Terrible service from Authorized dealer: what to do?

RobAMerc

Hi all,

I had my Tag Carrera serviced last Feb by a well known Dublin city centre Tag dealer.
It also had both buttons replaced and crown repaired at a total cost of E550.
This took close to 4 weeks.

Having been accurate and trouble free for the previous 13 years, the watch stated losing time but I put up with it for a few days until it finally just stopped !

I returned it, they apologised and repaired it free, having had the watch for about 2 weeks.
Soon after the watch started fogging up after I washed my hands. I returned it again and they again apologised and they took it back for another 2 week stay.

The very next day after I got it back it started fogging up again. I returned it again and they apologised and told me there was a kink in the seal, they fixed it immediately.

All was going well for nearly a week when on a break I went for a swim and noticed water in the watch. It also stopped completely.

I returned the watch to be given a lecture about how the watch is water resistant not water proof. I pointed out it had been swimming multiple times previously and only started having issues after I got it serviced there.

Anyway, a full 5 weeks later I finally returned to the store ( after being promised it would be ready weeks previously ) only for them to ask me for 180 for repairs.

Move on 2 days later and the watch is losing time and has stopped twice.

Does anyone else here think that this is poor service from a main dealer?
Do all watch repairs take 4 goes to get it right ?
Are all watches clearly compromised after having a service like this ?

Whats my next move here ?


**Now, some here will say I am at fault as the watch is only water resistant, not water proof, but the watch has swam with my hundreds of times in the last 13 years and never gave any trouble, either way they told me the watch was repaired and tried to charge me for it!

Any help appreciated.

Wibbs

Personally I'd bypass the entirely and go straight to TAG Heuer themselves. Write up a letter detailing all the issues you've had with their authorised dealer.

HDMI

Wibbs wrote: »

Personally I'd bypass the entirely and go straight to TAG Heuer themselves. Write up a letter detailing all the issues you've had with their authorised dealer.

If the tail ain't doing it's job you have to go talk to the dog.

Same problem for me with Seiko and Timemark. They scratched the crystal and had 3 or 4 attempts to regulate my Seiko Shogun. The watch was out of action for near 6 months because they didnt have the equipment to properly pressure test it and had to keep sending it to the UK. Idiots would regulate it here and then ship it to the UK for the pressure test. I got peeved and emailed Seiko Japan, Timemark were not impressed. Eventually it was sent to Seiko UK to sort it out.

RobAMerc

right I sent them a mail asking for an email address of someone I could contact. ( rather than just there contact form )

My motivation today : the fookin watch has fogged up after I washed my hands ( taking care to avoid getting it wet too ! )

What a joke!

Pelvis

I assume the dealer is sending the watch to Tag each time you've left it with them? They're hardly doing the work themselves?

I worked in a dealer a life time ago and all Tags that came in were sent directly Tag.

Time

http://customer-service.tagheuer.com/en-ie/home

You’ll find the phone number for tag at the bottom of that page. I’d ring them and complain because that’s absolutely disgraceful. You can bet the AD didn’t send it back to them each time.

RobAMerc

no, they arent sending it to tag.
they are doing the work themselves as they told me multiple times they were waiting for parts, and the time they fooked up the seal, he repaired it in a day or so.

He showed me the damaged seal as if it was something that just happened, and was nothing to do with them!

I didnt call today because I was just so angry I could never have explained myself properly. I am less likely to use expletives and sound like a crank via email ( I hope )

Time

RobAMerc wrote: »

no, they arent sending it to tag.
they are doing the work themselves as they told me multiple times they were waiting for parts, and the time they fooked up the seal, he repaired it in a day or so.

He showed me the damaged seal as if it was something that just happened, and was nothing to do with them!

I didnt call today because I was just so angry I could never have explained myself properly. I am less likely to use expletives and sound like a crank via email ( I hope )

I'm assuming its Weirs or Sheerans (and i have a feeling its the latter) you're dealing with. If it were me after speaking to Tag i'd be looking to speak to the store manager and have them pay for Tag to do the job properly, with no cost to you. I certainly wouldn't be paying them a cent after all that

RobAMerc

So I finaly managed to get the watch over to TAG this is the report they gave me

Please may I kindly advise that upon inspection of your timepiece it was found that a non-Tag Heuer seal was caught within the case back causing the seal to kink. The watch has been examined and it has had moisture entry. A Complete service, dial, flange, hands, crown & stem are required to put the watch back into full working order. Estimate for the necessary work.

This also came with a bill for 631gbp !

I am putting this together and wil mail the shop on Dublin's Dawson st.

I doubt they will pay anything up, but I am happy to go to the small claims court.

893bet

This is a sad story for what should have been a routine service.

Cyrus

RobAMerc wrote: »

So I finaly managed to get the watch over to TAG this is the report they gave me



This also came with a bill for 631gbp !

I am putting this together and wil mail the shop on Dublin's Dawson st.

I doubt they will pay anything up, but I am happy to go to the small claims court.

The shop on Dawson st isn’t an ad I don’t think?

RobAMerc

Cyrus wrote: »

The shop on Dawson st isn’t an ad I don’t think?

I fear you could be correct. I presumed they were because they sold TAGs. I dont think it really matters in this case though, I was told the watch had been repaired to manufacturers spec. I got what I wanted from TAG in that they said the repair service fooked up my watch. I am going to go after the shop themselves for the price of the repair.

A+-Guru

Dawson street jewllers by any chance ?

Time

RobAMerc wrote: »

I fear you could be correct. I presumed they were because they sold TAGs. I dont think it really matters in this case though, I was told the watch had been repaired to manufacturers spec. I got what I wanted from TAG in that they said the repair service fooked up my watch. I am going to go after the shop themselves for the price of the repair.

Clearly it wasn't repaired properly at all and you have a statement from the manufacturer to prove that. Should be an open and shut case really. Keep us updated on what Dawsons say.

guitarhappy

I would ask to have the movement replaced because the servicer allowed moisture to penetrate. Once moisture has penetrated you now have a junk watch or let's say extremely impaired.

Time

guitarhappy wrote: »

I would ask to have the movement replaced because the servicer allowed moisture to penetrate. Once moisture has penetrated you now have a junk watch or let's say extremely impaired.

Given that it’s been overhauled by Tag, which involves a complete deconstruction anyway (hence the cost) it’s a bit much to expect a new movement too

guitarhappy

If you have the Carrera Calibre 5 it's a rebranded ETA 2824-2 (unless it's 26 jewels then it's the Sellita SW200). It would be more cost effective for them to replace the movement than disassemble and rebuild it. They wouldn't necessarily tell you they did so but you would get back a good watch. Which movement do you have? Just curious. Glad it's working out for you.

tac foley

A few years back I sent my Omega Flightmaster back to a major Swiss watch servicing facility, via the local Omega dealer, here in Eastern England, for which I was charged £490. Note that I was CHARGED that amount, but on collection I refused to pay it. The reason was simple. As you may know, the Flightmaster has colour-coded pushers for the various functions. They had ALL been replaced with plain pushers. I asked why that had happened and was told that it was 'common practice' to replace all the pushers on servicing.

Not so, Omega House in London told me. If it had gone back to Geneva I would have had it serviced AND retained the pushers as part of the deal - only the gaskets around them are replaced, as the watch is not intended for use in water.

The repair facility 'could not presently locate the pushers removed as part of the service procedure' - according to the letter I got from them. So, without taking my watch back, I was left to find a set of OE pushers [in Australia of all places] and have them fitted as part of the 'reparation deal to keep up the goodwill.' [WTH?]. The cost [£120 for the pushers including shipping] was borne by the servicing facility. Both the dealers [from whom I had bought several watches over the years] and the facility were on my blacklist until the dealer closed down a couple of years ago.

It seems that the best way to get things done properly is to do what I did with one of my IWC watches a while back - walk 'em through the door where they make 'em.