TAG Heuer

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An unpleasant experience

As a fan of the brand, I have always appreciated its unpretentious image and innovation, both before and after the brand's decision to focus its efforts back to its roots after a long and successful venture in the realm of haute horology. However, in recent months I have been dismayed by the way a few issues have been handled by their post sales teams which are in stark contrast to my experience with them earlier. First, when my forged carbon V4 had to return to the factory for a small repair, its return to me was improperly handled and the follow up and communications left a lot to be desired. And even after the incident, I happened to come across a titanium version of the V4 at a local TH boutique and out of curiosity, I went in, tried it on and was pleasantly surprised when I was offered a tremendous deal on it. The deal was simply too good to pass on, plus the boutique's very good service has impressed me greatly so I made the purchase. Because the older V4s come with a strap that fixes the angle at which it attaches to the case, it causes the deployant to press on the wrist uncomfortably, so I had decided to replace the OEM strap with an aftermarket one. This was when I discovered that the watch would not pass even as a NOS, let alone a brand new piece which I had paid for. As can be seen in the pictures below, the inside of all four lugs have severe scratches and because of this, I took a closer look at the watch with a loupe and discovered that in addition to the scratches, there are two dings and three more scratches on the case back and one of the corners of the case is dented not sharp. Subsequently I relayed the information back to the boutique manager, who has been extremely helpful all along, and after her investigation on the history of the watch, I was informed that since the watch has been on display at various boutiques since it was first delivered to the boutique in 2011 as well as to an AD on an exhibition, a few strap changes have been done over the years and it has gone back to Switzerland for routine checks every three years. She suspected that those dings, dents and scratches were left on the watch during those strap changes and services. Being a hobbyist for over two decades, based on my experience there is no way those marks could have been left there if the strap changes and services were carried out professionally. Actually, even if I were to be the one doing the strap changes, I reckon it would have taken me probably twenty strap changes before those lugs would be so scratched, so I have doubts about how those marks were left there although I do believe that the boutique manager did share with me what she has been informed. I was told that she has communicated all the information to her superiors but she has not been given any response or instruction on how to resolve the issue. This is consistent with my experience in recent months on the service mishandling of my other V4 so I was not surprised when I was informed that nobody upstairs seemed to care enough to respond. This is certainly very discouraging as I have observed that when it comes to post sales servicing situations where they encounter issues that require efforts to resolve, they have been poorly handled. They were always good when things went well but the true test of post sales service occurs when there are difficult situations to resolve. I will keep you all posted on any further feedback I get from the brand.