I Think I Won....

Back in August I took my wedding ring in for a routine cleaning and to have one of the prongs replaced. Over the course of the cleaning and repair there was damage done to the ring. (You can read all about it here and here). Long story short they kept trying to fix it but in doing so did further damage and ended up dispersing the platinum so much on my engagement ring that it ended up less than half the width it was originally. After the 9th attempt, while trying to mitigate our damages, we refused to let them work on it further and instead asked them to pay for another jeweler to fix it. They refused. We then asked them to replace the ring, which they basically laughed at and most certainly refused. We ended up having to sue them.

We filed the claim in small claims hoping to resolve it with minimal hassle and fees (and without the need of involving lawyers) The jeweler went out and hired one of the most high powered law firms in our state (purely to try to intimidate me, I am sure) and here in Arizona if either party requests a transfer out of small claims it is automatically granted (despite the fact that the amount we were suing for was under the small claims maximum). We could not afford a lawyer so I got stuck representing myself -- with quite a bit of free counsel from my lawyer brother, who unfortunately resides in another state or you bet your ass I would have made him represent me.

Anyway, we've been dealing with the legalities since September and I guess once they saw we weren't just going away and saw that we proceeded with all the paperwork to set the court date then they wanted to try to settle, which frankly is what we wanted anyway. Long story short, they eventually (after quite a bit of back and forth) agreed to replace my wedding band and engagement ring (I would just have to have my center diamond reset into the new ring). I, in turn, would dismiss the case with prejudice and without cost or fees to either party.

I got my new ring at the end of last week. Set side by side with the original that they damaged (yet, of course, will admit no fault) it is incredible the amount of damage that was done....I knew it was bad, but to see it next to what my ring was supposed to look like took my breath away. I'm still going to take it to an independent jeweler to have it looked at, just to be sure and then sign the stip and order for dismissal. So, it appears this will soon be over; one less headache to have to deal with.