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| Joined: | Sun Apr 23rd, 2006 |
| Location: | NorthEastern, Wisconsin USA |
| Posts: | 15957 |
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KenC wrote:IMHO this is completely unacceptable and disappointing...All very interesting, and not to be argumentative, but to me all of this hocus-pocus about chemicals, soap, shampoo, etc....does not compute. We also have the technologies in adhesives to make the glues impervious to chemical agents except those specifically designed to release the adhesive when properly applied.
When I read things like this that tend to absolve the manufacturer of responsibility for poor workmanship/material when something like this happens, I get a little upset. I recognize that this may be the watch manufacturer's, but I also recognize the common sense and experience of the buyers...and virtually all reasonable people would consider an incident like this, especially happening to a WIS who takes great care of his watches, as a manufacturer's responsibility. It is, in fact, an isolated incident of poor workmanship and/or material. If a piece of exterior trim falls off of my warranted automobile, the manufacturer does not tell me about heat, extreme conditions, road salt, chemicals, sea spray, commercial car washes, pollutants, etc. He simply repairs the cars and says, "sorry"!
I do appreciate the tutorial on replacing a bezel...very interesting and informative!
Not to be argumentative here, but I am sick and tired of a society that doesn't give a cr@p about personal responsibility and accountability anymore (sorry to hijack the thread).
The murderer or rapist that quote a bad childhood to excuse their actions, the drunken motorist that killed an innocent driver and uses a "bad day" to justify their wrongdoing in an attempt to avoid the blame for their actions are just the extreme "tip of the iceberg".
My mother taught me to always take responsibility for my actions and as an officer in the army I was accountable for not only my actions but also for those of the men in my platoon.
Therefore it upsets me to no end to see the general attitude of not accepting personal responsibility anymore, especially with product warranties. If it's broken, the warranty will cover it. Doesn't matter if I broke it or not, they'll have to cover it. Their responsibility, not mine. My kid doesn't behave? It's the school/teachers fault, not me! Jobs being exported overseas? It's the bad big corporations, not me or my shopping habits to always go for the lowest price and bringing my $$$ to Wal-Mart instead of the shop around the corner. Where does it end, guys?
Scratched a watch? Got burned by hot coffee? Engine blew up because the "check engine light" was ignored and oild never filled up or changed?
Has anyone of you ever knowingly abused a warranty, not telling the complete truth just to get a freebie out of it, even you knew better?
Come on guys; if you pay retail, the brick and mortar reseller made so much $$$ on your purchase that he can afford to go the extra mile and may make you happy, even though normally a warranty wouldn't cover it. But if you're buying over the internet at rock bottom prices, that luxury is no longer there and you are ultimately responsible for your actions.
It is your responsibility to check (or have someone check) the lug nuts after you got new tires put on and you drove a few miles, it is your responsibility to check (and add/change) the oil on your car.
And it is your responsibility to make sure the crown of your watch is securely screwed down before you go into the water and you are responsible for getting the WR checked regularly by a watchmaker (preferrably before the watch floods on you).
You can't blame the manufacturer if a bracelet opens up on you because you didn't check the links once in a while with preventive maintenance just like you can't expect them to warranty cover that sapphire crystal which got scratched and you assumed was scratchproof. (I had a scratched sapphire crystal once and discovered it must have been my wife's wedding band/diamond that hit it when we were walking holding hands. Bad things happen even to good people).
If a piece of trim falls off your car, if a hubcap falls off, an antenna breaks off, have you ever thought about why/how that happened? Was it really a problem with quality of material or craftmanship or was it indeed that commercial car wash? Or did you accidently bang it into something? No offence Ken, but always falling back into the warm and fuzzy "warranty coverage" absolving the consumer from any personal responsibility (or even the slightest attemtp to find out what really happend) just doesn't do it for me.
A bezel inlay doesn't just fall off all by itself. I know from personal experience that they can be really tough to get off sometimes. An isolated incident of poor workmanship and/or material is just as likely to be the cause as an accidental bump/rip or whatever that went unnoticed.
That's why I have a real problem with this general attitude of "the warranty will cover it", where it doesn't matter what really happened. Experiend driver, WIS etc. or not.
A mechanical watch is a precision instrument and needs to be treated as such for many years of reliable service (maybe even for the next generation). Blind belief in technology can't replace common sense and reality. I'm not talking about pampering them though, but even the most modern material of a springbar will rust and ultimately break if you don't maintain it properly and you may loose that modern 316L stainless steel watch because of such a small cause. Can you justify that a warranty should cover the loss?
Should a bezel that is stuck, because the bezel spring rusted after being in salt water all the time without being rinsed off and lubricated, in fact covered by warranty?
We've got many new WIS coming to these forums looking for knowledge and guidance. Instilling an attitude of entitlement and generally pushing the blame to the manufacturer is way too shallow for my taste, even though sometimes the marketing of watch manufacturers is partly to blame by creating expectations far ahead of reality.
I try to simplify it for myself with a simple "if it's their fault I expect them to fix it, if it's not than I'm responsible".
JM2C and YMMV
Matt