TAG Watch Repair Cost - SCAM

Davz

Dear Members,

My wife had purchased a TAG watch over 3-4 years back. I seem to have misplaced the receipt and the warranty card (Anyway TAG provides warranty for 2 years) .

All of a sudden it stopped working. When I sent the watch to TAG Service department they told me that it would cost about £377 to repair and service it.

This is what they exactly said

" Please may I advise in order for repairs to be covered under the terms of the guarantee the international guarantee card or purchase receipt must be provided.

I would like to take this opportunity to advise you that we recommend our watches are serviced every three years to keep the movement in pristine condition and we also advise that the seals on our watches should be checked annually to ensure that they remain intact.

During a service each movement is disassembled and the individual movement components are ultrasonically cleaned; any worn components are replaced along with the battery. The watch is then systematically re-assembled and oiled using different types of specialised lubricants and the pressure seals and crown are also replaced.

Following re-assembly the watches are submitted to a series of pressure and accuracy tests.
Services carry a 12 month guarantee."

When I asked them what happened to my watch they are telling me since it hasn't been serviced as per them is has become faulty and needs to be repaired and will not be covered under warranty or guarantee since I do not have the receipt.

Question:

1) Shouldn't TAG bear the cost since this looks like more of a manufacturing issue? We paid over £2000 for the watch and they are saying since you haven't got it serviced. you have to pay for it?

2) Is there anything I can do to handle this better with the customer service?

Any suggestion/Recommendation would be of great.

Thank you,

marliepanda

1) no.

2) probably not.

I don't understand all of your post. You say they have a warranty of two years, but it's been at least three and you have no receipt anyway, so the warranty and guarantee are useless to you.

How is this a scam? Your four year old watch needs fixing. Why do you think they should do it for free?

lisyloo

Why do you say it looks like more of a manufacturing issue when the watch has been working OK for 3-4 years?

Your wife could look at her credit card/bank statements to get proof of payment. Presumably she doesn't have loads of £2k purchases so it should be easy to spot.

If she paid by credit card then they have joint liability however you haven't said what your evidence us for it being a manufacturing fault.

What have TAG said that actually needs repairing? What is the expected life of that part?

[Deleted User]

Gosh. Yet another 'scam'.

Davz

marliepanda wrote: »

1) no.

2) probably not.

I don't understand all of your post. You say they have a warranty of two years, but it's been at least three and you have no receipt anyway, so the warranty and guarantee are useless to you.

How is this a scam? Your four year old watch needs fixing. Why do you think they should do it for free?

Thanks for the quick response.

The reason why I think I should not be paying for it because on one side TAG stands for having time pieces which are durable and last long. 3-4 Years is too short a period for a watch to stop working. If their justification for charging money is that I didn't get it serviced by paying 200 Pounds yearly after two years then that does not sound reasonable. Its not something I did to the watch that caused it to stop working.

Davz

lisyloo wrote: »

Why do you say it looks like more of a manufacturing issue when the watch has been working OK for 3-4 years?

Your wife could look at her credit card/bank statements to get proof of payment. Presumably she doesn't have loads of £2k purchases so it should be easy to spot.

If she paid by credit card then they have joint liability however you haven't said what your evidence us for it being a manufacturing fault.

What have TAG said that actually needs repairing? What is the expected life of that part?

Thank you for the prompt reply.

This watch was bought from Switzerland when she was working. She doesn't have a receipt or a credit card statement of it.

The estimate I got from TAG UK is for the following:

Nickel Hands Set H+M = £18.33
Steel Polished Crown = £9
Complete Service = £300,83

When I was travelling in India I had showed the watch to an authorised TAG Service centre they told me that the battery must have caused the leak and you are suppose to replace the battery as soon as it stops working and due to this your watch has stopped working.

Here in UK when I ask them for the reason they have not given me any but just focusing on the fact that I didn't get it serviced and that the reason its not working.

I feel if someone buys a watch worth 2000K it should run for more than 4 years at least and not getting it service is excuse to charge money from the customer.


Thanks for your help/assistance again.

marliepanda

They are refusing a free repair on the basis that you did not fulfil the warranty requirements of the service. They can have warranty requirements of whatever they want, including baking the CEO a cake on his birthday of they want.

Right now you don't know what is wrong with the watch, unless I misread, only that it 'doesn't work' there are many reasons this could be, including misuse, damage by yourself etc. I can't tell you that.

If you can prove that they sold you an inherently faulty watch that was bound to fail from the offset, then you could legally get a refund, repair or replacement under the SOGA. You'd need an independent report showing an inherent fault which could be difficult, but not impossible, after 'over 3-4 years'

With that in hand you could go back to the retailer that sold you it (which may not be TAG) to enforce your rights.

Currently you have no warranty rights with TAG as you did not fulfil 'your side' of the warranty terms.

fierystormcloud

£2000 for a watch?

daytona0

Davz wrote: »

We paid over £2000 for the watch

Marliepanda has made a good post about your rights. Warranty may be out of the question, but you will be covered under SOGA if you meet the criteria (the retailer, given item is costly, may offer you some leeway with this). Worst case scenario is that you'll need an independent fault report to show that it was inherently faulty.

But to comment on the part I quoted;

I am gobsmacked. There are people in this world living in poverty and you pay 2k to tell the time (wouldn't even be bothered if you weren't being nitty by trying to get recompense here! If you can afford to pay 2k to buy a watch then you must be well off, in which case a £377 bill is nothing - you're obviously not a truly rich person if you don't just pay £377!). I pray that you and your wife are charitable. If you have 2k to spend on a watch (I thought my apple watch was pushing it!) then you must be fairly comfortable money-wise. The bill for repairs is thus not astronomical for you.

I will, however, happily take my comments back if it was an anniversary/wedding gift etc... Something of true significance. But given TAG's website seems to imply F1/sporty watches I think it is just for status. If it is for status then you've just dropped the ball by not automatically paying the £377. I could wear a £2 watch from Tuebrook market and be richer than you...

Keep_pedalling

You are lucky this was not a Zeneth, or Rolex where you would be paying more than double that for a service, and yes they should be serviced regularly.

I have a German (Nomos) watch that cost a similar amount and I will be sending it off for a full service next year which will cost around £250, although it is currently keeping good time. Lubrication on moving parts dries out, and the watch should be stripped down cleaned then re-assembled and calibrated.

You can use an independant watch repairers rather than send it off to TH which should keep the costs down. A quick Google found this one.

http://www.watchrepairuk.com/tag-heuer-repair/

Keep_pedalling

I forgot to mention that the service of a high end watch will usually include the replacement of worn / broken parts, unless they have been caused by inappropriate use like going swimming wearing a dress watch with very little water resistance.

To make a high quality watch is expensive but Swiss watches are IMO overpriced and I would not buy one although I love mechanical watches. £2k buys a very nice German automatic with an in house movement, but I would not spend the same amount on a Swiss battery powered model.

It's still an extravagance but hey I saved £3 or 4K in opting not to buy one of the big Swiss names so I think I was sticking with the MSE ethos when purchasing it.