ok - again thanks - I do understand what you're saying and as I say in the end it has turned out fine for me but because I loved my original engagement ring I really wanted to find a ring to full in love with again and I just felt that because I was limited to one jewellers chain I wouldn't get this. I didn't want to buy a ring that at this value that was alright - I wanted to buy a ring that I loved and eventually I have found a ring that I loved - so all is good. Many thanks again.

Meant to come back to you ages ago to thank you for your reply but been so busy! Anyway the update is I have accepted the Signet Voucher card and have chosen a new ring but I still cannot understand why this way of treating a claim for jewellry is acceptable by law? If my sofa gets burnt then the insurance company will either replace or give me the cost of replacing it - even though I might have paid £1000 for it and to make it is only £500! Also I cannot understand WHY they would not give the retail cost of jewellry as the retail market is where I will need to go to replace it? So I still think this is a swizz for the general public to take out insurance when the insurance company can then dictate where the replacement has to be bought from and the cash equivelant is much lower than the actual original cost of the jewellry that was lost/stolen. The general public work in the retail market unless they work in the industry etc so I don't know why the insurance company wouldn't just let you pick a ring from a local jewellers up to the valuation given and then they pay the jewellers?? Again though - thank you for the explanation you provided.

I have claimed for my lost engagement ring thru direct line insurance and have filled in all the relevent paperwork and paid £200 excess. They passed me over to their jewelry assessor a company called LMG. They have in turn asked for more information including a photo if possible of the ring - which again I have supplied. They have now given me a valuation and 3 options which are - 1 a voucher for the valution for the Signet group which are H Samuel, Ernest Jones or Leslie Davis or 2 - a remake of the ring by one of their personal jewellers or 3 the cash equivalent but the cash is only half of the valuation and doesn't even cost the price of the ring way back in 2003!! So - do I have to accept these conditions? - I have looked at Ernest Jones and H Samuels websites but I don't see anything I love there however I have seen a ring I really like within the valution but with a different jewellers. I have agreed to get the personal jeweller out to see if she can help me. She is booked to come to my house to look at designs etc and perhaps make a new ring for me but on speaking to friends about this they have said that their experience with the "personal jeweller" was a rip off and the jewelry offered no where near the quality they would have gotten from local jewellers! Do I accept there is no way round this? I am already really down about losing my engagement ring - that I took months to choose - due to the fact that my hands are not the delicate hands of female kind but almost like man hands so a solitaire would look lost on them - unless I had a good few thousand to spend - which I don't! Any help would be appreciated...