An unrepairable ring mount full of air bubbles

[wireless]

I had a gold ring from Gems that I bought last Autumn and I sent to the local jewellers to be resized.

They just phoned me up and said the gold was very badly cast and full of air bubbles and has shattered and is unrepairable.

The local jewellers has agreed to remount the stone with a British made ring mount as the ring was with them when it shattered..............but I am not asked by them, NOT to resize any more 'cheaply made' cast gold ring mounts at the jewellers.

Is this a common thing with Shopping channel jewellery , or Gems cutting corners or just my bad luck?????

 

[Milly]

Hi Wireless
In the dim and distant past I bought a lot of gold rings from Gems and always had to have them resized and i must say I never had any problems and I have had some from Rock and again everything was fine when Rocks started to sell the larger size rings it was great for me because it meant I could buy my size without the bother of resizing I have to admit I always sent mine off to Regency Jewellers for the resizing.I have not bought anything for quite a while from Gems so I'm not sure what the quality is like now but I have read the gold weight is a lot less than it was in the gold rings which may be a factor .sorry i cant be more help and I hope you get in touch with the c.s and tell them of your experiance

 

[Meeshoo]

What has happened here is that the ring, when cast has got something called porosity. It does happen but not too often and is usually as a result of poor workmanship. It's usually as a result of being cooled too quickly or the cast is not made well. When this happens porosity (i.e. open pores if you like) form and it can weaken areas (a particular nightmare if it's in the claws of a ring which are already smaller and weaker areas). Porosity makes metal brittle. You can sometimes detect it with the naked eye or a loupe and it looks like tiny pits.

GemsTV mass produce items and therefore you will find this more with their pieces than somebody who makes bespoke one-off pieces that are made to order (although that's a very general statement and even somebody doing a bespoke ring, if they rush, may end up with porosity also).

Basically for your jeweller to say not to bring in any more "cheap" settings is a bit off. Normally a jeweller will examine a piece for issues prior to re-sizing. If he/she spots porosity then it would be prudent to mention it to the customer beforehand to warn them of the possibility of breakage. However, in all fairness, some porosity is hidden from view.

Here's an article you may find useful:

http://www.professionaljeweler.com/archives/articles/1999/jun99/0699fys1.html

By the way, the thinner the ring in the first place, the more important it is to NOT have porosity. Unfortunately many of the gold items have very little goldweight and this adds to the problem.

 

[Greenie]

This same thing happened to me only a couple of weeks ago. I took in two old GemsTV rings into a local jeweller to be resized (made smaller) - one was 9ct white gold and the other one was 18ct white gold. When I went to collect the rings, I was really disappointed at the 9ct one because the back of the shank was now really thin. It would have bent out of shape in no time because the gold was now so thin. I complained and spoke to the jeweller who did the resizing. She said the gold was hollow and it just crumbled. I wasn't charged for the resize and they offered to replace the shank with a new one for the price of the resize, which I did. The 18ct gold ring resize was absolutely fine.

 

[Sootoo]

This is the sort of thing that really worries me, particularly items that I have bought for friends who need to resize their rings. I would be so embarrassed if this happened to them.

 

[argeybargey]

I doubt there's room for any air in this. Weighing in at a measly 1.47 grams bearing a load of over 7cts. A whopping £75 on line and still too much IMHO at £35 at auction this afternoon. First wear and I'll bet it snaps, particularly given the design and load.

I'm still a customer, but silver only. I no longer buy gold from Gems and this is why. I'm sure I speak for most of us that we understand gold prices are hefty, but I'm sure we'd pay a fair percentage extra for sensible gold weight and design.

 

[mr jones]

I doubt there's room for any air in this. Weighing in at a measly 1.47 grams bearing a load of over 7cts. A whopping £75 on line and still too much IMHO at £35 at auction this afternoon. First wear and I'll bet it snaps, particularly given the design and load.

I'm still a customer, but silver only. I no longer buy gold from Gems and this is why. I'm sure I speak for most of us that we understand gold prices are hefty, but I'm sure we'd pay a fair percentage extra for sensible gold weight and design.

Looks like a Christmas cracker toy! :wonder: