Omega Warranty Handling Leaves A Lot To Be Desired

[MarcLee3861]

Hi Omega Forum 😀

New poster here, just wanted to share my experiance I had with a warranty case and was curious what your opinions on the matter are.

So I bought a new Omega Speedmaster 3861 (Sapphire Sandwich) in March '22 (Release day of the infamous MoonSwatch) and have been very happy with it ever since.
However, a couple of weeks back, the watch just stopped dead. At first the whole watch would stand still when pressing the top pusher, next thing the whole watch would stop all together despite being fully wound.

I'm sure that I never dropped the watch, nor came into contact with water, nor did anything I would presume could damage the watch.

So, off I go grudgingly and bring it to my local Omega Boutique and hand in the watch in hope for a brief look-at and ideally even repair, but it was sent off to the Omega Service Center. So far so good.
I was quite disappointed that such a watch could just break after 1,5 years, but I thought if the warranty gets handled properly I would get over it.

Fast forward to today, my watch has been repaired and was ready to be collected.
The lady in the shop handed me my watch back and said it has been done under warranty which was a relief despite being what I expected.

But now to the part that bugs me tremendously:
When prompted on what the issue was, the lady said I should have mentioned that I wanted a diagnosis when I brought the watch. The service center never lets the customer know what exactly was wrong.

This was very disappointing and left me with very foul aftertaste. I'm dumbstruck on how that is the default process and customers don't get to know what the issue was. How shall I trust the product when there's zero insight on what actually caused the failure?!

Anyway, the watch is working again and I'm happy to have it back, but I'm now hesitant on recommending Omega for this experience.

Does anyone see the reasoning behind this other than an attempt to cover up a faulty product?

All boutiques and service centers in question are based in Switzerland.

BR
M

 

[Evitzee]

Some early 3861 watches had a lubrication issue and many had to be sent back for a service to correct the problem. It was just the luck of the draw as to which watches had problems. You usually won't get a diagnosis on a warranty issue like this, they just fix the watch and get it back to you. It appears that your repair only took a couple of weeks and that's very good turnaround time. Anyway, your watch should now be good to go, and your warranty still runs to March 2027. Enjoy your watch.

 

[Scarecrow Boat]

This thread will help explain the issue you experienced.

https://omegaforums.net/threads/3861-movement-broken-update-read-first-post.120071/

 

[YY77]

Evitzee

Some early 3861 watches had a lubrication issue and many had to be sent back for a service to correct the problem. It was just the luck of the draw as to which watches had problems. You usually won't get a diagnosis on a warranty issue like this, they just fix the watch and get it back to you. It appears that your repair only took a couple of weeks and that's very good turnaround time. Anyway, your watch should now be good to go, and your warranty still runs to March 2027. Enjoy your watch.

+1

@MarcLee3861

This is the thread where it first "surfaced":

https://omegaforums.net/threads/3861-movement-broken-update-read-first-post.120071/

I got the issue on my A11 3.5 years in so benefit (free service) from a carefree watch for the next +/-8 years.

Edit @Scarecrow Boat beat me to it (again) lol.

 

[BlackTalon]

The handling did not leave a lot to desire, just the 'after' communication.

How would you know whether to trust it or not if you had, in fact, received a list of what was done? That's still no, uh, guarantee their troubleshooting was accurate, or their repairs were properly performed.

The watch is back, and the work is covered by a warranty. Rest easy knowing if a problem crops up again Omega will deal with it.

 

[X350 XJR]

If one were paying for the repair one would expect to get an explanation of what they were paying for, warranty is completely different. They fixed it period.

Next.

 

[PandaSPUR]

I've had similar experiences with other brands. For example I had a Breitling that was running -30spd and the service paperwork just said "low amplitude"

I wish they could tell me more but they didnt and I didn't think to complain about it.

 

[derv]

I can’t think of many brands that would spell out a warranty repair to customers, mainly because most folks don’t care or understand the mechanics behind it all. They fixed it, the watch works…sounds successful to me.

Usually during a non-warranty service, Omega will have an itemized list of repairs/replacements and will even send your old parts back; something quite rare in the factory watch repair business.

Edited: Nov 20, 2023

 

[Foo2rama]

D derv

I can’t think of many brands that would spell out a warranty repair to customers, mainly because most folks don’t care or understand the mechanics behind it all. They fixed it, the watch works…sounds successful to me.

Usually during a service, Omega will have an itemized list of repairs/replacements and will even send your old parts back; something quite rare in the factory watch repair business.

I’ve not seen an itemized list for warranty.

 

[derv]

Foo2rama

I’ve not seen an itemized list for warranty.

Thats why I said during a service, meaning not warranty. I should have specified.

 

[MarcLee3861]

Evitzee

Some early 3861 watches had a lubrication issue and many had to be sent back for a service to correct the problem. It was just the luck of the draw as to which watches had problems. You usually won't get a diagnosis on a warranty issue like this, they just fix the watch and get it back to you. It appears that your repair only took a couple of weeks and that's very good turnaround time. Anyway, your watch should now be good to go, and your warranty still runs to March 2027. Enjoy your watch.

Thank you very much for the response, that does actually put me at ease and is what I was hoping to hear from the OB.
Much appreciated.

 

[MarcLee3861]

BlackTalon

The handling did not leave a lot to desire, just the 'after' communication.

How would you know whether to trust it or not if you had, in fact, received a list of what was done? That's still no, uh, guarantee their troubleshooting was accurate, or their repairs were properly performed.

The watch is back, and the work is covered by a warranty. Rest easy knowing if a problem crops up again Omega will deal with it.

Sure, I view the 'after' communication as part of the whole.
I don't want a list what was done, I wanted a single reason on why the watch stopped in the first place.
Also, the whole point is having just a bit of assurance that the issue does not crop up again after a few months, otherwise one can only rest easy as long as you have warranty and returning a seemingly high quality product every couple months completely defeats the purpose imo.

 

[Dan S]

I honestly don't think that you have any reason to complain. The watch was repaired quickly under warranty, no questions asked. You should be a satisfied customer, IMO. I wouldn't think twice about it, and certainly it wouldn't "bug me tremendously" or leave a "foul aftertaste." Those comments sound extremely overblown, TBH.

In many cases it's probably not worth the trouble for the service center to put in the effort to diagnose problems. They just identify what isn't working and replace it.

Edited: Nov 20, 2023

 

[gbesq]

If you’re not completely familiar with how a mechanical watch works and what each part of the movement does - and most luxury watch owners who aren’t collectors usually don’t have that knowledge — then it really doesn’t make any difference if you received an explanation or not. The watch stopped working, it was fixed under warranty, it runs fine now, and you didn’t have to pay for a repair. Good enough.

 

[ErichPryde]

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on the Speedy (even though it wasn't a recent purchase). The plus side is, you've come to a place where there are definitely people that can tell you what was likely wrong with your watch!

 

[Archer]

M MarcLee3861

Also, the whole point is having just a bit of assurance that the issue does not crop up again after a few months, otherwise one can only rest easy as long as you have warranty and returning a seemingly high quality product every couple months completely defeats the purpose imo.

I get your point, and quite honestly I wish all brands were more transparent in how they communicate what they have done or what was wrong. But as other have stated, this is pretty much standard in the industry for warranty repairs. Having said that, I have seen people get replaced parts back when warranty repairs are done, which can help you learn what the issue is - here's an example of that:

A look at some defective parts | Omega Forums

I think the part of your post I have quoted above is an assumption that is a big stretch. Something went wrong, and they fixed it. Because it had one issue that was fixed, doesn't portend doom and gloom, with regular trips to have things fixed. Something going wrong is what the warranty is for, and as long as people are involved things will go wrong, because no one (or brand) is perfect.

What bothers me more are brands that tell you nothing about what was done, even when you are paying for it all. Before I became a watchmaker I took my Rolex to be serviced - a paid service. I got it back at the AD and I asked what was done - they looked at me with a blank stare, and said "It was serviced." The invoice had one line - service model so and so and a price, with no additional details. Rolex doesn't return parts that they replace, so you have zero idea what was done (this is quite deliberate as a strategy, but it's very annoying).

That experience defined how I treat customers with regards to information when I service their watch - they get a sometimes 100 page long document full of photos showing the whole process. Since I started doing this others have done similar things, like post photos on their web site for each job. To me, the more transparency there is, the better.

 

[ninman]

I agree with others. The warranty care wasn't the issue, but the lack of communication about what the issue was.

I also agree that I personally would find it more reassuring to know what the issue was to know if it was fixed or not.

That being said, Omega is one of the best watch brands in the world, so I think you can trust that the problem was found and corrected.