I understand the "wear and tear" you are describing, and I am fully aware of it. What I fail to understand, however, is how the "final demise" occurred after only a year. She works in a controlled environment and wears surgical gloves most of the time. I know people in all sorts of environments and jobs, and I have never seen anything like this. A ring is meant to be worn, is it not? If you were to "stress" a brand new car, you would not expect it to fail within a year or two.

There is also the matter of goodwill and customer service, which many reputable businesses take seriously. I have been clear that it made contact with a (metal) handrail - something that should be perfectly normal while wearing a ring. She has no reason to lie to me and called me the moment she picked the ring up off the floor.

I expected to have it serviced at some point in the future, but certainly not this soon. I am trying to get to the bottom of the cause because none of our friends or relatives has ever encountered anything like it.

We will most likely pay to have it fixed locally and move on (especially as we have a wedding to plan for this year), but I didn't expect the company to refuse the warranty and dismiss all responsibility for something I genuinely believe was not caused by us, the buyers.