To be disappointed by Tiffany’s?

[rivertoskateaway]

In December, my husband bought me a silver bracelet from Tiffany’s which he gave to me for my birthday in January. It’s the bead type, and one of the beads has a heart charm attached to it. At the start of April, I noticed one day that the charm had fallen off at some point while I was wearing it.

I contacted Tiffany’s to be told that there is no guarantee on their products (except engagement rings) and that I needed to send the bracelet to them so that they can look at repairing it. They have now contacted me to say that they can do so, but it will be at a cost of £135.

Am I right to be very annoyed by this? I have only been wearing it less than four months! How do I know that once I’ve paid the £135, it won’t happen again? They have said repairs are guaranteed for 12 months, but why isn’t the bracelet guaranteed at all?!

I seem to be hitting a brick wall when I talk to Tiffany’s, so I just wanted to see if I am being unreasonable by expecting the bracelet to be repaired free of charge.

You’re not unreasonable.

I have a Tiffany bracelet that has fallen off numerous times because the clasp comes undone. They wouldn’t do anything about it so I had to buy a safety chain.

Won’t buy from them again.

If your husband bought it using a credit card, he could look into making a Section 75 claim.

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/complaints-can-help/credit-borrowing-money/goods-services-bought-credit

They’re wildly overpriced and trade on their name.

Do you have a receipt? Was the purchase under six months ago? You have a right to repair/ replacement (their cost) for faulty goods under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Here's some more info on Which? (They also have template letters for faulty goods you can use) - www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act-aKJYx8n5KiSl

Thanks everyone, my husband said that I can’t prove I didn’t do anything to break it myself (his example was participating in a tug of war, not something I would do 🤣)

@EsmeSusanOgg thank you, I will try to go back to them with this. I have a receipt and the purchase was less than 6 months ago.

That is appalling, OP. I would contest this. As pp said, they trade on their name and take advantage of it.

@SophieSoSo I’m sorry to hear that. I have a couple of other pieces from them and would never have expected their customer services to be so poor! Like @Sexnotgender says they probably don’t care as people keep buying for the name.

I wouldn’t buy from them again after this!

Thank you @Antarcticant, I’ll look into this if they still say no after my latest email citing the legislation from a pp.

Thanks @stripeyflowers, first time I’ve posted so I’m glad that it isn’t me being unreasonable!

I had the same problem with a beaded bracelet. The first time it broke they fixed it for free as a ‘gesture of good will’ but it broke another 2 times after that and I had to pay. They told me I was wearing it too much and it was just an occasional use item.
It broke again and I’m debating on whether to just get it fixed by a local jeweller. To me it looks like it’s literally just string holding it together. I would never buy another Tiffany piece again.

I have a bad bracelet I've had for many years and I wear it each day. I caught it on something and the beads flew on. A new string, replacement beads and to fix it was only £40 at Tiffany's in London. I didnt buy an expensive bracelet to only wear occasionally.

Maybe write to the CEO?

Fight back with them and say these exact words,

"It's not fit for purpose and is faulty"

They'll soon change there tone. I'm a retail girl and have work in luxury goods for years. Argue it's faulty especially as it's under 6 months. It's not fast fashion. Ask for a partial refund and for this to be done as a gesture of good will.

Tiffany's is the american ratners, but people are conned by the sitc connection and the concept that expensive is good

The mark up on tiffany jewellery is insane, especially for silver items. It isn't better quality than other silver jewellery just more expensive (but breaking after a few months is awful) but you're paying for the name/luxury shops/advertising/freebies in goodie bags at the Oscars etc etc.
I'm a jeweller and one client has brought a Tiffany ring to us 3 times to have diamonds replaced (different ones each time) because they've fallen out, so even higher value items are not always better made.

Tiffany stuff is overpriced rubbish. You're just paying for the name.

Not unreasonable to be disappointed and cross.

Very unreasonable to trigger 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' to play over and over in my head!

This is the law:

If your claim is about a problem that arose within six months of buying the product, it's assumed that the problem was there on the day you received it. It's up to the retailer to prove that the goods were of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, or as described when it sold them.

Deemed to be inherently faulty at point of sale.

I used this to get a refund for a watch. They also have the option to repair free of charge if you choose to accept that.

Thanks for the comments everyone, it gives me fire to not agree if they come back to me and say that it isn’t covered by any warranty again.

I was planning on wearing it every day, but I don’t think that, should they fix it, I’m going to be able to. I don’t want to have to pay to fix it every few months!

Totally different league of jewellery but I have a Monica Vinader necklace with a charm my husband bought me circa 3 years ago. The chain recently snapped when it got caught on something. We took it into the local store, they found the sale on their system and were happy to replace the chain there and then. I was very surprised but a happy customer 😊
Surprised Tiffany's don't have a similar policy.

I have always found going into a Tiffanys store is always pretty brilliant for customer service, do you have one local you can go into?

I was once gifted an incredibly delicate bracelet- a tiny link chain with a diamond (essentially a short a necklace). It would have snapped in the wind but they were quite snippy about my returning it for another item. It has put me off.

How rubbish OP! I have never had any issues with Tiffany but I always purchase & get my items serviced/cleaned in store. If you can go into store, they may be more helpful than customer service.

I’m not close to a store unfortunately, although I am going into London for work soon so I could try and go in and see if they have a different answer.

@Geranium1984 what excellent customer service! If it was after 12 months I wouldn’t bat an eyelid about it not being covered, but 3/4 months isn’t on.

Wow 135 pounds to repair a bracelet. They really charge for their name. That is a lot for a tiny bit of silver.