Timpsons - massive ripoff

mcduff16

I always use my local independent shop to get my watch battery changed and also for engraving. Timpsons are far too expensive

jess1974

I used Debenhams for my watch £10 and a voucher for 2 free coffees in the instore cafe.....

Joe_Horner

richdim wrote: »

I went to a high street jeweler to get a new battery for a watch. I was quoted £8.50 for the battery installed, but they did not have the right one so suggested I go to Timpsons.

In Timpsons, I was quoted £21.50 for the battery installed. Apparently the excessive price covers resealing the case. What does this mean? Is it necessary? As far as I can see, the seal is a thin rubber ring.

I bought a new battery from an online retailer for 44p and will fit it myself.

I was also quoted £150 by Timpsons for replacing some numbers that had fallen off the face of the watch - ridiculous.

Unless there is good reason for such excessive prices, I will be avoiding Timpsons from now on.

Do you feel Timpsons is too expensive

I know this is an old bump, but I've just been searching for Timpson out of curiosity having seen some of their work today and figured there were a couple of tech points in this post and the following discussion that (a) hadn't been answered fully and (b) I'm qualified to answer (I'm a watchmaker)

First, regarding water resistance:

There are usually at least 3 seals on a water resistant watch - the back, the glass and the crown (setting button). If you have pushers for chrono etc then they have seals as well.

When a watch is opened for something like a battery, the only seal that should be disturbed is the back seal. That's usually a rubber O ring which is easy to inspect visually and very cheap indeed to replace. That means that, if the watch was water resistant before changing the battery, there's no real excuse for it not being afterwards, with or without a pressure test.

But guaranteeing resistance on a watch is another matter - as a repairer, you have no idea at all whether or not the watch was proof before you opened it because there may be a leak on the glass or (most common) crown or pusher seals. Taking the customer's word for it is a really bad business idea! The crown (and pushers) are the only seals that suffer any wear in normal use, which is why they're the ones that tend to fail first.

Personally - ignoring the fact that I obviously do my own when needed - I would never use anywhere that insisted I pay for a pressure test, no matter what the rating of the watch, provided they were willing to explain the risk of not testing.

The common phrase "it won't be proof without..." is pure misleading bull. The correct phrase (for a competent repairer) should be more like "It will be just as proof as it was before i opened it, but without testing I can't guarantee it because I don't know what the other seals are like".

Obviously, the situation is slightly different for dive watches that are actually used for diving because the owner's life could depend on it not failing. For that situation, a pressure test should always be strongly advised for peace of mind - although anyone who dives nowadays relying completely on a single timepiece is taking unnecessary risks!

The comments about changing your own are perfectly valid, and can save a great deal of money, but there are a couple of gotchas to watch out for.

First is the quality of the batteries. Please never use the cheap alkaline cells in watches - they leak almost as soon as they run out (sometimes even before) and leakage is likely to lead to mucho expense, or a dead watch if parts can't be sourced. Only ever use branded silver oxide cells if you're going to be the least bit upset if the watch fails. For a junker, by all means throw in whatever's cheapest

Second is shelf-life. All batteries have a shelf life, once that expires they don't only lose capacity but become much more prone to leaking. Buying cheap single batteries (even quality ones) from unknown sources is likely to leave you with out-of-date stock which you're unlikely to know unless you're familiar with current packaging and date codes for the brands concerned!

Finally, size is important. I see a lot of watches with the wrong size battery fitted - in fact, the one that got me searching today was one such case. It was the right diameter but 0.5mm too thick, which was enough that when the back was pressed on, the dial was pushed forward and loosened the bezel and glass. Luckily it didn't fall off somewhere in the street or the owner would now have a scrap watch. In most sizes there are also "high drain" and "low drain" versions. Using the wrong one (even though it's a perfect fit) is likely to give either short life or premature leakage.

Finally finally, £150 for "replacing some numbers" is, frankly, a joke. Assuming the OP means that there were "applied" hour markers or numbers that had come loose, that would usually take about 5 minutes, and never more than maybe 1/2 hour if it was all of them. Unless there was a pressure test as well, I'd normally do 1 or 2 of them for no charge and ask for a donation to the RBL jar on the counter.

Maybe that's why I'm not rich :rotfl:

pmduk

richdim wrote: »

I was also quoted £150 by Timpsons for replacing some numbers that had fallen off the face of the watch - ridiculous.

They just didn't want to do the work end of. A analogy would be an insurance company quoting over the odds for someone they weren't keen on insuring.

oscarward

I second Debenhams, I had a skagen with a cracked glass, they replaced the glass, fitted new battery and pressure tested for £40.

Conventional jewellers would only refurbish it as well for about £90. As I didn't plan on swimming/diving in it then I felt that was a tad expensive.

Money_Bunny

I've just had a Timpson's experience. The produced two new car keys for me for a total of 80 pounds. Both work perfectly and the cost was thirty pounds less than the garage would have charged me for one key.

It was, however, a bit of saga. First they had to order the blanks (2 days). Then they discovered they had to order the right size drill (another week). And then programming the computer chips took over an hour (one of the first chips they tried was defective). I feel like I've been on a bit of a car key journey!

Can't fault the staff. Unfailing courteous. And they didn't give up - it must have been tempting to say they just couldn't do my keys, especially as, bearing in mind the hassle, I can't think they made much money on the deal.

As to the experience of losing your car keys in Birmingham when the car is in the station car park in Manchester and the only spare is with your husband who is out of contact for two days - don't go there! But cheers to the station car park for the 48 hours for which they didn't charge.

Wicked_witch

mcduff16 wrote: »

I always use my local independent shop to get my watch battery changed and also for engraving. Timpsons are far too expensive

Exactly this!

the_helping_hand

The reason they went out of their way to get the job done is because the company works on a bonus scheme where the more the shop earns the more bonus you get and believe me with the basic wage that they pay you need the bonus! They could have turned round and said they couldnt do it but £80 in the till from one sale is too good to turn down.

Money_Bunny wrote: »

I've just had a Timpson's experience. The produced two new car keys for me for a total of 80 pounds. Both work perfectly and the cost was thirty pounds less than the garage would have charged me for one key.

It was, however, a bit of saga. First they had to order the blanks (2 days). Then they discovered they had to order the right size drill (another week). And then programming the computer chips took over an hour (one of the first chips they tried was defective). I feel like I've been on a bit of a car key journey!

bod1467

Thanks for that. This thread was only dead for 17 months after all.

kwikbreaks

Easy. If you think it's too expensive either do it yourself or go elsewhere. I personally think anything above a few quid for fitting a watch battery is over the odds and have always fitted my own. That said I'm not into scuba diving or showering or swimming with a watch on so have never saught out watches more than splashproof.

bod1467 wrote: »

Thanks for that. This thread was only dead for 17 months after all.

Blast it- I missed that til after I replied.

How about a thread on the reviving of long dead threads?