'Just As New'? Not exactly...............

I purchased a Rolex Submariner from this company on the promise of their website which supplies, and I quote; 'All our watches are in the best possible condition both internally and externally' under the heading of 'Just Like New', and in other copy on their website they claim that 'all our stock is as good as it can be before we sell it'.

On receiving the watch it had a damaged bezel (which they had told me was being replaced - only the insert was actually replaced), scratches to the rear of the case where the strap had been attached and the tool had slipped on both sides, a chip on the glass and a very poorly finished bracelet clasp.

The company did offer me a full refund. However, during the lengthy correspondence they also offered an interesting insight into how the quality of the watches they sell are, by their own admission certainly not in the ‘best possible’ condition.

They told me (via eMail correspondence) that they would not honour their website standards and refurbish my watch to ‘just as new’ because (in their own words):

1. The glass was assessed by their watchmakers, and they felt that its condition didn’t justify a new glass
2. Replacing the gold bezel would have substantially increased their sale price
4. They are under no legal obligation to replace parts where the cost involved would be unreasonably disproportionate to them
5. Their 'Just As New' statement did not appear on the advertisement for my actual watch
6. There is no reference to 'Just As New' in their terms and conditions
7. The watch is 9 years old and has been brought back to a reasonable standard. Funny but I always thought ‘reasonable’ and ‘best possible’ were rather different?

So, if you do buy a watch from them and it’s refurbished to a less than ‘best possible’ standard, just bear in mind that yes, you can have a full refund, but your deposit (in my case £2950) will potentially be tied up for weeks (in my case 4, whilst it was being refurbished), and you may not get a watch that has bears much relation to the standards their website claims. You may consider it a risk worth taking, but I certainly won’t be buying from them again and neither will any of the friends (both prospective and past customers) that I have told.

Oh, and if you are expecting ‘the highest standards of customer care’ then you may wish to consider that after just one eMail exchanged between myself and their Sales Manager, my complaint was passed to their Legal Counsel. I did send an eMail collectively to their Directors, but that was also passed back to their Legal Counsel. Interesting approach to achieving the ‘highest standards of customer care’ don’t you think?