Reply With Quotestill quite a new system, but the guarantee cards have a magnetic strip that needs to be swiped (a bit like a credit card transaction)Originally Posted by smalltime
I never knew that!
still quite a new system, but the guarantee cards have a magnetic strip that needs to be swiped (a bit like a credit card transaction)
That's interesting and a good idea!
Maybe you can ask for the card immediately, and the watch 6 months later.
In some way or another that must have always been the case that the shop registered the sale which set off the warranty period for the watch.
the warranty used to be activated by the shop writing on the guarantee card,
it was not registered with Rolex at point of sale before. although Rolex would know what serial numbers went to each retailer (I'm not 100% sure but I think the retailer had to send a report to rolex each month with the watches sold)
That's an interesting thought, yes - the staff sensing a secret shopper from HQ and playing it safe...
^ This would seem to fit in with what I said about them being overly precious over their Rolex AD'ship status having snatched it out from under the nose of Mappin & Webb next door, as stated the staff were pleasant but one of them went to great lengths to explain how they had achieved and that Rolex UK contact all of their [Rolex] customers to conduct a customer service survey after purchase, plus the usual blowing of the trumpet.
In my experience that's BS, I've had 3 from the same AD over a number of years, not once has Rolex UK contacted me about anything, wouldn't expect them to either. The AD head office perhaps to check on the 'performance' of their staff, but that's never happened either.
My last one was from another AD who's an Indie not a chain so the feedback was instant as their MD sorted the sale.
To be fair to the AD, I respect what they are doing. Just bought a 116610LN from them and they were fine with me keeping my g'tee card. They explained that they are only keeping them for S/S Daytona's and exclusive models, simply because they get in trouble if one of the watches gets on the grey market and the serial no. matches up with their store. Means that customers that really want the watch to wear and not sell, get one and don't have to pay a premium in the process. also got a bottle of champers from them as I was leaving so not really bothered. other than that the store looks gr8 and friendly staff. (Y)
If they sell a watch at rrp and the watch ends up being resold it's no odds to them . Rolex will carry out audits to ensure that prices are being adhered to .
If someone wants to try his luck and sell on a watch at a premium it's their choice . Rolex should allow AD's to have more stock . They can't have it both ways .
I can kind of see where the AD is coming from, but it's a shame they feel so threatened that they have to do such a thing. It's like BMW a keeping your V5 so you can't sell your i8 for a profit. It's ridiculous.
Also, you say "they were fine with me keeping my card" and that's the point. It shouldn't be up to them. It's part of the package of your watch!! It's yours!
Sorry but that's crazy, trying to manipulate the second hand market for your products by withholding warranty cards? ! And why just certain models ? They have just told you your 116610LN is a lesser model of watch.. I don't see that there is any justification for the practice.
If such a thing had been suggested to me, I'd tell them where to stick the watch, and ask for the name of the Manager - then I would inform them I will be writing a letter of complaint to Rolex directly quoting the store, the name of the Manager and the salesperson. Frankly, you pay £6000 for a watch, which includes the box and papers etc - not just the bits they want to give you at the time! Completely bananas, if I bought it from a back street in Caracas I wouldn't expect such stupidity and I certainly wouldn't tolerate it in a UK High street shop!
Sounds like a fun game... ask to buy 10x rollies then spit your dummy out when they reveal their retention policy and storm out ;)
How long have you been affiliated with them Tom?
If they don't discount then what have they got to fear from Rolex? Surely it is only ADs that discount that Rolex are concerned about.
Sounds way dodgy to me. I'd never buy from a shop like that.
How long have you worked there, then?
There's such a thing as good customer service, and unless you clearly point out poor customer service how will they know? - honestly, you pay hard-earned money and get treated like a criminal in the process??!!
What a customer does with any (stupidly expensive) new Rolex watch after purchase is entirely the customers business and NO damn business of Rolex or any AD.
I have over the years bought three new Rolex watches, all from AD's and if any of them had proposed retaining the warranty card for any period of time, they would have been smartly told to stuff their watch!
Last edited by KavKav; 13th April 2015 at 22:13.
At the end of the day, Rolex's little piece of plastic is nothing compared to consumer law. If you buy a watch, and it becomes faulty before they send it to you, it won't make a whit of difference. Similarly, if you buy the watch from someone else before they had a piece of plastic, and you have the proof of purchase, the watch is still warrantied according to the prevailing consumer legislation. If Rolex declines on the basis of no little piece of plastic, you can drag them into court, superquick.
Of course, this means buying a watch from someone who didn't shake down the dealer when they wouldn't give him his little piece of plastic. It's not a deal I would ever do! :)
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
Don't forget that the consumer protection legislation only applies to the retailer. Rolex as the manufacturer is not affected by the legislation as far as I know.
Thus Rolex could quite rightly refuse to provide warranty service without the warranty card since their warranty is entirely voluntary and is not a legal protection. Of course, the shop would be bound by all the usual consumer protection legislation, regardless of the manufacturer's warranty card.
Last edited by markrlondon; 15th April 2015 at 01:48.
Good point, thank you for this.
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
It is not actually about the mechanics of the warranty is it? It is all about Rolex/ AD arrogance in thinking they can retain part of the retail package ( for whatever spurious reason) that a customer has paid a LOT of money for!
As I posted earlier, what a customer chooses to do with a freshly purchased Rolex watch is entirely his/her own damn business and NO business of Rolex or their minions!
Last edited by KavKav; 14th April 2015 at 20:37.
Gr8 first post even....
Cheers..
Jase
So I buy my Rolex, the AD keeps the warranty card, and I go off to work in California, say, for a few months. After three months the watch develops a fault. Where do I stand on getting it fixed if I don't have the warranty card and I can't visit the AD any time soon?
You won't be really bothered because you also got a bottle of champers from them as you were leaving and the store looks gr8 and friendly staff!
LMAO!! Awesome post mayn.
Is the warranty card relevant when it comes to Rolex, surely the AD tells them the serial number of a watch when it sells and Rolex registers that so when a watch comes in for service work they know what's what? I'd have thought the card was only relevant to the owner as part of a full set.
You may have to wait until you get home. Although when you did, the lack of plastic card wouldn't make any difference, you just need the till receipt for proof of purchase to exercise your statutory rights.
You could try to visit the US service centre, or just a US authorised dealer. But they likely wouldn't recognise the UK till receipt and would only pay attention to the plastic warranty card, asssuming it applied in the US. If you then told the dealer that in the UK, retailer protect the reputations and price controls of their suppliers at the expense of their customers, he'd suddenly remember why the revolutionary war was such a good idea ;).
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
Clearly all the Rolex paperwork is a waste of space, just bin the warranty card etc and keep the till receipt. My wife took one of the kids school jumpers back to primark last week and they were happy with the receipt. Hey it's only money, £6k is just midrange for a steel watch anyway, and we all know they never go wrong as they're handmade over the course of a year by Swiss boffins. And a mystery poster/possible employee of said AD who reckons a bottle of plonk explains it all says it's a gr8 situation, so that's all ok then. We should all be lucky we're allowed to buy at the retail price because someone might sell one of these precious artefacts and god forbid sell at a profit - which they can't do without the warranty card, which is meaningless and all you need is a till receipt. Hang on, if you don't need the warranty card...... What a crock of @#£%!
And what are those statutory rights exactly? Unless international consumer law has changed over the last few years, you have little redress for a faulty product bought in another country. Some years ago (OK, many years ago) I bought a Sony Walkman while on holiday in the US. A couple of months after I returned to the UK it packed up, so I sent it off to Sony UK - with the receipt from the US retailer. The Walkman was returned to me, untouched, with a letter from Sony stating that the international warranty is only valid for 30 days.
Just fyi, I returned to the US later that year and took said Walkman to a Sony authorised service centre (center); the fella told me that there was indeed a faulty part which was covered under the warranty but I would have to pay the labour (labor) to have it replaced. That is why, dear reader, I never buy Sony products - if they want to bugger me about over 20 dollars for something that was their fault, they're not going to get the several thousands of pounds I will eventually spend on TVs, DVD players, hi-fi, etc.
And last, it seems... Damn, the forum was almost fooled!
If you did have the *international* warranty card - I think you would be able to take it to an AD in the states to be fixed. Without the card you may have problems.
Why blame the shóp? They are simply responding to being bullied by the manufacturer who is trying to control the market.
Sounds way dodgy to me too. I´d never buy from a brand like that.
Both ADs and customers are getting paranoid and the delusions needed to justify it all are beyond mentally healthy.
Remember the title song of ´Rawhide´?
Have a look on ebay and subsitute by ´Rolex´...
Cape diem! Have a nice one today!!
And what about Seiko telling Seiya that he can't send Grand Seiko to Europe? Isn't that bullying by a manufacturer trying to control the market? Doesn't that sound dodgy? Would you ever buy from a brand like that? (The last question is rhetorical, I already know the answer).
As per my last post, the only reason they could want to do this is because they are selling their Rolex at a discount, and feel doing this might reduce the chances of them being rumbled. All they have to do is stop discounting, and hey presto - nothing to worry about!
I guess this thread should take care of that!
And again, what an utterly ridiculous and contemptuous thing for the AD to do! I know where I wont be spending money on a new watch!
Oh, and Toms post above... oh dear!!
>chortle<
*drums fingers while the Iberian cat strangler fails to think of anything apart from bluster and starts talking about imaginary women instead*
Brilliant!
That's quite a different situation, which relates to grey importing. This thread is about an AD's policy to retain the warranty card of certain models which may be sold on at higher than SRP, instead of being worn.
In effect, it's trying to pre-qualify buyers in the same way Ferrari has done, and continues to do so, for specific models they make.
Given the nature of the discussion, I phoned two other branches, and both stated they don't do it, it's not a company-wide policy, but that they have heard of other stores (ADs) doing it, possibly for the Daytona.
They also said it was not a Rolex dictum, but as ADs, they do try to protect the brand – I'm still don't get how someone (private or trader) selling for slightly more than retail, hurts the brand, and therefore requires intervening to try and prevent it.
I always call the brands costumer service center when odd stuff like this happens (called JLC last week).
They always get angry and calls directly to the store to tell them what's what. You really should call Rolex and inform them of this odd thing.
We isn't even an AD so it's not relevant.
Better still call a union solicitor.
Seiko does it with non-GSs too - they stop Brits buying a lot of interesting watches from Europe, Asia and the US. I can't abide by that.
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
Oh, no I meant domestic statutory rights. As in, you buy the watch, the dealer withholds the warranty, you go on hols, the watch fails, you come back, still no plastic card, so you just take the watch back to where you bought it brandishing the receipt. That would be fine, you don't need a plastic card to get it repiared. But if it did break down overseas, not having the plastic card would leave you up a creek without a paddle.
Be interesting to see if this is a one-off dealer strategy, or is forced by Rolex and becomes commonplace.
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
That's what I suspected, and is, I think, a good enough reason for not submitting to this practice.
And PJ S's point is a good one. If the UK AD sells at full price to the customer, how likely is it that the customer is going to manage to quickly sell the watch on at an inflated price, which is presumably what retaining the warranty card is trying to prevent? If this was an Italian AD (or wherever Rolex prices are cheaper than here) I can see the logic in this practice to try and hamper the grey market, but I assume UK Rolex prices are near the top end of the international spectrum, so it just doesn't make sense to do that here.
I would wait until they close for the evening and go straight round there and,
Poo through their Letterbox
Poo through their Letterbox
Poo through their Letterbox
Poo through their Letterbox
Poo through their Letterbox
Poo through their Letterbox
Poo through their Letterbox
^ my thoughts exactly!
Did someone mention a union solicitor?
http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...=1#post2168232
Did someone mention small claims.
http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...=1#post2155760
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