Nazanine Rahnema paid a deposit on a diamond ring that held gems that she says turned out to be of such low quality that she wanted a refund, according to allegations in a notice of civil claim.
Designer Absolute Star Design Ltd.'s policy is allegedly not to provide refunds, so Rahnema is suing Absolute for the return of a $15,720 deposit.
Absolute denies Rahema's story and is countersuing her for $48,000 for the full amount of the diamond plus lost work hours from having to deal with a lawsuit. Absolute's version of events is that it always made clear that there would be no refunds. It also alleges that Rahnema was trying to commit insurance fraud.
The issue began when Rahnema lost her wedding ring.
Her insurer allegedly provided her with $11,728 on the condition that she buy a new ring. She allegedly topped up that amount with nearly $4,000 of her own money to pay the deposit on a ring presumed to be worth $40,000.
Rahnema claims in her March 26 notice of civil claim that Absolute promised to provide high quality diamonds at a price "significantly less than [Rahnema] would have paid had she attended Tiffany's or Birks."
Rehnema then alleges that Absolute "was attempting to sell low-quality diamonds to [Rahnema] and thereby take advantage of her vulnerability as it had possession of the total deposit."
She alleges that Absolute had told her that, if she was not happy with the quality of the diamond, she could return the ring and get a refund. Instead, when Rahnema tried to return the ring for a refund, Absolute allegedly "falsely and maliciously accused [Rahnema] of committing insurance fraud."
Absolute wrote in its defence that it repeatedly told Rahnema that there would be no refunds.
None of the allegations has been proven in court.
