So I went to Harrods to pick up a Black Bay Harrods yesterday. The service I received was not up to scratch and I wondered if anyone else has had a similar experience.
I get an email from one of their guys saying the watch was ready. I said I'll head down after work. Good so far.
I then get to them around 6pm and there are no staff in the Tudor section. There's me and one other guy in there waiting to be served. I went looking in IWC and asked and they go an find someone.
Someone shows up a few minutes later and talks to the other shopper first. He's here to pick up his Black Bay too. They talk to him for maybe ten minutes and shuffle around in a load of different display cases. Then I interrupt and ask if there's someone else who can see me. Bear in mind neither of us have sat down, been offered a drink etc. About half an hour in someone comes to speak to me and they have no idea about the watch I'm there for. More checking of cupboards and confusion.
Then it comes out they have "lost" the watches. This carried on for another half an hour until they emerged with travel coffins for me and this other guy. These watches were apparently meant for someone else but they decided to give them to us and figure it out later.
All told I was there for over an hour and a half of standing on the shop floor. Not the premium experience I would have expected. I suppose other brand boutiques might be different, but I don't think my experience was very good.
I have never purchased a watch from harrods, but when buying other items I have always found the buying experience to be considerably sub par when compared to visiting brand boutiques that are not part of a deparment store (ie not in harrods or Selfridges).
That being said the exception to this is I was considering the new VC overseas and the staff in the harrods VC boutique were fantastic.
Are you the real Gerald Genta?!
Back in reality, I've had much better experiences with Goldsmiths. I've bought from their Canterbury store before and been treated very well.
I've been in the watch section a few times and its always understaffed.
Last time I was in there I had a good chat with an Italian guy on the JLC counter, knew his stuff and was very helpful.
Goldsmiths in Canterbury is awesome. I was in there recently, looking at Tudor & Omega for the wife's upcoming 40th & was treated exceptionally well, even being offered a beer!Originally Posted by WhopperSenior
Are you the real Gerald Genta?!
Back in reality, I've had much better experiences with Goldsmiths. I've bought from their Canterbury store before and been treated very well.
My experience was completely the opposite last week. I rang up to enquire if they had an OP in stock, they confirmed they had and would hold it for me until 9pm that day.
I turned up and was immediately welcomed with please take a seat while the chap got the watch.
As the watch needed a link removing I was taken down stairs to the service area, offered a drink while I waited and given a free carry case as I had to wait slightly longer than 10 minutes.
I was also given a loyalty card which entitles me to £40 off in store so although not a discount as such it works out at 1% of the RRP.
I could not have been happier with the service and found it to be extremely professional.
I wonder if it was more to do with the time of day. I was there in the evening and I imagine a lot of the normal staff had gone for the day. The person I had been dealing with wasn't there so I guess they have a skeleton crew to cover the evenings. The guy "working" in the Roger Dubuis booth was sat watching youtube on his phone!
I just shed a tear for you, wishing you a speedy recovery.
Obvious troll is obvious
Have you contacted harrods to complain? Even if it will not make a difference but worth making your point
I've popped in a few times to the Tudor section and it's been quite understaffed resulting in me waiting a while to be seen.
I think it's definitely worth sending them an email letting them know your experience?
Last edited by Bluebird84; 26th September 2018 at 10:14. Reason: Typo
I'll do that. Not really a big deal as I got the outcome I wanted in the end. When buying a luxury item, especially from Harrods, I just expected a better experience.
Yeah that's totally justified. Keep us posted, at the very least I'd expect a positive response from Harrods acknowledging your experience.
How are you getting on with the watch? Was it a long wait?
Last edited by Bluebird84; 26th September 2018 at 10:23. Reason: Typo
It was a pretty long wait although not as long as I expected. I was originally told four years and it ended up being about ten months. The watch is really nice looking and the colours are better than I has expected from photos. The fit and finish is much better than I expected too. This is however, my first black bay and it sits a lot taller on the wrist than I had expected. For now I'm going to wear it with the stickers on and see if I get used to it.
That is taking the ps .i would of expected an apology at least for the 1 hour wait.
10 months isn't too bad at all I guess. Glad to hear it's comfortable, and yeah that makes sense. Definitely good to know that you can recoup your costs and then some potentially, should you decide the watch isn't for you.
Keep us posted!
Got an email back. They were apologetic and said they would feed the details back to the relevant team. Not much else in there really. I get the impression they don't think it's important to offer you a seat or a drink. I suppose it's not necessary but again I thought that would be part of the service.
Agree but even if you got your outcome, it was at a heavy price the most important is that you have what you came for
Que?
Ive always had amazing service from Harrods, just to balance this thread out. When the initial Harrods BB were released, the guy there gave me a call to say I can reserve the early numbers and every time I go, even if I dont buy anything or there for any special reason, he will sit down, give me some sparkling water, try any watch I want etc Really great comforting experience.
Are you frail or dehydrated? Because if so its important
If you wanted a better experience pop to Soho for a massage!
RIAC
Who knew watch buying was such a needy experience.
You should receive better customer service than that regardless, particularly when spending £2,630 on a watch. I picked up my Harrods BB in my lunch break; the level of service was functional - not great but not too bad.
Ive just got my black bay Harrods and the whole process wasn’t great.
I suppose they deal with huge amounts of tourists, so they don’t rely on repeat business.
To the store it is just a sale I suppose. I have paid more for a bed yet was never offered a seat or a drink. Perhaps if you want an 'experience' when buying your watch you would be better off going to a watch specific store and not a general store?
What exactly were you expecting out of spending two and a half grand ? Red carpet , elf’s showering you with Rose petals and a half naked concubine attending to your every wish and over inflated ego . Jeesh.
Agreed, £2500 is nothing. I propose that if you're spending less than say £30k in the watch section at Harrods the system should be as follows:
1) Pick watch from catalogs which are placed around the store
2) Write down the item number of the watch
3) Queue at pay point (or used automated touch screen) to make payment for watch
3) Be given a receipt and a number
4) Sit in crappy plastic seat and wait for your watch to come round a conveyor belt
5) Collect watch from person manning collection point when number called
....
It all seriousness, the man is buying a watch for a few thousand pound that he has been on the waiting list for and the service sounded shocking. I'd be pissed off.
I'm a bit surprised by some of these responses really. I'm not being a snowflake here and I wouldn't expect the same service when buying a bed. Simply pointing out that they were pretty rubbish and the service was worse than the likes of Goldsmiths. Harrods is marketed entirely on being the fancy place with the fancy experience. Special editions aside, if you're not getting that experience why would you shop there?
I'd be unhappy about the lack of staff, the wait and then the inability to find the said watch. These are what I would regard as being part of the buying experience.
Tea/coffee and a seat, well you can get that anywhere these days.
In all seriousness Horrids is the last place I’d shop . It’s full of plastic sales assistants pandering to the reams of over wealthy foreigners wearing funny clothing and throwing hundreds of thousands of pounds of dodgy money around . I shop at decent independents who can pronounce your surname correctly can spell and speak decent English ! Hate the place .
Well I've just been informed I can get that free in Harrods now with the reward points from the watch purchase!
Facetious reply deleted.
Had a similar faff when collecting mine. The bloke had to go to some remote facility to retrieve the watch and all told it took 30 minutes longer than it should have, especially since I had been in regular discussion with the guy, told him I was just down for the day, was in a hurry and would be arriving at 10am. Not the end of the world but probably the most painful watch-buying experience I've had.
You didn't come across as a snowflake - simply said you were disappointed in slightly sub-par service (maybe more than slightly). I would be annoyed as I'm planning a big purchase when I've saved enough and am hoping the buying experience will be quite special for something that is a real luxury to own.
My bed is a real luxury to own.....
Surreptitious win in that case
Spare a thought for the other two guys whose watches were sold to you and the other chap. I suspect their experience will be a lot worse :-)
I would not have the expectation that the service should be special as such but I would at least expect it to be professional. If arrangements have been made then they should be ready. If there are unforeseen circumstances just before your arrival, how about a quick sorry but there will be a delay etc.
I certainly would be annoyed at the hanging around whilst the staff wonder about aimlessly. I could be doing a million other productive things like being on TZ than hanging around in a shop.
Ok then, for all the non-sympathisers out there who think that spending ‘only’ £2.6k on a watch shouldn’t be in the least bit pleasurable, the Harrods staff should have beaten the OP senseless then tarred and feathered him in public in High Street Kensington...🙄
That will teach him not to go to a grocers for a watch.
While I'm not sure what experience we 'deserve', it sounds a bit sub-par. Compare to WoS on Regent Street; I went in with my wife as she's thinking of buying something nice (Cle de Cartier) in the next couple of years and wanted to see how one looked on the wrist. Cartier assistant was great, offered a sit down and a coffee while various watches were brought over. We made it clear we weren't buying. No problem. And then when I went for a wander to the other parts of the store some of the other staff had a chat, no pressure offers to try on watches I told them straight out I couldn't afford.
Why didn't you ask for a seat and a drink ?
They where so off to me on the phone that I gave my money to the friendly IWC boutique staff in Munich.
It meant I paid more,but I would rather do that than give it to someone I don’t like.
I would expect to be treated decently if it was a £10 NATO it’s not the money that counts.
My experience of Harrods is the money DOES count - if you are 'loadsamoney' then they will pander to you, witnessed by groups of tourists wandering around spending tens of thousands at a time.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Ordinarily I would agree with the OP re the poor service - however in this case tbh I would have just been so glad to have had the call to pick up such a sought after model (after how long a wait?). Once bagged I would have treated myself to a coffee and maybe a slice of celebratory cake at a venue of my choice.
I bought a Milgauss in the Harrods Rolex boutique and thought the experience sub par. I was with my wife and 2 week old son and we were seated at a desk to try on the watch but no offer of coffee or anything (which would have been appreciated).
I was asked to fill in my own warranty card which I thought was a bit naff.
Whilst the service was not bad, it wasn’t special.
I also joined a pal to pick up a Harrods BB and again left feeling that our experience was a bit poor. Just stood about in the watch room until we were served. There weren’t any areas to look over the watch, just looking at it in the counter top. Bit of an argument about why we couldn’t keep the swing tag and after a “if you don’t want to buy it without the tag you’re free to leave” kind of discussion we left with the watch and a slightly sour taste in our mouths.
Compare to this week picking up a Reverso with a friend in the JleC boutique in old bond st and we were treated like kings. Coffee on arrival (with JleC logo sugar cubes 👌🏻) and when returning after lunch a nice glass of Louis Roederer for each of us. We were treated to a look at many watches, a great discussion over their heritage cabinet and left happy customers with a nice watch and some choccies and champagne as a little thank you bonus.
Similar in Blancpain when buying a Villeret we treated to snacks and champagne in the boutique’s private lounge upstairs. Allowed to view a few special pieces out of the safe and left happy customers, again with a few freebies.
That is it, I'm taking my hard earned somewhere else unless they are serving me bubbly with oysters and I'm given a foot massage.
Fas est ab hoste doceri
I was I Harrods earlier this year and had 3 interactions with different watch areas.
Rolex: very attentive service trying on Datejusts.
JLC: attentive and offered to help
Tudor: Nobody there for ages. 1 person then serving 3 different customers. Finally managed to get my name down for the HBB.
The Tudor area is shared with other brands. Rolex and JLC have their own areas. The Tudor area is understaffed.
I personally would find that kind of behaviour vulgar and pretentious.
Last edited by boring_sandwich; 27th September 2018 at 20:41.
Which kind of behaviour?
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote