Michael Hill<\/a> and no matter what I asked for they were adamant I was not entitled to it, they had given me my options and I could take it or leave it, so I filed in court and they came straight back to me,” she claimed.<\/p>\n\u201cThey said I could keep the ring and also [get] a full refund, as well as the tribunal filing fee if I would withdraw my claim but I didn\u2019t want to sign a non-disclosure agreement so I proceeded with the claim.\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"A]()
A spokesperson for Michael Hill Jeweller told the Herald the company is sorry for not getting its customer service right in this instance. Photo \/ 123RF<\/p>\n
The Disputes Tribunal is a quick and inexpensive way to settle disputes in New Zealand involving $30,000 or less. Its hearings are less formal than court hearings. <\/p>\n
On a busy day, the Tribunal hears as many as 150 civil claims across 50 District Courts the length of the country. According to its annual report, in 2024 the tribunal resolved 13,550 claims valued at $116 million. <\/p>\n
Emme said the dispute reached its nadir when she submitted evidence of Michael Hill Jeweller\u2019s advertising to the Tribunal. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe advertising said their wedding rings were to be cherished for a lifetime.\u201d Emme had always intended to one day pass the ring to her children. <\/p>\n
In response, Michael Hill Jeweller sent divorce statistics. \u201cThey submitted that the average length of a marriage in New Zealand is 14 years and considering the two-year separation period required by law, a wedding ring is worn for 12 years on average. So I guess I had enjoyed enough time with my wedding ring?\u201d <\/p>\n
Emme had also purchased a lifetime care plan when she and her then-fiance had originally bought the ring. <\/p>\n
The Herald has seen documents in which Michael Hill Jeweller claimed \u201clifetime\u201d can apply to the product\u2019s lifetime, rather than the purchaser\u2019s lifetime. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs the item is now unrepairable, the lifetime of the product has come to an end and accordingly the care plan has also come to an end.\u201d it said. <\/p>\n
In October Emme won at the Tribunal. \u201cI\u2019ve received the money. Signed, sealed, delivered,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey could have paid me outright at the start, a tiny amount, yet they wasted all this time and resource on fighting this ridiculous fight.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Tribunal found that the ring was not of an acceptable quality under the Consumer Guarantees Act because a reasonable person would expect a wedding ring to remain durable for at least 20 years. <\/p>\n
It found \u201cmore likely than not, the main reason for the damage is a lack of durability that stems from the manufacturing process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Hill Jeweller said in a statement to the Herald, \u201cWe would like to offer our apologies, in this instance we didn\u2019t get it right. Our processes were not up to the standard our customers should expect and we understand the frustration this has caused. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a premium brand, and we take our commitment to quality and customer care extremely seriously. As a result, we have reviewed and strengthened our internal processes to ensure we deliver the level of service our customers deserve every time. <\/p>\n
\u201cCustomers should feel welcome to have their issues resolved appropriately, and we look forward to supporting this with our improved processes moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emme said she has nothing new to say to the company, but wants to share her advice to others in similar disputes.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t give up\u201d, she said. \u201cDocument everything, and seek professional help and independent advice so you can know your rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
She is having the original ring repaired and restored by an independent jeweller. <\/p>\n
\u201cRemade. Same design, same diamonds, what metal we can use. It\u2019s going to be made exactly as close as possible to what it should have been all those years ago.\u201d <\/p>\n
Emme\u2019s final words are for her husband. \u201cHe\u2019s amazing, he\u2019s incredibly supportive. Everyone thought I was crazy – it was an against-the-odds battle and I was fortunate to have him and the family behind me. They were going to back me whatever I chose.\u201d <\/p>\n
*Not her real name. <\/p>\n
Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A spokesperson for Michael Hill Jeweller told the Herald, \u201cWe would like to offer our apologies, in this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[95,51,138,35291,4241,31037,110622,11517,5494,111,139,69,1523,29952,110623,15315,102,1354],"class_list":["post-171160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-and","tag-auckland","tag-business","tag-diamond","tag-gold","tag-hill","tag-jeweller","tag-loses","tag-michael","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-ring","tag-stoush","tag-wedding","tag-with","tag-woman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}