Mayors Story/Rant Time~!

Now I know this probably is neither the place nor the vibe I want to give off, considering many a friend has been made on here, but I figured I'd share this recent story and see if people have had similar interactions. I live in South Florida and one of the bigger retailers here for many watch brands is Mayors - they carry everything from Grand Seiko to Vacheron, so it has plenty of choice for someone seeking a good search.

Anywho, a vintage GS collector friend and I went down to the Orlando boutique just the other day and to my surprise they had a RG JLC Master Ultra-thin Perpetual in stock. Now, just a month ago, a separate friend of mine had offered to sell me his BNIB SIHH 2019 LE version (the blue enamel dial), for a remarkably discounted price compared to retail (almost 50% off). I'd wanted to try on the RG version Mayor's had in stock to see if the approximate fit and feel of the piece is to my liking enough such that I'd pull the trigger on the enamel version. The sales rep there, asked how I liked it and why I wanted to try it on - to which, I'd fully responded with the aforementioned situation and about how I'd been scouring the secondary markets for it. He, however, then took it upon himself to call up "JLC DIRECTLY" (as he overemphasized several times) and ask if they would be able to provide said SIHH LE for me and that I was prepared to place 20% down. Now to this point, I'd told him very clearly, I dont want to spend 60k on the piece - but I suppose he didn't really care as he'd said he would be able to give me a very good discounted price. After getting off the phone, and then my telling him "No, its really ok, I'll pass on the offer (his discounted price)" he looked at me a bit stunned, almost as if he wanted to know why this youngster walked in, baited him to call JLC DIRECTLY (might I add), and then refuse the offer. I then told him the price I was being offered by my friend. In hindsight, this probably was not the best idea. For the next 15 minutes or so, both myself and my buddy who'd come into the store were berated by him as he consistently asked "are you buying a fake", "obviously you're getting scammed, you cannot trust such people", "well if you already knew you weren't going to buy with us, you shouldn't have even enquired", etc. All of which, trust me was in a very loud and patronizing manner. Needless to say, we were out in the next 5 minutes.

Has anyone had a similar interaction at any of their stores, or just any other stores like this in general? Almost every rolex and omega AD, despite whether or not they have stock available, have been cordial to me in the past. I assumed maybe someone had slashed his tires or something to that effect that day, and just let it be ~ my Omega AD was more than thrilled to see me today, so that made up for it!

Oof yeah, I've not had that kind of interaction with either a branded store or an AD selling multiple brands. It sounds like you were clear about your purpose and intent and the salesperson was hoping to browbeat/intimidate you into actually buying that day. My guess is he missed his June sales target.

Have to agree with you there. 👍

Even so, sounds as though the sales rep should have handled it better.

Let's just call it a draw.

The LE is gorgeous in the flesh - a friend would let you try before you buy. Good luck with your hunt. 👍

He clearly wasn't going to get a sale from you in the near future. Now he's guaranteed that he will never get a sale from you.

I have yet to have a pleasant experience with any Mayor's SA. Last time I went in to the Jacksonville location and after browsing briefly asked the only SA there (the store was empty of any other customers or even SAs) if they had a 60th anniversary quartz in stock (I like the look of the blue bezel/dial combo) - she sort of waved a hand towards the GS cases and said "there might be one in there" while - I kid you not - she was busy on her smartphone.

On the way out, I saw one - it did not come home with me.

Unfortunately for many makes I enjoy they're the only retailer remotely close, aside from Underwoods, which has been absolutely baffling me themselves with botching the details of a watch I've already bought from them for two months now...but that's a story for another time. Between the treatment from dealers of late and a few other factors, I'm thinking of putting watch collecting aside for a while, sadly.

Hope your tale ends on a better note in the end!

Fwiw - i'd never asked about the SIHH LE, it was brought up in passing as he'd asked my why I had interest in the RG version that they had in stock (the one I'd tried on). I'd never even dreamed of them having any of the perpetuals in stock nor did I want the sales clerk to even go about starting a transaction (which I'd told him also upon entering the store "Im just here looking"), so I figured I'd try something on the wrist first. I'd only told him that a friend was going to sell me his LE after he'd asked why I wanted to try it on, so I was pretty specific from the getgo. Also, if the purpose of a brick and mortar store isn't to show their products to attract customers, then why not keep it online? I feel as though, to your point, if someone doesnt have the interest in something in stock (which, lets be honest, which watch dealers is a crapshoot) then they aren't supposed to even bother entering...