Links bracelet 'popping'

[SouthWestmom]

This is most of my two sweetie bracelets - apparently you are meant to have them restrung once a year, for £10 (when I asked). I'm not sure this is very clear - I definitely didn't know as they were gifts and sos this is just a heads up for anyone to maybe get them done before they ping everywhere (like the car, and you spend ages picking teeny bits up to check if they are valuable or ring pulls)

I had the same thing. My cleaner broke mine and was so upset. I only reaslised about the regular restringing when I looked online to see how much it costs to fix. They also get a bit brittle if you don't wear them often.

We bought my DSIS a Links Bracelet and it did this when she tried it on and they refused to return it. Absolute waste of money.

Weird they don't seem to tell you upfront. I'm just binning my two because I don't want to pay £100 to be able to wear it for the next ten years! It's like rent!

Don't bin them - sell them!!

What, in bits?

Mine must be 10 years old and I didn't know this but I don't wear it every day. Will they restring it now it is in bits?

Yes, it burst and so I went to complain and they told me I should be getting it done every year.
However I really don't want to (as I said) pay to maintain a piece of mid price jewellery, just won't buy them again when there's other nice stuff for £100 ish.

I've worn mine everyday for about 10 years and I've never had them restrung. I stopped wearing it and when I tried it on again the whole thing exploded everywhere. I now want to get it restrung but haven't gotten around to it. Anyone know how much it costs once its snapped?

Can you not restring them yourselves? Buy some bracelet stretchy elastic stuff and do it.

Just bought some Crystal-Tek single core elastic so I can fix mine. It's only £3.29 for 16m on Amazon.

Thanks for the suggestion butterfly.

I've had mine for about 10 years, and have had it restrung twice. I bought mine in a standalone shop in London and they were very clear about their advice to restring every few years. Did you buy yours in a concession? I paid around £20/25 last time I had it done (and they gave it a good clean at the same time)

I don't really wear mine that often now, but can always tell if it needs doing again. The elastic discolours and slackens and takes longer to spring back into shape. I would imagine if you spray perfume, submerge it in water/chlorine etc it would effect the elastic too.

MooMin both were presents so I wasn't there to get any info. I just think it needs to be clearer - if any other bracelet had an inherent fault built in (will wear out as made of elastic) I'd be really unsure about wearing it. It seems weird to sell something knowing people will have to pay to fix it due to the way it's made !
However, it is what it is and I just wanted people to be aware and maybe like you say keep an eye and get it fixed before / if it might break. It doesn't seem from here like all of them do though.

I'd be amazed if you couldnt get some decent money even for the broken one - there must be some value in the silver, they're quite heavy. And didn't you say you had two? Presumably only one is broken. eBay the complete one. You could use the money to restring the broken one ;)
It is very annoying, I agree. I wonder if you can buy something stronger online. A fabric elastic might do slack but hopefully wouldn't snap. I've had mine for 8 years and I've only had it done once, it snapped after about 6 years.

Such nonsense. The bracelets are only worth £20 at a stretch. This is what happens when you sell cheap jewellery at an inflated price- it's not made to last.

The scrap silver value in one is about £3, CantChoose. It doesn't go far.

That's a shame troll :(

It's the scam of the century. Issues like this- where people are paying for branding above and beyond the product- is why so many MN S&Bers are advocates of independent jewellers.

I know businesses have to make a profit- but I'd rather pay a small firm 20% on an item than a large firm 80% on an item. At the end of the day, especially with jewellery, if I spend £100 I want an item that is worth the same or thereabouts.

Hello! I know this thread is a little old now but I wanted to say that my partner has recently brought out a Home Restring Pack that allows people to restring their bracelets quite cheaply over at sweetierestring.co.uk

Hope that helps anyone coming across this thread!!