She Already Paid Hundreds to Resize Her Ring, but the Jeweler Who Lost the Stone Now Says She Owes $425 More Before She Can Have It Back
A woman took her ring to a jeweler for resizing and prong work ahead of her 10th anniversary vow renewal. The diamond in that ring came from her grandmother, and she’s loved it since childhood.
During the work, the jeweler lost the stone. Six days later, they found it in their own cleaning equipment, and now they want another $425 and a signed release before they’ll hand the ring back.
A Stone From Her Grandmother
The diamond originally belonged to her grandmother. In 2019, it was reset into the woman’s own ring.
Her grandmother used to call the stone her little lighthouse. It’s more than jewelry to her, it’s a link to someone she loved.
A Resizing Before a Vow Renewal
She and her husband are renewing their vows in November for their 10th anniversary. She wanted the ring resized and the prongs repaired before the ceremony.
The jeweler charged $410 for the job, and she paid in full. They gave her a Friday pickup date.
A Call the Day Before Pickup
On Thursday afternoon, the manager called. He told her the stone had come out of the setting during the work.
It wasn’t in the work tray, the sweepings, or anywhere on the floor. He said the ring would stay in the store’s vault while they searched.
Six Days in an Ultrasonic Trap
Six days later, the jeweler found the diamond. It had been caught in the trap of their own ultrasonic cleaning machine.
She was relieved the stone wasn’t gone for good. But the next part of the call caught her completely off guard.
$425 in New Fees
The bill now included a $340 “stone reconciliation” fee and an $85 “setting integrity verification” fee. That added $425 to the $410 she’d already paid.
Altogether, the job would cost $835, more than double the original price. She’d be paying extra for the time they spent finding a stone that went missing while in their care.
The manager explained that they could have reported it as lost and let insurance handle it. Instead, he said, they recovered it, which he described as a specialty most shops don’t offer.
A Release to Limit Claims
The jeweler also wants her to sign a release. It would state that she’s satisfied with the recovery and limit any future claims tied to the incident.
Signing could make it harder to seek compensation if she later finds damage or other problems with the ring. That’s why a jeweler she knows advised her to get the ring back, document everything, and have the stone independently appraised.
An independent appraisal can cost money too. But it could help confirm whether the diamond was damaged and whether it’s the same stone she brought in.
No Clear Answer on What Happened
Nobody has been able to explain exactly how the stone came out. She doesn’t know whether a prong failed or if someone simply lost track of it during the repair.
To her, the stone was in the jeweler’s possession when it went missing. She feels that makes the problem theirs, not hers.
Pay and Walk or Refuse and Fight
She’s weighing two options. She could pay the $425, sign the release, take her ring, finish the prong work somewhere else, and quietly warn friends.
Or she could refuse the fees and the release, demand the ring back immediately, and take the matter to the state attorney general’s consumer office and small claims court. That could mean her grandmother’s diamond stays locked in the jeweler’s vault while the dispute drags on, just as her vow renewal draws closer.
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