{"id":493801,"date":"2026-06-24T21:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T21:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/493801\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T21:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T21:52:11","slug":"michael-hill-jewellery-customer-denied-free-diamond-replacement-on-12k-ring-after-stone-drops-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/493801\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Hill jewellery customer denied free diamond replacement on $12k ring after stone drops out"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThese things should last a lifetime; they are meant to be precious, an investment that will stand the test of time and one day be an antique,\u201d the woman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband is a tradie and, when I added up the hours he had to work to buy me these items, it actually stunned me that they can be so ignorant to blow people off when they have put their faith in them as professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she went into Michael Hill Porirua at the weekend, as soon as she noticed the diamonds in both rings had dropped out, to seek a replacement. Staff told her they would send them away for a quote.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018No, I don\u2019t want to do that\u2019 because I don\u2019t feel like I should pay.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not loaded with cash, they are special gifts that I would like to hand down to our daughters and granddaughter, but I feel so shocked and hurt at the lack of responsibility that they are taking. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been extremely loyal customers. It\u2019s been our go-to for every anniversary and birthday for the past 17 years, and I\u2019ve just told my husband not to go anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was told that, because one of the rings was 12 years old, it had been \u201cquite a long time\u201d and the store could not offer a free replacement.<\/p>\n

She said her engagement ring, crafted by hand by her stepfather, had lasted 31 years so far.<\/p>\n

In late 2025, a woman won a landmark Disputes Tribunal case against Michael Hill after the diamond fell out of her 12-year-old ring.<\/a> The jeweller argued about a ring\u2019s \u201clifetime\u201d and cited national divorce statistics; however, the tribunal found the ring was not of \u201cacceptable quality\u201d under the Consumer Guarantees Act.<\/p>\n

New lifetime warranty rules offered by Michael Hill mean customers now have to bring in products every six months for mandatory inspection. Not doing so could void the warranty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a ball-ache, but I\u2019d do it if it meant this would be sorted,\u201d the woman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe staff asked me if I had brought it in in the past 12 months, but I hadn\u2019t needed to.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really wonder why there\u2019s a six-month check-in process … do they expect common problems?\u201d<\/p>\n

Both rings were still with the jeweller. <\/p>\n

Michael Hill did not answer the Herald\u2019s questions about its warranty process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThese things should last a lifetime; they are meant to be precious, an investment that will stand the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[115033,74,32758,17517,3241,138,2068,211027,6852,15159,35291,41554,28157,28796,1342,4975,31037,16285,5494,111,139,69,9716,90,3111,2853,29952,10540,28723,165,8229,6859,6173,3608,1354,1530],"class_list":["post-493801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-12k","tag-after","tag-anything","tag-because","tag-bought","tag-business","tag-cant","tag-clasps","tag-customer","tag-denied","tag-diamond","tag-diamonds","tag-dropped","tag-drops","tag-five","tag-free","tag-hill","tag-jewellery","tag-michael","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-old","tag-on","tag-out","tag-replacement","tag-ring","tag-rings","tag-stone","tag-their","tag-they","tag-told","tag-too","tag-were","tag-woman","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493801","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=493801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}