Reply With QuoteGive him a week, take delivery of the watch and leave a flaming bag of poo on his doorstep.
The flaming poo could be substituted with a name and shame.
I'm frankly livid and not thinking straight, hence a request for some opinions, if you please:
17 weeks ago I ordered a watch from an established, independent UK dealer. The watch is far from being one of the unobtainium brands. I was quoted top whack, but did at least agree a fair part-ex price against one of my watches - which is in his possession.
At the time I was told 3-4 weeks. Naturally, I set my expectations at double that.
Since then I have not had the slightest communication from the dealer: not a damn thing.
Thoroughly pissed-off, I today asked that he either buy or return my watch - and otherwise consider the deal off.
Not a word of explanation or apology resulted! No token gesture of compensation, only a complaint from him that he would be out-of-pocket, as I had requested a very minor, non-personalised modification, which will actually appeal to plenty of other buyers, being something very often requested with these watches.
The icing on the cake was an obviously-untrue assertion that suddenly, magically, my watch would be here next week!
I do not like having my intelligence insulted, it seems clear he either forgot to order the watch, or hoped I would just p***-off and forget, leaving him with a free watch. At best disingenuous and unprofessional, at worst contemptuous and dishonest.
I'm between a rock and a hard-place, if I insist on pulling the plug - which is not something I do lightly - then he still has my watch and (knowing how these things go) I strongly suspect it'll take a court order to recover it, if at-all.
Would you suck-up the BS and irritation and go ahead with the purchase, or bail-out?
NB: I'm not naming until I know for sure that I'm getting shafted - there's some tiny possibility he might decide to do the decent thing in some way....
Give him a week, take delivery of the watch and leave a flaming bag of poo on his doorstep.
The flaming poo could be substituted with a name and shame.
Get your watch back if you want me t but may have to renegotiate price if you move ahead with purchase. I don’t see what right he has to keep your watch till he pays for it I would imagine it’s your property even with a trade agreed.
I doubt he forgot just sometimes things take time but again you never know
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Sorry to hear this.
There are altogether too many instances of this type of thing.
I'm beginning to think it's worth setting out something in writing on the day of the deal - setting a deadline and stating that if the deadline is broken, the original watch has to be returned in the same condition.
I would be sending him an email today highlighting the original timing and that he has x number of days to return the watch.
If it’s the watch I think it is and the dealer I think it is, this sounds like a relatively routine issue for both (though 17 weeks is more than one would expect).
You’ve ordered something under the premise that it would be delivered within a reasonable time frame. They have failed to meet that expectation, then you are entitled to your money (and watch) back. How long can you keep waiting, six months? 12 months?
The whole thing would leave a bitter taste in my mouth, even once the watch arrived.
Personally, I would wait the week, if no sign of the watch, ask for the part-ex back and say that you’d be happy to consider buying the watch if it arrives but you have lost faith in the deal. That’s not unreasonable, in my opinion. If the dealer then plays games about loss of income, just calmly insist on your right to a refund in the absence of the product you’ve ordered being delivered and walk away, there are other watches and dealers out there.
It’s ok. Breathe. You wanted the watch. Get it next week. Life’s too short.
I would definitely bail. Whenever you look at the new watch you'll be reminded how you were treated.
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I'm not sure that's entirely true? I was treated terribly by Breitling, but still love the watch once it was returned to me.Originally Posted by RS404
Hate the source, not the watch.
In day of old, i guess the dealer was used to getting things fast. If the watch is coming from Europe, then it will be slowed by the customs, supply chain and lack of delivery drivers.
Unless you think the experience will colour your enjoyment of the watch you wanted, I would go ahead—knowing it is the last time you will ever deal with this guy.
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I’d say give the dealer the week he’s requested and then call it a day if it doesn’t arrive.
I had a terrible experience with the service i received from Ernest Jones regarding a Longines i sent for a minor repair. I was going to sell it when i eventually got it back as i thought it would ruin the experience of owning it. It hasn’t and it’s going nowhere.
I think I can guess both the brand, and the independent dealer.
I would wait it out, and enjoy the watch when it comes. In retrospect I don’t think I would have let the part ex watch go without the other being available, although having agreed the deal you couldn’t really wear it.
If I’m right on the independent, then communication is not their area of strength. There are supply side issues across all industries, and if it’s a matter of a custom handset that isn’t immediately available, then you can see how delays happen. I ordered a mountain bike in Feb for March delivery, and if I’m lucky I might get it before October is out.
At this stage, I would wait. Im sure you will love it when it arrives.
Dave
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Supply issues aside, the dealers lack of communication with you is both ignorant and arrogant!
Thanks chaps, all of you, for some well-reasoned thoughts and general breath-of-sanity. Really appreciated.
It really irks that last time I dealt direct with the maker and had good and reasonably prompt service; this time I thought I'd give myself a little more protection and give a dealer in the UK the chance to earn his crust. Quite clearly most of them could not give a damn, and this one more than most.
Must be nice being so rich and successful that you can treat your customers with contempt.
Not that that is actually my idea of a good time...
I will drop him a line later. And try to keep it reasonable.
Your control of language is superb.
Suggest you write him something obsequious.
If I still wanted the watch I'd wait the week and see if it arrived. If the watch didn't materialise then I'd demand my part-exchange watch back along with any deposit. I'd know then that I'd done the gentlemanly thing and given the dealer an opportunity to resolve the situation (despite their rudeness), and if they couldn't meet their own revised deadline then the deal is dead.
Put your request for the “put right” in writing via recorded delivery
Keep a copy of course
That’ll do it
Explaining the need for bailing if not in a week
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Well... I took a deep breath, counted to 3 (which is the biggest number I know), and put on my Reasonable Pants...
And then I made the mistake of re-reading the correspondence...
The whole thing has left me with a thoroughly bad taste in my mouth, but more importantly (to me) I really don't believe that post-purchase I will be able to get satisfactory back-up, servicing and support - which were the entire reason for not going directly to the maker in the first place.
So I have taken some time to politely and in-detail explain why I am so thoroughly unhappy, and I have pulled the plug. I have offered to pay the £100 fee for the customisation work, even though there is no reason to believe the watch will be any more difficult to sell. So the Reasonable Pants did their job.
This has been agreed to in writing. He is clearly not at-all concerned, still no real explanation, and no real apology.
Apologies for the probably needless and mildly histrionic thread - I just find it profoundly annoying that simply buying a f***ing wristwatch - a high ticket, high-profit, low-effort transaction - is so incredibly crap and amateurish. I am grateful to you all for your suggestions, and for the sounding-board.
Unless I get a last minute shafting (Oooo! Matron!), I will refrain from publicly naming-and-shaming - service has been very poor, the dealer clearly feels he has done nothing wrong (he has certainly done nothing...), but I don't feel a line has been crossed.
This is most definitely the last time I will use a dealer to buy a watch: complete mugs game...
I wore my Reasonable Pants for 40 years.
Then I realised I had a pair of Oh Hell No Pantaloons in the wardrobe. And a Jacket Of Not Until Satan Skates To Work.
A shame you ended up £100 out-of-pocket on this debacle.
In terms of naming the dealer, I have a question. Would you have benefited from having seen this thread (written by someone else) before deciding to do business with this dealer? If yes, I'd suggest naming may be the best course.
I’m in agreement with M1011; it’s well worth naming the dealer so others will be aware if the potential issues with purchasing from this dealer.
I’m interested in the watch in question, that you can change the hands as an option. Feel free to PM if anyone knows.
I'd also say it's worth a simple naming. We've had villain threads for much less than leaving someone £100 out of pocket, if someone can be saved the hassle of dealing with this person then it’s only right ti name them.
Damasko.
Ahh ok, cheers
^^^ +1 (and the satisfaction of a very poor review thereafter)
Personally I think a Damasko is worth waiting for too :grin:
On reflection, I would name.
This isn’t a retribution thing, but allows others:
1) An understanding of the likely timeframe for a customised watch
2) A moment to reflect on releasing a watch for part ex when the purchased watch isn’t immediately dispatched
Dave
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For what it’s worth Paul, I respect your decision not to name and shame.
I think some of us are familiar with your original excitement about the watch in question and we will know the manufacturer. I’m fairly sure you also mentioned the dealer you were putting your order with, a few months ago too, and if I remember correctly, they are known to be lacking in their communication; though very popular among many members here.
Sometimes, delays are unavoidable and it’s not really anyone’s fault. Maybe the comms were sub par, maybe the delivery windows were optimistic but cutting the people involved some slack rather than bad mouthing them is honourable, though I accept others comments regarding the potential benefit to others / the value it would pose to a prospective buyer.
Just another opinion to balance the scales. No offence meant to anyone.
Difficult thing is now we know (apparently) its a Damasko there is only a couple of indies that get mentioned on TZ with a smaller number of go to first dealers if in the market for a DM..
Now we know it's a Damasko it seems to me that there is no need for the OP to explicitly name the dealer. There are, it seems, only two UK ADs for Damasko and only one of them fits the phraseology that the OP used.
And yes, it's an AD that gets both mostly good and occasionally bad reports. But don't they all.
One of the two Damasko dealers messed me around big- style in 2007 on a watch deal, took an afternoon off work to meet him and he never showed up! The watch I was hoping to buy had already been sold too, organisation skills and communication weren’t a strong suit but hopefully that’s changed......they needed to!
If it’s the dealer I think, then in my dealings communication has been slow to nonexistent, to the extent I walked away still have an itch to scratch with regards a Damasko.
A massive jump into fantasy land to think he’s hoping you’d just forget, in my opinion. What’s the chances you’d forget? None, so why would he assume differently?
Only by naming will it show up in a forum search though. OPs call of course.
I used to worry about that. Then I realised that hardly anybody ever bothers to do that when looking for recommendations/anti-recommendations. ;-)
As ever, thanks for some witty, intelligent and well-considered responses.
I voluntarily offered to pick-up the modding fee of £100, no coercion, just a sop to living with my own conscience.
As many of you have guessed, the watch was a Damasko that I very much wanted (and for which I sold some items I regret parting-with), and the dealer Chronomaster. I must emphasise that I have no reason to believe any trace of dishonesty or duplicity was involved, just a wholesale lack of communication plus a complete and profound indifference to me as a customer. Seems to be VERY far from unique in watch retail...
At this point I am waiting for either payment-for/return-of of the watch I had originally traded against the Damasko I ordered. Knowing this dealer, that will see me deep into 2024...
---
I agree with you, though what you (and to be fair, he) won't know is that through an innate lack of braincells and permanent sleep-deprivation I have a truly shocking memory. I had very nearly forgotten I'd ordered the watch at-all.
I am in this camp.
Give him the time and if that becomes BS then get your watch back and move on.
Well... This thread deserves an update.
After five-and-a-half months of radio silence, four weeks ago and suddenly the watch is on its way to the UK and would arrive in the next few days, and would I like it for a big discount?!
I could not have been more surprised, since the lack of comms and loooooonnnng delay had left me assuming it had never, in fact, been ordered in the first place.
The discount, and the fact that I'd never actually not wanted the watch itself, coupled with a lack of personal discipline, meant I took the bait.
Naturally, that few days evolved into yet another month... But now I have the watch, some spare buckles, and a determination never to buy new from a dealer again.
The watch is, at least, everything I hoped it would be, even if the buying experience was not. Lesson learned.
Love a happy ending
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