If you have a ring with a center stone, you should have it serviced regularly anyway. Usually once per year is recommended. Gold is a soft metal, and the setting will need to be checked and tightened periodically. More so if there's pave diamonds as well. It also scratches easily, so having it re-dipped keeps it looking good. Not related to the ring itself - make sure your jeweler offers: -Free redipping on white gold (can run $50-$100/yr if its not included) -Free service on the entire ring and stone -Free appraisals (you'll need one to add it to your insurance policy) -Credit on the diamond if you choose to upgrade -At least some return policy if your girl doesn't like the ring and you choose something else The place I bought from offers 100% trade-in credit on the diamond for the life of the ring. They also cover free diamond replacement on every stone except the center stone; so if a side or pave diamond falls out, they'll put in a new one at new charge.
Bear in mind everything I'm putting here applies to South Africa, but it can't be far off from overseas. OK, here goes. As for the first bolded quote, no jeweller will make you anything in 24 carat gold because 24 carat gold is pure gold and thus is too soft to be set, so you cannot put any stones in it. 24 carat is soft enough to dent if you drop it. The softest most jewellers will work with is 22 carat gold, and that is pretty rarely used, and usually when it is used, it's on cufflinks. I can speak with some authority on this, since my dad is a manufacturing jeweller and has been making jewellery for 4 decades and for the last 3 years I've had to do a monthly audit of his business' usage of gold (required for jewellers permit) and I haven't seen a 22 carat job come through the books as of yet. Most of the stuff my dad makes is usually 18 carat yellow gold, 18 carat white gold is a close second and platinum 3rd. He usually mixes his own metal for the white gold - he uses a 13% palladium mix (palladium is used to make white gold). You can, however, have rings made out of just palladium. It isn't the carats of gold that makes it go yellow - the carats is just a determination of how much pure gold there is in that ring/item. 24 carats = 100% pure gold, 18 carat is thus 75% pure, 9 carat is 37.5% pure, etc.. What can make the gold change colour is the *other* metals that are used in the manufacturing of that particular gold (same applies to silver and why it causes discolouration for many people while wearing it), but it sounds to me that you just got ripped off on the rhodium plating - rhodium plating solution is NOT cheap (1.5 litres of the stuff uses 1.5grams of rhodium and cost about $400) and it sounds like they might've skimped to maximise their own profits. If a jeweller is charging you $50 for rhodium plating, you are most likely being ripped off though. /steps off podium As an aside, rhodium plating is always a great thing to do, since it does protect the metal of the ring. If you're ever stuck on what stone to put in a ring, check out Wikipedia's page on birthstones. My mom's got a few garnets (January birthday) in rings and has always been happy. You can't really go wrong with a birthstone in an engagement ring, unless your S.O. has an April birthday - then you're still fucked (yup, diamonds for April).
Buy the diamond separate. You'll get more bang for your buck, and the size, color, and clarity are all that matter to her. You can always figure out which setting you want, but diamonds are forever. Haha