Wristwatch battery lifetime battery guarantee - a scam?

xanda

We recently tried to renew our watch battery under a lifetime guarantee service at Hinds jewellers on the high street.
They refused to do it because, as they said, the certificate did not match the details on our watch - although this is only partly true.
As it happens, we only have one watch! It seems clear to us that the details had been written down incorrectly when buying the service in the first place but Hinds are having none of it.
Has anyone else experienced this?

wealdroam

xanda wrote: »

It seems clear to us that the details had been written down incorrectly when buying the service in the first place but Hinds are having none of it.

The time to resolve that sort of issue is at the time of purchase or very soon after, not when you wish to make a claim.

Can you see it from Hinds' point of view? You are not presenting the watch that is guaranteed.

xanda

wealdroam wrote: »

The time to resolve that sort of issue is at the time of purchase or very soon after, not when you wish to make a claim.

Thanks for the telling-off. It must be awful to live in a world where others are just so blind to the patently obvious. But like we said already, only half the details are incorrect - the half that relates to the purchase and the watch are correct, the rest - which relate to Hinds stock codes apparently are not. Presumably customers are not expected to be aware of such details?

wealdroam wrote: »

Can you see it from Hinds' point of view? You are not presenting the watch that is guaranteed.

You know that for a fact do you? Besides, we are not asking the world+dog to agree whether or not Hind's are in the right/wrong in this case: we simply asked if anyone else has experienced the same problem.

societys_child

Don't see how that was a telling off, just states the obvious.
In your second post, you've drip-fed a bit more info about the incorrect details on the certificate, which clarifies things, a bit.

JJ_Egan

xanda wrote: »

in this case: we simply asked if anyone else has experienced the same problem.

Yes i did a number of years ago details on a receipt did not match product warranty void .

wealdroam

xanda, did JJ Egan's post help you?

George_Michael

xanda wrote: »

It seems clear to us that the details had been written down incorrectly when buying the service in the first place but Hinds are having none of it.
Has anyone else experienced this?

If your attitude to the staff in the shop was the same as your attitude on here, I'm not really surprised that they were not really willing to assist you.

xanda

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Yes i did a number of years ago details on a receipt did not match product warranty void .

Thanks for this. Our certificate lists the watch and receipt correctly but is for the wrong battery - so we are told. Is this like what you experienced?

Has anyone else experienced similar?

JJ_Egan

Similar but i was as always very nice to the shop staff and did not accuse them of a scam .
Fully understood that the details did not match and for all they knew i could have stolen/ forged the receipt .
manager called me in to the shop the next week and replaced the battery FOC .

Mind its that long ago forums such as this did not exist . Even if they did i prefer to accept that the staff in the shop made an honest mistake and that the problem was not down to some carefully setup battery scam .

On a side note you posted looking for advice ??
Wrong in reality you came here convinced it was a scam and expected other users to back you up .

xanda

JJ_Egan wrote: »

On a side note you posted looking for advice ??
Wrong in reality you came here convinced it was a scam and expected other users to back you up .

Not so - we're not looking for advice; we already knew the score before posting in the first instance (hence the robust replies to earlier posts, which were frankly irrelevant).

Our goal is to gauge if this is a wider trend (or not), before taking the next step.

wealdroam

xanda wrote: »

Our goal is to gauge if this is a wider trend (or not), before taking the next step.

What might the next step be?

Remember, a guarantee is in addition to your statutory rights, and as such can include terms that you may not consider favourable.
Have you read the terms of your guarantee?