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Invicta’s Latest Stumble is a Stunner! June 14, 2010
WHAT a weekend it’s been for critics and devotees of the Triumvirate of shady known as Jim Skelton’s ShopNBC, Invicta Watches and the horological world’s branch of Scientology known as watchgoobers.net. On the heels of Invicta CEO Eyal Lalo’s revelation that Invicta timepieces labeled SWISS are actually Swinese and on the day of the Watchgeek’s first annual gathering of the Jimilo’s, the revelation that the flop known as the Invicta Speedway Reserve featured a Dubois Dupraz movement not sourced from the source. This despite Eyal Lalo and Jim Skelton inferring that it was.
Fear and anger quickly spread through Invicta’s camp of loyal followers as many started to suspect that they may have blown a thou-wow on a Chinese copy; a suspicion driven in a big part by Invicta admitting that they misled buyers of SWISS labeled watches into believing that they were buying Swiss made timepieces and not Swiss Parts / Chinese cased watches like several Android or Croton models.
I never thought that they were counterfeit; most notably because the current global economic depression that has Swiss watch sales falling off a cliff. Whether you love Invicta or hate them they do have, at least for now, a fan base that rivals some Major league Sport franchises. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that as sales fell, several major companies are probably unloading movements in a bid to keep liquid assets waiting for a reversal. And Invicta die-hards keep buying with salvation only 5 value pays away.
watchgoobers immediately went into damage control. How? By deleting posts and banning members. The same Yellow Shirts that trolled several of my blogs were in full force, causing trouble on threads to force a violation of WG’s Terms Of Service in a bid to get threads closed and ultimately deleted, with some members calling out these individuals. They pretty much succeed and enough Sheeple accepted it and complied with silence. I find it unimaginable how that site still has members after this latest revelation – what type of person takes Corporate bullying lead by a toad like Jim Skelton? If you’re one of those people and you’re reading this; why are you still a member? Aren’t you feed up with the phony two party system and multi-national corporate serfdom? Where is the outrage of being treated like a sucker; a mere means to someones fiscal end?
But I digress.
THE big issue are the continued seemingly untruths released as statements of fact and sometimes, like the case with the Swinese watches, admissions. When it became clear that the Speedway had serious issues, vague statements were released on the WG site. Customers who had purchased it were assured that Lalo was directly communicating with DD directly through “many conference calls” and this threatened to put “several large scale projects with D-D” “ON HOLD”. Skelton’s statement from Lalo went on to state, “All involved believe the issue is a D-D issue” and so “D-D as” Skelton understands is “owning up to their responsibility”.
Skelton also made a statement and implied that it was a problem with the movement in a bid to redirect the anger from his forum’s sponsor; precisely the slippery slope of interwoven shenanigans and self interests that I pointed out in October. But as the emails began to surface, from both an inquiry and several angry purchasers of the turd, it became clear that this was another Lalo “Swiss is Swiss Made” misspeak.
According to Jim Skelton, ShopNBC’s resident horological expert and watchgeek forum owner, the problems with the hands can be solved with a washer, and we can expect a statement from DD and Invicta within a few days. I suspect a team of lawyers is working hard to retract Eyal’s statements an absolve DD from any responsibility.
In light of the technical solution to the problem, the question really is where were these watches assembled? One would assume that a Swiss manufacturer would be aware of these nuances and build the watches accordingly with respect to the precise tolerances required. And so this begs the question: are these pieces in fact Swiss Made?
ONE also has to wonder what liability might Skelton have and how might that extend to ShopNBC. I have a suspicion that Skelton may have sold his interest in WG to SNBC. Do I have proof? No. But there are a couple of interesting facts: he has been on an extended medical leave because of issues with his jaw related to TMJ – yet he’s stated that he hasn’t had time for WG because he recently bought a new house and has been on the phone with movers and he’s also purchased a new muscle car to park in the driveway. So he appears to be flush with cash and just a few weeks ago, Michael “f***in” Davis made a vague, seemingly stunned mention opposite Shawn Wilsie, of “Big Acquisitions”. With the economy what it is – ShopNBC reporting a 6.6% drop in net sales in the first quarter of the year – would you burn through money? The elephant in the room is the hiring of Bill McGrath and ShopNBC’s Anywhere Initiative. their aim is to leverage social media sites like Twitter and Facebook as well as iPhone apps and shopnbc.com. So where does that leave watchgoobers?
Competition .
And then there is that sticky matter of Jim’s comments regarding the debacle as a DD issue. His words: “Learned today through conversation with another brand that they have seen “slop” in the gear train of som DD modules that can create an up/down shift in gears.” But he did manage to add within the same message, “Is this absolutely the case? No idea yet…” I’m not a legal scholar so I don’t know if the final bit absolves him of responsibility. I don’t think it does because it implies direct knowledge of “slop” in some of D-D’s movements. As an agent of ShopNBC, I think this may open the way to a lawsuit against his employer. He is one of the faces of ShopNBC and has implied in the past that he is no horological amateur. But only sometimes. When the heat is on, he’s just the guy that sells the watches.
I for one, eagerly await the outcome.
Posted by betterskills Filed in Betterskills, Consumerism, New Media, Twitter, betterskills blog, eyal laylo, fashion, f*** yinz, iPhone, invicta, shopnbc, television shopping networks, tv, wristwatches
Tagged: cult, google, @rondmc, blog, shopnbc, jim skelton, invicta, eyal lalo, invicta watch group, betterskills blog, Skelton out at shopnbc, wristwatch, home shopping hosts, android watches, croton, watchgoobers.net, watchgoobers, Betterskills, betterskillsblog, news, michael davis, Bill McGrath, google news, Dubois Dupraz, D-D, Speedway elite, hands, defective invicta 6 Comments » 6 Responses to “Invicta’s Latest Stumble is a Stunner!”
krane11367 Says: June 15, 2010 at 12:15 am The worst aspect of all this is that the people involved are gonna skate, as usual. I’m really hoping that, eventually, the big picture here is realized; that the simply awful business practices that have been displayed time and time again are dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.
Hopefully, this doesn’t read as over-dramatic, but if this sort of thing happened at a car manufacturer…well, does Toyota’s recent travails spring to mind? Certainly there’s a big difference between dangerous, faulty auto pedals and the cheap jack stuff the watch company constantly pulls off, but it’s getting to the point that it seems businesses can get away with virtually anything.
Attorneys General? Departments of Consumer Affairs? BBB? FTC? Where the f*** is everybody???
jr Says: June 15, 2010 at 12:38 am Eyal was buying movements out of the back of a van. The culture of nepotism at ShopNBC needs to be stopped. Eyal constantly gets defended by Skelton, Davis and all of the hosts. He’s a carny. I don’t know why I expect a higher quality from the channel when they sell Suzanne Somers kitsch. They have 168 hours a week to fill and I don’t see them getting rid of Invicta. They’ve pimped it too much the last 8 years to admit they were wrong. The only hope is that if the Comcast merger gets approved that they shut the network down.
LIES ALL LIES! Says: June 15, 2010 at 1:05 am February and March were the SAIII and Venom kits with the screw problems, April was the Plasticase knock-off lawsuit, May was Swiss does not = Swiss Made as they told everyone for years, now June is this Speedway disaster.
Can’t wait for July!
BTW, love this line “horological world’s branch of Scientology known as watchgoobers.net.” BWHAHAHAHAHA!
As for the Invicta-Davidians, the train will keep on merrily along. Sure the movements are genuine, and honestly I am happy they are for the poor saps who bought them. Some should know better to be sure, but I am sure many fell for the lies bloviated on air by Jim and Eyal.
Speaking of lies, interesting how the point of the discussion initially which was the flat out bold faced lies by Eyal, Jim, and Michael are all forgotten about as “miscommunication” and so long as the movements are genuine, hey the Invicta-Davidians go back to dunking their head back in the sands of lamedom.
I honestly feel bad for Dubois-Depraz most of all. They were totally the innocent party here (at least till the end). It was Jim, Michael, and Eyal who tried to lay the blame of this Edsel at their doorstep and DD did not even know Invicta had possession of their movements! Now they will enter into a business relationship with Invicta despite all this, for that I am a little disappointed in DD. But I guess the bottom line will always be the bottom dollar in business so I can’t fault them too much.
DD, if you read this I want you to be aware that Invicta sporting your movements may make you some short terms sales, but Invicta’s with DD movements will in no way enhance your sterling reputation or prestige of your movements. In fact just the opposite. There is a reason no one drops a Porsche engine in a Dodge Dart.
Invicta may indeed take a stinging ding short term for these debacles, but they will just lower the floor on prices again to bring in a new batch of suckers.
My question is, at what point does Shop NBC finally say enough is enough in spite of sales. Invicta and Jim Skelton give your network a black eye time and time again. You will never break #3 with them on board, I promise you that.
Mikey Skelton Says: June 15, 2010 at 8:44 am Maybe and possibly ShopNBC has had enough, at least with what they can currently control right now today.
His on air schedule has been changed and he is not on the air this week at all. I guess his big WG weekend was to much for his jaw or possibly he is in some sort of serious timeout until the legal department can get a grip on what type of damage Invicta, Skelton and WG’s has done this time.
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FuzzyWabbit Says: June 15, 2010 at 8:45 am I think Lies All Lies said it best. “I can’t wait for July”.
Invicta, Skelton and Davis continually step on their dicks at every turn. How any of these guys manage to stay employed is a mystery to me.
I also feel sorry for DD. They didn’t even know of this situation and their name was being dragged through the mud by Skelton. I can see a lawsuit against ShopNBC from DD over this. Why Shop continues to risk this by employing that blowhard, is another mystery. Oh well, another pile of steaming feces is served up fresh for the Geeks. Eat up!!!
OffTheKoolAid Says: June 15, 2010 at 12:04 pm The big I will survive this just fine, as will Jimmy. Michael could possibly be tossed under the bus is they do truly need a sacrificial troll.
There are enough nycruza and 50mmWhenUp types out there that take some perverse pleasure in being lied to…they keep the big I afloat.
Probably will see a bit more of Jill though, maybe to keep Uncle Eyal out of the spotlight until this blows over…he will no doubt be “traveling”. All they need to do is teach Jill a couple of more phrases besides “Free Shipping!!” and “NEVER needs a battery”…and on the air she goes. Of course she will have to put up with the various WG stalkers who go around sportin’ wood every time she makes an appearance.
And the next time one of these POS watches gets dumped on the WGs…you can bet the cruza-dude will once again claim to have his big I piece of junk “appraised by his jeweler for insurance” and imply it is worth a small fortune…or at least enough to cover his value pays if it falls off his wrist.
The post is HorseCrap Approved!!