Issue with HONT. [RESOLVED ON 10.13.10]

[redstars]

I was working at Kinko's, and had been flirting with an attractive lady who was clearly in town on business. As she approached the counter to pay, I secretly opened a helium balloon so I could surprise her with a cute, silly voice. But she paused just short of the counter to look at a book on a shelf. I tried heroically to hold my helium, as my brain burned through its supply of oxygen.

When she finally arrived, I tried to say the witty anecdote I planned, but forgot how to talk. "Quaaackleblarg." The room lurched violently sideways, and I saw a stream of drool land on the counter. I fell down, and she enjoyed a good laugh with my coworker while I recovered my senses.

While I have an issue with the outcome, I do not feel like I was either scammed or robbed, simply because the situation did not turn out how I expected. I offer this anecdote only to illustrate the importance of stepping back and looking at the big picture.

 

[SpootyPuff]

red, i love how you copy/pasted the story twice in one post... you got me going up to the first half of the first sentence before i realized lol :facepalm:

 

[Anopsis]

I was working at Kinko's, and had been flirting with an attractive lady who was clearly in town on business. As she approached the counter to pay, I secretly opened a helium balloon so I could surprise her with a cute, silly voice. But she paused just short of the counter to look at a book on a shelf. I tried heroically to hold my helium, as my brain burned through its supply of oxygen.

When she finally arrived, I tried to say the witty anecdote I planned, but forgot how to talk. "Quaaackleblarg." The room lurched violently sideways, and I saw a stream of drool land on the counter. I fell down, and she enjoyed a good laugh with my coworker while I recovered my senses.

While I have an issue with the outcome, I do not feel like I was either scammed or robbed, simply because the situation did not turn out how I expected. I offer this anecdote only to illustrate the importance of stepping back and looking at the big picture.

This is post of the month material, at the very least. :biglaugh:

 

[tommy_boy]

A summer storm shut down the Minneapolis airport when I was in the air. Our pilot had to circle for an hour, go to Duluth for more fuel, then land two hours late.

You can imagine what a mess it was in the terminals! The poor folks who were at the gates were beside themselves in some cases trying to get folks on another flight and on their way.

I stood behind a guy who was just fuming because he missed his connection. When he walked (stomped) up to the counter, boy, did he let the agent have a piece of his mind!

Problem for old Crabby Appleton is that the ONE GUY who could help him get home is suddenly in no mood to help him. Eventually the agent gave him a ticket for a flight out four hours later. I shuddered because he was going to the same place that I was.

I walked up to the counter, asked the guy how his afternoon was going (I knew, of course!) made a couple of jokes and got on a plane 45 minutes later.

True story.

 

[ThreadLocker]

I was working at Kinko's, and had been flirting with an attractive lady who was clearly in town on business. As she approached the counter to pay, I secretly opened a helium balloon so I could surprise her with a cute, silly voice. But she paused just short of the counter to look at a book on a shelf. I tried heroically to hold my helium, as my brain burned through its supply of oxygen.

When she finally arrived, I tried to say the witty anecdote I planned, but forgot how to talk. "Quaaackleblarg." The room lurched violently sideways, and I saw a stream of drool land on the counter. I fell down, and she enjoyed a good laugh with my coworker while I recovered my senses.

While I have an issue with the outcome, I do not feel like I was either scammed or robbed, simply because the situation did not turn out how I expected. I offer this anecdote only to illustrate the importance of stepping back and looking at the big picture.

Very witty, funny, and entertaining.....but it does not mirror or apply to this situation...the OP has a legit problem. He has no item, but yet he has paid. He has returned the item, but does not have a refund.

If you took a widescreen back to Wal-Mart that was defective; and two months later you still had not received a credit to your Visa, would you just look at the big picture? Or would you start demanding that Wal-Mart solve your problem? The fact that you neither had a big picture to look at, or the cash you had prior to their failure to provide said big picture......LOL I would want one or the other....and so does the OP

 

[PecMan]

ok ok ok ok!!! everybody take it easy!!!! i called hont to his personal phone number .
he told me he is taking care of his streep club bussines that is why he didnt return the watch yet or the money!! . but he promise he will and he sent me a prostitute finger to prove it !! so be pacient hont the pimp will take care of u beatch. love honts messenger . (not real) (this little note is for idiots that belive everything and are to delicate)

 

[JC7]

Tho I feel for OP.. The BOTTOM LINE is we haven't heard from Hont or Hont's response. There is a big chance that OP was not cleared to send the package back and Hont NEVER got it. It's a lot easier for packages to go out of China than in China.

 

[rooster133]

Well, it seems that tb, and not the OP, finally answered my questions: So, the OP gave mods only 8 days to work on this, and never followed up with them before starting this thread.

There is a right way to handle these things, and there is a wrong way. Sadly the OP chose the latter. Mods and admin are not paid to work here, and they have jobs in the real world too. When things go wrong, they will do whatever they can to help you. But you need to be patient, keep communication channels open, and give us enough time to resolve the issue. If you do this, issues are pretty much always resolved.

 

[JellyJoe]

Amen

 

[levelmanroger]

Well, it seems that tb, and not the OP, finally answered my questions: So, the OP gave mods only 8 days to work on this, and never followed up with them before starting this thread.

There is a right way to handle these things, and there is a wrong way. Sadly the OP chose the latter. Mods and admin are not paid to work here, and they have jobs in the real world too. When things go wrong, they will do whatever they can to help you. But you need to be patient, keep communication channels open, and give us enough time to resolve the issue. If you do this, issues are pretty much always resolved.

+1
The fact is that these are illegal businesses operating from the still 3rd world underbelly of emerging nations. To our chagrin, it is not the same customer experience as you would expect and receive from Shop NBC, Amazon, or WalMart.
Every facet of the process takes more time than it should, and issue resolution takes even longer.
Give the Mods time to work on this. To paraphrase a great, yet much maligned American: Hont is not a crook.

 

[donaldejose]

I find the search for perfection an illusive goal when purchasing reps. You have to expect a certain percentage of failure. I find about 10% of watches I purchase to be disappointments and I find returning them to be a nightmare best avoided. Quality control, at all levels, is just not something you can count on in this business. That said, if you want the highest "perfection" available, you will have to pay for it by dealing with BKLM. His products seem to have very high customer satisfaction on the "accuracy to gen" and quality control scales.

 

[JellyJoe]

I wouldnt say its the only option, but yes BK makes great watches fo sho, possibly the best as for QC.

OP has all the right to wish for a successful resolution of the issue, its just silly to insult the guy who has your money in a context where he has great feedback and you have none, that's all. I agree with Tommy's post in that respect, better keep it on the civil side. After this is done, if you think Hont wasnt good enough for you, just buy from somebody else in the future.
Even if, as Col said, after titling "scammer" and razzmatazz in disarray I cant imagine dealers queue up to have you as their customer...

 

[tommy_boy]

+1 LMR.

In my short time with this hobby, I am fascinated that some rep buyers hold rep dealers to such a high (Western/modern) service standard. In my view (from many years in manufacturing and distribution, recently involving many Chinese made goods) we may as well accept that we have to be realistic about what level of service is available. Hopefully it will improve some day.

Could Hont walk away and leave us hanging? Sure, anything's possible.

Could I be posting like a madman just to establish rapport and pull a Captain Morgan on you guys? Sure, anything's possible.

I was sold a pink elephant by a member here. Is there long term benefit for me to scream about it in a thread? Nope. There are right and wrong ways to handle these matters, as advised by our staff.

Let's see what, if any facts are presented to us and go from there. Just my $0.02 USD.

 

[levelmanroger]

True - BK builds and QCs his stuff to a very high standard. But my guess is that the OP would be calling fraud and screaming for his money back long before waiting more than 18 months for a watch as many of us have (fingers crossed we don't hit 2 years!).
We know it's worth it in the end, and we trust BK that he will deliver and not just run off with our money. But that's a trust factor based on his reputation. Hont, too, has an excellent reputation and it did not sway the OP into having more patience.
So in the end, expectations are a much bigger problem in this hobby than are QC or shipping problems. Ultimately that's what the majority dealer complaints come down to.

 

[neotec8]

I really don't think some of you are being fair in your posts.
1. I have been emailing Hont for the past month asking for a polite resolution.
2. He is shipping watches so he is working, but not with me.
3.I have done my part, followed the rules and then some.
4. I have emailed the admin/Mod asking for help:

8/31/2010 Originally Posted by neotec8

Hello,

I could use the help of the board. I bought a ceramic Sub from Hont as he seamed to be a trusted dealer. This is the first purchase form him and communication well.

when price was aggreed I sent this email:

black ceramic sub swiss eta 2836 ---230usd +$20 shipping

Sounds good I will take it providing it looks great. Fit and finish are very important to me. I understand from our mutual friends at RWI that you will send pictures of the actual watch. I want to make sure that the pearl and numbers are on straight. I have many watches but none that I will wear because it has oblivious flaws. So it will be good to finally have a relationship with a professional dealer..


he responded : don't worry i send best one.

Then the watch came and had an offset pearl. I sent him an email asking for a return and he replied by sending a replacement insert. I got the insert and it was light gray with crooked numbers and had a green pearl. still i held back and sent him an email politely letting him that i was sending it back . this was a month ago he will not return my email.

I want to light him on fire but I am following the protocol and asking for your intervention

 

[prsist]

After reading all the posts in this thread I would like to add only one thing, my personal experience with Hont.

He has procured 3 watches for me in the past.
- he has always been pleasant to communicate with
- he found what i was looking for quickly
- shipped quickly
- I had a problem with a numeral coming off on a watch he sent me. I emailed him the issues and at no cost he mailed me a replacement dial.

It is a disservice to Hont to say you were scammed. As prior posts have said these are reps an built in china. If you want perfection buy gen or bk.

It looks as though Mau Gomez has struck on this board as well. He scammed me of my Pam 051.

Speaking of bk, I'm on the list for the SeaDweller and have been waiting patiently since Feb. 2009. I can't wait till she is complete!

 

[neotec8]

Im not being unrealistic.

1. I am not looking for a gen or bk

2. I was very clear about what I wanted before the sale

3. he agreed to what I wanted before the sale.

4. what i got and what he represented it as was entirely different.

5. I emailed him right away to get a replacement.

6. I tried to work with him even agreed to modifiy the watch and install a replacement insert.

7. I was willing to accept a replacement, replacement insert, refund

8. I emailed him respectfully even thanking him in advance.

9 i didnt slam him and tried to work with him at his pace.

10. I emailed both the admins and Mods looking for direction.

11. I sent another round of emails to Hont, and the mod saying that I would post this seller review and gave them the opportunity for a rebuttal.

 

[PecMan]

please!!! someone get a center pearl rolex submarino watch!!! for NEO!! PLEASE he is just asking for a center pearl!!! he is not asking for 18k pure gold watch for 250 he just w a n t s a c e n t e r p e a r l!!!!! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

[levelmanroger]

please!!! someone get a center pearl rolex submarino watch!!! for NEO!! PLEASE he is just asking for a center pearl!!! he is not asking for 18k pure gold watch for 250 he just w a n t s a c e n t e r p e a r l!!!!! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Except... he has no watch to put it on!

And I'm sorry if we've seemed too hard on you, Neo. Your original post and title in particular was very inflammatory.

 

[pippo]

2. I was very clear about what I wanted before the sale

That's enough for me.
We have trusted/recommended dealers here, so i suppose we can trust them and if i ask for a centered pearl before paying i'm confident i'll get what i pay for.
It was something so easy and quick to check.
If he can't find a watch with a good pearl just tell me and i'll decide if i still want to buy the watch.

Too often, trusted dealers (most of them, all fora) are not fully reliable at all and as tommy_boy said we have to be realistic about what level of service is available here.

Asking pics before the shipment is the best option to avoid bad surprises but it's not working all the time unfortunately.