Reply With QuoteWhat a nice response from Bulova.
On sheer scale though, how much correspondence would you think Swatch UK receives Vs. Bulova UK? Perhaps 10,000 times as much? 100,000 times as much?
Still, good for Bulova.
I recently needed some of those horrible "pins and tubes" to expand a couple of watch bracelets. Two different manufacturers and two completely different results. In both cases I only needed the pins - I already had the spare links, and was asking for part numbers and the best way of obtaining spare pins.
1. Bulova UK.
Sent letter asking about pins and tubes. 4 days later received a package containing two complete links with pins and tubes, free of charge "With Compliments"
2. Hamilton - Swatch, UK
Sent letter asking about pins and tubes. 3 weeks later, the letter has not been acknowledged, let alone replied to.
FULL marks to Bulova - excellent service!
What a nice response from Bulova.
On sheer scale though, how much correspondence would you think Swatch UK receives Vs. Bulova UK? Perhaps 10,000 times as much? 100,000 times as much?
Still, good for Bulova.
I suspect the orders of magnitude are much, much less than that, but it reflects the amount of resource and importance that the two companies invest in "Customer Service".Originally Posted by DB9yeti
Buolva sell a lot of watches, the price is relatively low in comparison to Hamilton, they will have to deal with a volume of enquiries relating to this sort of thing, which makes their customer service all the more impressive in this instance.
That really is excellent service, well done Bulova, having that sort of service does help when making a decision to buy into a brand.1. Bulova UK.
Sent letter asking about pins and tubes. 4 days later received a package containing two complete links with pins and tubes, free of charge "With Compliments"
Had a similar experience with Citizen a while back, wanted the hands on a chronograph to be changed for thicker hands from one of their other watches for easier visibility.
They asked me to send the watch in and did the work FOC, even included a Citizen invoice for the work at zero cost so it was still under warranty.
Well if that was true it would be because Swatch sold 10,000 times as many watches and made >20,000 times as much profit and should easily be able to match Bulova's investment in customer service per watch sold....?
I think the factor is probably much lower, but anyway no excuse for not providing good service.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
You'd staff according if you valued service.
Try contacting Swatch directly through the website. I did that when looking to obtain a half link for a Seamaster. Telephone call from them the next day advising how I could go about purchasing one or offering to have the watch posted down to them and link fitted free of charge (with me only paying for the part).
Or the Aqua Terra I have just received back from them with a replacement crystal due to a very slight mark in the external AR coating and a case refurb all done at no cost to me. This was on a 2.5 year old watch.
In my overall experience Swatch do customer service very well. It is probably just finding the best way to contact them to get a response.
You sent a letter? Probably Bulova is just more disciplined at checking their post box! I can't image much correspondence drops though either of their letter boxes any more. :)
I'd say one problem with Swatch, from my experience, is they do tend towards providing a level of service at the lowest common denominator of their brands; in their case the Swatch/flik flak level, no matter if you've got an Omega or a Calvin Klein.
Social media normally garners a quick response
Do you deal with Swatch UK though? I thought that they ran everything as separate business units?
Bulova now owned by Citizen so i would expect good customer service if previous service i have received from Citizen is anything to go on.
Sent a letter?
Maybe just maybe the snail mail didn't arrive at all.
The postal service isn't what it was. When in the UK I've had parcels delivered from Hong Hong next day, and RM recorded arrive 2 weeks late!
Aside from that though, well done Bulova, but also isn't this a little sad when a reasonable level of service is so highly praised?
Standards are slipping as we 'progress' through these modern times
Last edited by nunya; 21st June 2016 at 18:06.
I have no experience with Citizen, but have dealt with / bought from many Japanese companies, I would say overall their level of quality built into their products really shows and that includes CS.
I suppose Citizen has a lot to live up to considering their 2016 slogan is 'better starts now'
The Hamilton UK Service Centre doesn't publicise it's email address unfortunately. Virtually impossible for me to phone them during my working hours so they got a letter with my email and postal addresses. No response.
So I see, just had a quick look myself.
Rather old school in this day and age, might be worth asking through an AD?
But there is an online contact form which you could try?
Which for general FAQ, a brochure or info on vintage pieces, the form doesn't mention servicing or service contacts
Worth spending a couple of minutes completing surely to see what response you get? They may provide a contact. Or just contact James Avery who is head of Swatch UK customer services.
"Service Center", what a joke. Giving away their email would make it too easy for customers to contact them, leading to work. Something they are clearly keen on avoiding.
Swatch is a big company, sells a lot of watches, and I suspect they simply don't give a toss about your pins...
Perhaps it is worth emailing them. As you clearly point out they are part of the swatch group, so are you telling me you can't get hold of them... Not a single email address, not a single pos, Hamilton website provides the contact details and have a contact us page. Yeah right cmon, I am all for sharing poor service experiences but you wrote a letter 3 weeks ago I presume non recorded and state crap service. Which address did you send it to? They have moved from Eastleigh. I know these big companies don't get it right all the time but you sound like an EU debate... "Too many immigrants vote leave"
They DO actually have an email address...
Charter Court, Third Avenue, Millbrook
Southampton, Hampshire , UNITED KINGDOM, SO15 0JA
Phone: +44 (0) 845 275 2800
E-mail: service@uk.swatchgroup.com
Perhaps the OP may wish to try that....
I've dropped the OP details of two contacts at Swatch in the customer service dept. One replied within an hour this evening even though he is away on leave this week. I'd say they take customer service seriously. He said he would be more than happy to help the OP.
Swatch Group have a service email address, but that's not what is being discussed.
Hamilton do not have a publicised email address on their webpage, only a contact form, which does not offer "servicing" as an option in the "type of request field"
If you go to customer service then service centres, for the UK you only get the following direct contact info
Swatch Group UK Ltd
Charter Court, Third Avenue, Millbrook, Southampton SO15 0JA
Southampton
United Kingdom
PHONE: +44(0)845 899 0086
FAX: +44 (0)2380 646 900
Same address, different phone number and NO email.
As they are a massive organisation, an email to a generic address is unlikely to get to the right sub-company, never mind the right department within it.
And this is coming from working inside a company with over 30,000 company email addresses, don't get it right, it's going no where.
You mean someone replied, same someone will either forward that email to the right area (good for them), or just trash it, as they've 'done their bit'
Just because you got a response in under an hour, really doesn't mean a whole lot, speaking from experience.
Unless of course your contacts are people you actually know, then......
Hopefully in this instance, I'm proved wrong and it all works out for the OP.
Yes they are people I know. And I highly doubt given who they are they will just trash it or forward and forget.
Surely then you would contact them and ask who do I speak/email regarding 2 links for my Hamilton watch ref xxxx. They will respond or forward your details to the correct person in the UK. Job done.
Service uk would indicate that while generic its service in the UK 😀 I don't think UK market is yet big enough for one watch company to employ 30000. I get if you don't get it right it goes nowhere, but in fairness a letter was sent with no follow up and now it's deemed crap service. The OP refers that it's difficult to get hold of the right person. Somebody on here did it in an hour and on the website you have a possibility to send an email, additionally above you have a telephone number. What ever happened to picking up the phone and discussing it.
As midgetda says, you fill in the online 'contact us’ form, and the message is then sent to the relevant dept to handle or the query is made internally, and then the CS come back to you with the info, if they don’t know the answer.
Being Swatch Group, there may be a policy to not send parts to customers directly, but to instruct them to visit their nearest AD to fit or collect them from.
Just use the service@uk.swatchgroup.com address and put Hamilton in the subject header. Usually you will get a response within 48hrs.
I chose this route when i had a problem with my sons Swatch and i got a response & solution within 48 hours from them....only reason i went down the social media route was because we were on holiday so i didnt really have the resources or time to find a contact email address and write to them formally
good luck hope you get it sorted
Update:
Thanks to the contact suggest by midgetda (thanks Lee), my problem has now been successfully resolved and I must say that once Swatch Customer Service swung into action they were very quick, with excellent and thorough communication throughout. As we already know, they don't supply spare parts to retail customers and my watch made the return trip to their workshop, but importantly, and probably because of the delays, it was free. Well done Swatch!
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