First order with Puretime - Inconsistent communication so far

[damocles]

The communication has been very inconsistent so far.

I have been in contact with Marie from Puretime throughout this entire process. When asked about the purchasing process and QC wait time, her replies were almost instant, within 5-15 minutes. However, after I sent the payment, I only received replies after 24+ hours which is fine. But now, she has stopped responding altogether, and I am unable to confirm the remaining amount to be paid and proceed with my order.

Here is a timeline of the events:

• Jan 16: I emailed to inquire about the availability of VC Chronomètre Royal 1907.
• Jan 17: They confirmed the stock.
• Jan 18: Payment sent
• Jan 19: I noticed the gen strap I bought has straight lugs, won’t fit this vc model. Requested to switch to another model.
• Jan 22: Marie confirmed that I could switch and asked to confirm the model. I confirmed to switch to "JLC Reverso Rectangular Small Second MGF" and asked them to confirm the remaining amount to be paid so that I could proceed with the order.
• Jan 23: No respond
• Jan 24: Follow up, no respond
• Jan 25: Follow up, no respond

 

[puretime]

Please let us know your order number to double check, thank you

 

[damocles]

Please let us know your order number to double check, thank you

I DM'd you with the order number, my email address, and payment details.

 

[puretime]

I DM'd you with the order number, my email address, and payment details.

Thanks. I will take a look

 

[damocles]

Update: Not happy with how this turns out.

I settled on a watch I wanted to order and confirmed with Puretime, and subsequently made a second payment on Jan 26 via bank transfer, the two payments both have a 50 HKD bank transfer fee which was paid by me additionally.

First payment: 328.5 USD on 18th Jan
Second payment: 20.7 USD on 26th Jan
In total, I have transferred 349.2usd

It has been more than 3 weeks since my second transfer, Puretime is convinced they have only received 298.5 USD but not the 328.5 USD transfer on the first payment and said they did not receive the second payment at all. It has been over a month. All my previous bank transactions are almost always instant or at least overnight. After much back and forth, I decided to just ask them to refund the money and I will place an order with my go-to TD.

Has this happened to anyone before with Puretime? I am out 349.2 USD + 12.8 USD (100 HKD bank fees) = 362 USD, and Puretime said they will only refund the 298.5 USD they received on the first payment.

 

[puretime]

I am sorry if you are not satisfied but till today, Our bank only got $298.5 Please double check with your bank or ask them if it is possible to cancel the payment

 

[damocles]

I am sorry if you are not satisfied but till today, Our bank only got $298.5 Please double check with your bank or ask them if it is possible to cancel the payment

I am not sure how that works, my bank has cleared and deducted both payments and bank fees from my account. I will call up again tomorrow to once again confirm with my bank. I have had over 100+ transactions with various TDs on this site and this has never happened to me before.

@puretime has this happened to you before with other customers?

First payment


Bank fees deducted from my account


Second payment


Bank fees deducted from my account

 

[puretime]

Usually in 7-10 days, we can be able to recieve the payments. I am also not sure why we didn't get your second payment. You can ask bank to cancel it.

 

[damocles]

Usually in 7-10 days, we can be able to recieve the payments. I am also not sure why we didn't get your second payment. You can ask bank to cancel it.

@puretime I just got off the phone with my bank manager. He told me both payments went through an intermediate bank (kbkookmin bank) as per the instructions from your destinated bank, so the difference from the amount you received is likely charged from the intermediate bank but how would you not know this?

As a customer, I only make payments according to the instructions I was given at the agreed price and I expect the product to deliver promptly. It is unfair for me to bear any extra costs throughout this transaction without prior notice before the payment, especially since I have already paid the bank transfer fee for my bank both times. Check with your bank, and please refund the full amount to me.

My first payment 328.5 USD on 18th Jan was cleared on 22th Jan and deposited in your bank
Second payment 20.7 USD on 26th Jan was cleared on 29th Jan and deposited in your bank

Both were confirmed and notified by my bank.

 

[puretime]

I am sorry if you are not satisfied but till today, Our bank only got $298.5 Please double check with your bank or ask them if it is possible to cancel the payment

From the screenshot, it's $10 fee deducted from our bank. We actually only got 288.5 USD and we can only return this amount recieved. About the second payment 20.7 USD, we never recieved it yet. If we finally recieve it later, we can refund that too. Since it's payment issue and sensitive，you can discuss it further with us by emails, thank you

 

[damocles]

From the screenshot, it's $10 fee deducted from our bank. We actually only got 288.5 USD and we can only return this amount recieved. About the second payment 20.7 USD, we never recieved it yet. If we finally recieve it later, we can refund that too. Since it's payment issue and sensitive，you can discuss it further with us by emails, thank you

That is very unreasonable, I did not know there was a 30 USD charge from an intermediate bank for each transaction from the bank transfer instructions you have given me. It's not like I didn't pay for my bank transfer fee too, I covered the bank transfer fee for both payments.

I merely followed your instructions to transfer the agreed amount for the watch. Had I known this, I would have gone for another TD.

That is probably the reason why the extra 20.7 USD payment didn't get to you, because another 30 USD charge from the intermediate bank would have already taken the amount.

You asked for 349.2 USD for a watch, I paid 349.2 USD. I expected no hassle.

How is this reasonable? You asked for 349 USD then proceeded to question me why you only received 285.5 USD when there was an intermediate bank charge of 60 USD + 10 USD bank charge from the instructions you gave me.

Please refund me the full amount.

Mods please help.

@Raddave

 

[puretime]

This is probably because of the transaction fees which is not our fault either. We only recieved $298.5 as showed from our screenshot. But no problem, we will refund to you the exact same amount you paid in our loss.
To be honest and no offence, what makes me sad is we never heard any approbation words in regards of our team's work and patience even when you changed your order decisions maybe about 20 times. Nothing else mentioned in this post but only unpleasant part...... Sorry, if you are not satisfied with our service

 

[damocles]

This is probably because of the transaction fees which is not our fault either. We only recieved $298.5 as showed from our screenshot. But no problem, we will refund to you the exact same amount you paid in our loss.
To be honest and no offence, what makes me sad is we never heard any approbation words in regards of our team's work and patience even when you changed your order decisions maybe about 20 times. Nothing else mentioned in this post but only unpleasant part...... Sorry, if you are not satisfied with our service

yes I did change my mind about the order, thank you for accommodating for that and like I said in the very first post it was due to a strap I bought being the wrong size. After confirming and sending the 2nd payment I was expecting a smooth transaction.

I appreciate your effort in rectifying this matter. However, I find it absurd you seem to have no clue that the bank transfer instructions you gave me required the payment to go through an intermediate bank, and thus there will be two extra charges in the 2 transactions. After all, you have been here since 2006? I won't find it a problem if you have been upfront about it and indicated who is covering the extra 70 USD charge instead of blaming me and asking me why I didn't send the full amount, taking into account that I have already paid the required bank charge for the 2 payment.

 

[puretime]

It's our policy to process the order with full amount recieved. I have not blamed you anything but simplely said we didn't get enough payment.

Anyway, we will refund the amount you paid

 

[damocles]

I feel like we are going around circles here. The reason why you didn’t get the full amount is because there is an additional 60 usd intermediate bank charge as per your bank instructions for the 2 payments, with an additional 10usd bank charge on your side. Also the reason why you didn’t get the second payment.

I hope you can clarify this with your customers in the future to prevent any misunderstanding, thank you for rectifying this matter.

 

[puretime]

Thanks for your suggestion