What happened to CW?

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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by Bungle-ator »

The front line customer service staff are absolutely not the issue here.

At a glance it's lack of procedure and organisation that's the problem. You can change all the front line staff over and it won't make anything better.

The changes need to be implemented from the top and once/if that happens then the front line staff will become more productive as they'll stop having to read constant emails from people asking where their watch is.
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by Essex Paul »

There are not enough front line staff also.
There are not enough technicians.
Not enough QC staff?
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by FloridaPhil »

Essex Paul wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 6:02 pm There are not enough front line staff also.
There are not enough technicians.
Not enough QC staff?
And an apparent lack of an effective workflow system.
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by groovin »

Guess it is really hard to pinpoint the source of the problem if not discussing a particular case and not having full insight into the procedures, rules, staff responsibilities and overall workload.
That being said it is definitely not the job of customers to try to figure out what the issue is. It just has to work.

Personally I can describe a recent example that happens to be on the side of CS staff. I had two quality issues with a new C65 trident auto (described in another thread under general discussion) and so far had 3 telephone calls with CS staff.

The first was to describe the issue while I was deciding if I want to send the watch in and I was reassured the watch will get replaced and not repaired.
The second was to see if my email describing the issue had been received and to organize the DHL return shipping.
The third was to confirm the watch had reached CW and to see how long it will take to get the new one.
Now this was the point when it became clear that CS staff have their hands tied as they explained they need to wait for a technician to "confirm" the issue with the watch so that they know what to do with the defective one and just after that they are allowed to send me a knew one. Now the CS clearly new the watch sent in had a defect and for them it's perfectly clear I am getting a new watch. That process is on hold though until the technicians look at the watch. This is perfectly ok "if" there are enough technicians and if they move at a decent pace.

Now being paranoid because of the other stories on the forum I did call 3 times and made sure all is clear and moving at a reasonable pace but despite the small amount of "babysitting" so far in this case CS staff have been very polite and helpful and promised they will send the new watch back as soon as possible and they I can give them another call on Monday to be sure all is in order and the process is expedited.

Sorry for so much text but this was my recent story with CW CS staff.
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by Essex Paul »

FloridaPhil wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 6:16 pm
Essex Paul wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 6:02 pm There are not enough front line staff also.
There are not enough technicians.
Not enough QC staff?
And an apparent lack of an effective workflow system.
Indeed.
Can you imagine if the company got any bigger?
:shock:
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by Essex Paul »

groovin wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 6:26 pm Guess it is really hard to pinpoint the source of the problem if not discussing a particular case and not having full insight into the procedures, rules, staff responsibilities and overall workload.
That being said it is definitely not the job of customers to try to figure out what the issue is. It just has to work.

Personally I can describe a recent example that happens to be on the side of CS staff. I had two quality issues with a new C65 trident auto (described in another thread under general discussion) and so far had 3 telephone calls with CS staff.

The first was to describe the issue while I was deciding if I want to send the watch in and I was reassured the watch will get replaced and not repaired.
The second was to see if my email describing the issue had been received and to organize the DHL return shipping.
The third was to confirm the watch had reached CW and to see how long it will take to get the new one.
Now this was the point when it became clear that CS staff have their hands tied as they explained they need to wait for a technician to "confirm" the issue with the watch so that they know what to do with the defective one and just after that they are allowed to send me a knew one. Now the CS clearly new the watch sent in had a defect and for them it's perfectly clear I am getting a new watch. That process is on hold though until the technicians look at the watch. This is perfectly ok "if" there are enough technicians and if they move at a decent pace.

Now being paranoid because of the other stories on the forum I did call 3 times and made sure all is clear and moving at a reasonable pace but despite the small amount of "babysitting" so far in this case CS staff have been very polite and helpful and promised they will send the new watch back as soon as possible and they I can give them another call on Monday to be sure all is in order and the process is expedited.

Sorry for so much text but this was my recent story with CW CS staff.

That’s just it.
When you do talk to them they are really courteous and very nice on the phone.
I spoke to someone last Tuesday, (after calling several times with no answer on Monday and left a voicemail!), I called again throughout the day Tuesday and eventually around 4pm a woman answered. She sounded a little stressed and out of breath!
Now, if they supplied your broadband or your energy you’d swap wouldn’t you?

I just want them to get better. Love their watches, prices and their story.
I’m about to bite the bullet and buy my second. Wouldn't trust the internet ordering route so I’m going in person to the showroom. Declan is a fantastic employee. Get to meet CW too.
But, if it breaks down soon after like my first did, I will not be going through that rigmarole again!
Trust me. I’ll be going back in person and getting a refund, on the spot. I’m giving them a second chance, but will take my refund elsewhere if they fail a second time.
Hope I’m lucky this time and I would like them to succeed! You never know ....... may buy a third CW.
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by Bungle-ator »

I'm sure one of the biggest problems is there's lack of structure of what they're doing.

I filled out a repair form online and very quickly I had an email back. That was followed by another email that contained an "order number"/invoice of sorts. Packaging was sent out the next day and was received 24 hours later. This was all perfect and exactly as you would expect.

Living locally, I hand delivered the watch. Within an hour or two I had an email confirming receipt of it which came advising that it would take 3-5 days for it to be looked at and for me to hear from a technician. Again, as you would expect.

Then an hour and a half later I get an email telling me that my watch has been seen by a technician and the repair will cost £365. The email goes on to say that "to pay for the battery" I can call in with a credit card or email my paypal details. This is not an invoice. This doesn't detail any work needing done. My watch doesn't have a battery. This is very very odd. For me to receive an email like this means there's a complete lack of procedure or that procedure just hasn't been followed. I email back asking for details and an invoice, along with confirmation if the faulty dial is being fixed or not. It takes 3 more emails and over a week to get a reply. The reply tells me nothing.

More time and more emails and I finally suggest I'll stop by the next day. This gets replies from two staff members promising to look into it. I finally get an email the next day after office hours telling me my watch is being repaired under warranty and it's a 6-8 week wait. I still don't know what needs done to it and I still don't know if the dial is being fixed.

It started off fantastically well and then it slipped badly. It seems that once they had the watch there was no set journey that it would take. No standard procedure and no set process. No structure. This creates a lack of consistency in service with shambolic results.

I can't fully judge the process until I have my watch back but the above is what it looks like to me.

edit: I'm not angry or upset about any of the above. Bemused maybe.
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by Essex Paul »

^^^ that is what’s called in the trade a cluster#*ck.
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by groovin »

Bungle-ator wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 9:34 pm I'm sure one of the biggest problems is there's lack of structure of what they're doing.

I filled out a repair form online and very quickly I had an email back. That was followed by another email that contained an "order number"/invoice of sorts. Packaging was sent out the next day and was received 24 hours later. This was all perfect and exactly as you would expect.

Living locally, I hand delivered the watch. Within an hour or two I had an email confirming receipt of it which came advising that it would take 3-5 days for it to be looked at and for me to hear from a technician. Again, as you would expect.

Then an hour and a half later I get an email telling me that my watch has been seen by a technician and the repair will cost £365. The email goes on to say that "to pay for the battery" I can call in with a credit card or email my paypal details. This is not an invoice. This doesn't detail any work needing done. My watch doesn't have a battery. This is very very odd. For me to receive an email like this means there's a complete lack of procedure or that procedure just hasn't been followed. I email back asking for details and an invoice, along with confirmation if the faulty dial is being fixed or not. It takes 3 more emails and over a week to get a reply. The reply tells me nothing.

More time and more emails and I finally suggest I'll stop by the next day. This gets replies from two staff members promising to look into it. I finally get an email the next day after office hours telling me my watch is being repaired under warranty and it's a 6-8 week wait. I still don't know what needs done to it and I still don't know if the dial is being fixed.

It started off fantastically well and then it slipped badly. It seems that once they had the watch there was no set journey that it would take. No standard procedure and no set process. No structure. This creates a lack of consistency in service with shambolic results.

I can't fully judge the process until I have my watch back but the above is what it looks like to me.

edit: I'm not angry or upset about any of the above. Bemused maybe.
Yeah that is definitely not ok and I think I have also spoken too soon about the optimistic outcome of my experience.

Following update fresh in (from few hours ago):

Called them as advised to see how the process is going and after going to "search for my watch" a kind CS staffer told me that the technicians had a look at the faulty watch and did not find anything wrong with it.

For reference this is my original post describing the issues with the watch:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=52396

This made me laugh and I went on with describing the situation from the beginning:

I told her that this is unacceptable as the faults are clearly there (the spec under the crystal at 12 o'clock and the lume going over the hour marker at 5).
She then was a bit uncomfortable with the situation and said that the technician "maybe" removed the spec under the crystal.
Now this made me even more worried as I clearly was told by the first CS staffer when calling about the issue that the watch will not be serviced but surely replaced. Furthermore what did happen to the second issue with the lume of the hour marker at 5? Lastly she was kindly reminded that I documented everything with pictures in the email I sent them before sending the watch in last week and that the receipt of this email was confirmed.

She assured me she will go back to the technician today and see what can be done about the replacement and that I would get an email back today.
But this is turning into quite a horror story for me as well.
Still optimistic it will get sorted out today.

All the best,

Andrei
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by meinberg »

Your story tells a sorry tail, your watch obviously ducked out of CW towers while the QC staff were otherwise occupied, and now it had been sent back the lack of process referred to by Bungle-ator is obvious.

Very hard to see this operation as being anything other than a shambles hanging on by the good will of it's staff, and no, I am not a staff member/union rep/sales rep for Steinhart. I am a long time customer who has to now seriously question whether to recommend CW to other people, and question the potential purchase of another CW, something I would not hesitate to do five months ago.
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by theaaronp »

UPDATE:

Peter Ellis, Co-Founder emailed me. He is the data protection officer for CW as it happens. I won't show what he said, but I am satisfied with his response.
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Re: What happened to CW?

Post by Bungle-ator »

groovin wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:32 pm
Bungle-ator wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 9:34 pm I'm sure one of the biggest problems is there's lack of structure of what they're doing.

I filled out a repair form online and very quickly I had an email back. That was followed by another email that contained an "order number"/invoice of sorts. Packaging was sent out the next day and was received 24 hours later. This was all perfect and exactly as you would expect.

Living locally, I hand delivered the watch. Within an hour or two I had an email confirming receipt of it which came advising that it would take 3-5 days for it to be looked at and for me to hear from a technician. Again, as you would expect.

Then an hour and a half later I get an email telling me that my watch has been seen by a technician and the repair will cost £365. The email goes on to say that "to pay for the battery" I can call in with a credit card or email my paypal details. This is not an invoice. This doesn't detail any work needing done. My watch doesn't have a battery. This is very very odd. For me to receive an email like this means there's a complete lack of procedure or that procedure just hasn't been followed. I email back asking for details and an invoice, along with confirmation if the faulty dial is being fixed or not. It takes 3 more emails and over a week to get a reply. The reply tells me nothing.

More time and more emails and I finally suggest I'll stop by the next day. This gets replies from two staff members promising to look into it. I finally get an email the next day after office hours telling me my watch is being repaired under warranty and it's a 6-8 week wait. I still don't know what needs done to it and I still don't know if the dial is being fixed.

It started off fantastically well and then it slipped badly. It seems that once they had the watch there was no set journey that it would take. No standard procedure and no set process. No structure. This creates a lack of consistency in service with shambolic results.

I can't fully judge the process until I have my watch back but the above is what it looks like to me.

edit: I'm not angry or upset about any of the above. Bemused maybe.
Yeah that is definitely not ok and I think I have also spoken too soon about the optimistic outcome of my experience.

Following update fresh in (from few hours ago):

Called them as advised to see how the process is going and after going to "search for my watch" a kind CS staffer told me that the technicians had a look at the faulty watch and did not find anything wrong with it.

For reference this is my original post describing the issues with the watch:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=52396

This made me laugh and I went on with describing the situation from the beginning:

I told her that this is unacceptable as the faults are clearly there (the spec under the crystal at 12 o'clock and the lume going over the hour marker at 5).
She then was a bit uncomfortable with the situation and said that the technician "maybe" removed the spec under the crystal.
Now this made me even more worried as I clearly was told by the first CS staffer when calling about the issue that the watch will not be serviced but surely replaced. Furthermore what did happen to the second issue with the lume of the hour marker at 5? Lastly she was kindly reminded that I documented everything with pictures in the email I sent them before sending the watch in last week and that the receipt of this email was confirmed.

She assured me she will go back to the technician today and see what can be done about the replacement and that I would get an email back today.
But this is turning into quite a horror story for me as well.
Still optimistic it will get sorted out today.

All the best,

Andrei
All you want from that phone call is for the staff member to look up the job number on a computer and tell you it's waiting for x or y part and it should take another X amount of days/weeks.

Your watch may be getting the best of treatment and getting fixed properly but the lack of a system seems to be confusing the staff and as a result, completely losing customer confidence.

Fingers crossed it comes back how you want it.