Oh yeah, here's my experience with Rocketeer... No one can say that I didn't give him an opportunity to come clean before sharing this. This is his own doing now!!
Note: this is a long post. If what you want is just the quick summary, scroll right to the end.
I sent him two watches in January, and one in February. The two that I mailed in Jan were:
GMT IIc: This one was affected by the slipping hour hand problem and I also wanted it relumed.
Chopard GMT: Just sent it for a relume, and also meant to send the crystal for the AR run (although that was later returned untouched because it was one of those that Chief can't coat)
Further to a post in which I complained about the status of a rep that arrived from China with terrible lume, Rocketeer asked me to send it to him and that he would do it for free. So in February I also mailed:
PAM111h: for a relume
BCE: I wanted it relumed and serviced I also needed him to do a DW swap, requiring him to test a few DWs and pick the best one (something that I was happy to pay for, but which afterwards he kept whining about as if it was a freebie. Nobody asked for it to be a freebie!!)
I did a lot of research about him and collected a lot of info. Short of hiring a PI, I did all the due diligence I could do. I wanted him to do a very good job and also do it fast, so I offered to pay in advance for everything.
In February I also joined the Chief AR run:
Two crystals were sent out to him and the job was prepaid.
So, to sum up, by early February he had:
BCE, CHOPARD GMT, ROLEX GMT, PAM111, 2 CRYSTALS
In his first email (24 Jan) he stated:
"This is my full time business, not a hobby or sideline as with so many others, and all my customers receive the highest standards of customer service, as well as workmanship." - we'll see...
That was quickly followed by the first promise (27 Jan):
"I've booked you a slot in week six - Job Ticket #51, but I'll try to check out the GMT hand issue as soon as I get it." - Wow, rocketeer sounded as fast as a rocket. Let's see...
Over the next few weeks I received lots of updates and pictures from his customer portal, indicating that work had begun and was progressing.
Then, of course, the AR run was kick started... things started to slow down... jobs that were almost finished went into limbo... updates on the portal stopped. [smilie=sleepy3.gif]
I sent him an email at the end of February inquiring about the status of my watches. His response (1 March) was:
"Coincidence! Was just double checking the lume for even glow now that all the solvents have evaporated. All looking good, the only minor fixing is the centre second hand on the Chopard was loose on the hand tube and was moving slightly on test. I’m going to re-stake the hand to the tube just to be sure."
Yeah, coincidence. :roll:
Silence for a few weeks ... emails are ignored or only group emails are sent to me. Finally I get another update (30 March):
"Quick update: GMT completed in Feb. Pam 111 completed in Feb. Chopard relumed in Feb but needed to re-stake the second hand as it was loose on the hand tube. This was the only delay on these. Tried to sort out the second hand (normally an easy task) but the material used for the hand tube didn’t want to cooperate, so I’ve ordered a new hand set for you."
Ok... GMT and PAM completed!! Yooohoo!! So I am expecting to receive them any time soon. I gave him more time for the BCE and Chopard. He obviously screwed up something and didn't want to tell me, but I thought I'd give him a chance to fix things...
Of course, nothing arrives... I ask for more news ... silence ... Then nearly a month later I get another email (22 April):
"GMT was initially stripped to see if the hand problem was just one of binding on the hand stack, usually caused by poor finishing on the hand tubes. The typical gouges were visible on the hand mounting surfaces and the two parts of the hour wheel mod seemed to be staked securely and so the hands were cleaned up as well as possible .... The dial was then lumed and a first coat of lume put on the hands and it was trial assembled for testing. This is when the problem with the Hour wheel became apparent. .... The Breitling and the 111 just fell subject to the current state of ‘fire fighting’ around here. You stressed how you needed the GMT urgently, so I rushed to get that one out. ... They will ship on Thursday ( Post Office early closing on Wednesdays makes Wednesday shipping next to impossible) but I will get some photos of the finished items to you for tomorrow evening to reassure you."
Blah blah blah... That didn't happen, of course. And weren't those watches finished months earlier?? What the hell just happened?? :shock: Here's a man who should keep track of his lies, so that if he can't be honest he could at least be consistent.
That particular email goes on forever, making excuses, stories, etc.
After more calls and ultimatums, and the request that he send everything to me immediately, I did receive the BCE and the Rolex, I think around the 28th of April or so. Here's how they arrived:
BCE: arrived with bad lume job, blobs of lume on dial and hands, scratched dial, misaligned DW, non-functioning chrono, running way too fast, over-oiled and poorly serviced. Had to send it to another watchmaker to get it fixed.
GMT IIc: arrived with no work done on hour hand, lume only partly done, watch in pieces (!), hour hand still in need of replating and reluming, with a post-it instructing me to send it back for these jobs if I wished.
I asked for a partial refund, which he provided immediately. But it was a joke of an amount, compared to what I had to pay to get these problems sorted afterwards.
In the meantime, mystery still surrounded the fate of the Chopard and PAM, which, remember, were allegedly completed in February. After a few phone calls I am told that parts are needed and were ordered from DSN and Hont. Next thing I get is an email (16 May) saying:
"I’ve just had an email from Hont that he has now sourced the parts and was finally shipping them. I’ll email you as soon as they arrive." -I asked Hont whether it was true, and he said he wasn't anywhere near shipping the parts, maybe in a week. And indeed, a week later (23 May) I receive the following email:
"Hont emailed me yesterday to let me know that he is now back in GZ and can ship my order, but still waiting for the tracking number. I appreciate that this is frustrating for you but while I'm stuck waiting for parts there's little I can do. I used Hont on your recomendation as being one of the better suppliers but as always, it's still taking forever to get the parts ... In the expectation of receiving the parts from Hont late next week, I've pre-booked workshop time for week 22 to complete your watches."
More stories and excuses followed...
In the meeantime, the crystals with AR were returned to me, and one of them was screwed up. You have all seen the pics of the UPO crystal. I suspect that no prep work was done on it.
Then came another email (5 June):
"The Hont shipment arrived this week. Obviously as the Chieftang shipment arrived this week as well, that has been taking almost all of my time and I have no intention of luming the Chopard hands and fitting them in a rush. I would hope that I can get them lumed over the weekend so that hey will have hardened for fitting for the begining of next week. I will do the pics as soon as the job is completed. The Pam will ship RMSD with the Chopard for safety"
Ok, it's June and the watches that were apparently finished in February are almost due to arrive. According to that email, they would have been in my hands by the 12th of June at the very latest.
Of course, that didn't happen and that was the last email from him, two weeks ago. I called him on the 12th and we agreed on a way forward that entailed (1) refunding me for the botched AR job, (2) returning the PAM immediately, (3) returning the Chopard within a couple of weeks or so.
After a couple of reminders he did refund the money of teh AR job. But as of today, I am still to see the PAM and unless I go get it myself, I doubt that I will see the Chopard either. I have texted him on his mobile, I have emailed his 3 or 4 different addresses, I have called it at work, home and on his mobile. Now he's hiding.
So, that was my story. There's a lot more to it, like the details of his stories, cover-ups, lies... and more "confidential" information (unless they were lies too?) that I didn't want to share, because despite everything I am still showing him more respect than he showed me.
Ok, that was it. Hope you enjoyed the saga...
...5 months and 2 days today!!
IN SUMMARY:
To sum up, this is what I got in 5 months: I sent him 4 watches and 2 crystals. I got two watches back (after a lot of time, emails and calls) that looked like they were worked on by a monkey and had to be sent elsewhere to get fixed. The other two watches are still missing in action (and the work was prepaid). One of the AR crystals is sheit. So I guess all I got in 5 months is a lot of stories and one good crystal.
