Poor Assistance in Repairs at Swarovski

I had received a gift purchased from Swarovski, a signature swan ring, which lost a few of the crystals. The ring fell out of warranty, however due to it's sentimentality I resolved to have the ring repaired at my cost. I visited numerous Swarovski stores who advised to have the ring repaired by a local jeweler, however they could not recommend any jeweler that was Swarovski approved. Thereafter, I reached out to their customer service who advised that they were able to repair the ring and I just needed to take it to the nearest store to have them send it to the repair centre which was "a standard procedure". After doing so, the store advised that they needed to contact the customer service to confirm this, I then recieved the feedback that I would need to pay for the courier to send the item to a repair centre situated somewhere overseas. I could not understand this as Swarovski has multiple stores operating in South Africa, surely they should have some sort of measure in place to repair their signature jewelry at a cost that is not more than the item itself? I asked for the cost of the repair and courier charge and have since received no feedback. I caution any consumer purchasing a product from Swarovski to be mindful of their purchase, especially if it is a gift as there seems to be no way of Swarovski assisting or recommending assistance should the product fall out of warranty. Their warranty period is 2 years.