Once married, twice shy
What to do? The way I saw it, there were a few options:
1) Send the ring back to the maker and have her reset the stone and build up the claws as much as possible, thereby, continuing to take responsibility for future wear.
2) Repair the ring in my shop, but have the client sign a waiver stating she understood I could not take responsibility if other diamonds fell out. I would also make it clear she should not wear the ring every day.
3) Send the ring back to the maker in the United States and let her remake it with greater structure.
4) Pay me to remake the ring properly. At least this way
I would stand behind the finished product.
Now my friend is a very skilled craftsperson and I was somewhat surprised she had done such a poor job designing the ring. So I called her. As I suspected, against her better judgment, she had only done what the client wanted. The customer had seen photographs online of eternity rings with tiny shared prongs that looked beautiful and showed off the diamonds really well. She insisted that was what she wanted and nothing else would do. My friend caved and did what the client asked. As for me, I sent the ring back to her. If I had remade it, the client would have paid twice, which isn’t fair, even though she was the reason the mounting was made too light in the first place.
What’s the moral of the story? Sometimes it is best to just say no to clients, although we occasionally get beaten down and make things we know we should not. If this ring was only going to be worn on special occasions, the structure could possibly have been sufficient. However, the client wanted to wear it every day, along with her engagement and wedding rings. How does the jeweller prevent a situation like this one?
