Boutique shop watch rip off.. what to do?

[J-Cat]

Just to share, I bought 2 brand new watches for myself and my wife at around $9,000 each. After 3 weeks the second's hand on my wife's watch fell off. ( she only wore them twice) .
With my watch ( 50 meters waterproofed) I went to kid's swimming pool to play with my son after 20 mins they catch in some water and afterwards the dial went in bubles. I have owned and still have some other expensive watch pieces and know how to handle them. I made sure the crown was totally screwed in before going into the water.
And it has only been few month still we bought them.
Now they giving me rubbish that it is all our fault and that my wife hit the watch and I was stupid enough to go into the water with unscrewed crown. They do not want to replace them but want me to pay around $1,000 for repair and after pushing them they giving me a favour 20% discount on repair.. though I still get corroded watch. I would rather have a refund as I dont want such poor quality watch no more. Any intake and what is the best thing for me to do now ? Court or any consumer protection assosiations here ?? I would appreciate any input

[Strong Eagle]

Well... you can go to CASE... http://www.case.org.sg/... and try to see if you can get something done.

But without more information... like... is this a dealer that has been in business for many years in a prominent location... or a fly by night... it is much more difficult to assess your options.

[ksl]

I have the same problem with a Seiko Sportura that cost $1400 to be quite honest it has nothing to do with price, the problem is probably the same with every watch and humidity.

On inspection the rubber seal on my Seiko was rotted away and the winder part seized up. I told them i never use it, because it is a Kinetic watch, it shouldn't rot away, but it does if you sweat.

The Singapore humidity as we sweat, erodes the seal around the winder, The wrist area is sweating most of the time, it runs into the watch mechanism. They had to replace internal parts of my watch and the winder because of rust. The rubber seal doesn't last long in Singapore.

I was so angry and told them I have several watches at home also Seiko, that only cost 30 USD and i never ever have a problem with them.

My Seiko is a sport watch, and i have run with it on a few times, I'm afraid to even think of going in the water with it. But yes I would discuss with CASE, my repair was only 200$ though it has happened twice. I will never buy another expensive watch as they are all the same, unless they are gold inside and out.

It is actually sweat from the wrist that rots the rubber seal the rust the parts, not swimming pool water, unless its salty.

You need to clean around the winder every 2 weeks, if you are sweating a great deal.

I think in the long run you would lose the case as they repair mechanics know exactly what has happened, Not the sales staff.

Though for that kind of money you either expect a warning that watches are prone to rot due to the sweat chemical waste products of the body, the rubber seals will easy rot.

The sales staff will not be helpful, they are only sales they know nothing, so call their bluff with CASE and try to get what you can, they will not want to get bad publicity if it gets to the local papers, So now i have explained of what happens with watches in Singapore if you sweat a lot take more care with it by wiping around the winder, ask the repairman what to use to solve the problem.

There ends my wish list for expensive watches in Singapore as my wife was going to buy me a Rolex

It's even happened to my heart monitor watch, while running too.

[J-Cat]

Oh, thanks for all your input .. The watches are only few month old , purchased from brand new boutique shop in Sands ,, yes sales staff are useless .. but then even my friend's fake watch for $50 had been around for 3 years and he has had no problems with it. One has to expect reliablility and better customers service from $9k watch , not rubbish with fallen hands and water leaking .. and later ripp off where they blame all the faults on you and not willing to rectify ..

[ksl]

Oh, thanks for all your input .. The watches are only few month old , purchased from brand new boutique shop in Sands ,, yes sales staff are useless .. but then even my friend's fake watch for $50 had been around for 3 years and he has had no problems with it. One has to expect reliablility and better customers service from $9k watch , not rubbish with fallen hands and water leaking .. and later ripp off where they blame all the faults on you and not willing to rectify ..

I agree 100% for a 9K watch, I would go crazy, I would push on with CASE they will contact them for a solution, I have done this myself but over other products, a Sofa, but I was very happy with the outcome, so every time I have a problem in a retail shop, I just tell them I am a member of case, show them the card and they know i mean business.

It worked for me, so hopefully you can come to a solution through negotiation, best of luck!

[aster]

Definitely fight for your rights with this. Just out of curiosity, are the watches Swiss-made?

Just curious as I bought one with a Swiss mechanism (albeit a much cheaper watch) and it ended up needing servicing as it wasn't very accurate...

[cocolove]

agree 100% for a 9K watch, I would go crazy, I would push on with CASE they will contact them for a solution, I have done this myself but over other products, a Sofa, but I was very happy with the outcome, so every time I have a problem in a retail shop, I just tell them I am a member of case, show them the card and they know i mean business.