Hey everybody, have a repair and warranty related question.
I recently inherited a Seamaster 600 Planet Ocean from my father who passed away, which he purchased new on 8/2016. Less than a year, on 6/2017, it was sent to Omega for repairs, in which all of the hands needed to be replaced and water resistant service was performed. After I received the timepiece, I took it to the AD where it was purchased so I could transfer the information in my name and they gave it a complimentary steam clean.
The next day, I noticed the hour hand position was behind where it should be. Took it back to AD and had an unpleasant situation where the salesperson was arguing that my watch didn’t need any service and whether or not it would be covered. After two weeks, heard back and it is indeed damaged and needs all the hands replaced again and needs the water resistant service done as well.
Since the it has been 31 months since the repair, the 24 month warranty on the repair has expired. I asked about Omega’s five year warranty and was told it only applied to timepieces made after 2018. She said there was only a two year factory warranty from purchase date and that’s a year past, as well.
Regardless, I wanted it repaired and it will cost me around $400USD. It’s in Switzerland, getting fixed as we speak.

Basically, the watch is three years old and has been back to Omega twice for the same problem. The AD will not cover the cost of repair, saying there is no warranty. I’m not looking forward to having the fix the same problem every two years or so, and my experience with customer care with AD doesn’t seem to reflect the brand.

My main question is this, in the original paperwork, the warranty card has a “4 year warranty” pictogram on it.
Why is this issue not covered or recognized my the AD and should I escalate this issue with Omega?

TIA!

 

What did the AD say when you showed them that pictogram?

 

Wau, sry to hear of these issues. Not a cool move by the AD to not acknowledge and ignore the "4 year warranty pictogram"

 

They salesperson said it didn’t matter, and said she goes off what is listed on my account in the system.

 

Then yes, I would escalate to Omega directly.

 

Could it have been grey market supplied? If so the warranty may be totally void, and the earlier repair was purely a good will gesture. If it was sold through official channels and has a stamped and dated warranty card they I would be taking directly to Omega or to another boutique/AD since I would expect there to be a 4 year warranty still in force. The warranty situation is complicated, some models like the Speedmaster used to be 2 years, early co-ax models were 3 years and the full in-house co-ax stuff used to be 4 years. Then more recently it moved to a blanket 5 years but I would expect your watch to fall into the 4 year category all being well.

 

It was purchased new from Jared, so I sure hope it’s not grey market. They are the only AD near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I’d have to drive over 2 hours to my next closest AD in Chicago.

I would expect it to be covered as they cannot explain why the issue is happening....which to me, sounds like a manufacturing issue. 4 years is 4 years, right?

I created an account yesterday and wrote a message to Omega. We’ll see what they say.

 

Hello, neighbor! You might consider calling instead of email. It seems they don't always respond to email.

As for the Chicago boutique, it's 3 miles from Union Station, so a train trip and a cab ride would be much more pleasant!

Tom

 

My experience with Jared (different brand watch) has not been exemplary, and I had to escalate a complaint just to get a battery replaced under their "warranty".

In this case, I certainly would ignore them and deal directly with Omega. In my recent experience with them, they do respond to emails but it takes several business days.

 

So far, haven’t heard anything from them, as was somewhat expected over the holidays.

I didn’t see a number on their website...I’ll have to look a bit closer, but would prefer to talk to someone directly. Or is it recommended that I call the Chicago store? I do not know whether or not they would have more input over the homebase in Switzerland.

Not sure who I need to contact, especially considering the watch is currently being repaired by them.

 

It’s a Christmas miracle!!!

The AD just called to let me know that Omega called them to let them know that the work is in fact, covered under warranty. There will be no charge and the next call I get will be to pick it up.

This just goes to show that you should keep all your paperwork and make sure to read the fine print.

 

Thankfully Omega stepped up and honoured their warranty in spite of the AD not doing so.

 

That dealer may not remain authorized much longer at this rate.

Tom

 

a “Christmas Miracle...”. All kidding aside, great news

 

I’m hoping that Omega does reach out directly to me, because I would love to share my experience with them.

 

As you should. They should treat their customers the same way when you come in for repair as when you come to purchase something. Amazing how their personalities can change. Glad it worked out for you.

 

Never deal with AD’s for warranty work. Deal with your nearest OB if you can.

 

Sound advice. Omega is on the hook for the warranty repair, so why complicate it by putting someone else in the middle? It can be tough when there is no OB within reasonable distance, but you can call and work out an arrangement to ship them the watch.

 

I don’t even do that. I call the swatch group and have them send a box to my house then ship it off. I hate dealing with my AD. Swatch service is pretty very easy to deal with.

 

An OB is basically swatch group. Well most of them are owned by swatch group.