This story was first published on Monday August 6.
Shane Partington bought fiancée Shauni an $1800 solitaire diamond engagement ring from Michael Hill jewellers in August last year.
Seven months later the diamond disappeared. Shauni doesn’t recall banging it or it catching and dislodging the diamond.
The couple were told that Michael Hill’s Lifetime Diamond Warranty would not cover the stone’s replacement, because they believed the ring had been in an accident.
Shauni said she had been careful with the ring, and it had only had normal wear.
Michael Hill sent the ring away to Australia for inspection. It returned three months later – same result, no cover under the warranty.
Then, Fair Go contacted the company asking whether they were correctly applying the warranty in these circumstances.
Michael Hill are satisfied with their original assessment that the damage was due to the customer's handling of the ring, and that they followed company policy and process regarding the replacement of faulty product and their diamond warranty.
However they agreed the assessment process took longer than it should have and Shane and Shauni were inconvenienced as a result.
For that reason, they have offered the couple a full store credit to the value of the ring.
Shane and Shauni have decided on a diamond cluster replacement ring not a solitaire - so that if a diamond does fall out – it won’t be such a big deal.
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