Hi All,
I purchased twice from Watchfinder, 2 years apart, both with less than great experiences.
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First time - 2013- Omega Speedmaster (Transitional Dial)
Being a skeptic of them from other peoples reviews I incited the sales discussion over ‘Chat’ and asked incredibly specific questions about condition etc. and clarified any vague answer given to me, once the sale was completed I had the transcript to back up the transaction.
The watch came with a severely damaged bracelet and was losing about 90 seconds a day.
I called them to discuss and was instantly insulted with ‘What do you expect, its old’ followed quickly by 'Send it back if your not happy and once we've received it, checked that its not been damaged we will refund you' by Head Salesman Alex.
So I emailed one of the directors Matt Bowling (got his email from another forum) and after a few days I received the below reply;
“Good Evening Swiss,
I haven’t yet been able to establish the circumstances surrounding your telephone exchanges. In advance of that happening I would like to apologise for the way your enquiry was dealt with. We do deal with postal deadlines but I recognize this could have been handled differently. With respect to the manner in which the problem was identified we ask everyone in the chain to play their part for exactly this eventuality. As disappointing as it is to have a fault I would always rather have it identified before the watch is dispatched, whoever makes the observation. Moving forward I would like to get the watch back to have the timing corrected. The watch as you know has a manual movement so should run equally well in the box and on the wrist. The watch shouldn’t be losing that much time. We will of course pay for the watch to be returned if you are able to supply a receipt for postage. We’ll then make the work a priority and I’ll direct it to our head watchmaker.
We should have made clear the condition of the bracelet on the website prior to sale. It could be that the watch was sold before multiple images were taken which might explain why this didn’t happen. I’m sure the bracelet was examined prior to dispatch and passed as secure. I’ve seen several of the older speedmaster bracelets that look like this in the past. We’ll look at that again when the watch is returned to us.
I’m sorry that this has been a disappointing experience. I hope we are able to demonstrate that our commitment to customer service is genuine, I understand that you have made a significant investment in the watch and hope to have this resolved to your satisfaction as quickly as possible so you can get on with the enjoyment you were expecting.
Best Regards
Matt Bowling
“
After a few emails & calls back and forth with him to establish the details. I was called by Natalie Head of Customer Services who arranged collection and kept me in the loop whilst it was being 'adjusted'.
They fixed it, shoved it into a jiffy and sent it back. When I received it I was horrified at the lack of packaging/ protection and also the missing paint on the top of the chronograph dial hands (they’d been removed for the overhaul).
I contacted Natalie it was collected, repainted and then returned (packaged well).
Here’ s the timeline for that debacle
05/02 - Ordered Watch
26/02 - Received watch
10/03 - Email to Matt
25/03 - Sent to watchfinder, received, then resent
17/04 - Received back fully complete
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I flipped the Speedy a few weeks later because it reminded me too much of 2 annoying months.
Got a good deal on a PX Milgauss GV which I then sold (to save some money) and got the below Bremont.
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Second time - 2014 - Bremont
'The watchfinder process of authenticity checking etc mentioned here
http://www.watchfinder.co.uk/info/Why-us ‘We use our combined decades' worth of experience, library of reference books and relationships with the manufacturers to make entirely sure that everything we sell is completely authentic.’ Seemed to have failed on this one.
Part One - The Purchase
It was listed as brand new 2014 & under manufactures warranty. Being new to Bremont I didn’t twig that this was a model produced years before this so I went ahead with the purchase.
The watch turned up and I was not disappointed, a true stunner.
Sadly this was the beginning of a pain.
I contacted Bremont to register it and was told that the papers supplied to me were forged (confirmed to them by the retailer listed on the papers), the watch was never sold by that dealer, the watch was sold in 2011 and was no longer under Guarantee.
To get it back under guarantee it would need to be sent back to them and serviced for £375 and would take 6-8 weeks.
I contacted Watchfinder & spoke to the Sales Manager Alex, he was extremely aggressive and asked me ‘what is it I thought they could do about it.’ and was then told ‘If I wasn’t happy to send it back’.
When I made the call to them I was of a vue that they had done nothing wrong (shirt happens) & I was entirely happy with them, just confused by the situation and looking to have a chat to find a resolution (I’d dealt with them previously on the above Omega the customers service person Natalie & Director had handled the whole debacle well albeit slower than I would of liked (However I had forgotten about Alex))
I remembered this, calmly apologised for any negatively received from me and asked him to get the customer services person to contact me.
When she phoned she remembered me and was great once again!, She was understanding, genuine & concerned after listening to my case & checking with Bremont.
She agreed to refund me the difference between the price I paid and the value of the unit I received.
The offer ended up at £405 (£375 & £30 for postage costs). She insisted that I take a few days to think about accepting a partial or sending it back for a full refund.
(Also she seemed very understanding & unsurprised by my experiences from Alex )
I accepted the partial refund.
Part Two - The Warranty Claim
"Peace Of Mind Ownership
The experience doesn't end once you receive the watch. Every item we sell is covered by a twelve month comprehensive Watchfinder warranty in addition to any remaining manufacturer's warranty to protect you if it goes wrong." [/url]http://www.watchfinder.co.uk/info/Why-Buy-Pre-owned[/url]
They don't seem to acknowledge this point
2 days shy of 3 months later, I had really bonded with the watch. Sadly like all great loves the honeymoon had to end… I woke up after not wearing it for a few days, I set the time, gave it a little power boost manually before attaching it to my wrist. On about the 5th wind, the crown went very stiff then very loose and came out with the stem attached.
I contacted Watchfinder they sent me out the returns pack and 2 weeks later I got an email with a Bremont quote asking for £375.
Now I am not known to be greedy but I was really not happy with this.
I asked them to cover the cost as its still under their warranty.
They said that the refund was given so that I could send it to be serviced and even though I was under no obligation to have done it they still weren’t going to cover the costs.
At no point during the previous partial refund discussion was I told I was waiving the rights to their standard warranty.
I contacted Bremont to ask if they could provide me with the actual reason of the failure.
The reason was listed as general wear and tear due to age and they clearly wrote "Not any fault from misuse"
After presenting this analysis to Watchfinder they once again point blank refused to cover the cost of the repair.
Part Three - Payment Protection
So I paid Bremont directly and appealed to my credit card company.
6 Weeks later the Credit Card people agreed with my stance and granted me a refund of £375.
The meant a total saving of £780 off Watchfinders initial charge but a lot of hassle.
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My experiences are what they were. As we all know there are so many variables with any interaction (and emotions usually when it involves the exchange of money) that no two can be the same and that your never going to please all of the people all of the time.
In summary I found that mostly everyone I dealt with at Watchfinder seems to be at normal everyday standards.... except for one... because of every moment of conversation spanning nearly 2 years with Alex Stonely, he has only ever shown himself to me as someone I would not employ or recommend to be employed in a customer facing position, he seems to have nothing but contempt for us mere human beings.
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I apologise for the longwinded post, but hopefully it helps to add to the perspective