[Jewelry making - Article 00185] - Re: [Orchid] Setting customer stones

[John Donivan]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========

>     How do you reassure your customer? How do you handle the situation
>     if the customer's stone breaks?

    Rona, there's a very eloquent post on this today (yesterday, now) by
    Wayne Werner on the subject, BTW. There's no simple answer to the
    above questions, unfortunately. I think it all begins with knowing
    your limitations, which a great many folks do not, especially in
    today's world. Just because one went to setter's school doesn't mean
    they should be setting $10k opals. I think many are under the
    impression that if you know how to set a cz in a silver setting that
    you know how to set a 25 ct. emerald in 18kt., which is simply not
    true. And it all begins with the design of the setting itself, which
    is an art in ITself. Reassure the customer? Although only a fool
    would work in the high-end jewelry business without security
    procedures in place, it is still built on honor and reputation at
    bottom. You CAN'T reassure the customer, really, and I am of the
    opinion that making customers sign any papers beyond that on a
    repair envelope is just asking for trouble - it immediately turns a
    cooperative relationship into and adversarial one.. A lawyer told a
    setter friend that posting a "not responsible for broken stones"
    notice prominently is enough. Meaning really that nothing you can
    say will convince them of your qualifications, it's your past work
    and associations that will tell everything, and it takes time and
    care to build that. "Methinks he doth protest too much", and all
    that. In the world of jewelry, you can only dazzle them with
    brilliance, the baffling alternative is just not going to happen -
    people in the trade aren't fools. How do you handle it if the stone
    breaks? You mean, "If I break their stone", I'm sure. Some examples:
    I had a customer diamond that was junk, and the very instant the
    prong touched it it literally exploded. It was heard across the
    room, like there was a coil spring inside it. I did nothing wrong,
    it was like touching a loaded mousetrap. It was a $300 stone, we
    talked to the customer, they knew it was cheap, and were willing to
    just buy another one. We insisted on splitting the cost..... Lately
    I blew up a $50 amethyst because it was going into the wrong
    setting. I said, "I told you so", I made the setting right and they
    bought another stone. Same with an opal that cleaved in half - wrong
    setting, I told you so. The common thread here is communication, you
    see. Leonid has said we are not plumbers, I would also say that
    we're not machines - look before you leap, foresee the future. If
    you are any kind of setter or jeweler it's not that big of an issue,
    anyway. I've broken a great many 1-4mm stones of all kinds - every
    setter who works has. But unless you are a complete idiot you're
    unlikely to ever break a serious stone. Scratch or chip, yes.
    Actually BREAK it, not likely if you take care. So the issue is
    almost never one of buying a $25,000 black opal, it's one of "Who's
    going to pay the $35 to polish out the scratch?". It begins with the
    design of the setting itself. If you try to pound a peridot into some
    massive white gold setting you're just asking for trouble - tell
    that to the customer BEFORE you start pounding. Everybody needs to
    understand that there is risk - you as the jeweler need to
    understand how to take that risk near zero - that's your job - and
    retail customers need to cut you some slack, and that might need
    some explaining, too.

http://www.donivanandmaggiora.com
____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________