UPDATE UPDATE: Should I sell my stuck C60 600 Pro COSC SH21 - 60/60 Guarantee denied at 5th Year - A Happy Ending

Discuss Christopher Ward watches
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Re: UPDATE UPDATE: Should I sell my stuck C60 600 Pro COSC SH21 - 60/60 Guarantee denied at 5th Year - A Happy Ending

Post by sproughton »

scooter wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 12:18 pm Unlike many Companies who doubtless have tier upon tier of junior and middle management I think it's quite likely that isn't the case with CW.

I personally find it commendable that within 5 days of posting his thread the OP has been contacted by the Top Man who has satisfactorily sorted the problem.

I'm not aware of any Company that would have done that but if they have then good on them too.

Credit where and when it's due.

scooter
I'd like to think other companies would correctly honour the warranty at the first time of asking, rather than having to wait until a bit of a stink was caused online. It's simply a failing of the customer service processes / understanding that needs to be addressed. I imagine there are plenty of people who have been denied a rightful fix under warranty because they didn't push the issue or weren't aware of the warranty changing post-purchase.
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Re: UPDATE UPDATE: Should I sell my stuck C60 600 Pro COSC SH21 - 60/60 Guarantee denied at 5th Year - A Happy Ending

Post by Bungle-ator »

scooter wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 12:18 pm Unlike many Companies who doubtless have tier upon tier of junior and middle management I think it's quite likely that isn't the case with CW.

I personally find it commendable that within 5 days of posting his thread the OP has been contacted by the Top Man who has satisfactorily sorted the problem.

I'm not aware of any Company that would have done that but if they have then good on them too.

Credit where and when it's due.

scooter
I'm sure you're correct in the sense that they don't have tiers of management. They certainly have someone at the top of the chain in customer service though and this really shouldn't have got past that level. That signifies a problem to me as the response from Mike France should be fluid throughout the whole team. The fact that it isn't suggests that Mike France has either broken the norm or that a lot of work needs to be done to fix out the customer service and get it in sync. For them to be providing great customer service you should be able to take this problem to every member of staff and get the same answer from each and every one of them. This clearly isn't the case.

Great outcome but a very disappointing story.
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Re: UPDATE UPDATE: Should I sell my stuck C60 600 Pro COSC SH21 - 60/60 Guarantee denied at 5th Year - A Happy Ending

Post by NeWard »

scooter wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 12:18 pm Unlike many Companies who doubtless have tier upon tier of junior and middle management I think it's quite likely that isn't the case with CW.

I personally find it commendable that within 5 days of posting his thread the OP has been contacted by the Top Man who has satisfactorily sorted the problem.

I'm not aware of any Company that would have done that but if they have then good on them too.

Credit where and when it's due.

scooter
Just a little backgrounds to my situation, it took Christopher Ward 6 months in total to agree servicing my watch under the original 60/60 guarantee.

1. In May of this year the SH21 movement stopped completely and it will not wound at all. I spoke with a customer service representative (with my complete story that I told here) who denied my guarantee request outright and asked me to shipped over my watch out of pocket for an inspection. At the time I lookup on CW forum and saw the service cost is $500, but since I didn't want to send in the watch without an estimate directly from CW the watch stayed in my drawer.

2. During October I decided to try again and submitted another customer service inquiry for my watch, this time a different representative reached out to me and asked for my watch to shipped over to CW for an inspection. I thought this time maybe there is a possibility that CW would upheld their original 60/60 guarantee and fix the my faulty movement. Only to be told again to pay up $500 to service the watch after a technician has inspected my C60 SH21 and deemed a service is needed for the movement.

3. For November I escalated this issue myself by googling the email addresses for head of customer service support as well as two of the remaining founders of Christopher Ward. I emailed both of the founders two times within the same month and received no reply. The head of customer service at CW got back to me promtply and confirmed the period of sales via a serial number lookup from my watch, which is still under the original 60/60 guarantee period. However my request for service has been denied for the third time here, citing the lack of servicing interval at the 3-4th year duration made the original guarantee invalid and again asked to pay the $500 to service the watch.

4. When my watch was inspected at CW I was told if a payment is not made within 10 days my watch will be ship back to me. In late November I posted my story here asking if I should sell my broken watch once I get it back, at that time I thought there was no way for the watch to get serviced under the 60/60 guarantee. After my post gained popularity with overwhelming replies from fellow forum members telling me to push the situation further, I sent in my third email to the founders and the rest can be seen on this post.
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Re: UPDATE UPDATE: Should I sell my stuck C60 600 Pro COSC SH21 - 60/60 Guarantee denied at 5th Year - A Happy Ending

Post by scooter »

All's well that ends well.

scooter
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Re: UPDATE UPDATE: Should I sell my stuck C60 600 Pro COSC SH21 - 60/60 Guarantee denied at 5th Year - A Happy Ending

Post by Lavaine »

All in all a good outcome for NeWard. However, I think this post and others like it highlight two things that need to happen at CW:

1) CW needs to establish some clarity on the warranty situation for watches purchased prior to the change, and ensure that it is communicated clearly to customers if they are going to start refusing to honour the 5th year, and even more clearly to the CS team is they are continuing to honour the 5th year of warranty.

2) It's becoming clear that there are some endemic issues within CW's customer service department. Their have been a number of recent significant issues. In the past week alone we had this issue on here, and another issue on CWE with a watch being returned post-service with the incorrect (damaged) bracelet attached. That issue also took numerous communications to sort, as CW was initially refusing to acknowledge the error and correct it, instead telling the customer they could pay to have the (again, incorrect) bracelet refurbished.
Clearly changes need to be made within CS if they company is going to flourish. The current team, whether at the direction of Mike France or someone else, seems to be focused entirely on saving the company money, rather than supporting the customer.
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Re: UPDATE UPDATE: Should I sell my stuck C60 600 Pro COSC SH21 - 60/60 Guarantee denied at 5th Year - A Happy Ending

Post by Bounce »

Lavaine wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 3:25 am All in all a good outcome for NeWard. However, I think this post and others like it highlight two things that need to happen at CW:

1) CW needs to establish some clarity on the warranty situation for watches purchased prior to the change, and ensure that it is communicated clearly to customers if they are going to start refusing to honour the 5th year, and even more clearly to the CS team is they are continuing to honour the 5th year of warranty.

2) It's becoming clear that there are some endemic issues within CW's customer service department. Their have been a number of recent significant issues. In the past week alone we had this issue on here, and another issue on CWE with a watch being returned post-service with the incorrect (damaged) bracelet attached. That issue also took numerous communications to sort, as CW was initially refusing to acknowledge the error and correct it, instead telling the customer they could pay to have the (again, incorrect) bracelet refurbished.
Clearly changes need to be made within CS if they company is going to flourish. The current team, whether at the direction of Mike France or someone else, seems to be focused entirely on saving the company money, rather than supporting the customer.
I totally agree, there needs to be some clarification on this for people with older watches.

Also when is a 5 year warranty not a 5 year warranty, oh yes when it is 4 years warranty because you must have your watch serviced before the end of the 4th year.

Most CW watches have an ETA of Sellita movement & I am pretty sure they do not need servicing between years 3 & 4 years, so to me it is just a way of making some extra money from their loyal customers.

I have owned 8 or 9 CW watches over the years & only had issues with one watch, CW sorted that out without question as the watch was only 3 years old.

I personally will not be sending my watch in for a service until I feel it needs it, so I know the watch only has a 4 year warranty, I can live with that & hope other people see it that way as well.
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Re: UPDATE UPDATE: Should I sell my stuck C60 600 Pro COSC SH21 - 60/60 Guarantee denied at 5th Year - A Happy Ending

Post by MarkingTime »

This is the correct outcome, but I don’t think that CW deserve any credit for resolving it.

The issue took months to resolve and perhaps caused some anxiety in the process. In my mind, this, as in the case for far too many others, was only resolved under duress of the pressure of public exposure and potential damage to reputation. This has happened enough for me to discount CW as a serious consideration in the luxury watch market, I’d rather not have to argue about a service or repair.
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Re: UPDATE UPDATE: Should I sell my stuck C60 600 Pro COSC SH21 - 60/60 Guarantee denied at 5th Year - A Happy Ending

Post by StrappedUp »

MarkingTime wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 11:37 am This is the correct outcome, but I don’t think that CW deserve any credit for resolving it.

The issue took months to resolve and perhaps caused some anxiety in the process. In my mind, this, as in the case for far too many others, was only resolved under duress of the pressure of public exposure and potential damage to reputation. This has happened enough for me to discount CW as a serious consideration in the luxury watch market, I’d rather not have to argue about a service or repair.
Pretty much echos my thoughts.

It happens time and time again and shouldn't require Mike France to step in and sort things.
By now, there should be an adequate level of competency in customer services whereby they can deal with pretty straightforward issues without involvement from the MD.

I mean, with this particular issue, one only needed to look at the date/serial number to come to the conclusion that it pre-dated the changes regarding the 3-4 year service requirement.

It really isn't rocket science ...
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Re: UPDATE UPDATE: Should I sell my stuck C60 600 Pro COSC SH21 - 60/60 Guarantee denied at 5th Year - A Happy Ending

Post by Citizen V »

scooter wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 3:59 pm All's well that ends well.

scooter
Let's see if that remains true for other CW owners, because I'm in the same situation with a C9 Jumping Hour purchased in 2016.

Update: I heard back from them now. They're unable to replicate the fault with the watch, which should have been extremely obvious. The jump hour fails to jump from 1 hour to the next, but it only happens when the wheel is between 2 specific hours. I doubt it would have fixed itself during transit, since it was wrapped in layers and layers of bubble wrap and packaging material. Instead, they're still pushing for a service for undisclosed reasons.
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Re: UPDATE UPDATE: Should I sell my stuck C60 600 Pro COSC SH21 - 60/60 Guarantee denied at 5th Year - A Happy Ending

Post by NeWard »

Citizen V wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 7:45 pm
scooter wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 3:59 pm All's well that ends well.

scooter
Let's see if that remains true for other CW owners, because I'm in the same situation with a C9 Jumping Hour purchased in 2016.

Update: I heard back from them now. They're unable to replicate the fault with the watch, which should have been extremely obvious. The jump hour fails to jump from 1 hour to the next, but it only happens when the wheel is between 2 specific hours. I doubt it would have fixed itself during transit, since it was wrapped in layers and layers of bubble wrap and packaging material. Instead, they're still pushing for a service for undisclosed reasons.
Oh my god....... :( :( :(

Are they asking you to pay to get the watch serviced? If they are holding it past the new year your warranty will be gone, this is upsetting to hear :(
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Re: UPDATE UPDATE: Should I sell my stuck C60 600 Pro COSC SH21 - 60/60 Guarantee denied at 5th Year - A Happy Ending

Post by Citizen V »

NeWard wrote: Thu Dec 09, 2021 4:36 pm
Citizen V wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 7:45 pm
scooter wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 3:59 pm All's well that ends well.

scooter
Let's see if that remains true for other CW owners, because I'm in the same situation with a C9 Jumping Hour purchased in 2016.

Update: I heard back from them now. They're unable to replicate the fault with the watch, which should have been extremely obvious. The jump hour fails to jump from 1 hour to the next, but it only happens when the wheel is between 2 specific hours. I doubt it would have fixed itself during transit, since it was wrapped in layers and layers of bubble wrap and packaging material. Instead, they're still pushing for a service for undisclosed reasons.
Oh my god....... :( :( :(

Are they asking you to pay to get the watch serviced? If they are holding it past the new year your warranty will be gone, this is upsetting to hear :(
Yes, but I think they've accepted that my watch is covered under the previous 60/60 policy terms. They just keep pushing a service, saying it shows "early signs" of needing a service. I asked for specifics of what signs there are, and they couldn't say. I guess it's not standard practice but I had hope they'd be able to relay what the technicians were seeing.

They supposedly can't replicate the issue with the watch though. They were willing check it again but still weren't able to replicate it. I asked what would happen if I accepted the watch back, and the issue was still there, but they missed or ignored the question.
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Re: UPDATE UPDATE: Should I sell my stuck C60 600 Pro COSC SH21 - 60/60 Guarantee denied at 5th Year - A Happy Ending

Post by watchaholic »

From my experience, the front of the house has never been good at relaying what happens in the back. I would have gladly paid for a full service while my C8 was in house for repair this past summer. No mention of this being a possibility, and honestly the thought never crossed my mind until I heard it was on its way back to me. I know the repair that was done had to do with the balance/escapement. Surely that would have to be lubricated when repaired. I am still left wondering when the watch needs a full service.
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Re: UPDATE UPDATE: Should I sell my stuck C60 600 Pro COSC SH21 - 60/60 Guarantee denied at 5th Year - A Happy Ending

Post by NeWard »

Citizen V wrote: Thu Dec 09, 2021 4:49 pm
NeWard wrote: Thu Dec 09, 2021 4:36 pm
Citizen V wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 7:45 pm

Let's see if that remains true for other CW owners, because I'm in the same situation with a C9 Jumping Hour purchased in 2016.

Update: I heard back from them now. They're unable to replicate the fault with the watch, which should have been extremely obvious. The jump hour fails to jump from 1 hour to the next, but it only happens when the wheel is between 2 specific hours. I doubt it would have fixed itself during transit, since it was wrapped in layers and layers of bubble wrap and packaging material. Instead, they're still pushing for a service for undisclosed reasons.
Oh my god....... :( :( :(

Are they asking you to pay to get the watch serviced? If they are holding it past the new year your warranty will be gone, this is upsetting to hear :(
Yes, but I think they've accepted that my watch is covered under the previous 60/60 policy terms. They just keep pushing a service, saying it shows "early signs" of needing a service. I asked for specifics of what signs there are, and they couldn't say. I guess it's not standard practice but I had hope they'd be able to relay what the technicians were seeing.

They supposedly can't replicate the issue with the watch though. They were willing check it again but still weren't able to replicate it. I asked what would happen if I accepted the watch back, and the issue was still there, but they missed or ignored the question.
You should create a post in this forum explaining your situation and CW might get back to you more diligently for your problem. Unfortunately that has been going on with my issue for almost half a year, and not until I posted on the forum did I get my issue resolved.

I hope this turns out well for you, please keep us updated on your issue.
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Re: UPDATE UPDATE: Should I sell my stuck C60 600 Pro COSC SH21 - 60/60 Guarantee denied at 5th Year - A Happy Ending

Post by Citizen V »

NeWard wrote: Sat Dec 11, 2021 2:57 pmYou should create a post in this forum explaining your situation and CW might get back to you more diligently for your problem. Unfortunately that has been going on with my issue for almost half a year, and not until I posted on the forum did I get my issue resolved.

I hope this turns out well for you, please keep us updated on your issue.
It's a happy ending in my case as well :clap: . Thank you CW staff.

It seems like they weren't looking for the issue I was experiencing or missed it during their first checks. When I explained it again, they were able to confirm that it existed during during another inspection. They said it was due to the watch needing a service, but honored the original policy. So they're repairing it free of charge.
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Re: UPDATE UPDATE: Should I sell my stuck C60 600 Pro COSC SH21 - 60/60 Guarantee denied at 5th Year - A Happy Ending

Post by NeWard »

Citizen V wrote: Mon Dec 13, 2021 5:46 pm
NeWard wrote: Sat Dec 11, 2021 2:57 pmYou should create a post in this forum explaining your situation and CW might get back to you more diligently for your problem. Unfortunately that has been going on with my issue for almost half a year, and not until I posted on the forum did I get my issue resolved.

I hope this turns out well for you, please keep us updated on your issue.
It's a happy ending in my case as well :clap: . Thank you CW staff.

It seems like they weren't looking for the issue I was experiencing or missed it during their first checks. When I explained it again, they were able to confirm that it existed during during another inspection. They said it was due to the watch needing a service, but honored the original policy. So they're repairing it free of charge.
I'm glad it turned out well for you!
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