Hello, I was wondering whether you could give me some advice. My husband bought an engagement ring for me at Ernest Jones 3.5 years ago. Two weeks ago the branches of the ring that were holding the diamond disconnected and the diamond fell out. I only noticed it after it happened and so I lost the stone. Ernest Jones sent the ring off to get it looked at and have now told me over the phone that it is due to damage and that there was no fault with the ring. I am quite surprised, although I wore the ring everyday, I took good care of it and didn't do anything harsh to it. It wasn't knocked or anything like that. The ring originally cost £499 and they are now asking for £530 to repair it. Is there anything I can do? I think there must have been a fault with the ring, whether the design was flawed or the material faulty I don't know, but you expect to be able to wear an engagement ring everyday without the goldbranches detaching themselves and the stone falling out, don't you? If you could give me some advice that would be greatly appreciated.

Hi all, my wife's engagement has broken, it's the 2nd time the exact same problem has occurred one of the claws holding the stone has broken and the stone has fallen out. the 1st time this happened it was covered by the extended warranty & the ring was replaced as it couldn't be fixed. unfortunately it is now out of warranty. Im wondering what is the best way to try and get the ring repaired / replaced, would i be covered by the sale of good act? as its the exact same problem that happened to the last one? Just trying to get prepared before i go into the jewelers. Many Thanks in advance

Hi, I am new here but I am stuck as to what I can do about my engagement ring. My fiancee purchased the ring from a local Ernest Jones branch in November 2012, he gave the ring to me a few days within the 30 Day refunds/exchange policy. I loved the ring and there was nothing apparent wrong with it so I kept it. However, a month later I noticed that the solitaire diamond was moving inside the setting - almost rattling. This was a very expensive ring and I was terrified that the diamond would fall out, so we took it straight back for a repair. One of the prongs (it is a 4-prong setting) had apparently weakened, so it was fixed and returned to us. I thought nothing more of it until a few days later when I noticed the diamond was still moving. We took it back again, where the shop assistant tried to tell me that it was "supposed to move" because it wasn't glued in! I looked it up on the web and found out that any movement of a stone indicates a weak, unreliable setting, which can lead to the diamond falling out. I also discovered the terrible reputation that EJ has with other couples who have purchased faulty (very expensive) jewellery from them. However I took the ring back to be fixed a second time with the warning that if it happened again, I would be taking further action. We have just taken the ring back for the 3rd time for the exact same problem, insisting on a refund rather than another repair. The sales assistant admitted that she thought the ring itself was faulty, but said she could only offer us an exchange for another ring. Due to reading about a great many other customers having the same problem, along with my own experience, I felt that I did not want to be tied in financially to the company for the next 2 years (the ring was purchased on finance). The sales assistants told us that they would get back to us about the refund situation within the next few days. Today we received a call from Ernest Jones telling us that they were going to have to assess the ring for customer damage, since the palladium band is badly warped/deformed which to them indicates that "excessive force has been used on the ring". Not only is this ridiculous as I am extremely careful with my ring and would be hard pressed to manage to warp it, but I have only owned it for 5 months, in which time i have had to have it repaired twice. These engagement rings are supposed to last a lifetime; if it is possible for me to badly damage the ring from gentle everyday use, then the ring does not fit its purpose and is not worth the inordinate amount of money it cost. Besides, the warping of the band was most likely caused by the 2 previous repairs that had to be done on it. I don't know what to do now; if they send the ring off for assessment, I have the feeling that they could do anything to the ring to try and prove that it was my own fault. I do not want to be stuck with a faulty unreliable ring which my fiancee will have to pay off for 2 years and I do not want an exchange of a different EJ ring which could have the exact same problem. Has anyone else had any success with dealing with a problem like this? Should I contact Trading Standards or Citizens Advice before the ring is sent away or should I allow them to assess the ring and go from there?

Another great actor has passed away. Actor who won an Oscar for his role as Marty in the 1955 film of the same name had a 60-year career in film and television. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jul/09/ernest-borgnine-dies-aged-95