Horology House / Chris Essery - Scam

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base615

·Feb 1, 2020

Might be better placed in the scams / phishing thread but I thought it deserved a thread of its own. Mods can choose to merge if they think it should be.

In case anyone here is not aware of the shitfight erupting over Horology House / Chris Essery here in Australia:

https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=722353

I’m sure some here will have been followers of his YouTube channel like me and may have bought from him. Even if you haven’t, it’s worth the read as a cautionary tale but if TLDR here’s the summary:

Formally respected watch community member over here, prolific dealer in Rolex but also others (Silver Snoopy etc), founder/admin of a well known Facebook selling group (of which I’m a member) now appears to have been running a massive scam operation. An example of ‘Buy the seller’ not working.

Buyers paid for but never received watches. Months of excuses including blaming our bushfires, passing on news images as proof of his parents house on fire before finally getting refunded in instalments but I suspect many haven’t been refunded.

On at least one occasion they were shipped a fake Daytona but may be more out there as he now appears to have been active on replica forums. Anyone who has bought from him would be well advised to authenticate their pieces.

More victims coming out of the woodwork seemingly on an hourly basis. Previous complaints were shut down due to his administration of the site and other people believing him due to his reputation.

Edited: Feb 1, 2020

 

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rob#1

·Feb 1, 2020

🍿 Wow.
And the thread should be mandatory reading for anyone who has the opportunity to purchase a ‘cheap’ Rolex (or any other watch for that matter).

 

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Dan S

·Feb 1, 2020

Wow, quite a story. I started to read the thread, but it's adding new pages faster than I can read the old pages.

 

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base615

·Feb 1, 2020

Dan S

Wow, quite a story. I started to read the thread, but it's adding new pages faster than I can read the old pages.

The last page currently quotes a pretty good summary (which was posted earlier in the thread)

 

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osc

·Feb 1, 2020

This is pretty crazy and the fact that others have / are coming out still is very very concerning. I hope this is not a widespread issue - can't imagine what it would feel like for those who have done any transaction with him.

 

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Meme-Dweller

·Feb 1, 2020

With the crazy premiums on sports Rolexes, it was only a matter of time before a low-level pyramid scheme happened.

 

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JimInOz

·Feb 1, 2020·Melbourne Australia

For a breakdown of the communications between HH and the victim, a full account of Whatsapp messages can be found here:

https://pastebin.com/CMQKnnL5

Edited: Feb 1, 2020

 

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Mad Cow

·Feb 1, 2020

🍿

😲

🤦

 

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Donn Chambers

·Feb 1, 2020

Wow. I don’t watch a lot of YouTube watch channels, but his is one I liked. I just spent an hour following the various threads emerging online, and It doesn’t look good. I never suspected anything.

 

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Farmer

·Feb 1, 2020

Thank you for posting this, goes to show, it is difficult to trust some people [companies} on the internet.

 

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sdre

·Feb 1, 2020

I watched his video on the SBDX017 and how great a watch it is. Really good videos and reviews. such a waste he did this.

 

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dsio

·Feb 1, 2020·Ash @ ΩF

I actually met Chris at an Omega event in Sydney last year and quite enjoyed his content but we have had to ban the account when this came out on TRF as the nature of it is extremely serious in many different ways, I don't understand how he made these choices and threw so much away.

 

F

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fbf

·Feb 1, 2020

one of the posts mentioned how his AD source found out about him resale watches with crazy markup and decided to cut him off. Maybe really run out of options and cash flow

 

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base615

·Feb 1, 2020

dsio

I actually met Chris at an Omega event in Sydney last year and quite enjoyed his content but we have had to ban the account when this came out on TRF as the nature of it is extremely serious in many different ways, I don't understand how he made these choices and threw so much away.

Yeah, it's something that came completely out of left field for me. I haven't bought from him but I would have had zero qualms about dealing with him. Many people have recommended him to friends as someone who could be trusted by a newbie. Must be a pretty awful feeling if those friends now turn out to have dodgy watches.

 

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base615

·Feb 1, 2020

F fbf

one of the posts mentioned how his AD source found out about him resale watches with crazy markup and decided to cut him off. Maybe really run out of options and cash flow

What do they think people they are selling huge amounts of stock to are doing? They must know what's happening in the grey market with respect to Rolex in particular so, if this is true, I find it hard to believe the AD was ignorant of what was going on.

Based on what's happened it's more likely that he promised to pay the AD some cash over retail which failed to materialise so the guy cut him off after months of excuses.

 

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MTROIS

·Feb 1, 2020

😲

 

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zrleopold

·Feb 1, 2020

Reading through that transcript was just so uncomfortable. Makes me sad that things like this happen 🤔

 

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base615

·Feb 1, 2020

zrleopold

Reading through that transcript was just so uncomfortable. Makes me sad that things like this happen 🤔

One of many such transcripts now. Carrying this enterprise on for so long would be utterly exhausting. Ethics aside, I’m in awe of his stamina.

 

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Dan S

·Feb 1, 2020

base615

One of many such transcripts now. Carrying this enterprise on for so long would be utterly exhausting. Ethics aside, I’m in awe of his stamina.

It's terribly sad, but now and then we probably need to be reminded that sociopaths are out there. Thanks for making us aware of this situation.

 

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BlackTalon

·Feb 1, 2020·This Space for Rent

Holy crap, I can't believe how he tortured the customer for over 2 months. I had a mini-version of this a couple years ago with $2,500 USD at stake, and the seller repeatedly creating lies to stave off my intent to file a claim. Absolutely nothing of the order of magnitude this guy went through. It is pure theft -- just as bad as breaking into someone's house and stealing all of their valuable possessions.