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Customer service at Omega Uk

Danwales
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My local watch repairer is in his 90s. He recently had a problem with a Co axial movement and due to lack of parts availability sent it to Omegas Southampton facility. Despite the watch arriving there with a letter ( it has been tracked)to outline the fact that he doesn't do email, there has been no letter of acknowledgement or correspondence with my LR to let him know the status of the watch.

In order to help him out I called Omega Customer service. The person told me that they has received the watch buy there was an issue with my friends account. They then tried and failed to put me through to the accounts department as I was simply cut off.

Eventually I was put through to one of the account departments and spoken to by a chap called Luke. Luke told me his wasn't the accounts department I needed and put me back onto a merry goose chase. In the end I gave up ( it was a Friday) and thought I would try again today.

I have now tried ringing again 3 times and been cut off 3 times while trying to speak to a chap called Ian. I have emailed and am now using twitter to try and get their attention.

Utter madness!!
 
padders
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Should have sent it direct yourself. Under the restrictions of Data Protection, they may be reluctant to speak with you about it at all. If he has a stop on his account or an outstanding debt then they may well be reluctant to proceed with new work from him.
 
Danwales
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padders padders
Should have sent it direct yourself. Under the restrictions of Data Protection, they may be reluctant to speak with you about it at all. If he has a stop on his account or an outstanding debt then they may well be reluctant to proceed with new work from him.

UPDATE:I eventually got through to Ian who Is the Head of customer service. He acknowledged the watch was with them and even though it was received on the 27th of January it had yet to be looked at. A quote should be imminent.

Even if I had sent the watch to Omega myself the trouble I have had actually in trying to speak to someone has been terrible. I was cut off because apparently the persons headset wasn't working and they couldn't hear me!! No reason given for the lack of email reply.

Who knows? Maybe I was unlucky but not the service I would have expected.
 
padders
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I am glad it is progressing. The quality of work at Southampton is pretty high. You hear far less complaints about them than you do about the US authorised centres, some of which seem a bit hit and miss, though of course they don't please everyone. Out of interest, what is the watch? OSC Southampton did a very tidy job on my Speedy Broad Arrow inc upgrading the escapement to triple layer C spec at no extra charge. I usually use Swiss Time Services for much of my requirements for cost reasons but there are pieces that only OSC will touch.
 
Danwales
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The watch doesn't belong to me. But I it is a modern coaxial movement that Mr Ford my 91 year old watch repair cannot get parts for. As a result with customer consent he sent it off to Southampton. It was when he didn't get acknowledgement of receipt that he got concerned and that's when I stepped in with an offer of help. He struggled with their automated phone-in ( press 1 for accounts ....etc). So I wanted to help as he has been good to me.

Photos of possibly the world's oldest watch repairer below.
20220210_115456.jpg 20220210_115435.jpg
 
dennisthemenace
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Danwales Danwales
Photos of possibly the world's oldest watch repairer below.
No way. Our very own canuck is at least thirty years his senior.
 
Danwales
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dennisthemenace dennisthemenace
No way. Our very own canuck is at least thirty years his senior.

Haha, but does he still run his own store on a busy high street. It takes some doing!!😀
 
Danwales
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People come into his shop with All sorts. Old mantle clocks, pocket watches, Quartz limit watches, Jaeger Lecoutre military watches..Everyone gets treated the same. He's a brilliant fella with a wealth of stories and the last of his kind in the UK I believe.
 
Danwales
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As I don't like to leave loose threads I thought I would tie this one up. After much tooing and froing Omega got back to me on behalf of my watch repairer. The quote was £450 for a service, new crown tube and a polish of case and bracelet.

The customer wasn't interested in having the case and bracelet polished and in the duration of time Omega have had the watch my repairer has got the parts he needed from an independent source. He will now be able to service the watch for significantly cheaper than £450 though the customer won't have a polished watch.
 
ghce
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Danwales Danwales
The watch doesn't belong to me. But I it is a modern coaxial movement that Mr Ford my 91 year old watch repair cannot get parts for. As a result with customer consent he sent it off to Southampton. It was when he didn't get acknowledgement of receipt that he got concerned and that's when I stepped in with an offer of help. He struggled with their automated phone-in ( press 1 for accounts ....etc). So I wanted to help as he has been good to me.

Photos of possibly the world's oldest watch repairer below.
20220210_115456.jpg 20220210_115435.jpg

Now that is a shop I would love to visit! He would probably get sick of me looking at all the watches ( and clocks) on display and asking questions.
 
Danwales
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ghce ghce
Now that is a shop I would love to visit! He would probably get sick of me looking at all the watches ( and clocks) on display and asking questions.

My average visit time is about an hour!! Conversation can cover subjects such as boxers of yesteryear, his time in the Navy just after WW2 and lots of other subjects including watches and clocks obviously. I asked him once if he minded me taking up his time and he said no as he actually does most of the repairs after the shop closes in the evening.

I asked him recently how he got into watch repair and he told me the seed was sown in India in the 1950s when there with the Navy. He bought a watch off a street hawker there and this chap also repaired watches on the street. Mr Ford then decided that this was something he would like to do after the Navy. He's a really interesting fella.
 
Archer
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Danwales Danwales
As I don't like to leave loose threads I thought I would tie this one up. After much tooing and froing Omega got back to me on behalf of my watch repairer. The quote was £450 for a service, new crown tube and a polish of case and bracelet.

The customer wasn't interested in having the case and bracelet polished and in the duration of time Omega have had the watch my repairer has got the parts he needed from an independent source. He will now be able to service the watch for significantly cheaper than £450 though the customer won't have a polished watch.

You can ask Omega not to polish the watch. I suspect this watchmaker is not trained on co-axial watches, so hopefully he can do the job properly...
 
Danwales
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Archer Archer
You can ask Omega not to polish the watch. I suspect this watchmaker is not trained on co-axial watches, so hopefully he can do the job properly...

He has worked quite a few of them. Seeing as he has been fixing all types of clocks and watches since around 1953 there isn't much he hasn't seen really. He just can't get the parts he needs sometimes and at age 92 I don't think he wants to go through the rigmarole of trying to get official Omega service centre accredited.
 
Archer
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Danwales Danwales
He has worked quite a few of them. Seeing as he has been fixing all types of clocks and watches since around 1953 there isn't much he hasn't seen really. He just can't get the parts he needs sometimes and at age 92 I don't think he wants to go through the rigmarole of trying to get official Omega service centre accredited.

As I've said many times, unlike a conventional lever escapement where improper servicing will lead to performance issues, the same is not true for co-axial. They can be serviced improperly and still run well on the timing machine, but problems will show up later.

I always recommend using someone who has training directly from Omega on these.
 
padders
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Archer Archer
As I've said many times, unlike a conventional lever escapement where improper servicing will lead to performance issues, the same is not true for co-axial. They can be serviced improperly and still run well on the timing machine, but problems will show up later.

I always recommend using someone who has training directly from Omega on these.
That is if his timing machine even reads them properly...
 
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