There are a number of ways of reducing the price of engagement and wedding rings and sadly there are poor quality, faulty and unrepairable engagement rings, wedding rings and other jewellery on the market and they cause a great deal of heartache.  The issues include:

• Hollowed out so that the minimum of metal is used.  This means that the ring will need repair earlier or even be unrepairable.  It can also cause dermatitis from moisture being trapped in the pockets created by the hollowing out.
• Poor quality metal and cutting corners in the manufacturing which will lead to a multitude of faults.  For example casting the ring with the diamonds & gemstone sitting in the casting instead of setting the diamonds & gemstones separately.
• Lower gold content for example 14ct instead of 18ct.
• White gold that is alloyed with nickel because it is cheaper than platinum or palladium. This means that it will be less bright and may cause allergic reactions.
• Low quality workmanship so the diamonds & gem stones fall out.  This includes when jewellers & diamond setter are working on “piece work” where they are paid so little per piece or stone that they have to complete jobs very quickly to make an adequate living but too quickly to do a good job.  Sadly this exists in Australia as well as overseas.
• Poor quality diamonds & gem stones. They may be heavily included so they fracture and can fall out. They might have good colour & clarity but don’t have good proportions & polish, they may have too much fluorescence, all of which can leave a diamond lacking in lustre.
• Fracture-filled diamonds that can implode when repaired under heat.
• Overseas imports with no guarantee on workers’ conditions, health & safety.
• No Satisfaction or Workmanship Guarantees.