Can I get a refund on a bad watch repair job?

Happytosave

I have a Raymond Weil watch (about 5 yrs old). It recently stopped working so I took it to a local independent jewellers who said they would change the battery for £20 and clean it. This took a few days. Not half an hour later, I could see that the watch did not work. I went back and after about 3 weeks (!) they changed the electrical circuit and serviced it. This cost £45. A week later the watch stopped working again.

What am I entitled to ask for? I would like my watch repaired but not by this lot!
Can I get refund for spending £65 to be back at square 1?

moonrakerz

If you get your £65 back you may not be back at square 1. They may have caused more "damage" than was present when you took it in to them.

Write to them (recorded delivery) and recount the problem, say that you want them to tell you what they are going to do to get the watch working - at no further cost to yourself.
Also say that if you do not have a satisfactory response in 28 days, you will return the watch to Raymond Weil for repair and then take action against them (the jeweller) in the Small Claims Court to recover your costs of that repair, plus your expenses.

mighty_hammers

you should have a 12 months guarantee with your service. i worked in the trade for many years and we were by our companies policy, allowed one attempt to put right any repair that did not have the watch working correctly ( before the customer went mad!). If you do not trust the jeweller, how about asking them to send it to Raymond weil at their cost. you can make sure they give you their job number, which you could easily confirm with RW. By the prices they are charging, it must be them doing the work. They say they changed the electric circuit? i find it hard to know what this is as the movement ( everything that makes it work ) is pretty much all in one.

Happytosave

Just to let you know what happened. I sent the watch off to Raymond Weil who were very helpful and told me that the watch had been fitted with a Gucci movement! They put this in writing so I was able to go to the local jewellers who refunded the £65. They took a copy of the letter from Raymond Weil so they could speak to their watch repairer about it.
However, Raymond Weil wanted about £135 to repair my watch. Too much money for me so I am using a watch my parents gave me.