UNITED STATES - Is it "pathetic" to buy your fiancee engagement and wedding rings that cost only US$130 (S$184)?

An assistant at a Pandora jewellery store in the United States apparently thought that of a customer's choice and said so, sparking a furore on social media after the fiancee posted about her encounter on Facebook.

Full-time student Ariel Desiree McRae was at the store in early November with her fiance, car service adviser Quinn McRae, to pick up rings for the happy occasion, BBC reported.

Ms McRae wrote in her Facebook post on Nov 27: "While we were purchasing my rings however, another lady that was working there came over to help the lady selling them to us. She said, 'Y'all can you believe that some men get these as engagement rings? How pathetic.'"

The 22-year-old said that she watched her now-husband's face fall, as he had felt bad about not being able to afford a pear-shaped set she liked.

She answered the assistant: "It isn't the ring that matters, it is the love that goes into buying one that matters."

The couple then bought the rings and left.

The Facebook post, which has more than 76,000 likes and 56,000 shares so far, garnered support from netizens who praised the couple for their love.

Pandora has since apologised to the couple for the incident, Ms McRae told the Daily Mail in a report on Thursday (Dec 7).

The Danish jewellery company reportedly asked her to reveal the name of the employee and store location but she declined.

Ms McRae also said Pandora offered to deliver a bracelet to her for compensation.

In her Facebook post, Ms McRae said that she would have married her husband if it had been "a 25-cent gumball machine ring", and asked why "material possessions equate love".

The pair met online when they were both 20 and "scrape and scrape to pay the bills".

Said Facebook user Peggy Finch on Ms McRae's post: "I never did get an engagement ring, but we've been married 45+ years, and that's what matters to me!"

Commenter Sandy Ridgell added: "The rings are not what makes a person happy so it shouldn't matter, how inexpensive or expensive it is."

Ms McRae told the BBC that she and her husband do not plan to change their wedding rings even if they can afford pricier ones in the future.

"The rings explain our love," she said. "We started (unconventionally) and spontaneously and these rings express who we are as a couple."