May 2021 by CPF 47
My husband and I dropped off my watch for a battery replacement on May 4th, 2021, and went back on May 14th, 2021 at 4:40 pm to pick up the watch from the Destiny USA mall, located in Syracuse New York. Kaileigh, the store manager, went to the back of the store to retrieve the watch that I had placed in their care. My husband opened the box and he noticed one of the bands is ripped and the pin that houses the band is severely bent out of place. I asked Kaileigh about the damages and she stated that, “The damage could be due to your husband removing the watch from its box”. Instead of addressing the damages properly like any normal store associate would have done, Kaileigh instead chose to place the blame on the customer.We also noticed that the case backing and the strap attaching portion was scuffed, chipped, and there were still tiny pieces of stainless steel flaking off. She initially stated that the watch was perfectly fine when she received it from the jeweler store and that the watch is just too old now. I asked about the company she sent the watch in for the battery replacement and she stated that a LOCAL jeweler did it. My husband asked if this local jeweler is authorized to perform a battery replacement on this particular watch. She could not confirm nor deny. So, instead of sending it to an authorized Swarovski watch repair center, she decided to potentially disregard company policies and procedures, resulting in personal property damages and distrust towards Swarovski.After a while she finally disclosed to us that the local jeweler was having a difficult time opening the case backing. This means that the local jeweler did not possess the proper knowledge and equipment to safely remove that case backing without causing damage, i.e., an unauthorized person/store conducted the service. I was under the impression that the Swarovski retail store would have notified me that they are having difficulty opening the case backing and that it will be damaged if they proceeded with the replacement. She never called to notify me that the watch was available for pick up, and when I called the store for a status update, she also never notified me that the watch returned to their store in a damaged condition. At 5:03 PM, 23 minutes after going back and forth with her, the store manager offered to replace the band due to their lack of care and negligence. She stated that, “The band that I am ordering for you is considered a SPECIAL order, so what I have to do is run your visa card as payment, and then I will reimburse you with cash after the transaction is completed”. I am not sure if this is the proper procedure for a replacement of damages caused by the store, but I suspect that she did it this way because the system required a reason for waiving the cost of the order, and by doing it this way, it will take the blame off of her store and the unauthorized jeweler by placing the burden on the customer.We asked if she can send the watch to a center to repair or replace the case backing, but she said that there is nothing she can do about that. The only thing she was willing to do was to replace the band or to replace the watch with another watch that is currently in stock at their location. I purchased this watch on May 19th, 2009 for an MSRP of over $1100.00 and none of the watches offered from the store come close to the current, let alone original value of my watch. Over the past 12 years of replacing the batteries for my watch, I have NEVER had to scrutinized or question the work of any Swarovski retail store, except this one. We decided to offer the store one more chance to make things right by leaving the watch in their care for the replacement band.On the same day at 6:24 pm, we received a call from Kaileigh and she offered to replace the watch with another watch from a Grey Market distributor, or a “third party seller” as she describes it. We kindly declined and decided to go back to the store ASAP, retrieve the watch, and wait until the replacement band arrives.
