Tag Heuer Servicing Scam?

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I sent my Tag back to TagHeuer ref WL5113 as it had stopped working.
They told me that the watch had got wet and it needed new everything Face, Full works at a cost of £1250+ I only paid £1200 for it.
I took the watch to Watchworks in Bristol and got a completely different story the watch needed a screw ( that was funny as Tag was the only company to have had the back off) a service and that cost me only £200 and with £40 of a polish my watch is like new!!!!!!

Thank you Watchworks of Bristol and good by Tag I will not ever be back.

Giblets

Yeh, TAG UK are known for their horrendous customer service.

I had mine sent off to them, after less than two years from new it stopped, had to get it serviced, but needed a new face as it was 'faded'.
After another two years it stopped again, again service.
Got it back, the hands were floppy round the face, so sent it back again, again received with floppy hands! Third time lucky.

Incidentally if you take it to most big department stores, it will be serviced by TAG themselves.
Look up the British Horological institute for local servicers.

PoorCharleyBear

I paid a fortune to have my Tag serviced by Tag.
Next time I used a bloke who advertises on ebay....only does big brand watches. He was fab and a fraction of the price. I needed a new catch which was cheaper than a TAG service- yet interestingly he had to order the catch specifically from Tag.
So how can a third party using genuine Tag parts repair something for less than the supplier? You pay for the name.

Marklar

I received my Tag watch as a birthday present 16 years ago, since when it has had maybe four battery replacements originally at a cost of £30 which has since risen to £70. It has also been serviced once but I can't recall how much I was charged.

When the second hand started jumping recently I took it to a well-known high street jewellers and asked them to send it to Tag for a replacement battery. A couple of weeks later the Tag service centre rang to tell me that the watch needed a battery plus a new crown, a service and attention to a loose clasp at a total cost of £285 which is more than half what the watch cost in 1998.

I declined to have the work done and politely asked them to return the watch to the jeweller for me to collect. When I went to pick it up yesterday, the woman at the jewellers told me that the watch would not work even if I had a battery fitted by someone else. I told her that this was nonsense. Little did I know......................

Today, my wife took the watch to a local watchmaker who removed the back and fitted a new battery. To his surprise, the watch did not immediately start to work and on inspecting the internals through a jeweller's loupe he found that a component inside the case (my wife described it as 'looking like a tiny copper coil') had been deliberately damaged, apparently with a screwdriver.

The watchmaker said that until recently, these components were readily available but that they can no longer be obtained. He is going to look through his bits and pieces at home this evening to see if he can find one. Fingers crossed.

I can only conclude that when I declined to have the ridiculously expensive repair carried out, some spiteful individual at the official repair workshop decided to sabotage my watch to prevent me having the battery replaced by an independent. Obviously, I can't prove this but how else could physical damage to a component inside a sealed watch have occurred?

So, my advice to anyone thinking of buying a Tag Heuer for themselves or as a gift for a loved one would to be to think very hard before parting with their money for if they do, they will be entering into a long-term relationship with a company that will delight in ripping them off at every opportunity.

If my watch cannot be repaired by my local chap, I will buy a Citizen Eco-drive. That way I will never need to buy another replacement battery.

hcb42

We have a family member who is an Horologist. So we got lucky as our service was free

Joe_Horner

Marklar wrote: »

I received my Tag watch as a birthday present 16 years ago, since when it has had maybe four battery replacements originally at a cost of £30 which has since risen to £70. It has also been serviced once but I can't recall how much I was charged.

When the second hand started jumping recently I took it to a well-known high street jewellers and asked them to send it to Tag for a replacement battery. A couple of weeks later the Tag service centre rang to tell me that the watch needed a battery plus a new crown, a service and attention to a loose clasp at a total cost of £285 which is more than half what the watch cost in 1998.

I declined to have the work done and politely asked them to return the watch to the jeweller for me to collect. When I went to pick it up yesterday, the woman at the jewellers told me that the watch would not work even if I had a battery fitted by someone else. I told her that this was nonsense. Little did I know......................

Today, my wife took the watch to a local watchmaker who removed the back and fitted a new battery. To his surprise, the watch did not immediately start to work and on inspecting the internals through a jeweller's loupe he found that a component inside the case (my wife described it as 'looking like a tiny copper coil') had been deliberately damaged, apparently with a screwdriver.

The watchmaker said that until recently, these components were readily available but that they can no longer be obtained. He is going to look through his bits and pieces at home this evening to see if he can find one. Fingers crossed.

I can only conclude that when I declined to have the ridiculously expensive repair carried out, some spiteful individual at the official repair workshop decided to sabotage my watch to prevent me having the battery replaced by an independent. Obviously, I can't prove this but how else could physical damage to a component inside a sealed watch have occurred?

So, my advice to anyone thinking of buying a Tag Heuer for themselves or as a gift for a loved one would to be to think very hard before parting with their money for if they do, they will be entering into a long-term relationship with a company that will delight in ripping them off at every opportunity.

If my watch cannot be repaired by my local chap, I will buy a Citizen Eco-drive. That way I will never need to buy another replacement battery.

To be fair, it's quite likely that damage to the coil (the ting that looks like a tiny copper coil ) wasn't deliberate but, rather, careless handling. They're very easy to damage if you slip, and quite exposed on the ETA movements that TAG use.

It's not helped by the fact that the coil is permanently attached to the circuit board on these, so can't be replaced as a separate part. That doesn't excuse it, especially at the prices they charge, but it probably wasn't outright dishonesty.

If you have no joy with your local guy, I've still got new circuits in stock for most of their movements from that era. You'd be looking well under half the TAG quote, using original parts

Marklar

Many thanks for the kind offer of assistance, Joe, but I now have the watch back with a new coil board and battery fitted all for £25 (!) so I am more than happy.

I have, however, written a letter of complaint to the CEO of TAG Heuer UK because even if the coil had been damaged accidentally at the service centre, they should have made sure that the movement was working, albeit with a jumping second hand, before they returned it for my collection.

I doubt if I'll receive a reply.

Joe_Horner

Good result and a fair price from your local

Really puts manufacturer's charges in perspective when an independent, who will have paid far more for the parts than they did, can do the job that much cheaper!

pbirah

Had to send of my WAH111C and the service centre have come back with a cost of £252.

The state it needs new hands, and a service.

The watch stopped, indicating a flat battery. It is just over 3 years old.

They also state moisture / water entry, even though it's never been in water. They stated most likely its from the wrist moisture.

Not happy at all with the quote.

Joe_Horner

That's par for the course I'm afraid. Just dealt with one for a postal customer who'd been quoted £1300 for new movement, hands and dial because the mother of pearl dial was "cracked".

When it arrived there were no cracks but there were two ugly scratches that looked superficially like cracks around the 2 o'clock marker that could only have been done while it was in their care because it had ever been opened apart from that!

Incidentally, when they say "service" they probably mean replacing the movement complete - which can be done for around £140 on those!