Strange but welcome repair invoice
Discussion
As I've shown on here before, I have a mid 1980s Omega Constellation.
A few weeks ago a pin broke in the bracelet and it popped off my wrist. No problem, but the back came off and the battery went missing.
As I was going away the next morning and I wanted to take it with me, I went around trying to find a replacement battery. I went everywhere from Watches of Switzerland to the Omega boutique to Timpsons. All quoted me a price in the £100 region and 4 weeks to do the work!
Eventually I stumbled across Ryte Time. They told me that it would be £49.95 for the battery and that they'd happily put the pin from one of my spare links in place of the broken one.
I called back in a couple of hours later and they told me that unfortunately the case back gasket had perished and it required a new one. They couldn't give me a price on that until they knew the cost of the part from Omega. Dejected and tired, I told them just to go ahead with the work and that I'd see it when it was ready.
It came back after a good cosmetic refurb, with the gasket replaced and the battery too. I've had it back on my wrist since Friday and it's ideal.
And the cost? Although the man at the desk was adamant there was no mistake, the cost was £49.95. What do we think?
A few weeks ago a pin broke in the bracelet and it popped off my wrist. No problem, but the back came off and the battery went missing.
As I was going away the next morning and I wanted to take it with me, I went around trying to find a replacement battery. I went everywhere from Watches of Switzerland to the Omega boutique to Timpsons. All quoted me a price in the £100 region and 4 weeks to do the work!
Eventually I stumbled across Ryte Time. They told me that it would be £49.95 for the battery and that they'd happily put the pin from one of my spare links in place of the broken one.
I called back in a couple of hours later and they told me that unfortunately the case back gasket had perished and it required a new one. They couldn't give me a price on that until they knew the cost of the part from Omega. Dejected and tired, I told them just to go ahead with the work and that I'd see it when it was ready.
It came back after a good cosmetic refurb, with the gasket replaced and the battery too. I've had it back on my wrist since Friday and it's ideal.
And the cost? Although the man at the desk was adamant there was no mistake, the cost was £49.95. What do we think?
JRewing said:
That part, yes. But the gasket from Omega must have cost something and the polish and repainting they did.
Yes, about a fiver (genuine Omega), £2.50 or so (ISO Swiss, probably off the same production line) or 70p (generic copy).Still, can't fault them for including it at the original quoted price - most people wouldn't have batted an eyelid at having an extra £20 or so added for that "genuine Omega part" all the way from Switerland (a small suburb of Birmingham)
Variomatic said:
Yes, about a fiver (genuine Omega), £2.50 or so (ISO Swiss, probably off the same production line) or 70p (generic copy).
Still, can't fault them for including it at the original quoted price - most people wouldn't have batted an eyelid at having an extra £20 or so added for that "genuine Omega part" all the way from Switerland (a small suburb of Birmingham)
Thanks - you've answered my question. It turns out then that I'm being an idiot and £49.95 really was more than fair!Still, can't fault them for including it at the original quoted price - most people wouldn't have batted an eyelid at having an extra £20 or so added for that "genuine Omega part" all the way from Switerland (a small suburb of Birmingham)
JRewing said:
Variomatic said:
Yes, about a fiver (genuine Omega), £2.50 or so (ISO Swiss, probably off the same production line) or 70p (generic copy).
Still, can't fault them for including it at the original quoted price - most people wouldn't have batted an eyelid at having an extra £20 or so added for that "genuine Omega part" all the way from Switerland (a small suburb of Birmingham)
Thanks - you've answered my question. It turns out then that I'm being an idiot and £49.95 really was more than fair!Still, can't fault them for including it at the original quoted price - most people wouldn't have batted an eyelid at having an extra £20 or so added for that "genuine Omega part" all the way from Switerland (a small suburb of Birmingham)
JRewing said:
Variomatic said:
Yes, about a fiver (genuine Omega), £2.50 or so (ISO Swiss, probably off the same production line) or 70p (generic copy).
Still, can't fault them for including it at the original quoted price - most people wouldn't have batted an eyelid at having an extra £20 or so added for that "genuine Omega part" all the way from Switerland (a small suburb of Birmingham)
Thanks - you've answered my question. It turns out then that I'm being an idiot and £49.95 really was more than fair!Still, can't fault them for including it at the original quoted price - most people wouldn't have batted an eyelid at having an extra £20 or so added for that "genuine Omega part" all the way from Switerland (a small suburb of Birmingham)
JRewing said:
Thanks - you've answered my question. It turns out then that I'm being an idiot and £49.95 really was more than fair!
No, if you were an idiot you would have only even considered having it done by an AD and accepted the £100+ / 4 weeks. Which, as soon as it was in the workshop, would have become a £400 service because of the history of damage.The price from In-Time is pretty competetive for an Omega battery change, regardless of the actual costs involved, because that's what people expect to pay.
Yes, you could have found cheaper but you wanted to get it sorted and had other things to use your time on. How much of your time @ your normal hourly rate would it have taken hunting to save maybe £20 - £30 which you didn't even know could be saved?
Gassing Station | Watches | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff