I know Archie Luxury doesn’t always endear himself to others but I watched a very interesting YouTube video about the whole AD vs Gray market situation.
He was sober and didn’t swear once!
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It seems it is true that some ADs are doing it.
https://www.rolexforums.com/archive/.../t-499840.html
BTW, hysterical hyperventilation can be injurious to your health.
If you read all of the above and all the countless threads on the same subject it’s beyond me why any sane person with any pride or sanity would countenance any of it.
Have people no dignity?
I don’t agree with the warranty card nonsense but I understand why people would tolerate it.
Having to have a Daytona engraved, on the other hand is f*cking bang out of order. There is absolutely no excuse for asking that of a buyer and an unfortunate desperation in agreeing to it at all.
A modest deposit seems reasonable. It can show good faith and help sort buyers from chancers. But asking for the whole lot on a promise is also taking the p*ss. Parting with six and a half grand for a Submariner to wait for months is not reasonable to me.
I had no idea it had gotten this ridiculous. A waiting list I understand. Holding the warranty cards is a liberty, but I understand it. This other nonsense is where it becomes treating people like idiots.
I don’t know who is to blame, but I know if I want a new Rolex, it’ll be very hard to tolerate it at all.
Waow is it the AD handling all that re-selling prevention fluff or Rolex?
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Paying for the watch fully upfront and then waiting for God knows how long is very dubious. What if the AD goes out of business? Have come across similar situations in the motor trade and tends to coincide with cash flow problems.
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Has anyone actually encountered that? I've not heard this one before.
I offered to pay my local Goldsmiths a deposit for an SS Rolex I'm vainly waiting for, and they declined on the basis that this would oblige them at the later point of sale to charge the RRP of the watch at the time I paid the deposit, rather than at the point I then actually received it. Which seemed odd to me, but I've given up any hope of seeing it and couldn't be bothered to pursue it.
How about this thread on Timezone last month.
http://forums.timezone.com/index.php...21#msg_7618546
This whole situation is crazy, can anyone imagine being told this 5 years ago and believing it - having to sign contracts to let them selly you a watch!
Although, I'd happily oblige for a BLNR ..
It's even getting hard to get put on expression of interests. I went in to Mappin & Webb on Friday to put my name (in the bin) down for a 116508 and was told that was my 4th watch on my expression list and that's now the max they will take. Bloody cheek, told the woman she had better start delivering me some watches then.
Last weekend I went into an AD I haven’t bought anything from for a couple of years. I was in there to send my partner’s Rolex off for a service, not to look at anything.
They showed me the latest releases from Basel World (in a catalog) and asked if I liked any of them. I said not really, but I quite like the WG GMT with meteorite dial.
She got out a postcard-sized form and asked me to fill it out at as an expression of interest. Then, and only then, would it be sent off to their head office for them to decide whether or not I’m worthy of such a piece.
I laughed and said absolutely no way would I be doing that for a near 30k watch. How contrived and pathetic buying a Rolex is these days. Sad, and I won’t ever buy another while this nonsense is ongoing.
The funniest thing about this AD is that one of their top customers buys and flips “hot” pieces like they’re going out of fashion. All the proles are made to jump through hoops, all the while this guy absolutely milks them.
Congrats OP on securing the BLNR. It seems Rolex hold all the cards (not the warranty type) as has already been mentioned by others. Many AD's are by getting (some) customers act like performing bears. I think Rolex are playing games beyond the game as many first time customers are frankly put off returning to the AD if they happen to ask for an allocated reference. This will hurt the AD bottom line in the long run. Would Rolex want to go running their own boutiques? Don't think they want the added hassle It makes me wonder why the Rolex expect a showroom to a certain specification and the SA must wear certain attire but a positive customer experience seems to be very low in priorities.