could put it under the scope so i could see them on the tv screen. 12 of the stones were very loose, even spinning all the way around when touched.

my choice was to send it back to diamonds international and see if they did a better job, have helzberg fix it for $50 and then lose the warranty on the ring by having DI reimburse us for the repairs.

we chose to have helzberg repair the ring, it took 1 week. we paid for the repairs and never told DI, incase there are any further issues. my ring has been perfectly fine ever since. we also had them put sizing balls on my ring, since it was still too big but they were leery of sizing it down again.

so, to sum up: take your ring to another jeweler and have them check the rest of the stones. see what it would cost to have them fix it. if you have the ring covered under insurance (which, you should. if you don't, do it asap), consider making a claim to have it fixed, depending on what the cost will be (deductible vs. actual repair). as for the chip in your diamond-if it came like that from kay's, that is one thing, but if it didn't, then that's an insurance claim or something that falls on you to fix. it may be difficult to prove that you didn't chip it yourself with simple wear and tear. it may have only been a few hours, but you may have banged your ring against something. or it may have come chipped. it's really hard to say.

king26 · January 2011

That is just bad...it's true if you get some rings re-sized there is a chance of stones falling out, but that can be fixed. My ring finger is a size 4 so I went through this myself. I could get a ring special ordered to fit my finger though. I didn't but got it resized at Jared's where they redid a few of the prongs so the stones wouldn't fall out. I'd ask Kay to redo your prongs or return it and get a different ring. Loosing stones twice is ridiculous.

pantherRN · January 2011

If you have the option of returning it and getting your money back, that's what I would do. I would then run far away from Kay. Any good salesperson should have educated you when you went to get it resized that it might not be a good idea. They also should have said something to your FI about your ring size when he purchased it.

If getting your money back is not option, reorder the ring in your size or a size close to it. It sucks to be ringless for that long, but you can get a fake cheapie to wear or just wait it out. You don't need a ring to be engaged.

On a personal note, my ring has really little diamonds set on the sides of the band and FI had to special order it because of the exact situation you're describing. The rings out of the case are usually a 7. He ordered a 5 and I then had it sized down further to a 4.5. I have had no problems with the stones in the band.

It's a crappy siruation, but I hope it works out for you.

lindsaystewart6 · January 2011

Thanks so much ladies! I think we are going to go ahead and order the same ring in my size, since a few of you said that should solve the problem of stones becoming loose/falling out. It makes sense as to why they are getting loose, I just wish we would have known that beforehand - it's not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when you first see a beautiful ring! As for going to a different Kay's - no matter where I take the ring to get it fixed or sized, Kay's sends it out to get repaired so it would end up going to the same place to get repaired, which is where I seem to be having all the problems. Although I do plan on working the rest of this out with my contact at the headquarters, not with any of the salespeople at the store near me.

carcrashheart · January 2011

sounds like a good idea! have your FI buy you a cheap (and i mean cheapie cheapie) ring to wear in the meantime just so that you dont feel totally nekkid

rescueonekitty · February 2011

as a kay employee i would say to definantly choose a different location first of all. kay is owned by sterling jewelers which also owns jb robinson, leroys, and a number of other jewelers. take your reciept in to the sister store and have them order your ring to be cast in your size which is what should have been done in the first place. also it should not take 3 months to do so. return it and ask them when they are having thier next vip or customer appreciation event so you can get an additional discount. purchase your ring again during the sale and you should have no more problems and save some money. i hope i could help.

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