Chispa - Sounds like you've never had it done. I don't baby mine either. This isn't about scratches it's about the process of how they apply the rhodium.

Not my jeweler but info. about rhodium and rings. info. about rhodium

The yellowing depends on the quality of the gold, your body chemistry, etc. There's nothing wrong with mine. The bottom has the slightest yellow tinge but never goes beyond that. It still looks white gold. The rhodium makes it very white. The associate suggested I could have it dipped again if I wanted. I didn't agree with her on the process and felt she was uninformed or lied to me and while I was complaining loudly through emails to the company about other things I brought up the rhodium conversation as well.

I would go and talk to some small jewelry store owners and ask about it. I don't think that I would trust the chain stores. We had one ring done but didn't ask about the process. It just need to be done because it was getting dull and yellowish. He showed us a white gold ring he was making and why it has to be dipped on rhodium. The white gold is not very pretty at all in its raw form before dipping in rhodium.

I have my mother's 25th anniversary ring that was bought in the 70's that has never been re-dipped. I also don't recall her ever taking her engagement ring to be re-dipped either. It was last re-set in the 90's because the band and prongs were getting worn. So, maybe the process is different now?

We used to have a jeweler in the family by marriage, and he's long gone, but I regularly pumped him for info, and when he was in our squad, he had a ring rhodium plated for me. Here is my understanding:

A rhodium coating is a very, very thin layer of material that is bonded to the white gold by an electric plating process. For optimal adhesion, the initial plating requires the white gold material to be prepared in a certain way; cleaning, sanding, etc., but with normal wear, replating typically involves smoothing out only the rhodium coating removing scratches, etc., then recoating it in the same manner as it was originally done (electroplating), so no gold loss. I have been told there is no degradation of the actual gold material, just the plating layer is polished, scratches removed, etc., then, IIRC, washed in distilled water and alcohol, zapped with the electroplater to add the material (zapped isn't meant to be a technical term, haha), dried, cleaned and you're good to go. I have no idea what the definition of "normal wear" is, but if you have gouges in your ring, that isn't normal wear, surface scratches, though, are normal wear, and are likely just in the rhodium layer.

I also agree with arkansas girl, never, ever trust a chain mall jewelry store, if you want advice on any jewelry, go to the best independent, locally owned store in your area, ideally run or staffed with actual gemologists, and ask them for their advice, they are often free with it (the better jewelry stores consider their role as a steward of the jewelry art(s), and in my experience, most truly want the best for their clients and their pieces), but if not, go to the second best one and ask them.

Gscience - I think the gold these days are less quality than years ago so I don't believe having this done was really a thing. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by this.

Lakeaffect - Thank you for the explanation. I was hoping there was someone on here who was or knew a jeweler. I believe Golddust's DH was one (or someone in their family) but I haven't seen her post in a long time. My rings are under warranty so having them replated is free at this place if I wanted to. Thankfully it doesn't need done. I don't like leaving my jewelry with them after sending my ring out for a prong repair and having it returned with the diamond crooked in the setting. I was mad for obvious reasons. (My main stone is suspended off the ring and held by four prongs.) Good idea to talk to an independent jeweler. I have a local one in mind that I've been wanting to use for an appraisal for something so I'll talk with them while I'm there.

This has turned into exhaustive chattering between me and the rep and I don't have the energy for it. As I said there were other issues I was unhappy about but it's all very small potatoes in life and I shouldn't have allowed it to take as much of my time as it has.