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Trusting your Jeweller

FAQ’s

Q: Is it safe to leave my engagement ring with a jeweller to clean?

Will they swap my diamond?

A: Very unlikely. The jewellery profession is generally one of the most honest professions. All jewellers are different and have personalities that appeal to different kinds of people. Whether you like a particular jeweller or not it is very unlikely that a jeweller will exchange the diamond in your engagement ring. Of course it has happened and still does happen but in very isolated cases. Just like every profession there are ethical operators and non ethical ones. Fortunately the jewellery trade has a much higher percentage of ethical business operators than most other industries.

Q: I left my engagement ring to be cleaned for about 5 minutes with the jeweller. I suspect he has switched the diamond.

A: 5 minutes. No way! Very unlikely and in most types of settings it’s impossible. To switch a diamond is not that fast. The fastest to replace is a diamond in a 4 pronged claw setting, which is possible to do in 5 minutes but the claw will show signs of stress and usually be a bit bent when you get it back. For the jeweller to restore the claw so you can’t tell will take a lot longer than 5 minutes. On the other hand a bezel setting will take over an hour to switch the diamond as usually the bezel gets damaged when removing the diamond and if the same size diamond is going in again then the setting hole will become too large, so it will have to be filled with gold again or remade before resetting and that takes time. To avoid restoring the bezel then a larger diamond will have to be set in it’s place but that will still take much longer than 5 minutes.

After all that then what are the odds the jeweller is a thief, a diamond setter and has a diamond waiting ready to replace your diamond.

Q: Do you recommend going to a jeweller that is a JAA member.

A: Yes, but I also recommend every other jeweller that you are comfortable to deal with or has been highly recommended by a friend or relative. Being a JAA member gives the jeweller the right to display a “JAA” logo on their website and premises. This is like an endorsement because the logo implies that jewellers which are JAA members are businesses you can trust. I agree as the JAA, like every other association doesn’t want their good name tarnished by bad business operators displaying their logo, but the system is not perfect.

Recently a high profile internet diamond dealer that was a JAA member and used their “JAA Member” logo on their website (along with half a dozen other endorsements from different associations) went into trouble with customers. One source confirms that there was over 50 complaints by customers that were let down badly. Another source confirms this figure as much higher, running into the hundreds of complaints.

They were warned and their JAA membership was eventually cancelled. A large notice was then put on the JAA website warning consumers.

I believe that a JAA membership logo is a good thing to see at your jeweller’s premises or on their website as it can reinforce further credibility, but just remember it’s not an iron clad guarantee either. The membership system has standards that help make things better for the industry and consumers, however JAA membership is not compulsory. There are also many good jewellers out there that are not a member of the JAA.

I still believe that the best endorsement of a jeweller is by word and mouth, from satisfied customers.