Customer service

Discuss Christopher Ward watches
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Essex Paul
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Re: Customer service

Post by Essex Paul »

Chased CW today.
Watch gone to Switzerland, today.
After 5 weeks at CW Towers testing whilst liasing with Biel, they agreed it’s not self-winding, errrrr well done.
So gone for another 4/5 weeks?


Took them 5 weeks to test and agree with me :lol:

Onwards and upwards.
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Mikkei4
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Re: Customer service

Post by Mikkei4 »

jawang35 wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 5:31 pm Thanks for the comments and suggestions. Since I just e-mailed them a follow up last night I'll wait a day before e-mailing Scott Callaway directly. I don't want to void the warranty by going to a local watch maker but if I don't hear back for another 2 weeks what choice will I have?

Point taken about the complaint being my first post. I was just reading to see if anyone else had problems contacting customer service and when I came across a post I figured I could register and contribute my current experience. I hope this gets resolved and I can join the ranks of happy Christopher Ward customers on this forum.
Don't wait 2 weeks ! I don't understand why you think you need to wait 2 weeks each time?
Was your follow-up email another contact form to CW UK or another contact with the US Customer Support?
From the info you've posted you've given everybody sufficient opportunities to respond. If it were me in this situation I'd give the working day as you suggested but if you don't get a response then send a polite but assertive email direct to Scott Callaway bullet-pointing each of the main issues (purchase date, watch fault, failures in CS UK contact, no update from US Customer Support) and request a replacement watch or if CW UK say they must be allowed to work on your watch give them a tight repair deadline that is acceptable to you.
Mikkei4
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Re: Customer service

Post by Mikkei4 »

Essex Paul wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 6:06 pm Chased CW today.
Watch gone to Switzerland, today.
After 5 weeks at CW Towers testing whilst liasing with Biel, they agreed it’s not self-winding, errrrr well done.
So gone for another 4/5 weeks?


Took them 5 weeks to test and agree with me :lol:

Onwards and upwards.
Wow, what a coincidence that your watch has been sent to Switzerland on the very same day that you chased progress. Amazing timing! (no pun intended).

I hope they had a really good explanation for the wasted weeks so far.
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TigerChris
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Re: Customer service

Post by TigerChris »

Mikkei4 wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 6:26 pm
jawang35 wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 5:31 pm Thanks for the comments and suggestions. Since I just e-mailed them a follow up last night I'll wait a day before e-mailing Scott Callaway directly. I don't want to void the warranty by going to a local watch maker but if I don't hear back for another 2 weeks what choice will I have?

Point taken about the complaint being my first post. I was just reading to see if anyone else had problems contacting customer service and when I came across a post I figured I could register and contribute my current experience. I hope this gets resolved and I can join the ranks of happy Christopher Ward customers on this forum.
Don't wait 2 weeks ! I don't understand why you think you need to wait 2 weeks each time?
Was your follow-up email another contact form to CW UK or another contact with the US Customer Support?
From the info you've posted you've given everybody sufficient opportunities to respond. If it were me in this situation I'd give the working day as you suggested but if you don't get a response then send a polite but assertive email direct to Scott Callaway bullet-pointing each of the main issues (purchase date, watch fault, failures in CS UK contact, no update from US Customer Support) and request a replacement watch or if CW UK say they must be allowed to work on your watch give them a tight repair deadline that is acceptable to you.
I’m also baffled as to why you have this ‘2 weeks’ fascination. Get in touch with Scott, he’ll sort it for you. I had a slight issue with one of mine, got in touch with Scott direct as I wasn’t happy with the timescale given on the first reply, told him I wasn’t prepared to have the watch out of my possession for that amount of time as it wasn’t my fault (it had been back to CW once already) and guess what.....2 weeks later I got my watch back and it’s better than it was new. You shouldn’t have to, but sometimes you have to give people a kick to get things done. I’ve had a few dealings with Scott and he’s delivered every time, he’s a fairly easy bloke to deal with.
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Essex Paul
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Re: Customer service

Post by Essex Paul »

Mikkei4 wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 6:36 pm
Essex Paul wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 6:06 pm Chased CW today.
Watch gone to Switzerland, today.
After 5 weeks at CW Towers testing whilst liasing with Biel, they agreed it’s not self-winding, errrrr well done.
So gone for another 4/5 weeks?


Took them 5 weeks to test and agree with me :lol:

Onwards and upwards.
Wow, what a coincidence that your watch has been sent to Switzerland on the very same day that you chased progress. Amazing timing! (no pun intended).

I hope they had a really good explanation for the wasted weeks so far.
Yep.
Called, and was told an email was sent to me. (later received).
Was sent early this morning marked urgent.
When quizzed why 5 weeks before going to Switzerland they just said the two centres had been conversing and testing with no luck so the UK technician was told to send it to Biel.

The only comfort is that I’m not going mad and there is a problem. Maybe a broken part. So why hasn’t anyone at CW Towers taken it apart to see??
I was lead to believe they have a workshop
of sorts in Maidenhead?

Think it’s probably just a test/bracelet adjusting room. Why else would they say yep it’s not self winding after 5 weeks of testing so gonna send it back to Switzerland?

I could’ve told them it wasn’t self winding after a week :lol: Oh well.
Btw I spoke to Scott. 8)
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TP Fit
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Re: Customer service

Post by TP Fit »

Mikkei4:

To my defense it was a full business day in which I was simply "surprised" I didn't hear back from CW CS. My surprise was only due to the great things I have heard about CW and its customer service. Not once did my post even suggest a complaint. I was simply providing information about my experience, neither reflecting a negative or positive opinion. I simply wanted to add information to the post to those that were working with CS as well. And for the record this was my second post not first. :D My first post was very positive in nature stating I was looking forward to more great watches from CW!

Back to my CS status. Its been two full business days and no response back. I sent an email for an update. I am neither upset, or even frustrated. Just simply looking for an update. My original inquiry was about having an issue with my C60 Trident Chrono. Specifically, my Chrono function will not reset to the zero/60th second marker. For some reason it resets back to the 58th second marker every time. I had asked if there is anything they suggest that I can do to maybe trigger it to go back to the 60th second. I am patiently waiting for a response, confident that cW will come through. I have no reason to believe otherwise.

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Re: Customer service

Post by nordwulf »

TigerChris wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 7:42 pm You shouldn’t have to, but sometimes you have to give people a kick to get things done. I’ve had a few dealings with Scott and he’s delivered every time, he’s a fairly easy bloke to deal with.
Correct, you shouldn't have to do that.

I recently sent a watch back that was DOA. I got an email saying they received after a couple of days it was received. They apologized for the problem and said they would send out a replacement right away. I waited 4 days but no shipping email. I emailed them again and received a shipping email a few hours later.

I included the shipping charges receipt inside the package for the return shipping reimbursement. As with all previous returns and warranty work, I had to email them again to request the reimbursement. And received an email with the message it was credited to my card on file. I actually had to this with all watches I sent back for warranty repairs and 60:60 returns.

It appears they don't really have things organized all that good and rely on just email for their workflow. A big improvement would be an online tracking system for returns, warranty and service so you can see what's happening with your watch and get automatic updates. Right now, it feels like the customer needs to tell them what they have to do next to keep things moving. As som
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TigerChris
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Re: Customer service

Post by TigerChris »

nordwulf wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 8:39 pm Right now, it feels like the customer needs to tell them what they have to do next to keep things moving.
Wasn’t like it when Wera was keeping tabs on things :silent: :silent:
sproughton
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Re: Customer service

Post by sproughton »

TigerChris wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 9:23 pm Wasn’t like it when Wera was keeping tabs on things :silent: :silent:
Sadly I think it was just the same back then; we saw these types of posts just as regularly. It's an ongoing, systemic issue with CW and it never seems like they get any closer to addressing it
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Re: Customer service

Post by Mikkei4 »

TP Fit wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 8:08 pm Mikkei4:

To my defense it was a full business day in which I was simply "surprised" I didn't hear back from CW CS. My surprise was only due to the great things I have heard about CW and its customer service. Not once did my post even suggest a complaint. I was simply providing information about my experience, neither reflecting a negative or positive opinion. I simply wanted to add information to the post to those that were working with CS as well. And for the record this was my second post not first. :D My first post was very positive in nature stating I was looking forward to more great watches from CW!

Back to my CS status. Its been two full business days and no response back. I sent an email for an update. I am neither upset, or even frustrated. Just simply looking for an update. My original inquiry was about having an issue with my C60 Trident Chrono. Specifically, my Chrono function will not reset to the zero/60th second marker. For some reason it resets back to the 58th second marker every time. I had asked if there is anything they suggest that I can do to maybe trigger it to go back to the 60th second. I am patiently waiting for a response, confident that cW will come through. I have no reason to believe otherwise.

TP Fit
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Sorry if I read your post incorrectly - I did however state in my second line that the posts were either 1st or 2nd posts as I took the time to look at each name and look at the posts before stating that.

Judging from some other posts CW seem to be taking a bit longer than I have experienced very recently or would expect them to as they stated to me that they should respond within 24-48 hours.

I hope they respond to you very soon.
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Re: Customer service

Post by TP Fit »

Thanks for the response. They just got back to me this morning! (U.S. time)

Apparently, their automated CS system on their site had issues recently. I am glad I followed up otherwise I would be waiting for a very long time ;)

I am hoping I don't have to send back the watch but may be necessary. I will find out soon.
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Re: Customer service

Post by MarkingTime »

Just my tuppenceworth, I've had nothing but exemplary customer service from CW. No more than a days wait for email responses, but I usually phone anyway. Problems always resolved and customer service staff always pleasant to deal with.
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Re: Customer service

Post by TPS10 »

I’ll reserve judgement until my situation is resolved, but currently, they’re not covering themselves in glory. However, there is still hope.

I appreciate the very nature of customer service means first contact is generally with an unhappy customer, but what differentiates good and bad customer service is how these problems are dealt with. A problem is always an opportunity, if managed in the right way, to create happy customers and often to create even stronger brand ambassadors.

Life is not perfect, things will always go wrong, but it’s how people react in these situations that either make me a brand fan or not. The next couple of weeks will be interesting to see how my view pans out.
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Re: Customer service

Post by Paul7 »

Essex Paul wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 9:50 am Crikey, some bad reviews there. Potential customers checking trustpilot first wouldn’t go anywhere near CW.
I share their pain. My £1700 watch purchased in November stopped performing. Sent it back 5 weeks ago and not a dickie bird.
The chances of me buying a second are diminishing by the week. :(
Another new forum member here, in fairness those negative responses were filtered for the 3% of the 4,759 responses that were bad, 90% of the responses rated CW 'excellent' or 'good'. Those are pretty good odds. I don't own a CW yet, but plan to. Let me know if you hear of a company with zero issues. Go over to the Rolex Forum, you can hear about Rolex Service Centers damaging $10-20K watches that were sent in for service, rude and incompetent AD employees, etc.
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Re: Customer service

Post by jawang35 »

Quick update. Finally heard from their customer service with instructions for sending my watch in for repairs. It's on its way now. Hoping for a reasonable turn around.
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