So you handed a watch over and got no sort of evidence back from the store that you did so? That in itself would raise a red flag for me.
Does the brand web site have anything on this matter? I know you haven't stated the brand, not sure why, but knowing who you were dealing with might help.
For me personally, I can understand that some parts need to be sent back for exchange. For example Omega requires this for parts that have the serial number on them, because they don't want two parts with the same movement serial number on them floating around. In other cases, precious metal parts are sometimes sold on exchange (or outright - you are given the choice) in order to reduce the costs to you at service.
Examples like these I have no issue with, but not getting the parts back strictly as policy certainly rubs me the wrong way. If these brands wanted to charge extra for the replaced parts, to me that would make it more acceptable, but as I've often stated, Rolex steals your property when they service your watch.
I know many independent watchmakers have large stashes of parts that they have kept when they replaced someone's dial, hands, etc. Maybe there was a time when that was acceptable, but for me it's not. Returning the old parts just seems like the right thing to do - I've never questioned it really.
Cheers, Al
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