Three years ago, it was a beautiful and memorable moment when Greg proposed to his girlfriend and she said “yes.” Only a few hours afterward, something that was memorable for a different reason happened: the rhodium coating on the future Mrs. Greg’s white gold ring wore off, making it look yellow and setting off her nickel allergy. The couple convinced the retailer, Jared, to replace it with platinum, but that didn’t work out so well, either.

He writes:

About 3 years ago, I made a choice to purchase an engagement band from Jared’s store. I already had a main diamond from Blue Nile and requested only the setting, and the service of securing the main stone. It was then discussed that because of my girlfriend’s nickel allergy a platinum setting would be needed. I was recommended and ensured that white gold would not cause any problems as it is plated in rhodium.

I proposed, and she [said] YES! About 6 hours later the ring that was supposed to look silver had a very noticeable yellow hue. We contacted Jared’s store and were told that the rhodium coat must have been too thin. My now fiancee’s finger became red from a skin’s reaction to nickel.

After coming back to Jared’s store we requested a platinum setting. For some reason, discussing platinum was now given a lot of resistance. But the staff complied and had the setting redone in platinum. This took several weeks and when we got the ring back the diamond was set much higher than before. We requested this to be changed and the staff complied.

Now, after a few inspections and cleaning we started noticing random holes in the band. This was discussed during our regular ring service and somehow the holes in the metal disappeared…and reappeared again…and again. The technical term for this metal problem is “porosity” and it is a flaw in the way the ring was made. This makes the ring weak allowing it to eventually crack.

At this point I cannot recommend Jared’s to anyone! Have that GPS take you to your small business Jeweler!

Sounds like a fifty-cent ring out of a vending machine at the grocery store would have been more durable than both of these disasters from Jared.

The parent company of sibling jewelry stores Kay and Jared (as well as other regional brands) is Sterling Jewelers, which in turn is a subsidiary of UK-based Signet Jewelers. Using customer service ninja methods, try contacting someone on the US side of Signet to see if they can help.

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