Sorry for how long this post is. It feels good to get it all out.... to sum up I don’t know whether to post back a badly made ring with my engagement ring so I can get a refund of about £470 or just lose the £470 and not risk my engagement ring in the post. I would rather just try and sell the badly fitting wedding ring I’ve been left with for scrap and not have the stress of being without my engagement ring and worry that it will get lost in the post. I feel like that is a bit defeatist though but I am not willing to risk my most precious possession with Royal Mail.
I feel like I might be one of the unluckiest brides ever, and I find myself in a situation where I don’t know what I can do and my new husband and I can’t agree on what to do.
I have found myself in the sad position of looking to find a replacement wedding ring soon into married life because my original one started losing diamonds after less than 9 months of wear. I took it back to the shop expecting to get an apology and have it fixed only to be bluntly told this was completely my fault because I was not taking it off for sleeping in. Apparently I had voided any warranty by sleeping in it as they expect everyone who purchased one of their rings to take it off every night. After a bitter disagreement they had to give me a refund, and so I now have no wedding ring.
After a thorough search of my local area I didn’t find anything I liked as much as my original wedding ring, or that fitted as well around the slight curve of my engagement ring.
I did a lot of online research and decided to go with a company called Alba Rose as their website says they can make perfectly fitting wedding rings, and design them for just £35. My new husband and I made the 118 mile round trip to our nearest store because although Alba Rose can make a ring from a wax mould one can make at home, one of their staff assured that my wedding ring would fit more perfectly if I dropped it off at one of their shops and it was scanned directly.
I was reluctant to leave my engagement ring in the store but mentally prepared myself it was necessary to get my perfect wedding ring made.
I have got many emails to one of their staff members checking that there was no way they could scan it while I waited.
The computer generated images I received of the ring I was ordering show that it sits perfectly next to my engagement ring with no gap.
Fastforward to over one month later and I am posted my new wedding ring and to my extreme disappointment it doesn’t sit next to my engagement ring well. There is a gap the entire circumference of the ring, and the twist design I hoped would fit perfectly with the curve of my ring is very flat. I immediately email photos of the problem to the store, and they agree that the rings should fit perf together with no gap. As it is mid December they recommend waiting until the new year to get it remade, and I reluctantly agree.
Because it’s Christmas time I have seen all my family and they know of my wedding ring problems and are expecting to see my new perfectly fitting wedding ring, which of course I am not wearing. After thinking about it some more I think I don’t want to spend over another month waiting for a replacement ring because I don’t think I could have described what I wanted anymore clearly and the more I look at the badly fitting ring (thinking it can’t be as bad as I remember) the more I dislike it. I’ve decided to just wear a straight band as not having a wedding ring has been truly depressing me. It makes me feel like I’m not really married, and I don’t want to be disappointed again if the Alba Rose ring doesn’t fit perfectly a second time.
I email the shop saying please can I just have a refund because I don’t want the anxiety of not having a wedding ring for another 6 weeks or so. Apparently their refund policy does not apply to my bespoke ring but as I point out I’m not returning it because I’ve changed my mind or I don’t like it, it doesn’t fit my engagement ring.
I’ve been left with no choice but to contact Trading Standards via the Citizens Advice Service, and they tell me I am entitled to a refund because Alba Rose has breached a contract by not making a perfectly fitting wedding ring.
Alba Rose will not give me a refund unless I send both the ring they made and my engagement ring to their workshop so they can assess the fit.
I am not prepared to risk sending my engagement ring 2 journeys via Royal Mail. My engagement ring means so much to me, especially because I have had to return my original wedding ring and I just don’t feel right with a naked finger after wearing it every day for 3 years. Explanation of why I don’t trust Royal Mail or courier...
I wanted to get my bouquet preserved, and chose Precious Petals more than a year before my wedding but the courier lost my bouquet. I was absolutely devastated, but as I went on my honeymoon straight after my wedding day didn’t find out it was lost until after I got back 2 weeks later and it was too late to try and track it down apparently. According to Precious Petals this is the first time in their however many years their courier has lost a bouquet, but it’s just my luck that it was me.
Royal Mail have also twice in the last year lost signed for items I have ordered online. One they delivered to an amazon warehouse which is about 10 miles from my address, and the other apparently was delivered to a neighbour who claimed that it wasn’t. This is why I am not prepared to risk my engagement again. I worried so much about it the first time, but luckily my husband was able to be in to sign for it.
This side of Christmas we have no annual leave planned and will be at work Monday to Friday so will not be in to get any parcels or signed for post, adding to my worry that it will get lost and frustration that it’s about a 45 minute round trip to my sorting office to pick it up the package.
Alba Rose were perfectly happy to have my ring back and completely remake before I asked for a refund, so it seems very petty of them to now insist that I have to send them my engagement ring so they can assess the fit themselves.
I have offered to go to take the ring to their workshop myself but apparently they don’t allow this. They say Royal Mail is very secure and they receive 100 rings via its service every day but I just don’t feel comfortable risking my ring getting lost and not wearing it for several days as it is no fault of mine that the ring they made is badly fitting.
Does anyone else feel this strongly about their engagement ring or is just me?
I need to wait until Monday to get back in touch with Citizens Advice and see what they recommend.
I’m at the stage where I’d rather just throw the ring in the bin and give my husband the money he paid for it because I’m finding the stress too much.