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PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2019 11:36 pm 
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Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 3:36 pm
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After 9 years of wearing my B01 for daily use at my desk job, I decided as a retirement 'treat' to put my watch in for a service. I'm lucky in that I live about 25 miles from the Tunbridge Wells Service centre here in the southeast of England.
"Lucky", as in not succumbing to the 'BullS' provided by the high street 'authorised' dealers about the price to have the watch serviced as well as the constant lie, that the Service Centre doesn't provide a report as to what is to be done and the final written descriptor of what was agreed by the customer and what was actually completed. BEWARE. High Street shops will add monies to the estimate and it a standard ploy.

Admitted to (in part) by Breitling.

So if you have a chance, visit a service centre (SC), or contact the SC and let them know that you are intending to send the watch to them by secure delivery direct.

So I visited them on the 16th June, having pre-arranged my appointment time due to security considerations. Bland looking grey building in the middle of a huge Industrial/Retail estate. Got buzzed in. Reception is very boring, a desiger leather chair and sofa with a glass coffee table with two Breitling publications on it. There was a glass window about 8 foot by 5 foot, which allow you to see inside of the 'technicians' workshop. Numerous high level desks so that they could work on watch moments without the need to be doubled over as they would a normal table. Probably about 10 technicians in their white coats, nibbed fingers and mostly wearing rather expensive headphones(?) to the 50 tables installed.

Handed the watch over, asked some questions, signed some papers, copies provided. Time estimate? 6 - 8 weeks. Groan....can't be without my baby, Boo Hoo!

Left the venue and was immediate put under suicide watch (do they sell those?) supervised and monitored by the good lady wife.

A week lately a snail mail letter arrived (they had my email address) confirming the receipt the reference number identify numbers etc and that it was their intention to get back to me in a week to tell me their findings and to let me know the price and get my agreement to let the work go ahead. Fair enough.. Rang them and asked if they could make further communications via email.

Went on holliday the following week for two weeks of vitamin D, during the first week of the holiday but two weeks of the watch being handed in I had nagging feeling in my head about no contact. Purely my fault, I get a little impatient sometimes.

Rang them from the beach (Cala Mesquida if your interested), yes they had contacted me via snail mail and they were waiting for my response. Aaaagh! Why not email? Snail mail is their default commmunication apparently. Marker to use emails for future communication put on my account.

A few bits to be added to the 'standard' service as identified by them, as well an a request by me... can I have the watch face changed says I, small chat with one of the Technical supervisors and the answer was yes. Approved.

On the 15th August, I got an email stating the watch was ready and requesting pre-payment. You do an electronic bank transfer or pay for it at the service centre but that takes 20 minutes to confirm that monies have been received.

I went and picked it up yesterday, 2 months to the day it was handed in.

I opened the new travel case.... took out the watch. OOOOOO........................................My...............................................G!
Visually immaculate, all scratches removed, watch face changed, glass changed, hands changed, the list on the invoice showed a number of items changed. Either included in the service and some surprisingly not charge, Whoopy do!

I got a Breitling blue carrier with a heavy boxed book and some cleaning cloths included.

One oddity, as I didn't try the watch by wearing it, at the centre, trust can be a terrible thing, but when I got home, and put the watch on, the 'metal' bracelet was larger than normal. Odd me thinks, I didn't include the removed section/links of the bracelet when I handed it in. Evidently they must have added a couple of links to return the strap back to standard pre-purchase size. Thank you very much! Confirmation was done when I found my two links in the bottom of the main watch box.

Overall I would give the following scores out of 10:

Location: 7 (the postcode on their website is wrong, no identifiers outside the building for the obvious reason).
Communication: 9
Timing: 10 (to be fair they managed my expectation)
Item returned visually: 11
Item mechanically: TBC (too early to tell)
Overall experience against expectation: 9 (even that might be a bit harsh)..

I hope this mid year 2019 'marker' helps for the Breitling fans in the south of England.

Regards

Seyley


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PostPosted: Sat Aug 17, 2019 12:46 am 
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Hi Seyley, thanks for sharing your service experience, it's so helpful to get this kind of feedback. I have read quite a few reports of the great service that Breitling U.K. gives to it's customers. Enjoy your 'new' watch.


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