I wanted so badly to like this place. My husband found this place while looking for a place to get my grandmother's antique watch repaired. We went in later to have a battery replaced and to get an old watch fixed. The repairman told us it would be about two weeks on repairs because of the detail work. The receipt for the work had a month written on it, and I was confused because we had two separate messages on the time frame. This should have been my foreshadowing moment. It was not.
A month went by, and we heard nothing from the repair place. The original phone number on the repair ticket was out of use, and so I called to see if it had been fixed and we missed the call. It had not; the voice on the other end said it would be about two weeks, and so I left the new number for calling.
Two weeks passed. No phone call.
My husband called, and was assured that the watch was in the repairman's hand, and it (the watch, not the hand) would be finished at the end of the week.
Friday passed. No phone call.
This happened a couple times--we would call in, they would say it would be about two weeks, and we would hear nothing.
Finally, three months after we dropped the watch off, we called one final time. My husband asked why it was taking so long--a reasonable question, given the quoted time--and the woman who answered asked if we thought the time frame was based on the time quoted on the receipt. Of course the assumption was based on the quote given to us by the repairman. She said that it was taking longer because it was an old watch and others were in line ahead. My husband expressed his concern and semi-frustration at the time it was taking, and three days later, we got a call that the watch was ready for pickup.
I had to wait a couple days to pick up the watch because I couldn't get over there after work. I went in to the store, got the watch, and told the lady that my husband had called and I wasn't sure if he got a satisfactory response about the amount of time it took. I asked why it had taken so long, even after we called about it.
As this point in the saga, I was expecting a response that said, "I am sorry it took so long, we had to do repairs/order parts/etc."
She told me, instead, that old watches took longer to repair and they had about 2000 watches in the store that also needed attention. She said that if we sent it off to get repaired at the maker's factory, it would have taken months to be finished. I bit my tongue, and did not say what I was thinking, which was that it probably would have taken about the same amount of time as this place took. Instead, I said that I would have appreciated some up-frontness about the length of time instead of just hearing two weeks over and over.
Her rejoinder? She said that we probably wouldn't like it if it was repaired quickly and then we had to bring it back again, and asked us what we would do if we had to keep on returning it to get fixed. After all the excuses, I was through. I told her that if that happened, we probably would go somewhere else to get it fixed.
As I was paying for the watch repair, she told me she would make a note that they would never do repairs on the watch again and we could have it fixed at the manufacturer. There was nothing else I could say at this point, and even though I was in utter and total disbelief at the gall of this woman who calmly promised us no more business (for this one watch), I signed the receipt and left.
I appreciate quality work. I understand that repairs can take a while. However, I cannot patronize a business that lies, disrespects customers, and promises never to do work on something a customer brings in, all for a question (asked twice) about why it took so long for repairs.
If you need a battery fixed, sure--you can watch them do that in front of you. If you are willing to wait months on a watch and be pushed off about the length of time, this is the place for you. I, however, will be saving my business for elsewhere. read more
