Here's an interesting Tudor Boutique customer service tidbit. A little over 2 weeks ago, Tudor opened their newest boutique here in Vancouver. Today, I made my way there with my wife in tow. When we arrived the shop's three available sales staff already were already deep in consultation with prospective buyers so we looked around. To my surprise they had a couple of GMTs on display but had to wait for a sales staff member. We were shown to the waiting area.
After about 15-20 minutes, we were shown to a now-vacated client station. We sat with the manager. I asked to try on the GMT on leather (I have tried the bracelet model a couple of months ago - it was already spoken for). It was great - I loved it on leather, actually. It felt great as I've got fairly meaty drummer wrists; I purposely wore my 15mm high Tutima Flieger Friday so I could do a heft comparison. The GMT was killer...I have no issue with it being 'slab-sided'. We chatted with the manager a bit more and I told her that after weeks of going down the rabbit hole and missing out, I really wanted this watch.
Then I facked things up.
During our conversation (more of a sales pitch session) I asked her - respectfully as possible - about the date issue that's plagued these watches over since the launch in 2018. I made it clear I was very interested and will be buying one irrespective of any risk of the date issue. I simply wanted to know if it had been addressed. Oops. Bad move. In this fancy new Tudor boutique, it's best to just buy the thing and shut one's pie hole.
The manager seemed annoyed and said she'd never heard of any date wheel issue. She mentioned she'd been with Tudor for over 10 years and this was the first anyone had mentioned a date wheel issue. It must be a rare anecdote. She then firmly and rather condescendingly schooled me that "with all mechanical watches there's a risk of problems." Gee, thanks Captain Obvious, but that wasn't my question. The date wheel issue isn't a one-off anecdote. It's a pretty common thing. And besides, she said, "what manufacturer would ever admit to a potential problem or issue with their watch?". "I dunno..an industry leader...?" was my admittedly rather glib answer. In my experience, taking ownership shows confidence. Besides, while $4500+tax is not exactly ALS or Daytona territory, it's still my money. She played the hard sell card, and told me that 'if I didn't take it today, it would likely be sold tomorrow' (believe me I know as I've missed out on these before), and 'if I know I want the GMT why wait? Just buy it now'. Jesus.
The whole thing felt greasy to me. Yes, I realize I said I'd buy it notwithstanding the date wheel issue, but it was her smugness that put me off. Here in Vancouver, you see, there's an illustrious luxury buyers' class that has ruined the buying experience for us mere mortals. Customer service has gone to shite. My fall back is being put on a waiting list last week at a dealer in Calgary, Alberta (province next door to mine). It means a flight back home and that's fine by me. My late parents dealt at this AD for years in the 1960's-1980's. The sales person I dealt with at that AD was both upfront about the date issue and would look into it for me, ensuring my purchase was made in confidence and simplicity. She had me on the phone for 25 minutes asking questions about my family and me asking her about her Romanian roots. We had a really great chat. That is customer service. I'm happy to wait a bit longer.
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