They say 'diamonds are forever' and that's what an Auckland couple hoped when they purchased their engagement rings.
After just three months of dating, Aucklander Mitchell Sherman "just knew" that fiancée Crystal Sisawath was the one for him, and so he put a ring on it.
Crystal's first engagement ring, a gold band, was purchased from Michael Hill Jeweller.
"It's a New Zealand brand, they're trusted, it's got a good reputation," says Mitchell.
And if getting engaged wasn't exciting enough, five months later the couple moved to Canada for work.
While in Canada, they started planning for their big day. Since the couple only had two-year visas, they were always intending to have their special day home in New Zealand.
While in Canada they were on the hunt for another diamond engagement ring and some wedding bands.
"I realised Michael Hill Jeweller was in Canada," Mitchell says.
"We knew we would be coming back home so I thought it would be good to get some warranties on the rings so they could be serviced back in New Zealand."
Mitchell and Crystal thought through their purchase thoroughly and wanted to make sure all rings were covered by warranty.
In their case the Consumer Guarantees Act, which covers product and consumer rights here in New Zealand, would not be valid because their purchase was made overseas.
On top of their three rings, which came to about $2000, the couple also purchased lifetime professional care plans for each ring worth $360 NZD in total.
This covered parts and labour costs up to the value of the original purchase; things like ring sizing, cleaning, and stone tightening.
At that time, in 2021, Michael Hill offered these warranties for a lifetime, lifetime of the owner or the product.
Most importantly, Mitchell double checked that these lifetime warranties would be valid in New Zealand. According to Mitchell the Canadian store staff said, "yes, they will be".
"And the next time we went back to actually purchase the rings, they confirmed again that they will be valid in New Zealand," Mitchell says.
When Mitchell and Crystal moved back home in 2022, Crystal noticed a little crack in the band of her ring. The couple took the ring into their local Michael Hill store with all their warranty paperwork, but they were told:
"No. The care plan is not valid here, it's only valid in Canada," Mitchell says.
"I was completely caught off guard."
The reason why the warranties weren't valid was even more surprising. Michael Hill staff told Mitchell that because Canada has a different tax system, the warranties are not valid.
Fair Go asked the experts at Consumer NZ whether tax does affect how warranties are used.
Consumer NZ's Jessica Walker says: "We think this sounds like a jolly good excuse for not honouring the warranty."
"We can reasonably expect that there would be limitations between countries that might affect this warranty but the fact that Mitchell asked the question and was told otherwise we think that he's been misled and so he's got a really good case to challenge this."
Mitchell complained to Michael Hill and it agreed to cover the cost to repair the ring and re-sized the rings. But the problem wasn't resolved. Michael Hill were still refusing to honour the lifetime warranties.
"If I have future issues with the rings I have nothing to fall back on," he says.
Michael Hill then offered to refund the care plans. But even if the couple used the money to purchase New Zealand lifetime warranties, they wouldn't be able to.
From April last year Michael Hill stopped offering lifetime care plans, with only three or 10-year plans now on offer.
But Mitchell and Crystal had bought theirs well before that, so Fair Go got in touch with Michael Hill to get some answers, and finally got the result the couple were really after.
A Michael Hill spokesperson told Fair Go: "Michael Hill prides itself on delivering exceptional customer service, and we are sorry that Mitchell did not have the great service experience that we strive to provide."
On top of this Michael Hill are honouring all three of Mitchell and Crystal's lifetime warranties here in New Zealand.
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