Woman's $1699 Michael Hill engagement ring snaps in half

Thursday, 14 February 2019

A woman's $1699 engagement ring snapped in half just six months after she was proposed to by her fiancé.

When Ash, who Stuff has agreed not to name in full, took her diamond ring to Michael Hill to get it fixed, she was told the band had thinned and couldn't hold the stone because of wear and tear, but she had been wearing the ring for less than a year.

But when Ash told the jeweller it was the style of the ring and not wear and tear, Michael Hill blamed the fact she had had it resized.

'They said because my ring had been resized two sizes bigger that it was prone to breaking,' she said

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Ash was told resizing her ring meant it could break at anytime, even after it was fixed.

Ash said if her fiancé was told about the risk of the ring being prone to breaking if resized, he would never have bought it.

A spokesman for Michael Hill said while the resizing of a ring could influence the setting, the jewellers conducted 'a series of specialist tests' to ensure the foundations of the ring and the diamond's settings were completely secure before the ring was returned.

He said this included an individual craftsman responsible for the quality of the resizing, as well as an additional quality asuurance process to ensure the integrity of the ring was not compromised in any way.

Ash had only had her ring for six months when it snapped in half and she was told it was due to wear and tear.

'For the past three decades, the core foundation of the Michael Hill business has been our unrivalled commitment to quality craftsmanship and product design to deliver a unique experience for our customers in New Zealand and globally,' the spokesman said.

'During this time, incidents of diamonds being displaced are rare. In the vast majority of cases, this can be attributed to general wear and tear which is not unique to Michael Hill jewellery.'

'To ensure that the quality and value can be expertly maintained across the life of the ring, customers considering resizing or making amendments to their ring should always do so through their local Michael Hill jeweller, not an external or unauthorised representative.'

Consumers are protected by the Consumer Guarantees Act (CGA) for any defects in the quality of a ring.

If an item sold to you has a mechanical, structural or physical problem, the company was obligated under the act to fix or replace it, or refund your money.

The jeweller fixed Ash's ring in the end, as a $200 life-time warranty purchased covered it, but didn't offer a refund.

'For me it wasn't about the money. This ring has sentimental value to me. My fiancé proposed with this ring and I will cherish that memory.'

'I am gutted to know that I have an engagement ring that will most likely keep breaking.'

Last month the Commerce Commission revealed it had received 11 complaints about Michael Hill in the past two years.

In response a Michael Hill spokesman said it sold more than 500,000 items in New Zealand in the last two years, and the complaints made up only a small fraction of those sales.

Complaints included that Michael Hill wasn't transparent about sale pricing and a customer was pressured into buying something they couldn't afford.

In 2016 Michael Hill was fined $169,000 for breaching the Fair Trading Act and misleading buyers about price.

This penalty came after a couple who bought a bracelet from Michael Hill found they had also bought a $149 extended warranty without knowing it.

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