So as some of you know, I was using the same jeweler as Ame. I contacted him in January about doing a reshank and a new head. My ring had to be cut off of me (long story)
and the jeweler that reconnected it did so by just stretching it thin till it met (what a joke) So this new jeweler was going to replace the entire bottom 1/3 of my ring with thicker metal. I also wanted to change from a 6 prong to a split four prong to give my round diamond a more "cushiony" shape.Here was my ring before: I took this LAST second before I took my ring to the jeweler, so it's really dirty (sorry).
So for MONTHS the jeweler has my ring on and off. It started with the fact that the new shank was not as thick as we had agreed. Also the jeweler was unable to make all three rings equal (one band was always bigger ir bowed out weird) So we did a second reshank, and out of trying to be nice I let them do one solid 9mm wide piece of gold (so it didn't look like three rings on the bottom anymore. Also the first head they did was HORRIBLE. Bad seats where the diamond sits in the prong, huge prong tips, gouges in the metal. So they re did the head too. When it came back there were prongs tips not touching the diamond, size issues, dents, dings, my diamond wasn't level in the head.
He worked and worked and worked and things got worse and worse and worse. Finally in April, after the owner stepped in and said he'd oversee things, this is what I got back. Notice my ring isn't round, and that the channels are uneven and are wider on one side of the channel than the other, and the diamonds are all crooked in the channels. Also ELEVEN of the diamonds were loose:
I wrote him an email FULL of history and photos, as I believe it was after business hours and had a weekend ahead. I did receive a call right back with a sincere apology. He felt horrible and decided the ring had been over worked. He offered a full refund AND wanted to have my ring remade from scratch. I was PI$$ED. All I really cared about was the wedding bands as those were my originals and here he is telling me they were scrap.
What choice did I have though? I guess I could have made him give me the money to have it remade elsewhere, but he asked for one more chance, and under the advice of my husband, I gave him another chance. I did explain though that he had ruined my bands and to just replicate them was not ok with me, it would be like them being fake dupes of what once was. He agreed to let me explore other options.
SO here I am with the freedom to choose whatever (in reason) but in the end silly ol me ended up with pretty much what I started with..lol. I always regretted getting channel set bands, but the more other rings I tried on, nothing looked "right" on me. Halos were definitely out (they look silly on me) and I didn't like the roughness of other mountings. So I picked what I wanted and he found someone totally different to mount my stones and finish these rings.
Even in this situation (which should have taken 2-3 weeks max) it took 7 more weeks to get my ring back. Issues with the casting, jewelers ar JCK and then setter lady had a tool brake. Excuses excuses. BUt then I got it!! (I'm at my picture limit, so moving to next post)
and the jeweler that reconnected it did so by just stretching it thin till it met (what a joke) So this new jeweler was going to replace the entire bottom 1/3 of my ring with thicker metal. I also wanted to change from a 6 prong to a split four prong to give my round diamond a more "cushiony" shape.Here was my ring before: I took this LAST second before I took my ring to the jeweler, so it's really dirty (sorry).
So for MONTHS the jeweler has my ring on and off. It started with the fact that the new shank was not as thick as we had agreed. Also the jeweler was unable to make all three rings equal (one band was always bigger ir bowed out weird) So we did a second reshank, and out of trying to be nice I let them do one solid 9mm wide piece of gold (so it didn't look like three rings on the bottom anymore. Also the first head they did was HORRIBLE. Bad seats where the diamond sits in the prong, huge prong tips, gouges in the metal. So they re did the head too. When it came back there were prongs tips not touching the diamond, size issues, dents, dings, my diamond wasn't level in the head.
He worked and worked and worked and things got worse and worse and worse. Finally in April, after the owner stepped in and said he'd oversee things, this is what I got back. Notice my ring isn't round, and that the channels are uneven and are wider on one side of the channel than the other, and the diamonds are all crooked in the channels. Also ELEVEN of the diamonds were loose:
I wrote him an email FULL of history and photos, as I believe it was after business hours and had a weekend ahead. I did receive a call right back with a sincere apology. He felt horrible and decided the ring had been over worked. He offered a full refund AND wanted to have my ring remade from scratch. I was PI$$ED. All I really cared about was the wedding bands as those were my originals and here he is telling me they were scrap.
What choice did I have though? I guess I could have made him give me the money to have it remade elsewhere, but he asked for one more chance, and under the advice of my husband, I gave him another chance. I did explain though that he had ruined my bands and to just replicate them was not ok with me, it would be like them being fake dupes of what once was. He agreed to let me explore other options.
SO here I am with the freedom to choose whatever (in reason) but in the end silly ol me ended up with pretty much what I started with..lol. I always regretted getting channel set bands, but the more other rings I tried on, nothing looked "right" on me. Halos were definitely out (they look silly on me) and I didn't like the roughness of other mountings. So I picked what I wanted and he found someone totally different to mount my stones and finish these rings.
Even in this situation (which should have taken 2-3 weeks max) it took 7 more weeks to get my ring back. Issues with the casting, jewelers ar JCK and then setter lady had a tool brake. Excuses excuses. BUt then I got it!! (I'm at my picture limit, so moving to next post)
But my hands look HORRID in those shots. I learned something new today. When I hold my arm down my veins get HUGE and loose and curvy (yuck) but when I hold my hand up higher it got smoother and less veiny...by a lot. So either my veins are weak or my circulation sucks..lol.
