Ernest Jones - avoid for repairs

KateLiana27

I took a watch to Ernest Jones in Manchester for a simple battery change. Was told it could be done the same day, paid, and collected it later.

Some time later it stopped. I took it to a local watch repair firm who were horrified at what had been done to it. The repairs would be more than the worth of the watch.

Ernest Jones were dismissive and denied any responsibility or wrongdoing whatsoever. After persistence and letters on my part, they agreed to send it off to be investigated and fixed. It has now been done, and to their credit they have not charged me. However it has taken over 2 months with no communication from them, and they still deny they did anything wrong, stating that the watch just needed a service and implying that I conned them into doing this for free. Staff were dreadful and unprofessional, rarely passed on messages, and I could hear them giggling in the background when I phoned up to ask what was going on.

I don't want anyone else to have to go through this, hence posting here. Go elsewhere for your watch repairs. I've since found the Watchdog article about Ernest Jones and more bad reviews than I thought possible, so I know this was not an isolated event.

docmatt

Thanks for the tip

barbiedoll

I had a christmas job in H Samuel (same company as Ernest Jones), a few years back and their repair service is appalling. They used to use one of the Saturday staff to replace batteries and the like and if anyone came in for a battery replacement, we were supposed to get them to pay for a "service" too. No-one actually did any servicing, the guy just took the back off, dropped a tiny bit of oil into the watch and that was it. Once, a customer bought a lovely old wind-up watch in for a service, I told him to steer well clear and to go to an independent jeweller instead.

shaun_from_Africa

When you consider that they are also part of the same group that owns Ratners jewellers, I wouldn't expect anything less, especially when the ex CEO described some of their goods as "total crap".

KateLiana27

barbiedoll wrote: »

I had a christmas job in H Samuel (same company as Ernest Jones), a few years back and their repair service is appalling. They used to use one of the Saturday staff to replace batteries and the like and if anyone came in for a battery replacement, we were supposed to get them to pay for a "service" too. No-one actually did any servicing, the guy just took the back off, dropped a tiny bit of oil into the watch and that was it. Once, a customer bought a lovely old wind-up watch in for a service, I told him to steer well clear and to go to an independent jeweller instead.

Wow, that's shocking. Thanks for posting this. It makes me feel better about the horrible store manager insisting that all the (2-year-old) watch needed was a "service", and the fact that it had only stopped after their staff had worked on it was just a giant coincidence :think:

jc808

H Samuel are !!!!! - staff have ni idea of the SOGA

donnap83

I once took a Givenchy watch in to get the glass replaced as i'd cracked it on a car door. They sent it off for repair, 4 weeks later (:eek:) it came back. And they'd made a right mess of it. The watch face was curved, yet they'd put a flat piece of glass in to it. I complained in the shop that it looked awful. The guy said he'd speak to the repairs place and call me. A week later i hadn't heard anything so i called in to the shop. They'd called the repairs place, but according to the they didn't have a glass front to match what was originally in the watch. I was NOT inpressed. As I was looking at the watch, I realised that a cabachon sapphire that sat in the winder was missing. Again I complained. THe shop manager made another call, came back and said to me that there wasn't anything they could do, unless they sent it to Givenchy in Paris, which would be time consuming to them, and did I really want them to do that?!!?? He made out that it was such an inconvenience for them to correct their mistake. Couldn't believe the guy's cheek!! I told him that I wanted them to send it to Paris for a proper repair. I also said that had told me that they wouldn't have been able to fix it properly, I would have taken it to a different jeweller.

Worse still, it only took 2 weeks for Givenchy to repair and return the watch, half the time Earnest Jones took, and EJ tried to charge me for the pleasure!!!! :mad::mad:

Made a right fuss, they agreed to drop the additional repair fee as a 'gesture of goodwill'.

Will never use them again:mad:

KateLiana27

donnap83 wrote: »

I once took a Givenchy watch in to get the glass replaced as i'd cracked it on a car door. They sent it off for repair, 4 weeks later (:eek:) it came back. And they'd made a right mess of it. The watch face was curved, yet they'd put a flat piece of glass in to it. I complained in the shop that it looked awful. The guy said he'd speak to the repairs place and call me. A week later i hadn't heard anything so i called in to the shop. They'd called the repairs place, but according to the they didn't have a glass front to match what was originally in the watch. I was NOT inpressed. As I was looking at the watch, I realised that a cabachon sapphire that sat in the winder was missing. Again I complained. THe shop manager made another call, came back and said to me that there wasn't anything they could do, unless they sent it to Givenchy in Paris, which would be time consuming to them, and did I really want them to do that?!!?? He made out that it was such an inconvenience for them to correct their mistake. Couldn't believe the guy's cheek!! I told him that I wanted them to send it to Paris for a proper repair. I also said that had told me that they wouldn't have been able to fix it properly, I would have taken it to a different jeweller.

Worse still, it only took 2 weeks for Givenchy to repair and return the watch, half the time Earnest Jones took, and EJ tried to charge me for the pleasure!!!! :mad::mad:

Made a right fuss, they agreed to drop the additional repair fee as a 'gesture of goodwill'.

Will never use them again:mad:

Don't get me started on their "gestures of goodwill". I'd have preferred not butchering my watch in the first place to be their gesture of goodwill :mad: