9 CT White Gold 62 diamonds wedding ring, code 5OHII2, ruined by American Swiss jeweller and ********** customer service

Dear Mr. Thunstrom and colleagues,

On the 24 December 2018, I bought a ring from American Swiss for my wife. The ring cost was R17,999 on this date. Please see attached Certificate.

Fast forward to mid-October of 2024, and we noticed that 3 diamonds had fallen out of the ring.

We took the ring to American Swiss in Galleria Mall, Amanzimoti and handed it in for repairs.

The Manageress of the store informed us that the ring would go to your Head Office, the jeweller would assess it and then call myself, with a quotation to replace the diamonds, secure all the diamonds, resurface and clean the ring. The quotation call back would take approximately 2 weeks.

A few days later, I popped back into the store and spoke with a sales lady (the Manageress was not there), just to confirm that the ring was in fact sent out and when we were talking, I asked her if the ring that I had sent for a quotation was still, by chance, in stock and if I could look at it. She showed me the ring but in yellow gold. She then asked me what the reason was the ring was in for repairs. According to her, the diamonds should not have fallen out as the ring was never re-sized and since my wife is a baker and doesn’t work with her ring on, there should not be a reason the diamonds fell out. The gold ring that she showed me was now priced at approximately R40,000 in yellow gold (to my recollection).

She also informed me that I could take this up with Head Office if I wanted to.

I decided not to argue the point with Head Office and just pay for the repairs and diamond replacement.

I received an SMS with a quotation amount of R3,196.42 reference number RE***.

I agreed to the quotation, and gave the go ahead for the repairs etc.

On the 27 October I received an SMS that the ring was ready for collection.

THIS is when things go pear shaped!

On the 2 November 2024, my wife and I went to the Galleria Mall store to collect the ring. The Manageress was on duty.

She took the ring out of the envelope and plastic zip lock bag and placed it on her finger, whilst we had a brief conversation as to why the diamonds had fallen out.

She was incredibly rude and spoke to myself and my wife as if we were stupid children (we are 48 and 50 years of age), giving us a lecture about how adults have to check their home maintenance yearly and that this should be done with the rings as well.

Whilst we are being lectured, both my wife and I keep looking at the ring, still on her finger, and noticed a diamond missing at the top of the ring.

At this point we asked to see the ring. She kept it on her finger and to our dismay there seemed to be more than 1 diamond missing. At this point I noticed 1 of the diamonds lying on the desk next to her computer of which point she saw too, and I picked it up and she bagged it.

The ring, still on her finger is now inspected more closely by me and it looked to be 4 diamonds missing (in totally different places than when it went in for repairs).

At this point, my wife, the Manageress and I are looking on the floor, the desk and in between the computer keyboard for the other diamonds…. whilst the Manageress talked on….

This woman didn’t miss a beat, didn’t blink and did not even appear shocked nor apologetic. In face the opposite!

We are told by this Manageress, that the ring will now go back to, and I quote “him, for repairs”. We asked whose him, she said the jeweller and that she wouldn’t send it via head office again but directly back to the jeweller.

The jeweller would then contact us with the quotation on the replacement of the diamonds, of which one has been recovered off her desk and in the plastic bag, and the others could be anywhere…floor, desk anywhere!!!! WE WOULD FIT THE BILL for this!!!!

We had not even touched the ring nor gotten to the point, in store, to pay for the original agreed upon replacement and repair! She said that because of the cleaning and polishing the diamonds can fall out and that we are liable for this!!!!! She also said that she had told us this when we brought the ring in for repairs! This is a blatant lie.

As you can imagine, neither myself nor my wife could believe what we were witnessing nor what we were hearing!

My wife became furious, used some very choice words, and stormed out of the store whilst I tried to talk to the manageress. She was very rude, not interested and insistent that even though the ring has been sent back “repaired” but IN WORSE CONDITION that when it went in, that I was liable for this. I made it clear that I would take this up with American Swiss myself. I took a photograph of the ring (and partially her finger) before I left, of which she did not take kindly too.

I then proceeded to leave the ring with her and exited the store in search of my now distraught wife.

My wife tried calling your call centre and was cut off.

However, with great relief, we had in fact, taken a photograph of the ring before we decided to send it in (please see attached image, time and date of image), which clearly shows the placement and number of missing diamonds.

Also as stated, I have an image of the ring, in store, apparently diamonds replaced and repaired, in worse condition (see attached image which shows the placement and amount of NOW missing diamonds).

Later, upon inspection of the image, it seems there are 5 or more diamonds missing! Please see attached image, with date and time stamp.

Please can you explain a few things to me:

1. Why are other diamonds in the ring disturbed and lost? If it was supposed to be checked etc, surely all the claws would have been tightened? Why are the diamonds falling out?

2. Does American Swiss use “him”, the jeweller or do you have a jeweller at Head Office? Why does the Manageress want to send the ring back to the jeweller and avoid Head Office routing?

3. Why am I now liable for diamonds, repairs etc on a ring that came back from repairs and is in worse condition than when it went in and neither myself nor my wife even touched it at all!

4. Why, as a customer, have we been treated with such disrespect, dishonesty and an absolute lack of empathy or even logical reasoning? Not even I’m so sorry? Don’t know what just happened? Wow, this is bizarre??? Anything other than no reaction and straight into, without blinking how we must pay for this!

5. How do we even know that the diamonds that have now fallen out, and possibly on your stores floor or desk are even the same size of that of the original, or are they even actual diamonds?

Surely you can understand our mistrust and utter shock at what we have experienced.

Before I end this letter, I would like to draw your attention to YOUR CORE VALUES at TFG

“To put your customers first”

“To do the right thing” and

“To work smart and fast”

Important side note: As I was finishing off my letter to you, the Manageress called me. She asks ME did I not notice that the ring came back very fast?

And that perhaps it didn’t go through the Head Office quality check and that the diamonds were replaced but not tightened.

I told her I have a photo of the ring before going in for repairs and that the diamonds now missing are totally different to the original.

With this she suddenly has amnesia that we established this in store on the 2 November and now states that she’s going to call Head Office and “see” what can be done……..

Once again, floored! This entire situation is bizarre and frankly wreaks of dishonesty and misconduct.

We are considering a request for surveillance camera footage from Galleria Mall and camera footage from yourselves of the inside of your store on the day, to corroborate what we are saying to you.

I trust that my situation will be dealt with honestly, swiftly and with the kind of customer service we deserve and that YOU at TFG promise.

Thank you.