Decent Service From CW

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Jcalder68
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Decent Service From CW

Post by Jcalder68 »

It seems as if CW services have been taking a bit of abuse recently so I thought I’d balance the subject a bit.

I bought myself a C65 Trident Diver Auto a while back, just after Christmas if I recall correctly. It performed impeccably and I enjoyed wearing it for several months, but then noticed a problem with its auto winding; if I topped it up manually every day it was fine but relying on the auto winding alone meant it would stop after about 42hr.

So, a brief phone call, to CW Towers to report the issue, a polite and informative response, and the free returns envelope was on my doormat a few days later. Easy enough to complete the returns form and drop it off at my local PO. It was all free.

I made the effort to phone CW Towers a few days after posting it to confirm that they had it. Sure, I can track it on line, but it always good to check with a human too! I got confirmation and the next day re-confirmation via email too.

A week or so later I got another email to confirm that there was an identified issue with the auto wind and that it would be repaired under warranty. The turnaround time was estimated at 6-8 weeks. At this point I phoned CW again so as to confirm a delivery address for the return - CW have both my home and work addresses on file with a note against them to use work address for weekday returns/deliveries and my home address for weekends. This is best to guarantee a signature. Their estimate of 6-8 weeks would directly hit a window when I was on holiday so we established which address would be most convenient for which dates. Obviously I got this confirmed through email a couple of days later.

6 weeks pass and I phone CW Towers to see how things are going. Again, a very polite and responsive reply to say that it was repaired and was now in quality control. I was told that it was actually going through it’s second quality control as there was a problem identified with its first pass (timekeeping). I was told it would be dispatched within a week.

Another few days pass and I call again. I am told that my watch has passed QC and will be dispatched within a couple of days. My holiday plans have changed so we briefly discuss suitable dates and addresses for delivery.

Exactly eight weeks from start to finish and I am back in possession of my beloved watch. It is perfect - timekeeping is to within a couple of seconds a day and it has performed perfectly with autowind only. I wore it for a full fortnight just to be sure and it was bang on. The kipper’s knickers, the cat’s pyjamas the dog’s danglies etc, etc, etc... One very happy customer here!

The moral? I like to communicate directly with other humans wherever possible. A phone call, a polite conversation and a bit of mutual respect seem to have got me a good, reliable and efficient service this time. Actually, this is how I have always treated all the companies I deal with and it seems to have worked for me. True, in a modern and digital age we all “expect” immediate responses, but a chat often seems to beat this.

I hope this readdresses the negative balance to a degree. It would be great to hear of others who have also had reliable and positive service from CW,

C
CW Watches - Malvern, Dartmouth, Lympstone, Sandhurst, Elite 1000, c60 300 Quartz.
Recently started hand making most of the leather straps you’ll see on my watches, happy to consider bespoke order for forum members.
jtc
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Re: Decent Service From CW

Post by jtc »

Nice to hear you got your watch sorted. CW have done well.

One wonders if they would have communicated at all with you if you hadn't initiated it? Would you have reached week 7 and wondered where the watch was? I'd also question why, after the customer has phoned to discuss important address details, does the written confirmation take a couple of days after the fact...

Maybe I'm nitpicking, but they're the sort of fine details I'd be looking at, even in a positive review, in CW's shoes. Continuous improvement and all that.
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Essex Paul
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Re: Decent Service From CW

Post by Essex Paul »

Please that all is well with it now even though you were without it for 2 months.
As said, you still had to call them a few times to get a response albeit a polite and professional one.
Had you not called at all you would’ve waited 2 months in silence before seeing your watch.
I’d be more impressed if they had emailed you with that information step by step without you having to call.
Even so I’m glad it’s now working. :thumbup:
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Mikkei4
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Re: Decent Service From CW

Post by Mikkei4 »

jtc wrote: Wed Aug 14, 2019 10:26 pm Nice to hear you got your watch sorted. CW have done well.

One wonders if they would have communicated at all with you if you hadn't initiated it? Would you have reached week 7 and wondered where the watch was? I'd also question why, after the customer has phoned to discuss important address details, does the written confirmation take a couple of days after the fact...

Maybe I'm nitpicking, but they're the sort of fine details I'd be looking at, even in a positive review, in CW's shoes. Continuous improvement and all that.
I've not worked in an office for some years now but when I was the "in-thing" was "Time Management". 1 of the methods to manage time successfully was to not be driven by the new work coming in, for example don't read the most recent email to arrive in your box and drop other work to respond to it or do the work it requests. So if that phone call with the customer was taken while you were in the midst of completing other work don't stop that other work to start an email confirming the details of the telephone conversation until later.

An alternative way is to think is "I'll quickly do an email straight away to confirm those details" and then I can concentrate on my other work - It'll all depend upon how busy you might be, if you think you might forget about that email confirmation or how the original task might take to complete.

The thing is that we will not know just how busy the person is that took that customer's call so how can we criticise the day or 2 it took them to send the confirmation email?
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Re: Decent Service From CW

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

The expectation of an instant response is part of the baggage associated with this “connected” world in which we now live.

Recently, at the end of a working day, I had to give a response to an email I received at 2:30 pm, asking why I had not responded to the email I received at 9:30 am. My temptation was to be slightly salty and to say that I had this unusual hobby called teaching, which I had been doing all day with the exception of a coffee break and time for lunch. However as the recipient was, so to speak, a customer, I maintained a Ciceronian veneer of politeness.

Some people just don’t see the big picture.
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Re: Decent Service From CW

Post by jtc »

Mikkei4 wrote: Wed Aug 14, 2019 10:55 pm
jtc wrote: Wed Aug 14, 2019 10:26 pm Nice to hear you got your watch sorted. CW have done well.

One wonders if they would have communicated at all with you if you hadn't initiated it? Would you have reached week 7 and wondered where the watch was? I'd also question why, after the customer has phoned to discuss important address details, does the written confirmation take a couple of days after the fact...

Maybe I'm nitpicking, but they're the sort of fine details I'd be looking at, even in a positive review, in CW's shoes. Continuous improvement and all that.
I've not worked in an office for some years now but when I was the "in-thing" was "Time Management". 1 of the methods to manage time successfully was to not be driven by the new work coming in, for example don't read the most recent email to arrive in your box and drop other work to respond to it or do the work it requests. So if that phone call with the customer was taken while you were in the midst of completing other work don't stop that other work to start an email confirming the details of the telephone conversation until later.

An alternative way is to think is "I'll quickly do an email straight away to confirm those details" and then I can concentrate on my other work - It'll all depend upon how busy you might be, if you think you might forget about that email confirmation or how the original task might take to complete.

The thing is that we will not know just how busy the person is that took that customer's call so how can we criticise the day or 2 it took them to send the confirmation email?
This experience should be more akin to a helpdesk. Every customer contact should be live logged against a case reference. All agreed details/notes are entered into the case during a call. Automated responses are sent to the customer when the case is updated or the process moves on. It saves time and effort for everyone involved.

CW have a lot to learn.
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Re: Decent Service From CW

Post by Kip »

While I do believe the personal touch is much appreciated and CW's communication/tracking software can certainly be improved, from a business standpoint, it is extremely difficult/time consuming to be answering calls to be constantly answering phone calls and to tell someone that there repair is still on schedule or whatever.

It really comes down to software and the input of information that the consumer can utilize to check status. I used to use a system where the information was updated at each stage and an email was automatically sent so the consumer could easily check status. This saved a lot of phone calls and wasted time making everything very efficient. It didn't speed up repairs other than the time service techs did not spend answering questions.
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