Around the 15th. August, I ordered the PAM320 and Breitling Avenger that Tony had in his crazy sale.
Since the 21st. the order has been at U.K. customs without any updates, letters or phone calls, and then the status updated at 11.14 today, on the EMS website to ‘Released from Customs’ and the Parcelfarce website to ‘Released for UK processing’ and ‘Expected delivery date 14/09/12’.
Being the UK Customs and EMS/Parcelfarce, this of course means all bets are still on, ie. I could get a) nothing at all, or b) either of the two watches, or c) both watches (extremely unlikely).
The whole episode has given me time to realise what a farce, a complete exercise in futility, this whole episode has been. Not because of Tony’s conduct, because this has been nothing short of perfect – his communication and assurances have been excellent, but because the rest of it has been such a monumental waste of time, effort and money.
On another forum, it’s been suggested that a company called TM Eye have been acting on behalf of Richemont SA to protect their intellectual property, their trademarks and so forth, and that this is what has made it difficult at UK Customs with Panerai. No doubt there are other companies doing the same work for Breitling SA and all the other luxury brands.
If one or both of my watches had been road-rollered into the tarmac, would I have run off to an AD to order the Gen?. Not a chance!
Does their behaviour make me more liable to want to own one of their watches? No!
Would the Border Agency be better employed in preventing the entry of illegal immigrants, class A drugs, and fake medicines? Yes!
It may well be that I can’t see the trees for the forest here, but as far as I can tell, when a replica watch is destroyed, it doesn’t benefit the vendor, the buyer, or the UK economy. Companies like TM Eye make a lot of money from the luxury brands they represent, without actually raising the profile of the luxury brand. Perhaps the luxury brands would do better to save the money they pay to these reptiles, and discount their products instead?
What do you say?
Since the 21st. the order has been at U.K. customs without any updates, letters or phone calls, and then the status updated at 11.14 today, on the EMS website to ‘Released from Customs’ and the Parcelfarce website to ‘Released for UK processing’ and ‘Expected delivery date 14/09/12’.
Being the UK Customs and EMS/Parcelfarce, this of course means all bets are still on, ie. I could get a) nothing at all, or b) either of the two watches, or c) both watches (extremely unlikely).
The whole episode has given me time to realise what a farce, a complete exercise in futility, this whole episode has been. Not because of Tony’s conduct, because this has been nothing short of perfect – his communication and assurances have been excellent, but because the rest of it has been such a monumental waste of time, effort and money.
On another forum, it’s been suggested that a company called TM Eye have been acting on behalf of Richemont SA to protect their intellectual property, their trademarks and so forth, and that this is what has made it difficult at UK Customs with Panerai. No doubt there are other companies doing the same work for Breitling SA and all the other luxury brands.
If one or both of my watches had been road-rollered into the tarmac, would I have run off to an AD to order the Gen?. Not a chance!
Does their behaviour make me more liable to want to own one of their watches? No!
Would the Border Agency be better employed in preventing the entry of illegal immigrants, class A drugs, and fake medicines? Yes!
It may well be that I can’t see the trees for the forest here, but as far as I can tell, when a replica watch is destroyed, it doesn’t benefit the vendor, the buyer, or the UK economy. Companies like TM Eye make a lot of money from the luxury brands they represent, without actually raising the profile of the luxury brand. Perhaps the luxury brands would do better to save the money they pay to these reptiles, and discount their products instead?
What do you say?