Warranty Repairs? What is expected from a watchmaker?

[JSJ 0]

Yes Micky, you're being fair in my view.

 

I work with a lot of companies in helping their sales and customer service teams. It's not just you getting this stuff.

 

I suggest you ask the customer what they think is fair in the light of you being a tiny business charging tiny prices, not an AD charging huge prices, where various overheads can be covered in their price.

 

If they still think it's unfair, you can say no. You don't want customers who do that to you. Exactly how many places are there who offer what you offer? Good luck to them in finding the next Micky.

[SSTEEL 0]

Cheers mate. I have started a black list due to certain customers/members expecting Rolex AD type service/quality/finishing, so refuse to take on any work from anyone on my black list now.

[<RJ> 0]

If you want to bring this up to industrial scale you need to be firm, consistent and have a bunch of fineprint. One of the trusted watchmakers ive used have a pdf the customer prints out were all info is and the customer include signed when shipping the watch. The info/fineprint basicly free him of everything but a warranty on job done if you dont open the watch. He dont leave any doors open for speculation at all.

 

Sure it utterly boring not to be able to have discussions like with enthusiasts like you and its when you are in the entusiast state you are best, Still use your imagination and help out with the little things. When entering the "industrial scale" state there are not much room left for the fun discussions about this and that its just to do the job and send the watch back.

[SSTEEL 0]

Certainly something to consider.

 

Regarding my most recent example, I have received a reply to my email, and its in the crosshairs now. Apparently watch arrived ok as said, but only worked for 12 hours.

 

Ok at arrival but working for less than 12 hours? How is that a repaired & fully working watch? I don't see that as fair if I'm honest Micky, I feel you've been a pleasure to do business with to date & I'm looking forward to writing a great review piece on the forum about you, but I don't expect you to charge me again because it worked for 12 hours, I don't think that's fair at all.

[narikaa 129]

All the pdf's in the world signed in blood and notarised by the devil himself wont make the dickheads go away

 

 

Which reminds me my damned doctor fixed my bad knee, now my blood pressure is up guess I'll have to sue

 

 

 

 

.

[austinsom 47]

Sadly it seems there are a lot of people who have unrealistic expectations of their replica watches. Yes the Asian movements can be great and reliable (after a service), but a large number of them (from various teardowns and reviews I have read) seem to be supplied devoid of oil, or have too much oil. That's just the movements, never mind getting lumps of food and various other foreign objects into the movement during assembly.

 

I still think you need a whole photo/video of the watch working following the repair at your end, then once it gets posted, all bets are off, unless it had a full service, de-pubing and oiling. Sadly most of us are not blessed with a crystal ball, and so unless we have the full facts in front of us (or a stripped down movement) we have no idea what may have actually happened in another place and/or time. It is completely unrealistic to expect anyone to be able to provide a warranty on a part repair (perhaps on the actual part itself, not the work), as you never know what else may be disturbed.

 

I have had this on a high mileage car before. It went in for a service to a guy with a great rep, who I have used for 17 years. I drove halfway across the country and it then broke down due to a failure of quite a pricey part. Did I blame him and ask him to pay for recovery? No, as I trust the guy and knew he wouldn't risk fouling the car up for a few extra ££ in labour after all the time I have been going there. Just a coincidence, or possibly something being disturbed by being lent on/knocked during the service.

 

Personally, you have provided great advice on these forums, and I would be happy to use you on the basis of your reputation with a no warranty on a part repair. Although if the movement is being partially stripped anyway, why would you not want to go the rest of the way and pay a few extra ££ to have a full service for peace of mind?

 

Got carried away there, sorry

[SSTEEL 0]

Thanks, appreciate your input once again mate. I do document my repairs with photos, and in some cases I have taken, and uploaded over 300 photos of the owners project/s, detailing all work.

 

I also shoot videos, and upload them to the same flickr photo album I set up for each customer, but what I will do from now on, is once repair is done, I will shoot a video demonstrating everything working on the watch, from balance oscillating, the seconds hand running, date change, winding, and time adjust, that way they can see everything working before I rerun their property.

[KeNnY 29]

Thanks, appreciate your input once again mate. I do document my repairs with photos, and in some cases I have taken, and uploaded over 300 photos of the owners project/s, detailing all work.

 

I also shoot videos, and upload them to the same flickr photo album I set up for each customer, but what I will do from now on, is once repair is done, I will shoot a video demonstrating everything working on the watch, from balance oscillating, the seconds hand running, date change, winding, and time adjust, that way they can see everything working before I rerun their property.

 

+1 This is the way doing it Micky

[austinsom 47]

I don't think there is much more you can do. Some people will never be satisfied :(

 

With posting watches, especially mechanical watches, there is too much chance for damage or foreign objects being thrown around the movement. I have had items arrive it a Royal Mail poly bag with a note saying the packing had been damaged. Shows that the post is actually handled quite roughly by the sorting machines.

 

The moon a stick approach cannot always be provided, as much as we all would like to do that.

[<RJ> 0]

All the pdf's in the world signed in blood and notarised by the devil himself wont make the dickheads go away

No, For sure..

It will make it easier for you to get the dickheads out of your system. All that negative energy can suck the positive energy out of you, Or just make you angry and thats not good when servicing a 7750.

[DR3M3L 4]

Simple, just a full service get's full warranty. I keep a dossier of each repair with what has been done, if the problem is related to the previous repair I do it for free. If not, they have to pay :P

[SSTEEL 0]

Thanks, appreciate your input once again mate. I do document my repairs with photos, and in some cases I have taken, and uploaded over 300 photos of the owners project/s, detailing all work.

 

I also shoot videos, and upload them to the same flickr photo album I set up for each customer, but what I will do from now on, is once repair is done, I will shoot a video demonstrating everything working on the watch, from balance oscillating, the seconds hand running, date change, winding, and time adjust, that way they can see everything working before I rerun their property.

 

+1 This is the way doing it Micky

 

Cheers Matej

 

All the pdf's in the world signed in blood and notarised by the devil himself wont make the dickheads go away

No, For sure..

It will make it easier for you to get the dickheads out of your system. All that negative energy can suck the positive energy out of you, Or just make you angry and thats not good when servicing a 7750.

 

@Reg

 

You are so right RJ, it really is disheartening.

 

Simple, just a full service get's full warranty. I keep a dossier of each repair with what has been done, if the problem is related to the previous repair I do it for free. If not, they have to pay :P

 

[DR3M3L 4]

Oh, by the way... Just to play the "B" way..... I want to add... You're NOT a watchmaker!

 

 

 

 

[kkz88 0]

Thanks, appreciate your input once again mate. I do document my repairs with photos, and in some cases I have taken, and uploaded over 300 photos of the owners project/s, detailing all work.

 

I also shoot videos, and upload them to the same flickr photo album I set up for each customer, but what I will do from now on, is once repair is done, I will shoot a video demonstrating everything working on the watch, from balance oscillating, the seconds hand running, date change, winding, and time adjust, that way they can see everything working before I rerun their property.

 

I doing the same thing but what I repair done i keep the watch 2 or 3 day in watch winder.after that I sent the customer.safe

If they still have the problem I will be consider

:-)

[SSTEEL 0]

Thanks, appreciate your input once again mate. I do document my repairs with photos, and in some cases I have taken, and uploaded over 300 photos of the owners project/s, detailing all work.

 

I also shoot videos, and upload them to the same flickr photo album I set up for each customer, but what I will do from now on, is once repair is done, I will shoot a video demonstrating everything working on the watch, from balance oscillating, the seconds hand running, date change, winding, and time adjust, that way they can see everything working before I rerun their property.

 

I doing the same thing but what I repair done i keep the watch 2 or 3 day in watch winder.after that I sent the customer.safe

If they still have the problem I will be consider

:-)

 

I have been doing this on many a watch too

[J!m 289]

I used to do a fair bit of LAnd-Rover repairs. I own and "specialize" in the 300Tdi engine, which was never officially imported to the US.

 

Long story short, whenever I worked with a new client, I did a full and detailed report of my work. Tons of photos with text explaining what I'm doing, why I'm doing it and what other things I saw while in the area. In general, my clients were well heeled and probably taken advantage of before. I would quote a job (parts and labor) and keep tract of my time to the minute. If I saw something that needed replacement, I would bring it to the attention of the owner immediately, and wait for a response before I did any further repair on that particular part. If it held up my progress, I would stop work there.

 

This worked well to build trust, and after the second job, it was no longer necessary to do these reports. The customer knew I had their best interests in mind, and I epaired their truck as if it was my own. Although the failure of an unrelated part would be outside warranty, if I noticed something on my own truck, I would be addressing it to ensure there is no failure that stranded me.

 

A broken watch will not strand you anywhere, so let's get a bit of perspective here. But my point is the customer will never be satisfied even though they are always right.

 

Do your best, document, "up-sell" by suggesting legitimate repairs and/or enhancements that will improve reliability of the piece. If the owner is too cheap to make the watch as good and reliable as possible, then refuse to do work for that customer.

 

Look at it this way: when/if it fails, the owner will be mentioning it was modded by SSTEEL... You need to protect your reputation for quality work, and allowing half-assed owners to do a half-assed job on their watch leaves this door open.

 

New policy: all or nothing. Take the Rolex Service Center approach. When it leaves your hands, it is as good as it can possibly be. You can be proud of that.

[SSTEEL 0]

Pretty much sums up what I have been doing myself all along Jim to be honest.

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience mate, its appreciated.

[J!m 289]

My pleasure.

 

I'm in sales now, and I have learned this job would be a whole lot easier without the customers...

[<RJ> 0]

Simple, just a full service get's full warranty. I keep a dossier of each repair with what has been done, if the problem is related to the previous repair I do it for free. If not, they have to pay :P

And not to forget. Things regarded as issues by the owner but not affecting the functions. For example a second hand behaving erratic. Even though the watch get cleaned and oiled it might still have that erratic moving and that might depend on gears and whatever that suffer from the crappy manufacturing that are so common and woudl not dissapear before replacing so many parts even a new movement could be considered.