Horological Meandering

SALMANPK
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To discuss further....

Hi Thomas,

Really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to address this, I'll continue our discussion by further adding my 2 humble cents to each of your points:

SPECIFIC local service, which needs to be split further into AD vs factory service center

S: I agree, I can say that local AD service centers in the M.E region like for Richemont brands tend to handle very basic stuff although in some instances the technical watch service staff are quite capable to handle complicated tasks but yet there are specific instructions from the manufacture that they are not allowed to open or work on the watches and that they have to be sent to the factory service center which in the case of the GCC is Dubai, that wastes SO much time, and if Dubai can't handle it then off it goes back to Switzerland, 6 months is nothing, could even be a year or more for complicated stuff and if you drop dead in that time whats the point? and this is where the local AD even has a service center, for e.g. AP Kuwait can't do anything more than strap and bracelet changes, for even the simplest thing the watch has to be sent back to Switzerland, why can't watch companies collaborate together to justify the expense of having a shared service center facility in cases where the volumes can't justify having a stand alone operation?

and within this, specific individuals

attitude of regional CEO/GM and their staff if they need to get involved

attitude of HQ SAV director and his team

attitude of the HQ CEO and his team

At the end of the day, SAV and any sort of service is critically people based, and specifically the individual YOU deal with.

S: very true the Service Apres-Vente (customer service) people and technicians are the key but for most of them due to the attitude of upper management it becomes a tedious and unglamorous job with no incentives for growth, after all its the guys in sales/marketing who sip cocktails with the who's who at swanky parties that move up into senior management while these people are the very pillar on which the industry stands but no one cares about them

That's why sweeping generalizations, even of specific offices, can be very misleading.

More abstractly, the question also needs to be considered on two levels -

skill

attention to detail

whether anyone cares.

Integrity

One would think skill is a given; it is not.

S: very true Dr. T but I have also felt that firms don't want local AD technicians to handle their watches so that there is no transfer of know how to them and they can't practice on those pieces, so "keep it within the firm" vs. training AD technicians, better yet not even have an AD service center, while the customer suffers.

One would hope caring is a given; too often it is not.

S: alot of times the attitude is that if he/she is rich enough to buy this watch then they are rich enough to get screwed, the more you screw them the better it is, not limited to watches, also seen this with ADs for exotic cars as well. Whats the incentive to care? I mean when they sell you a watch at an AD or Manufacture owned Boutique the salespersons make a commission but whats the financial incentive to care? As far as I know nothing. That can't bode well for us.

Breguet USA charged me $600 to polish a case for a tourbillon. NO movement service, just a case polish.

I got it back with some dried sun tan lotion still caked in the fluting between the lugs.

In this case, they didn't care, and I wonder if they even did any work for the $600 bill (integrity)

I pointed it out to the BH Boutique staff; too bad they didn't catch it before I went in to pick it up either.

Back it went; back it came, and after yet another other several weeks/months, other than a "sorry" I still got billed $600 and nothing else.

For a basic case polish. 

S: Dr. T this is exactly the kind of bs I am talking about, it is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE that we pay the prices we do and then have to put up with this, such practices need to be brought to the fore so that buyers can understand what they have to put up with once they buy that "sexy" looking watch and the companies need to realize that we won't take this anymore unless they get their act together.

Still, my basic point stands - I consider the higher factory service costs an insurance policy - they Fxxx it up, I have recourse.

S: True or better yet why don't I stop buying their watches altogether and buy from a firm that has excellent after sales service?

Independent? less so.

S: Wouldn't it be the case that with an Independent (in most cases a small enterprise) who is dependent on the business of his customers and is not part of a large corporate group that he/she would ensure they did a good job and retain you as a customer and if they screw up to take care of it?

Cheers,

TM