Chopard

I would like to share my experience about Chopard Repair Services. Please read my email which was sent to Chopard yesterday. The following pictures are taken at the Boutique today.

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

I would like to express my disappointment and anger provided by Chopard Watch After Sale Service.

I am Mr.Cheung, Andrew, a Watch lover from HongKong. Until now, I own more than 30 High End Watches, and write more than 50 reviews about Watches in HongKong Watch Forum (nickname: andrewphy). Chopard L.U.C. is one of my favorites due to its quality and design. I own two Chopard LUC: Chopard Strike One and Chopard Chrono One.

Chopard Strike One is one of the most high-end Watches in my eyes, no matter the quality of sound, the design and the decoration of the movement. I regard it as one of my most important Watches in my life because I bought it on my special day. As a result, I put it in safe, just sometimes took it out to hear its sound and seldom worn it.

On May 2012, I found that it had some problems on the date-jump and striking; therefore I sent it to Chopard boutique in order to have a service. The sales-associate and I both proved that my Watch was in a very good condition after checking.

After the first maintenance, I received it on July 2012. There was an obvious dirt on the 7H position lug, which cannot removed by sales-associate. Hence, he suggested sending it back to After Sale Service Center.

Finally, it spent me more than 10 days to remove this dirt. Today (24/7/2012) when I went to get my Watch back and have a deep check, I found that my Watch is in a very poor condition:
(1) The dirt is removed, probably be polished, but the lug become very unsmooth now compared with 3 other lugs
(2) Some parts on the case, especially on the 6H position, are dented,
(3) Some parts on the case and caseback, especially on the 6H position caseback, are stretched,
(4) Screws are distorted,
(5) My strap has some stain on the backside.

On the other hand, the strike delay problem remains unfixed. Now it is re-sent to Service Center again. It is the 3rd time that my Watch reaches the Service Center.

I suppose that Chopard will handle my Watch with heart and care, just like mentioned on Chopard website. Especially it is an over US4000 Watch, and a special watch in my life. I have requested the sale-associate to handle it with care, because it is my special watch. However, I am very disappointed and angry about the maintenance service. I know that probably the 18K WG case will be polished, but it is very uncomfortable for me that the Watch is hurt deeply.

The model number of my Watch is ......; the most updated repair number is ...... (the 3rd time to repair); serial number is ......, and it is a limited edition ....../.... I think the first repair number and record can be found because it was repaired in Switzerland on May/June.

I sincerely hope that Chopard can give me a solution about this problem, and can know my feeling on receiving the Watch.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

A Chopard LUC lover,
Andrew C.M.Cheung
24/7/2012

 

one picture is worth a thousand words:

I can understand your pain.

I believe Chopard will resolve this matter to your satisfaction.

Regards

Ling

Hi Andrew

Glad to know you had a StrikeOne to commemorate your special day. Sorry to hear about your issue.
Typically Chopard after sales service is good.

Hope we could assist. I will write to you when I'm back to Singapore tomorrow.

Kong

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Thanks Kong.

HK service center told me that they will repair the watch case. Although I think it is difficult to repair dents... let's see the condition of the Watch after repaired first.

your bad experience.  I am sure Chopard will set it right somehow and Kong will certainly help along the way.  I know this from my own experience.  Chopard Service have been good most of the time.  Still there are a few kinks now and then and when it happen, it negates all the good thing you associate with them.  What is even more important is the ability to recover when such incident happens - here I do think Chopard HK  Service Centre needs to put in some more effort.   /W72

To be honest, this after-service experience makes me very unconfortable... and I will rank Chopard very low from now on.

The one who is willing to own a Strike One, is due to the appreciation of this brand. At the same time, the customers expect to get the appreciation or respect from this brand. But now the real situation is, I have been waiting for the service for 3 months, going into and out from the boutique for 3 times, being served by different sale-associates each time, even some are trainee!

Asking a trainee to serve a customer who made complaints on the service about Strike One?! How you imagine such will happen in a high-end Watch?

Originally it is a nearly un-used condition Strike One, now it becomes a polished Watch. I have warned that it is a very important Watch for me when I left my Watch to the boutique... well, How about another high end watch? Last time I got a bad experience from Glashutte Original also; and finally the After-Service Manager Hardy from Germany gave me a distant call, and returned me back a new Watch.  In the whole process, I was served by a Manager in HongKong. It is the way to respect his customers... not due to the fact that I own a new Watch, is because I feel I am repested. I buy the Watch... I expect I will have a good after service few years later.

If "restore" can solve the stretch or even dents issue, may I go the Chopard boutique, stretch and dent the Watch, and just pay the polish fee? Now I accepted the offer of "restore" with disappointed feeling,  just because I got only this offer.

I can't say I am an expert in playing watch, but it is the fact that no beginners will pay for this Watch.

Maybe Chopard really provided a good after service to his customers before... but now... see see how they treated their one of the most representative Watches, Strike One.... Let's imagine how's a customer feel when he wears a polished Watch which was nearly un-used condition few months ago?

How they treat their customer... is the way to rank their position in the market.

I have 5 Chopard LUC watches, and several Chopard watches, and I must say that so far, their service has been exemplary. turnaround times is fast, and once I even got a complimentary croco leather strap, when the original item was a bit frayed.

Let me share with me my yesterday experience.

Yesterday, I received a phone call from Mr. Wong, the supervisor of the HongKong Chopard Service Center. He gave me a bad news by saying that the day I received my Watch would be delayed. It is becasue he needs to order a new set of hands, however, Chopard Swiss factory is still in holiday. And after receiving the hands, he will go for a trip. The date will be further delayed, because he is the one who is responsible to repair my Watch, he said.

Well... there is no problems for the hands of my Watch, which is expected to be checked by Swiss Service Center more than 3 months ago after service!! What's going on? Here, I dont want to give any assumption... but I think most of us know the reasons behind.

More and more problems are created by Chopard HongKong Service Center, it is the conclusion.

How about the 18K watch case? How to repair the dent? Mr. Wong said he doesn't know, because he doesn't have the Watch in hand. But at the same time, he said the Watch is repaired. He already forgot he told me that he is the only one to repair my watch for the whole process.

Can a 18K watch case to replaced by a new one? Now... he told me that the dent was already exist when arriving Service Center!!! O... it is the usual techniques done by low brand Watch Service Center!!! I told him that the boutique manager, Christine, checked carefully there was NO DENT when I passed my Watch to her more than 3 months ago!!! Of course, he gave me some stupid reasons then ... and just asked me to see the "polished" Watch first.

All the processes are full of Chaos.

Here, I suggest to Chopard Watch Lovers that, ask a lawyer and a watch-master to go with you if your Watch is needed to have service. Otherwise, a senior Chopard Staff will tell you that, the dents, the scratches, are done by yourself. I am regret to trust this Brand... and that's why now, I need to pay for it......

Unbelievable!  As a Chopard watch owner, myself, (2 LUCs and 1 Mille Miglia) I must say I am truly disappointed in not only Chopard initially messing up your watch, but also how its going about handling things now. First of all, as a gold watch, there's only so much polishing one can do without removing some of the gold. Ultimately it's not going to be the same watch as you had from before. Your Strike One isn't a cheap watch.  You spent a proverbial "pretty penny" on that watch, and I can totally understand you level of frustration. If I were in your situation I would be just as angry, if not more so!

I think Chopard's only recourse is to get you a brand new Strike One. I'm not sure if that's even possible, as some of these are limited series, but I would think if there's a AD that has it available, Chopard should be reaching out to that AD and buy it back so it can be passed on to you gratis.

I had a similar issue w/ Tag Heuer a couple of months back, I kept on having to resend it back, and it seems each time they broke, scratched, or dented something else. Argh!!! Ultimately, I had to ask for a supervisor, who had to personally see it through to finally getting it back to me in an acceptable condition. The sad thing is that Tag Heuer, -- which was given to me as college graduation gift, -- just doesn't feel as it was the same watch as before the service, and I wished I had never sent it off.

Please let us know the final outcome of your unfortunately ordeal, as I am in favor of you getting a completely new replacement watch.

I'm very sorry to hear about your problems.  I have recently had  bad luck with watches during after sales service (including a Chopard).  My advice is to be professional, polite, but assertive.  Be clear with your demands but always be polite.  I know that Chopard aims to provide terrific customer service but sometimes these things do happen - your case however they seem to have caused a lot damage.  Still, I wish you the best of luck in resolving your issues.

Take care,
OpC

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