Sold counterfeit watch...by an AD!

No, they are still waiting on Tag Heuer to authenticate the watch, I'm probably a low priority case for them :( I will definitely update the thread whenever I hear back.

Unbelievably still nothing. In fairness Watchfinder have been in touch twice to say they are chasing Tag Heuer to look at my watch, but it is probably low priority given the turnaround times in servicing.

I thought I would give an update here as I have news of sorts. After a 4 month wait watchfinder were still unable to get my watch authenticated by Tag Heuer, so I asked them to return it to me. It came back with damage to the bezel with a big scrape in it and the bezel completely seized. I obviously told them about this and asked for an explanation. I'm still waiting to hear from their customer services team (not holding my breath here). In the meantime I have left the watch back into my AD and they totally dispute watchfinders diagnosis. I took the time to compare my watch to a review by Random Rob (youtuber) and mine is just identical, there is no doubt in my mind now that it is authentic. My AD are going to send it back to Tag Heuer and I've also requested a new bezel to be fitted. This will take another 8 weeks (sigh). Tag will provide something in writing for me which should be enough. I'm assuming watchfinder will be agreeable now to paying the costs I incur. If not I need to think about where to take this next as the whole thing has been a complete shitshow.

@banie01 I know its the complete pits altogether. I've had many good trades with WF before so I had no reason to believe this would be any different. The incompetence is breathtaking to be honest, it's like a child got at it and hoped nobody would notice when it was damaged. I've no intention of letting this go, I just need to figure out who to take this to next if I get no response from them.

@fat bloke cheers, just have to hear back from Tag and can take proper action then.

I would expect WF to photograph all incoming sales/part exchanges to protect themselves against unwarranted claims, but who knows. I've reported it to them literally the minute it was delivered back to me by DHL last week. I would also hope my transaction history with them counts for something. Even if I did photo the watch before sending it, they could equally say I damaged it myself when it was returned to me. A lot of the process is based on trust, let's see what happens first.

True, I'm just at a loss to see how they arrived at this conclusion, I could find nothing wrong with the serial number engraving or find any sharp edges in the finishing. Anyway I'm done with them after this is finished.

In hindsight I have to agree, WF have handled the whole thing extremely badly. After I reported the damage, their legal rep who handled all the communication with me escalated my case to the head of customer services and I never heard another word which is frankly an appalling way to treat people. It's just unfortunate the small claims court can't deal with this type of thing.

There was, I'm sorry for not updating here. I decided to go back to my AD as I wanted to determine the cost to repair the damaged bezel and also to get some kind of certificate of authenticity. Tag Heuer quoted a ridiculous amount for the repair and stated that they don't provide quotations for watches that are not authentic (in other words they won't issue a certificate of authenticity, the fact they are offering to repair it means it is authentic). I then decided to go straight to the top and drafted a long email to the CEO of WF outlining all the facts. He emailed me the following morning and promised a thorough investigation and things finally started to happen. I was promptly contacted by their UK service manager and offered my original part exchange price as a cash settlement. It was agreed the watch would be collected but that never happened. Back to the service manager to sort things out. The watch was eventually collected and sent to France and then more BS. My part exchange price was significantly reduced because of the damaged bezel and then this particular individual (in WF France) demanded proof of authenticity. It was going round in circles at this stage, I reverted again to the service manager and finally got payment.