Swatch Omega Watch Bought At Auction

Robocop35

Hi,

Last week I bought a lot of two watches from an auction house in Taunton, and one was a Swatch Omega Watch.

When I received the watch last Saturday in the post, I then discovered the watch was a fake and not the original watch.

The auction house description stated Swatch Omega Watch and did not say style off, or just two Men's Watches which would raised alarm bells with me.


I have since discovered that the watch had a $4 Chinese movement in the watch, and that it was a fake made in China.

I have told the auction house its a fake watch and even had confirmation from Swatch that its a fake watch and they wont refund me.

I was told by the auction house that the vendor had bought the watch from someone who had bought it from the Swatch Store in London and was going to get a copy of the shop receipt or a sworn affidavit to that effect.


So as far as I can see I am stuffed with getting any money back, unless someone has any ideas?

Many thanks

James

NBLondon

I'm no expert but I assume the T&C of the Auction House will determine whether you have any claim against them.   You may have to look at taking the vendor to court.   The claims by the person who sold it to the vendor are going to be useless unless they include a serial number - and if you've already checked that with Swatch...

DullGreyGuy

So it was sold as secondhand?
Presumably this was a traditional auction where you could have gone to the auction in person if you wanted to? Doesn't matter if you did or didnt. 

Assuming the answer to both of the above are "yes" then you are not covered by the Consumer Rights Act.

What do the T&Cs of the sale say?

DUBVENDOR

Fellows auction house in Birmingham the watches will be sold as  "The watch bearing the name XXXX " They wont say its genuine or not .  

RFW

NBLondon said:

I'm no expert but I assume the T&C of the Auction House will determine whether you have any claim against them.   You may have to look at taking the vendor to court.   The claims by the person who sold it to the vendor are going to be useless unless they include a serial number - and if you've already checked that with Swatch...

Terms and conditions don't overrule the law, so if an auction house has sold a counterfeit item they should be refunding.

For the OP, go to Trading Standards (usually via the local council) and get them to look into it.

I used to be an auctioneer and Trading Standards take a keen interest in auction houses trying to bypass the law. I've not dealt with TS for a few years and understand they have less funding these days so are less inclined to take things up but it's worth pestering them as they have prosecution powers similar to the police and the auction house will already be known to them (unless they've only been open a week!).

RFW

DUBVENDOR said:

Fellows auction house in Birmingham the watches will be sold as  "The watch bearing the name XXXX " They wont say its genuine or not .  

I don't know the auction house or how they're selling anything but if I was to sell a watch that looked like a "Brand X" watch and had "Brand X" written on it then it would be illegal for me to sell it if it was a fake, whether I knew or not.

If the watch looks like a "Brand X" watch but has no brand on it then I can legally sell it as "a watch that looks like "Brand X" but may or may not be by them".

I know some auction houses who are also bailiffs. They are regularly contracted to confiscate fake items. Where possible they try and recycle them to make them not be fake (eg a "Brand X" labelled shirt would be delabelled) but a lot of the time they end up in landfill, they can't resell them.

Alfrescodave

Surely this all hinges on the item description that the auction house used? Is it possible for the OP to copy and post this description here?

Robocop35

The Auction House Description Stated Swatch Omega Watch.

I did not view the item, and I would not have known from the image that it was a fake watch, if it had said in the style off etc, I would not have not gone anywhere near it, as I know who auctions work as bought silver through them for years.

The Auction House came back to me and said that they had spoken to the Vendor who had bought it off someone who had bought it from a Swatch Store in London.

He was going to try and get a receipt off the vendor or a signed affidavit to that effect.

It was not possible the watch came from the Swatch Store as it was made in China with Sumon Chinese Movement in it which cost $4.00.  

I have had two confirmations from Swatch that my watch is a fake, but the auction house think I am making it up.

He has no intention of refunding me.

I have reported the company to Trading Standards.  I have also lodged a complaint with my bank in case they can get some of my money back from selling fake goods.

The same watch I bought came up at another auction in Abergele in North Wales on Sunday.  I advised that the auction house the watch could be fake.  They spoke to the Seller and he then subsequently admitted it was fake, and then they withdraw the watch from the auction.

Pollycat

Robocop35 said:

I have had two confirmations from Swatch that my watch is a fake, but the auction house think I am making it up.

Written or verbal confirmation?
Has Swatch actually seen the watch?

Fake goods

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Robocop35

Email Written Confirmation from Swatch its fake following all the images they have seen of it.

Pollycat

Robocop35 said:

Email Written Confirmation from Swatch its fake following all the images they have seen of it.

So why do the auction house think you are making it up? 

And have you read the link about fake products?