Montblanc

I just received an email from Montblanc about my broken timepiece. They have had my watch since March 21, and just today have determined that it needs a "Maintenance Service" in order to meet their accuracy standards. Nothing in terms of repairing my watc...  

So, the Swiss watch industry is under attack from external factors like the economy, anti-corruption laws in China that has floated their profits for years, waning interest in luxury goods in some countries, coupled by internal factors such as hubris, con... 

And no reason to be optimistic.

Is there an associated charge for this 'Maintenance Service' or will they actually be carrying it out under warranty? I know you said they didn't explicitly mention the warranty but was just curious if the letter you received mentioned any service cost. I... 

I very clearly said "NO! DO NOT REFINISH MY CASE". But this is Montblanc we are talking about, they will probably ignore my request, ruin the factory finish, and then tell me to send payment before they return it. This would in no way surprise me.

Dealing with Richemont Service in Texas is a nightmare. And for that reason, I'd even be in fear of sending a simple Panerai there! Rolex service in Texas overpolishes every watch, if you have a fluted bezel on your Rolex it will completely lose definitio... 

But they did say that they examine the case under magnification and that the scratches may not be visible to the naked eye. I'd certainly forego any sort of polish if the case looks pristine when viewed without a loupe.

I'll stand by my perhaps brash statement of "SCAM!" from my post above in regards to this too. Perhaps they're expecting people to fall for a repolishing cost, but only seeing scratches through a loupe!? who cares? If you can't see with a naked eye, then ... 

My guess is that they put on the letter that every watch came in with scratches to cover their own liability if the customer states they got a new scratch when they get the watch back. I don't have solid evidence, but I've seen watches in perfect conditio... 

They can say whatever they want about observing scratches under magnification, fine. But if my watch has 1 single scratch on it that I can see with my naked eyes, then they did it. This is beyond question, regardless of who believes me. For all I know, so... 

sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com You can't trust anyone these days. Come to think of it, my bank has recently cheated me three times. I should go in and complain. The problem is that there simply isn't much anyone can do, as virtually all banks have terr... 

Patrick...if you need Panerai service for that ETA movement..I would try La Jolla Boutique and inhouse watchmaker...hope all is well my friend...

Good thoughts! Thank you my friend!

But who knows, they might do it anyways. It is abundantly clear this brand has no service protocols in place, let alone a trained staff to follow them.

And I thought we buy luxury goods to make ourselves happier... What's next? Going on vacation in order to be unhappy?

I just received an MB WT as a gift, after reading about your experience I am worried as well. Are we as watch lovers just destined to be abused by watch companies when it comes to service and quality control with no recourse or ability to get some decent ... 

Just google IMS and be prepared for a long afternoon of reading...

I'll have to read up on it. I had a Porsche Cayenne GTS, bought it in 2013 and recently sold it, I had a very good personal experience with Porsche, free oil refills, defective PCM replaced out of warranty and very friendly and cooperative after sales and... 

"Mr Cornella, please accept our apologies as a brand. We do value your business. I would like to send you a brand new replacement watch as a fast compensation for the horrible experience you have endured". Anything short of that is still crap at this poin... 

but I agree with you, it will never ever happen. Sad Really. A Dear Friend more like a Bro gave me my MB as a gift otherwise I can assure you I would have sold it by now. S

. . . with one or two specific comments regarding your watch. Very weak. Montblanc hasn't differentiated the buyer of a Minerva movement watch from the buyer of a quartz movement watch. Your service experience is adding to my feeling that MB is mismanagin... 

And then they send me this generic letter. It is absurd. Sell yours while it is working, but another Nardin or AP.

I'm really sorry for you and hope you get this solved properly in the end. Best, Volker

So sorry to hear your experiences with MB. I had the only 1 MB and during the 10 years, the Power Reserve spring broke twice when I was winding. From that point, I had doubts about the quality of parts used by MB and I never added a 2nd piece, although re... 

My guess is that they use a standard template that states all watches come in with scratches.

I have experienced what I consider very poor service from the Richemont service center in Texas with respect to servicing of three different Richemont brands. Such a shame. Best, CaliforniaJed

Again, I know it is understandable that a watch can break or malfunction. No problem. It happened with the crown on my beloved AP 15202. But they remedied it so efficiently,so professionally, so correctly. I can't wait for my next AP. One of 2 options to ... 

How did they determine the lack of accuracy if the watch stopped working and was sent in for repair under warranty? I fear they've just sent you a standard reply letter and your watch has never seen the desk of their "Master" watchmaker. I would do exactl... 

There is no specific attention to my watch. As much as I love this watch, and even if we make a huge jump and assume MB returns it and it actually works, why would I ever want to go through this experience again?

In my opinion, this kind of service for such a brand is completely unacceptable. I hope there is some mistake, and/or they can fix it sooner. I also understand your feelings, and this is merely one of many such complaints I read about here (mine included ... 

Thanks for the warm wishes.

Not a good sign for a brand who wants to establish themselves as a serious watch brand. Hope it will come to a good solution. Best Blomman

Avoid them. You are a GP guy... this is a serious downgrade for you.

....weeks to "diagnose" and what you then get is just a total standard letter. They do not even distinguish between battery driven watches and mechanical movement watches. Imagine! How poor can it get. I bet that they write for each and every watch that t... 

That pretty much sums up the after-sales experience with most Swiss/Germans watch manufacturers these days,with exceptions of course.

After all, they keep adding to it, so....

Opportunity lost to get the train on the tracks.

I really feel for you, I know what it is like from my own past experience. This is not the way to treat a customer. If I were you, I would also sell the watch and stay away from this brand.

Obviously, your faith in this brand is as misguided as mine. I thought / hoped they could do this.

I am not questioning your reaction and would have probably acted more violently than you (my Middle Eastern blood has a low boiling temperature...). This is not the kind of service I expect, in particular for a luxury product. As someone who has been in c... 

But I am also in my 40s, married, a father. This sort of thing can't ruffle me too much. It is just a thing. I accept a failure can happen as I have posted repeatedly. I do not accept Montblanc's horrible treatment of me.

The brand was not on my wish list for other reasons, and based on your experience is staying out.

same experience circa 25 years ago with Panerai: absurd... and my Left Hand pre-Vendome sold (with great pleasure) as soon as I got it back from the service: never regretted this choice. For sure, Minerva must have a dedicated service, no bla-bla-bla lett... 

This industry sells magic and brands, so i'm not surprised at all of the inefficiency of their customer services. Until the day they will invest more money in watchmakers instead of fashion parties and marketing, nothing will change.

That makes Montblanc 0/3 on my service parameters.

This is the worst publicity they can make to all Minerva owners... Am often thinking why these "marketeers" do not follow purists comments in order to make the industry more to the liking of their true customers

Who in their right mind would ever want to endure this? What about the other 1858 owners, if their watches actually don't break like mine did, could they ever trust sending it in for a routine service? The answer is a resounding no.

The letter you received is of a standard that suggests dealing with service of bulk merchandise, perhaps 100s each day, likely associated with service of typical Montblanc items such as pens, cufflinks, lower end watches, etc. This cannot even be a standa... 

Warranty is through them. I should have given the watch to my 10 year old son with my AP toolkit and said "hey, fix this for Dad". At least he would keep me posted!

Unfortunately, I am not surprised. Maybe the legal eagles on this Forum can help you avoid suffering the costs of "depreciation" when you sell this watch. And I have to add-I am so glad I cancelled my order for the 1858 Tachy-Bronzo. The only company I ha... 

Best wishes Alkiro

"You can glue shards back together, but you will always see the cracks".

Best wishes Alkiro

Best wishes Alkiro

No way, I am dumping it the second it comes back (if I can find a buyer).

Best wishes Alkiro

Unfortunately with your sad story, you gave us a good example of this maxim. Best wishes Alkiro

Given the prestige carried especially with a top of the line timepiece, I'd expect exemplary service. Hearing more stories like this makes me afraid to venture deeper in the future into these large brands... I personally had a little hiccup with a Richemo... 

It will not be worth it.

Truly horrible for a luxury brand Cheers PAt

Is it possible JL did not know how horrible the service structure was under his leadership? No way. He cannot avoid this fact, regardless of his new title.

But to point out; if you're done with Montblanc, you better write off all of the Richemont brands (IWC, Panerai, JLC, etc) and also Jerome Lambert is no longer CEO, he is now Head of Operations with Richemont. Edit: also, in the past it seemed like there ... 

I will give them some free advice, if they do monitor this forum, they should lie, or make up information like their phonecall takers, and say they don't. Otherwise, they look even worse for missing an opportunity to get involved with this situation. They... 

They operate under one umbrella but the service will be different between the brands. I never had any issues with servicing a JLC. Montblanc is on a way lower scale than the rest of the brands you mention. In general a good rule of thumb is not to buy wat... 

I am very disappointed to see this result as well. It also changes my view of the brand negatively just like how I learned to like the brand in the beginning from this forum.

It will turn into a big regret, as it has for me.

This is terrible after sales service. Any push to become a respected 'haute horology' manufacture will end if they alienate the early adopters. I sincerely hope they invest time and effort to implement long term solutions...

I am usually a savvy buyer of anything I am after, but Montblanc cheated me real good. Another difference here, I can readily admit I made a mistake. They never will (aside from agreeing the warranty booklet should have been properly packaged and I should... 

lack of communication, and compliance within the Montblanc organization.... Calling them a Cluster F%$+ is an understatement. The way they have handled your repair is beyond stupid from their part. Selling a high end product and experience without deliver... 

I think I will make a post before it is returned. Whichever Purist most closely guesses all of the problems it is bound to have will win a nice prize

Once a brand does something like this it's better to wait it out and just take the loss and sell it. Word of mouth will hurt them more in the future than you fighting it out with then. I had the same scenario with breitling and the watch came back from se... 

It looks like they are very unprofessional. Not to mention the lady you spoke to, she sounded clueless of what they are going to do with your watch!! Let's hope they can at least do a decent job of fixing your watch eventually!! As for the case polish, le... 

BTW, congratulations to you on 500 posts here!

I'm also saying goodbye to this brand. Partly a reason why I don't want to be the moderator anymore for this brand on puristspro (I feel bad for KMII) Sorry to hear Michael - just get the watch back and sell it, then move far away from Montblanc, especial... 

It says a lot that you are also jaded with Montblanc. I think of all the wonderful publicity and fine articles you did for them. A real shame how they pay back the favors.

As this remains a yummy sight. Perhaps (and it's ridiculous that the thought itself is even necessary) an idea is to service this watch through an independent master watchmaker? Come to think of it....why don't we (PuristSPro) start a high end watch servi...  

When it works, it works; when it doesn't, just hope the customer isn't a loud-mouth. I guess it's a matter of too many companies making too many watches to make too much money and with not nearly enough watch-makers to service the watches already made. So... 

So that's why they should embed a solid business rule that they increase the amount of watch (service) makers with the numbers they sell. Everybody would be better of if they'd opt to sell less in order to maintain a luxury service level.

If only...

They need completely new service protocols, from the moment a customer first calls them with a need. Then re-build the process from there. I went into great detail covering the AP process in the United States with my 15202, it was exemplary, and Montblanc... 

But as you know AP didn't so so grand in other locations around the globe... so apparently there can also be a geographical (dis)advantage. Which should not occur.

I recently read praise for the AP Singapore Service Center, and that was one of the few times for that location. Of course, here in the US we adore AP Clearwater. So that makes me think, maybe I should only buy brands with trustworthy US Service Centers. ... 

I am just an honest Purist, been here since almost Day 1. I do hope these threads assist Montblanc in straightening out their act. Thinking more realistically, they probably will not change a damn thing, so then I hope my threads make other PuristS aware ... 

nor was it meant to be critical of the "loudmouth", even generically. It was written from the brand's perspective; as in "...we'll invest in ambassadors and let service take care of itself. Let's hope no one calls us out."