Servicing and Repairs

I've had a rather unpleasant experience very recently and I'm just trying to find out if anyone else has been in the same situation with IWC previously and had a better outcome.

A month ago the number three fell off(!) my 14 month old Portuguese Chronograph. This was certainly a surprise but I figured that although I’d never heard of it happening it must be a fault and duly sent it in to IWC via Watches of Switzerland in London. It was on arriving at WoS that I began to be concerned. The aftersales agent there informed me that it was the third IWC watch in as many months which had a number or other part fall off the dial. In addition, the other watches – like mine – were within their 2 year warranty and IWC had refused to repair the other pieces because they determined that the cause of the damage had been through shock or impact and therefore this fell outside the warranty.
I’ve since been informed in other watch boutiques that they are deemed very poor in their after sales service.

Now I can’t speak for the other watches but mine simply has not had a shock or impact. It goes onto my wrist and with me to work most days and then back in a drawer when I return home. The most strenuous activity it is subjected to is walking down the street.

Like all of you I take great pride and care in my watches and if the time ever came when I did hear that stomach turning whack of one of them coming into contact with something too hard and too fast it is, as I’m sure you would agree the kind of moment that would stay with you (and probably keep me up at night!). I informed the agent at WoS of this and they confirmed that there were no visible signs of impact.

It was sent to IWC and the agent’s concerns were confirmed when I received the reply telling me that the pusher had received an impact so great that it was now bent and that they suspected that this same impact was what caused the number to become detached from the dial.

I am now in a position where I am being asked to cover the cost of the parts which need replacing and also the cost of a full service! Whilst I am not surprised that IWC don’t just simply take my word for it that I haven’t dropped the thing I would at the very least have expected them to charge me for the new parts but waive the cost of the full service – particularly since it doesn’t need one and is within warranty.

IWC aren’t to know that I had an Aquatimer on order or that this whole experience has caused me to cancel that order and consider placing the existing piece up for sale and being done with them for good but surely someone there with a foot in both the aftercare and marketing departments knows the value of good old fashioned customer service and a personalised service?

It would be god to hear about any similar scenarios in case anyone knows of a way to contact someone at IWC to discuss this with or whether this is par for the course…

Although your one complaint is new to me (a number falling off) your other complaint is, unfortunately, all too common these days. There are several threads running right now that you can look at; and some of your compatriots have posted-you may want to reach out to one of them for some advice.
Good luck.

I truly love my 10+ IWC watches, and had until now excellent service by, mostly, AD's in Switzerland. Your story, Joemldn, is indeed number X in line of complaints on service attitude, where X just is too huge a number. It certainly is a pity that on the one hand we were celebrating the birthday of our watch hero Mr. Kurt Klaus the other day, and that on the other hand cold hearted service issues are growing to become normal. But wait: the kind hearted Mr. Klaus turned 80 last week, no watchmaker of the recent IWC is known, and of a stature of Mr. Klaus. Is this symbolic of the IWC of the past versus the IWC of the present? All I can say is that these service stories may become quite harmful for the brand, or at least for the love of the brand. IWC would be well advised to solve this problem quickly and rigorously.

Kind regards,
Paul

I have personally had a couple of minor issues with my IWC's. In both cases, the service I got from the AD and the service agent stellar. No complaints from where I'm sitting.

Cheers,

Jarrod

I'm no watchmaker so without knowing the specifics of how numbers (and other markers) are attached to the dial, it seems very strange to me that it would be reasonable for them to fall off even if the watch was subjected to shock. To me, numbers falling off seems to be either a manufacturing defect or poor quality - shock or no shock. There are many other parts on a watch that I would expect getting damaged from shock before numbers start falling off. But maybe there is someone more knowledgeable that can shed some light on why such expectations would be unreasonable?

Thomas

100% agree, Thomas. This seems to me someone is just wanting to find a reason to ommit a warranty repair and sell a service in the 2 year-warranty period! I hear this with fear and a bad feeling in my stomach.

I have had good luck with IWC watches, but, for what it's worth, I've ordered a bracelet via an AD that had a manufacturing defect and received a replacement with the same defect. So I'm on round three. Quality control seems to be an issue in some of these circumstances.

Another ugly story of a bad after sales service from IWC.

A number falling off, what a big bang it will take for it to fall off. Is there a picture to show us?

I hope IWC will buck up their quality control and not rushing their production just for the profit.

Thats exactly the impact out of it: Fear and a bad feeling in my stomach to turn in a watch to IWC for service or repair in the future. Why is this? Because we are all IWC lovers and won't change this. I hope that IWC will focus on this problems soon, before a problem like this is one day shown in a consumer magazin on TV.

Cheers Chris

I think all the lovers of the brand are concerned to hear all the negative feed back.
I'm a manager at Scania and so know how important it is to keep all our customers happy, our reputation to tend to all our customers needs Leads to them returning time and time again. Unfortunately so many other brands these days only look at profit and productivity of there staff and don't put back into the most important elements of the business, customer service.

I sincerely hope that improvements are seen as the old saying once bitten, twice shy might be planted firmly into potential buyers minds.

Regards.

David

Sorry, something went wrong, and I cannot delete the message.

I've returned my watch for repair on two occasions relating to the same issue - the pusher kept getting stuck.

On the third occasion the pusher fell off. IWC were quick to respond and state that my watch had taken a massive shock and required a full service, not covered under my existing warranty.

My AD took control of the situation and within a week, IWC agreed to a complimentary full service and a new strap as a goodwill gesture.

Although I'm hoping to get the watch back in the next week, I'm pleased with how IWC reconsidered its initial view and returned it in my favour.

A positive result in the end.

Just exploring another possibility. Could it be that the watch was mishandled while with the AD and prior to sending it to IWC? Since you said you sent it via the WOS. Ask IWC service centre to provide record or photographic evidence that the pusher has indeed taken a hit and whether it was received so. If it is, it could be mishandled at the AD. The AD should also alert you if the pusher has been dented or taken a hit when they received the watch otherwise they would not have just received it like that. An impact so large as to dislodge a number index on the dial is probably large enough to dent/ding the pusher as well.

It seems kind of out of line that IWC Service centre will deliberately inflict a damage on the pusher in order to claim that the owner has inflicted the damage and avoid repair cost. If it is true, even if not intentional, then it's very cynical.

Let us know how it goes. Too many cases like these makes me start to doubt if I should get a 3rd IWC. :(

Rgds
Ben

Interesting responses from Doc and Benlee123, certainly hope I end up with a similar outcome to you Doc and summed up my concerns very well there benlee123. I have actually already asked for photographic evidence of the so called damage. It took them two weeks to send me a photo, you will laugh when you see it. I'll have to upload it when I'm back at work on Monday...

No surprise that IWC treated customers like that. These days, people at IWC only care about making money at the cost of their valued customers, whether it is by selling a new piece or after sale service.

A few weeks ago, I put my watch for service at the IWC service center, since the watch frequently stopped without any clear reason. Several days ago, they called me to inform that they fixed it. So I went to get it back. The watch looked ok on the surface. When I shook it up and down a bit, it stopped again. This was exactly the same problem I asked them to fix, from the very beginning. The Boutique personnel said "You shoud gently and softly move your watch in a round ring shape motion. Otherwise, your rotor may be damaged." Who in the this whole world is wearing a watch and move his hand and arm in a gentle and soft round ring shape motion? Am I a watch winder? I wore Omega Sub at that time, and threw it onto the table and asked the staff to shake it up and down as hard as he could.

If IWC makes watches that stop working, because you shake them up and down a few times, they had better get out of their business. I am talking about Aquatimer, a watch for divers. If you cannot even shake it, should I keep the watch in the watch winder all day longer, so that it has a gentle and soft round ring motion?

IWC, wake up. When you face so many customer complaints like this, there is no way you can succeed in your business. More seriously, please train your sales and service staff about how to handle customers. The first thing they try to do is to explain how a customer can possibly damage a watch to justify why the customer should pay for the service. I know any machine can be broken, but it is not that fragile, either.

I cannot agree more. A watch is supposed to be a daily wearable that goes with normal human body movement. But watch salesmen always say that we should not make any big, sudden, or fast body move to protect the timepiece. We are talking about a wrist watch, not a wall clock.

I also wonder why watch salesmen always show the same motion when they show how to wind an automatic watch? In fact, a watch is supposed to stay vertical if human being stands straight. The way human hand moves is different from the way the salesmen move the watch, that is, horizontal move. So strange. Can somebody explain why?

JOEMLDN, you should find some of your countrymen on this Forum, none of whom have made complaints about IWC as have you. Maybe they can advise you on whom to speak.
What is much more troubling is that all the complaints we recently read of on this Forum originated out of Southeast Asia. Terrible for those collectors, but we could look at it and say that the problems were isolated. Throwing England into the mix means the problem is not isolated. Is it systemic? Will we all be facing this disdain for after-service in the near future?
The Forum is not supposed to be the place for these complaints, but, frankly, it's the best place to catch IWC's attention-I think?!

This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard a sales personnel said. I would have gone ballistic like you if I have first hand experience. Looks like IWC needs to seriously look into the behavior of their boutique personnel and the quality of the service center in HK. Major Thumbs DOWN for treating paying customers like idiots.

There are two sides to every story. Every IWC boutique I have been in has been a pleasure with great staff. And I am yet to purchase a watch from a boutique. After sale service for IWC in New Zealand, for me personally, has been second to none.

Cheers,

Jarrod

Quick update - After contacting IWC, my AD got me a third replacement bracelet (or fixed the second one). Either way, I'm satisfied with both the AD's and IWC's handling of the issue. The brushed bracelet dresses up my blue AT quite a bit - I'm glad I persevered and finally got it.

Great you got satisfied in the end.
Enjoy this wonderful bracelet and the watch as well.

I am happy for you, that they could solve the problem to your satisfaction.

Cheers Chris

Number 9 fell off and iwc couldn’t care less very bad experience  never again