Excellent customer service from Seiko.......

Reading some of the horror stories recently regarding poor customer service from 'high end' manufactures has prompted me to highlight, by way of contrast, the excellent customer service I have received from Seiko UK today who are based in Maidenhead, Berkshire which fortunately is about 15 minutes drive away from where I work.

I recently bought a Seiko Marine Master Kinetic Direct Drive from this forum, I thought that as it was a few years old and had a few owners I would drop it into the UK Seiko Centre for a check up. I dropped it in only yesterday and asked them to check it over and let me know whether it required a service, today just 24 hours later they called to say that they replaced all the seals, pressure tested it, checked it over and said everything was fine and it was ready to collect, they explained it didn't need a service as it passed all the tests including WR and timekeeping with flying colours, all for just £30! This included a printout of the test results as well as a special 'Divers Watch Certificate' specific to this watch with all the various checks shown completed which also guarantees water resistance.

This experience is making me rethink my collection, I find myself wearing my Seiko Spring MM600M more than any of the other watches shown below in my signature and I can see this latest MM getting a lot of wrist time.......

http://www.fototime.com/56281AA0A3E2FB7/standard.jpg

Glad to hear you had good service. Its this kind of thing that generates good will and positive threads on internet forums!
That's a damn good looking watch. I have a Seiko auto that needs attention... might well send it in.

That's one very nice looking MM there..first time i've seen one or even heard of one. Is it a current production model?

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Originally Posted by balzebub

That's one very nice looking MM there..first time i've seen one or even heard of one. Is it a current production model?

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Thanks, I've always thought it was one of the nicest looking of the Marine Master's, very easy/comfortable to wear despite the size as it's titanium and has that special coating that helps protect against scratches, this thread makes interesting reading comparing it with two other well know MM models.
http://forums.watchuseek.com/f74/tit...os-178463.html
My understanding is that these (SBDD003) were discontinued in 2010/2011.

http://www.fototime.com/91ED8F867675121/standard.jpg

I have just sent my SARB to Seiko UK so it's great to hear your experience here and as you say, this has made me rethink on purchasing a high end Seiko.

Now that is what I call hassle free ownership. :)

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Originally Posted by robert75

I have just sent my SARB to Seiko UK so it's great to hear your experience here and as you say, this has made me rethink on purchasing a high end Seiko.

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Would you mind giving an update once it gets back? I'm wondering if their service on mechanical watches will take much longer or are a lot more expensive.

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Originally Posted by andamanen

Would you mind giving an update once it gets back? I'm wondering if their service on mechanical watches will take much longer or are a lot more expensive.

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I sent my Spring Drive MM 600M GMT there in January this year for a full service and it took about 3 x weeks, most of that time was waiting for a replacement bracelet that they needed to order, the cost of the service was about £400.

I bought a Sumo from SC recently which was losing a very disappointing 70 seconds/day.
Phoned the Seiko Service Centre, who were very helpful and friendly. Posted the watch down last Thursday, and already have a letter from them.
I am hoping that the work will be covered by guarantee (the watch was originally bought in the Far East just over 18 months ago) and the letter hints that this may be the case.
A username and password is provided to allow you to monitor the progress of the job online.
Very impressed so far.

So the uk service centre is happy to service none-domestic market models are they?

I'd expect them to be, but you never know.

I've always had great service from Seiko... on three different continents now. ;-)

-flugzeit

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Originally Posted by seikokiller

So the uk service centre is happy to service none-domestic market models are they?

I'd expect them to be, but you never know.

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If hasn't been serviced/fixed yet, but the letter certainly suggests that it will [fingers crossed!]
It also says to expect the watch back within 10 working days.

That's great news, great to hear that you can have a few things done, without being forced to have a service.
This is a win win situation, as the customer gets what's actually needed without getting the feeling of been taken for a ride, and Seiko realise that the happy customer will give return custom and recommendations.
I often wondered how you stood for service of a JDM watch.
MAYBE the Swiss need to have a rethink on some of there customer service?

I have seen JDM mentioned a few times recently, and had no idea what it stood for.
Now I am a wiser man - Japanese Domestic Market.

I guess this applies to watches sourced from many Asian/Australian/US markets?

No, the clue's in the first word.
By definition, watches exported to the US and/or Australia officially can't be JDM since they're available outside of the local market.
Only those able to be sourced in Japan, qualify as JDM.

Wonder if Seiko UK can service a MM300(not that i have one yet) :(

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Originally Posted by barryw

Wonder if Seiko UK can service a MM300(not that i have one yet) :(

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You would think so, Seiko Australia (Sydney) does.

I think I am correct in saying the only Seiko movements that cannot be serviced by the regional service centres are the spring drives. these currently have to be returned to the land of the rising sun but I read somewhere that this could be changing in the US at least.

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Originally Posted by andamanen

Would you mind giving an update once it gets back? I'm wondering if their service on mechanical watches will take much longer or are a lot more expensive.

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Sorry I had completely forgotten about this thread. My Seiko took about 2 weeks to come back and now runs at about +5 seconds a day it's very accurate. When it was sent Seiko sent me a letter with a code where I could log in to the Seiko website to see the progress of the watch. It was sent back in the same box with an official card from Seiko confirming the work done.

I posted my Seiko Sumo on the 8th July and it arrived back today (19th July).
Plenty of paperwork came back with the watch, which basically informs me that the watch has had a movement service - on the checklist 200m water resistant, locking crown, condensation check and rotating bezel.
They include the print out from the "Watertightness Test".

Now to do my own test on time keeping accuracy..........

It's great to see a full breakdown, of work that has been done on a watch service.
I would definitely use Seiko UK in the future.

I have also just spotted that the movement is Guaranteed by Seiko for one year.
Everything was free under warranty, even though the watch was purchased in the Far East.

I have a WN-1 Think the Earth watch with a Seiko movement that developed a fault. Seiko UK wouldn't touch it. Had to send it back to Seiko Instruments in Japan. I was a bit concerned about having to send it halfway around the world and back but I needn't have been. Superb service, turned round in less than a month and for less that a ton.

I've asked Seiko before about the MM300, they didn't know what it was and asked who h movement it has. They said the 8L35 has to be serviced in Japan which actually I'm happy with given that it is assembled with all the other Grand Seikos in the same workshop.

The work done by Seiko is first class too.
My Sumo departed running about +65 seconds/day - shocking.
Arrived back from a movement service and now runs at +2.5 sec/day - very pleased :distracted:

As somebody else mentioned, many Seiko movements are indeed capable of excellent timekeeping.
Superb value at the price point, and more accurate than some much more expensive Swiss movements!