Sidney Thomas Jewelers

This business repaired a ring in family for forty years. Six weeks after repair, central stone fell out. Business claims no reponsibility.problem: January 25, 2014purchase: December 10, 2013business rep: [redacted], assistant managerpurchase amount: $7000, including ring purchase plus service on second ring (subject of this complaint).purchase method: credit cardMr. [redacted] agreed that the coincidence seemed unlikely, but felt that since the prong holding the stone was certainly bent more than it was when it left his store, his business had no responsibility at all -- he would not admit even the possibility of being and indirect cause of the loss, despite the large purchase we made with the repair.Desired SettlementWe would like the lost stone replaced with a stone of comparable quality. We have an exact description of the stone's quality.Initial Business *esponse Pursuant to complaint XXXXXXXX. Customer purchased a ring from Sidney Thomas on 11/09/13 (order *XXXXXXX) for an estate ring, XXXXXX. As part of the sale, Sidney Thomas took 30% off the purchase price (retail $7495, sold for $5245) and agreed to do some refurbish work on another ring belonging to the customer at no charge. This was order *XXXXXXX, repair # XXXXXX. The ring had a declared value of $3000 on the repair ticket. The repair ticket acknowledged a desription of the ring and its current condition (worn) as well as repair instructions: 1) replace missing round melee. 2) re tip needed prongs. 3) re-rhodium dip ring. The ring repair was completed 12/4. At the time the customer picked up the repaired ring, it was examined and found to be refurbished to his satisfaction. On Saturday, 01/25/14, the customer called the store and spoke with a sales associate. It was communicated to associate that the center diamond of the refurbished ring was missing and that Sidney Thomas had repaired the ring. Customer was advised to come into the store with the ring so it could be examined to determine how to move forward. The customer came in that evening. We apologized for the unfortunate circumstance and examined the ring. One of the prongs was badly damaged; it had been pulled hard enough to bend it so it was almost completely vertical. The diamond clearly was missing because of the damage to this prong. We acknowledged his frustration that the diamond was missing and reviewed his original repair ticket with him. As noted, we were never explicitly instructed to work on the center diamond and confirmed that when he picked the ring up it was secure and refurbished to his satisfaction. The customer suggested that by re-tipping the prongs we had pulled it away from the center stone and created a gap through which it could have caught on something and caused the prong to be pulled loose. He was advised that this was not likely as in order for the prongs to work correctly they have to make contact with the diamond, and the prongs were all set properly when the ring was picked up. Had the loss of the stone been a direct result of the repair completed by our company, we would have stood behind the work and compensated the customer for the loss. It was suggested that the customer could use his homeowners insurance to cover the loss as the ring was repaired correctly and not the responsibility of Sidney-Thomas. The customer acknowledged the damage to the ring, but was adamant that Sidney Thomas should cover it. He also requested an appraisal on his original purchase of the estate ring, which I wrote for him immediately. He reiterated he believed the situation to be our fault and that he intended to make a complaint. Sidney Thomas stands by its original decision to not compensate or replace the lost stone.