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Buyer Beware

Sacreblue

Looking Around
23/11/18
1
0
0
It would be naive to expect traditional customer service ...but at least after 3 months I now have a working watch.

The saga started back in November 2018 when I thought all was going well when I received excellent photos of my 1680 Submariner. Then the watch arrived a week later, not working. Email communication was good and the watch was returned the following day. Time passed and 3 months about 30 emails later the 'repaired' not replaced watch arrived with minor scratches to the acrylic glass and more substantive scratches to the rear. The additional cost to me for shipping $35 ...the compensation from Puretime, an offer of 5% on next watch. Thank you Puretime but no thanks.
 

mari115

Put Some Respect On My Name
9/6/18
4,439
2,478
113
Nearer than you think
It would be naive to expect traditional customer service ...but at least after 3 months I now have a working watch.

The saga started back in November 2018 when I thought all was going well when I received excellent photos of my 1680 Submariner. Then the watch arrived a week later, not working. Email communication was good and the watch was returned the following day. Time passed and 3 months about 30 emails later the 'repaired' not replaced watch arrived with minor scratches to the acrylic glass and more substantive scratches to the rear. The additional cost to me for shipping $35 ...the compensation from Puretime, an offer of 5% on next watch. Thank you Puretime but no thanks.

except for the scratches it's all to be expected, waiting time, communication, and "compensation" as you called it.

this is why it's not advisable to send it back, it's better to send it to a forum modder/repairer
 

Rx4Time

Supporter, Panerai lover
Supporter
Certified
31/3/16
10,855
7,559
113
CONUS
Excellent first post. if you would have taken 10 minutes to do a little research you would have learned that it's never advisable to return your watch to China. You are lucky to have it back. As far as the scratches, your watch has traveled upwards of 30,000 miles in the back and forth, so it's not suprising that the Plexi has an abrasion. My suggestion take it as a learning lesson and enjoy the watch.
 

capice

I'm Pretty Popular
12/12/07
2,715
558
113
Wow, been on here for 5 months and never ever contributed anything to RWI except this post...did you do your search and read? Obviously not......Not buying at Walmart or Amazon but you are buying illegal replica's so it's a different ballgame...That is why newbies keep on sending watches back to TD's with all the risk involved....Was replacement agreed by the TD?
 

mydnytrydr

Mythical Poster
25/9/09
7,800
219
63
It would be naive to expect traditional customer service ...but at least after 3 months I now have a working watch.

The saga started back in November 2018 when I thought all was going well when I received excellent photos of my 1680 Submariner. Then the watch arrived a week later, not working. Email communication was good and the watch was returned the following day. Time passed and 3 months about 30 emails later the 'repaired' not replaced watch arrived with minor scratches to the acrylic glass and more substantive scratches to the rear. The additional cost to me for shipping $35 ...the compensation from Puretime, an offer of 5% on next watch. Thank you Puretime but no thanks.

Typical outcome after you send your watch BACK to China for repairs ……
mail
 

Dizzy

Advisor - Vintage Rolex
Advisor
Patron
Certified
15/4/07
3,501
513
113
Western Canada
I made the mistake of doing this twice. The first time about 10 years ago, I never ever saw the watch again. Gone. Second time was to a trusted dealer on the forums. You’re lucky it only took 3 months. Mine was gone for 8 and when I got it back it was worse than when I sent it. Never again.
 

rolexlover101

Known Member
29/12/18
145
19
0
...and so if I am a dealers from China, I'd send you guys broken watches once awhile knowing you will get it fixed elsewhere while paying full price. Yes you will take your business to the next dealer but he also read this ans catch on too.....Hmm...interesting....
 
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Thatwatchguy

Supporter
Supporter
Certified
9/7/17
6,705
3,958
113
...and so if I am a dealers from China, I'd send you guys broken watches once awhile knowing you will get it fixed elsewhere while paying full price. Yes you will take your business to the next dealer but he also read this ans catch on too.....Hmm...interesting....

:picard2:
 

rolexlover101

Known Member
29/12/18
145
19
0
Yes I know. Just a hypothetical view but since you guys clearly laid it out "never send the watch back to China", what do you think ???? Hope it doesnt happen though but how can you ensure that.??? Oh right...Trust. got it now.
 

Rx4Time

Supporter, Panerai lover
Supporter
Certified
31/3/16
10,855
7,559
113
CONUS
SMH. The reason for not shipping them back is there is a good chance that they will be lost or damaged as happened here. Also, there are no customs protection from the dealer on return and reshipment.
 

puretime

Trusted Dealer
Trusted Dealer
16/3/06
13,891
4,564
113
I am so sorry about this, I know it is inevitable to get some minor marks when a watch is back to repair but it was also our responsibility to keep it as good as possible and we failed doing this, I will let the repair department know and will tell them to be more careful with future repairs.

Again please accept my sincere apologies.
 
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r0b9502

Renowned Member
22/1/17
913
305
63
...and so if I am a dealers from China, I'd send you guys broken watches once awhile knowing you will get it fixed elsewhere while paying full price. Yes you will take your business to the next dealer but he also read this ans catch on too.....Hmm...interesting....

This I suspect to be true, and is how they :jeff: us.

It is unfortunate that many members still defend the TD's behaviour in this aspect. Unless the general membership changes its stance, this will only continue. or get worse.
 
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r0b9502

Renowned Member
22/1/17
913
305
63
I am so sorry about this, I know it is inevitable to get some minor marks when a watch is back to repair but it was also our responsibility to keep it as good as possible and we failed doing this, I will let the repair department know and will tell them to be more careful with future repairs.

Again please accept my sincere apologies.

A bunch of words with many apologies & sorrys & promises is just not good enough Angus (if I remember your name right, else my apologies ;). Actions count. You promising the OP that you will "instruct" your people to be more careful, more diligent etc. etc. is completely useless to him.

Disclosure: I have never ordered from you, and might never, but the other high volume TD(s) is/are about the same.
 
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puretime

Trusted Dealer
Trusted Dealer
16/3/06
13,891
4,564
113
A bunch of words with many apologies & sorrys & promises is just not good enough Angus (if I remember your name right, else my apologies ;). Actions count. You promising the OP that you will "instruct" your people to be more careful, more diligent etc. etc. is completely useless to him.

Disclosure: I have never ordered from you, and might never, but the other high volume TD(s) is/are about the same.

This is how the replica world works bro, even we handle the watches carefully but the difficult part is at the makers. The makers no longer have dedicated watch smiths to their watches anymore. They use a watch smith company which has hundreds of watch smiths, the same watch can be today handle by watch smith A and tomorrow by watch smith B, some watch smiths might be more careful about the repairs and I believe most of them do not because they are just cheap employees and do not understand the values of these watches to us.

I am the ONLY dealer has a dedicated watch smith in my office, full time, we take care of small things to avoid mis handle by the makers' watch smiths, but we cannot take care of everything and most of the time we still need to return the watches to the makers to take care. For watches being used in the past, most of them came with scratches and worn marks already and sometimes we just couldnt tell when the watch is back from the watch makers, unlike the brand new watches.

I am sorry I could not make promises that I am not 100% I can do, but it is what I will tell my people to pay more attention to.
 
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r0b9502

Renowned Member
22/1/17
913
305
63
The pushback has to start from somewhere Angus.

What pushback? Rejection of crappy movement/functionality. Fake timegrapher pics. And such sort.

Firstly from forum membership to TDs. Then from TDs to factories. Although I understand that forums are not critical to factories, I would believe they are important enough. And you as middleman have to handle both sides!

One ideal solution I can think of is that factories keep their best ~X% of functional watches aside, for forum members. Such forum "jerks" are the most particular. That is, IF forum membership view is important enough to factories. Just a hypothetical thought, I know it is difficult to change customs & habits!!!
 

puretime

Trusted Dealer
Trusted Dealer
16/3/06
13,891
4,564
113
The pushback has to start from somewhere Angus.

What pushback? Rejection of crappy movement/functionality. Fake timegrapher pics. And such sort.

Firstly from forum membership to TDs. Then from TDs to factories. Although I understand that forums are not critical to factories, I would believe they are important enough. And you as middleman have to handle both sides!

One ideal solution I can think of is that factories keep their best ~X% of functional watches aside, for forum members. Such forum "jerks" are the most particular. That is, IF forum membership view is important enough to factories. Just a hypothetical thought, I know it is difficult to change customs & habits!!!

People make mistakes my friend, what makes TDs "trusted" is not that they do not make mistakes but how they dealt with the mistakes they made. I stood out for the mistakes I made and I rectified them and compensate my customers. So I dont think they are pushbacks but on the contrary, things made PureTime more trusted.

TDs are the middlemen between the forum members and the makers and I can proudly say what I contributed to the replica community (online forums) is greater than any other TDs. It is true I am here to make a living but I also want to make this hobby as enjoyable as possible. I think I did a fairly good job here.

If we go 5 years back, our voice might sound influential to the makers but now China domestic market has become the biggest market for high end replica watches, the makers do not care about our opinions as much as before. I think no makers want to have their watches failed since they have to offer after sales service, if they know which ones of their productions are genuinely functional and they would not have them sold to the market.

I know my answers still dont fix the original problems but I am just trying to explain everything here ad hope we can get some understanding.
 
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r0b9502

Renowned Member
22/1/17
913
305
63
No questions about it, Angus puretime you give the most interesting insights on this hobby period. And your contributions are not just acknowledged by simple folk, but by knowledgeable folk too. Thank you for your contributions from one and all!

A new insight I learn from your post is the shift of relevance over the past 5 years.

Can I ask you this: members expect to receive a watch with performance "close" to what QC timegrapher pics they are sent. Given a blank sheet, what would you say are the steps necessary to meet this expectation?
 
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puretime

Trusted Dealer
Trusted Dealer
16/3/06
13,891
4,564
113
No questions about it, Angus puretime you give the most interesting insights on this hobby period. And your contributions are not just acknowledged by simple folk, but by knowledgeable folk too. Thank you for your contributions from one and all!

A new insight I learn from your post is the shift of relevance over the past 5 years.

Can I ask you this: members expect to receive a watch with performance "close" to what QC timegrapher pics they are sent. Given a blank sheet, what would you say are the steps necessary to meet this expectation?

The watches are sent in the same condition as when it was being QC’ed, but the shipping is usually rough so if the movement is not in a perfect shape and the performance is sometimes influenced.


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