Steve purchased diamond earrings from Blue Nile for his wife back in January, and contacted the company because the back of one earring was starting to turn black. Concerned that there might be a problem with the metal, he contacted Blue Nile, and was thrilled that an actual human responded to him, and offered to replace something as simple as an earring back.

Here’s Steve’s original e-mail:

Hello,

I purchased a pair of diamond earrings from Blue Nile in January, and now one of the two earring posts is turning black around one of the joints. It is not dirty (cleaning it has no effect), so we are concerned that it is some kind of decay or other problem. I’m concerned about my wife continuing to wear the earrings, and risking loss of the diamond if the post breaks.

I would like to request that Blue Nile repair the earring, since it is nine months old and this appears to be an issue with the earrings themselves. Please let me know if these arrangements can be made. We are otherwise very happy with the earrings, and would like to continue to use Blue Nile and recommend it to our friends in the future.

Thanks for your assistance.

Blue Nile customer service replied:

D

ear Steve,

Thank you for your email.

As platinum is a noble metal, it is impossible that the metal itself has tarnished through wear, and extremely unlikely that that it has discolored by coming into contact with a foreign substance. In my experience, this sort of circumstance has always been the result of a foreign compound adhering the surface of the metal, thus making it very difficult to remove, but which is easily removed by professionally cleaning the piece.

If you prefer, we would be happy to perform this service for you in our shop here in Seattle. There is no fee for either this service, or the overnight shipping of the package back to you when we are done.

When you are ready, please secure the earrings and their *original diamond grading report* in a cardboard shipping box. You may then take the shipping box to the post office and mail it to us via USPS Registered Mail, fully insured. As a requirement for the insurance, the post office may want you to cover the seams of the box in a 2-inch-wide paper mailing tape. I usually recommend not attaching the return mailing label to the box until the tape has been applied.

If you have the peel-off return label that came on your packing slip, please write the return authorization code — XXXXXXXXXX — in the space provided. If you do not have that label any longer, please write the return code clearly on the outside of the box and mail it to:

[redacted]

Once we have received the package it takes about a week to go through our quality assurance procedures and for our jewelers to inspect your item. If there is any additional information we need, we will be in touch, otherwise we will plan on shipping the earrings back to the following address:

Steve D
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

If you would like to expedite the return, we do have a method for you to insure your item and ship overnight.

Below you will find the link for returning your order through G4S International, a service that provides secure overnight shipping for high-value items. Please enter your RMA number and e-mail to begin the process:

[redacted]

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any further questions and thank you for shopping at Blue Nile.

Steve examined the earring again, and answered:

Thank you for the detailed reply. I examined my wife’s earring again, and it is actually just the backing that has the black spots on it, rather than the post. So the piece that needs work is not actually physically connected to the diamond.

As such, would it be cheaper to send this piece in for cleaning or just order a replacement? Is this something I can replace locally, or is it a specific size that only you can replace?

Thanks again for your assistance.

Blue Nile replied within twelve hours:

Dear Steve,

Thank you for your reply.

Normally the platinum earring backs are $30 to replace- however, if it’s just the one back that has the issue, I would be happy to send one free of charge as well as a complimentary jewelry cleaning kit. Should this go back to the same XXXXXXXXXXXXX ship address?

“As you can see, a real human typed out at least three interactions with me, and then provided me free replacement jewelry parts for a product not under warranty,” Steve notes. Nicely done, Blue Nile!

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