Breitling Emergency taken in for service, so far so crap :(
Discussion
Bought my son who flys a Cessna (from 14 years old) a Breitling emergency for his 18 Birthday , it was two years old at the time but still cost 4.5 grand.
Fast forward 4 years, he is now 22 and i said i would send the watch in for a full service for his birthday.
So 5 weeks later the watch is returned to Golds smith and they call me for collection.
I inspect the watch and so far so good, i then proceed to test the watch on the transponder tester. Nothing
the tester was not even working, must be the battery but for gods sake However i suspect it potentially goes deeper than this.
Breitling are supposed to replace the transponder in the Emergency to the current unit. So as i explained to the embaraced sales lady, that at a service cost of £500+ , how can i trust that the watch transponder has been changed at all and the watch properly serviced if Breitling send me a tester that has flat batterys...not even touched, its exactly the same as i sent it, however it was fully working when i did
I then explain that if the tester has not been touched then its clear that the transponder tester has not been updated to test the new transponder that they should have fitted during the service.
So i refused to take it and they are sending its back, i asked for a list of all the work undertaken during the service and for Brietling to do the dam service job correctly as there being paid top price for a service. That includes servicing the transponder tester which they are suposed to do.
Had i wanted a watch battery change i could have done that my self.
This does not reflect any form of bad service that Goldssmiths have given me, its not there fault, but bloody hell
Fast forward 4 years, he is now 22 and i said i would send the watch in for a full service for his birthday.
So 5 weeks later the watch is returned to Golds smith and they call me for collection.
I inspect the watch and so far so good, i then proceed to test the watch on the transponder tester. Nothing
the tester was not even working, must be the battery but for gods sake However i suspect it potentially goes deeper than this.Breitling are supposed to replace the transponder in the Emergency to the current unit. So as i explained to the embaraced sales lady, that at a service cost of £500+ , how can i trust that the watch transponder has been changed at all and the watch properly serviced if Breitling send me a tester that has flat batterys...not even touched, its exactly the same as i sent it, however it was fully working when i did
I then explain that if the tester has not been touched then its clear that the transponder tester has not been updated to test the new transponder that they should have fitted during the service.
So i refused to take it and they are sending its back, i asked for a list of all the work undertaken during the service and for Brietling to do the dam service job correctly as there being paid top price for a service. That includes servicing the transponder tester which they are suposed to do.
Had i wanted a watch battery change i could have done that my self.
This does not reflect any form of bad service that Goldssmiths have given me, its not there fault, but bloody hell
Edited by FezSpider on Thursday 15th September 14:56
Sorry to say that I think there is a colossal amount of p*ss taking that goes on in the Swiss watch industry. Several years ago I started sending my Rolexes and Breitlings for service with independent watchmakers, as I felt robbed by authorized dealers.
A few more years down the line I sold my last expensive watch, a Datejust 16610 and got a Christopher Ward. It is pretty much on a par with stuff I had costing six times the price and honestly I now feel a bit of a fool for what I used to spend on watches.
A few more years down the line I sold my last expensive watch, a Datejust 16610 and got a Christopher Ward. It is pretty much on a par with stuff I had costing six times the price and honestly I now feel a bit of a fool for what I used to spend on watches.
Yes it does seem that way
However the last time I used Breitling service was 3 years ago for my Crosswind Racing. It came back perfect in every way.
However the Emergency is a specialist bit of kit thats marketed as an instrument for professionals. That's all very well until it goes to said servicing idiots that may not even be trained in servicing the Emergencys
I am going to add to this thread when they get back to me, listing what they said they have done and going to do.
I feel very pissed of that I will be paying at the end for all this b
ks, i dont feel inspired, after all it could be the instument my son relies on in an emergency.
I hope this opens the eyes of other Emergency owners out there, I mean there supposed to be serviced every 4 years because of the importance of maintaining the potentualy life saving transponder .
However the last time I used Breitling service was 3 years ago for my Crosswind Racing. It came back perfect in every way.
However the Emergency is a specialist bit of kit thats marketed as an instrument for professionals. That's all very well until it goes to said servicing idiots that may not even be trained in servicing the Emergencys
I am going to add to this thread when they get back to me, listing what they said they have done and going to do.
I feel very pissed of that I will be paying at the end for all this b
ks, i dont feel inspired, after all it could be the instument my son relies on in an emergency.I hope this opens the eyes of other Emergency owners out there, I mean there supposed to be serviced every 4 years because of the importance of maintaining the potentualy life saving transponder .
Foliage said:
You do realise that your breitling has gone nowhere near breitling and has gone to a goldsmiths 'authorised' service centre? All the work to it has been performed by a goldsmith employee who's had some token training by breitling.
That's not correct. or certainly not about 6 years ago. I had my Emergency serviced and it was sent back to Switzerland - I had a certificate saying it was serviced by them at the manufacturers, with testing results and what work they did.Wouldn't it have been absolutely perfect if poor Richard Hammond had got to the top of that snowey mountain in Canada, took his Breitling Emergency off, pulled out the transponder wire to activate it... and then it didn't work. 'Oh, it's just back from Goldsmiths who promised me it had been fully serviced and here I am all alone, with lots of wolves and no food and I discover they haven't done the f@@king job properly!'
It's a must work last line of defense, so must be serviced accordingly, and absolutely has to be available for use with no question it won't work when needed. If it's Goldsmiths or Breitling who haven't done it properly then shame on them.
It's a must work last line of defense, so must be serviced accordingly, and absolutely has to be available for use with no question it won't work when needed. If it's Goldsmiths or Breitling who haven't done it properly then shame on them.
superlightr said:
Foliage said:
You do realise that your breitling has gone nowhere near breitling and has gone to a goldsmiths 'authorised' service centre? All the work to it has been performed by a goldsmith employee who's had some token training by breitling.
That's not correct. or certainly not about 6 years ago. I had my Emergency serviced and it was sent back to Switzerland - I had a certificate saying it was serviced by them at the manufacturers, with testing results and what work they did.Ok so i rang the Brietling service depo at Tumbridge wells this morning ( thank you for the first tip JDiz) They confirmed that Gold smiths had indeed sent the watch to them for servicing, so thats good....i think
I explained that i rejected the watch because they had not serviced the transponder tester because it had flat batterys and was not working in anyway. So because of that i
had my suspisions that the transponder inside the watch was not updated as required to the new frequently.
I was told by the servicing department that the Emergency watches was always serviced by a specialist and always had extra special treatment due to them being potentualy so vital to the users. The lady could not explain why such an important servicing matter was over looked and that there would be an investigation into the reason/ watch maker. She also confirmed that they had a call from Goldsmiths yesterday to say that the watch was on its way back and why.
I asked her to make a note on record of my concerns and she said she would.
She was very helpful and apologetic for what happend, i explained that i understood she was not the watch maker , however as a Breitling custumer that pays a high premium for servicing, she was the first port of call for any custumer.
So when the watch comes back i said that i wanted to know a/ has the transponder been tested to the required standard, b/ has the transponder been replaced as Breitling are always so keen to tell us in there adverts.
I did say that i had been advised by a watch forum to ring them directly, and that there was some interest by other Breitling owners of the out come, i thought that might apply the right amount of motivation;)
Fingers crossed ey.
I explained that i rejected the watch because they had not serviced the transponder tester because it had flat batterys and was not working in anyway. So because of that i
had my suspisions that the transponder inside the watch was not updated as required to the new frequently.
I was told by the servicing department that the Emergency watches was always serviced by a specialist and always had extra special treatment due to them being potentualy so vital to the users. The lady could not explain why such an important servicing matter was over looked and that there would be an investigation into the reason/ watch maker. She also confirmed that they had a call from Goldsmiths yesterday to say that the watch was on its way back and why.
I asked her to make a note on record of my concerns and she said she would.
She was very helpful and apologetic for what happend, i explained that i understood she was not the watch maker , however as a Breitling custumer that pays a high premium for servicing, she was the first port of call for any custumer.
So when the watch comes back i said that i wanted to know a/ has the transponder been tested to the required standard, b/ has the transponder been replaced as Breitling are always so keen to tell us in there adverts.
I did say that i had been advised by a watch forum to ring them directly, and that there was some interest by other Breitling owners of the out come, i thought that might apply the right amount of motivation;)
Fingers crossed ey.
FezSpider said:
I did say that i had been advised by a watch forum to ring them directly, and that there was some interest by other Breitling owners of the out come, i thought that might apply the right amount of motivation;)
Fingers crossed ey.
3. 2. 1. thread deleted for naming and shaming.Fingers crossed ey.
Oh right, well thats bks then
Personaly i would be great full to hear about crap services before i splashed out on service cost.
Bottom line, Breitling did a sub standard service job on my Emergency and expected me to pay £500 for the privilege, thats a hard fact.
They have apologised and are doing the job again correctly as well as investigating why and how this happend.
The above are facts, there is nothing un true about whats been said.
Dont see how Breitling would have a legal leg to stand on. Its my sons watch and there mistake has been verifed and confirmed by both Goldsmiths and Breitling them selves.
If this thread gets closed down, not to worry
ks then Personaly i would be great full to hear about crap services before i splashed out on service cost.
Bottom line, Breitling did a sub standard service job on my Emergency and expected me to pay £500 for the privilege, thats a hard fact.
They have apologised and are doing the job again correctly as well as investigating why and how this happend.
The above are facts, there is nothing un true about whats been said.
Dont see how Breitling would have a legal leg to stand on. Its my sons watch and there mistake has been verifed and confirmed by both Goldsmiths and Breitling them selves.
If this thread gets closed down, not to worry
Edited by FezSpider on Friday 16th September 20:20
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