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Previews 
There are many defects, and problems, which
you could easily spot if you only had them pointed out. We deal with these
daily in shop across planet, trying to keep poorly designed and badly constructed
jewelry alive long enough for the check to clear for some of our customers.
Jewelry with problems designed into it, which can (and usually do) cost
both time and money in the future. I've decided to start an image thread
illustrating some of the worst of the things to avoid, at all costs... Pictures
of details which can help you spot trouble. Information you can use to make
informed choices!!! 
The more you know, the more powerful you become...
Be more powerful!!!
There are some very dangerous items out there, with multi-thousand dollar
price tags, and you want to protect your investment, right? You'd want to know if the new German sports car you were buying was prone to having the wheels fall off, wouldn't you? In jewelry the equivalant might be a missing support brace to connect channel walls (so the stones fall out during normal wear), or a shank so thin it allows the ring to flex and stones to continually loosen... I'll show you these right here... But you can find them in most jewelry cases these days, produced by any number of commercial factories... Rings from Hell, designed by morons... When you're looking at something you're considering buying, look very very closely at how it's built, not just the flash of the diamonds in those halogen lights... Just because it's polished doesn't mean it's really not just *#%$&^#. {Grin}...
First to join in the hall of fame is what we sarcastically
call "Mock-Channel setting" when we don't use words best not re-typed in
here... Note that while these rings "look substantial" the stones are only
held in with tiny slivers, gouged out of polished channel walls by some
bench monkey... This is really bad because it easily looses stones!
When properly done, channel setting is almost "bulletproof", but this style is so weak stones can fall out during cleaning and polishing only. How silly that stuff like this is even made at all... Simple sizing will torque the slivers, and eventually they "will fail"... Guaranteed! One can generally solder in the stupid pock-marks made in setting, but it never looks like it should... The next time you are going to buy a channel set ring look very closely and if you see tiny slivers gouged out of the walls of the channel, squished down on the stones to hold them, just chuckle to yourself while you set it back into the salesman's hands and start backing up towards the door {Grin}... ...and remember I saved you a bad experience.
If you want more trouble in your life have more children, but do avoid this kind of stuff when you see it, at any price!
We will be extensively building this section, since there seems to be no end to the stupidity of new designs and poorly built products. I want you to see what to avoid, what not to spend your hard earned cash buying... For example, later you size one of these "pretend channel setting rings" and the stones "will" loosen and even perhaps simply fall out! Everything that's shiny isn't built to last, guaranteed!
to protect the "lame"...
My next soft target!!! You have to be soft in the head to buy (or sell) an ultra-light piece of Hong Kong promotional quality diamond cluster anyway, but promising to size it up to a ten and a half, now that's pushin' it just a bit don't you think? It's not all about the ring here, it's the bone headed sale staffs which don't move the customer over to a three millimeter more substantial mounting... Each day I see small delicate sets being asked to have sized to over ten, either you folks have got to be more realistic about what is strong enough or you'd better get ready for warranty trouble in the future...
When you need both quality and value call 1-800 224-8086 and establish and account today...
Another thing you should start doing immediately
is looking at the side of the rings, and inside the ring to better understand
the way it is constructed. If you see channel set stones (looking inside
the ring) with no cross support for every third stone you're looking at
something which can fall apart during minor impact or service... 
Manufacturing a ring which is channel set like this,
with the stone just slid into place is very shaky at best... Combined with
the "creative lightening and the excessively thin shanks these rings will
flex, the stone will loosen and it will just slide right out of the ring...
Now, if you gotta have one of these, and you see that notch in the rail
where the stone was slid in the just take a tiny drop of super-glue and
place it one the point where the stone is just touching the stone. Put the
super glue drop on glass/ceramic and take a paperclip end to transfer a
tiny amount to the area shown by the arrows... This will help to prevent
the loss of the stone when the ring flexes... Looking at the item from only top down can be a very serious mistake... Structure is important, and it's "critical" in channel set styles as the flex in the item can result in a tragic loss of a major stone... ...and that's not cool...
Not only is this ring done with a light shank, that
can barely hold it's shape if pressed into a ring box, it's also scooped
out underneath the top of the ring, and that makes the area under the stone
prime flexing territory, and where the walls can easily move apart, releasing
the stone to slid out unhindered... Now look, no one else might risk saying this but if you gals (or guys for that matter) are a large size ring don't even think about buying something with less than a solid 3mm shank or you'll be darned sorry that you did... A 2mm thick shank which is 3mm wide is fairly acceptable for large sizes, but for X-large sizes you might consider it a bare minimum thickness/width... Caution must be used because to be of any value it must live in your world... Right? {Grin}...
