This may be a long story, so apologies in advance.
Main Character
The main character is my Christopher Ward (CW) C65 Trident Classic LE Blue. I’d been after one of these watches for a while, on the brushed steel bracelet. As they very rarely come up for sale, I was prepared to buy one on a leather strap and buy the bracelet seperately direct from CW. I had checked with CW that I could buy the bracelet which they had confirmed I could. Anyway, it turns out you can’t, I had been misinformed. I wrote a thread about that experience in this post:viewtopic.php?f=1&t=51252
So I was left with a braceletless watch, scarred from a fight it had no chance of winning in trying to attach to a bracelet that was never going to fit. What were my options? Was this going to be a quick painful end to the story? We’re my dreams of having this watch on a brushed bracelet gone?
Superhero #1
One morning whilst crying into my porridge, holding my naked, braceletless, scarred watch ( a bit of artistic licence here, as the watch & bracelet were actually back at CW Towers now, with them trying to find a solution) Superhero #1 came into my life. A PM popped up on this forum from a fellow member BJH (Brian) offering to help. Brian had the very bracelet I was after, which he didn’t use and would be happy to swap for my polished bracelet that CW had incorrectly advised me would fit. Fantastic news. After a few messages back and forth Brian changed his mind and didn’t want to swap the bracelet, he wanted to give me the brushed bracelet! I was taken aback by this kind and generous offer. Brian sent me the bracelet, which I forwarded on to CW to fit, who had still not offered a solution. I wanted to repay this kind offer, but all Brian would accept is a promise that ‘if I ever get the opportunity to pass the favour on’ I would do.
BJH (Brian) you are an absolute gent, your kindness and generosity are greatly appreciated and I hope one day I can do likewise and help out a fellow forum member in need. I have also enjoyed sharing the rest of the story with you while it unfolded.
This is also testament to the relationships that can be formed on a forum like this and restores your faith in humanity.
Superhero #2
So now my watch and Brian’s bracelet are at CW getting fitted, it’s only a matter of time before I have it back and ready to wear. This is where Superhero #2 comes into my life. Out of the blue I receive an email from someone I don’t know with the menacing opening line “ you don’t know me, but I have your watch”! But wait I hear you say, surely this is the nasty villain who has kidnapped your watch and is demanding a hefty ransom for its safe return? No, this is another CW customer, we’ll call ‘D’ who has been sent my watch in error. And to keep the Hollywood theme going, he lives in California! Yes that’s right my watch has been sent to California, USA in error. Not only has he been sent my watch, he’s also been sent all my personal details; email address, home address, mobile number etc. A massive data protection breach! Thankfully ‘D’ was a gentleman who treated my watch and personal detail with the greatest of respect, but I do worry about what could have happened if this had all been sent to a less than honourable person.
’D’ if you’re reading this and I’m not sure if you are a forum reader, a big thank you for looking after my watch and personal details and for dealing with returning my watch to CW. Again, faith in humanity restored.
The Nasty Villian
Now I’m probably being a bit harsh here and maybe a “bumbling fool” may be a better description, but to keep the Hollywood theme going they’re going to be the Nasty Villian. Ladies & gentlemen, I give you CW Customer Service & Logistics Team.
Now I fully appreciate that genuine errors can and do happen, but a a catalogue of continuous errors and how they’re dealt with define a customer service team. My list of issues is as follows:
- Being given the incorrect info on my original bracelet request.
- Not coming up with a solution to my original issue and not offering any real help
- Sending my watch to the wrong customer, the other side of the world
- Sharing my personal data with a complete stranger
- Once having my watch back at CW, taking a further 16 days to get it back to me
- 7 days after confirming my address for return, my watch still hadn’t been dispatched
- Being promised a next day delivery, which then failed and took a further 4 days to arrive with me
- Me phoning 4 days running, sending 2 emails and still to this day not having received an acknowledgment or response to any of them
The Mysterious As Yet Unidentified Figure
I’m going to call this character the Customer Service Manager (CSM), the person who ultimately heads up the Customer Service Team. Does this character exist? Is he an urban myth like the Lochness Monster, Bigfoot etc? A made up character to fool us into believing he exists? To this day I still don’t know, the mystery continues. I have received emails from the CSM, but have never been able to speak to him.
- Fri 1st March - I receive an email from the CSM offering me compensation and saying he’ll call me on Monday
- Mon 4th March - no call received from the CSM
- Tues 5th March - I call CW to speak to the CSM to be told “he’s expecting your call and he will call you back”
- Wed 6th March - I call CW to speak to the CSM to be told “he’s expecting your call and he will call you back
- Thurs 7th March - I call CW to speak to the CSM to be told “he’s expecting your call and he will call you back
- Thurs 7th March - I email the CSM to say I’ve tried to call him 3 days running with no response
- Fri 8th March - I call CW to speak to the CSM to be told “he’s off today but he has asked me to call you”
- Thurs 14th March - I email the CSM
Happy Ending?
Well yes! I love the watch it looks and feels great on the brushed bracelet. I love the fact that when I look at it it reminds of the great kindness and generosity shown by both Brian and ‘D’. When I see the scratches, (which are minimal, but I know they’re there) it reminds me of the scars my watch has gained in its battles and journey to be mine. If you’ve ever read my SOTC viewtopic.php?f=64&t=50885 you’ll see I like my watches to have a bit of a story and a meaning to them and this watch certainly has a story.
How do I feel about CW? If I’m honest at the moment, I don’t know. I do feel disappointed in the service I have received, but worse things happen. Being without a watch for best part of 3 months while it travels around the world is hardy a hardship, after all, I have other watches I can wear in that time.
Will I buy another CW? Again at the moment I don’t know. Possibly? Probably? I love the quality of CW, I love the attachment I have (had) to the brand. It wouldn’t surprise me if in 2 years time I have another 2 or 3 CW watches, but it also wouldn’t surprise me if I’d moved them all on in the pursuit of other watches. There are currently no watches that I want, but that may change with the Trident MkIII. I don’t like the new logo (I won’t labour that point here) and don’t have any watches with the new logo, so maybe I have come to the end of this journey and another journey awaits elsewhere? I just don’t know and probably too early to tell.
Thank you reading my story, I hope you’ve enjoyed it and apologies for the length of this post!! I suppose I should end with a photo of said watch, so here goes.