Complaint Review: Batteries & Bands

On 7/21/2006 I purchased a battery replacement service from Batteries & Bands in the Westfield Brandon Mall. I own a Skagen watch which was given to me as a gift in February, of 2006.

Most recently the battery went dead and I needed to replace the battery. I decided to stop and have the battery replaced at Batteries and Bands per I have purchased watches in the past from this kiosk.

I was informed of the battery replacement service which includes the battery,25.0 x 0.6 Rear seal replacement and a water resistance test for a total fo $19.95.

I agreed to the service and was told that if any water got into the watch they would fix it and if I didn't go with the service I would be on my own.

Since I wanted to protect the watch since I know I often go swimming in the many watches I own I though it to be a wise decision to get the warranty service.

I was told by the clerk it would take (10) ten minutes so I went shopping and return 20 minutes later. THe young man that service my watch was gone but they found my watch set my watch and I paid my bill.

The watch seem to be working just fine per I wore it for the rest of the day and decided to wear it to the beach outing the next day. I went swimming at the beach mainly in shallow water for about 45 minutes in total.

I remember the watch working in the water per a young man asked me the timie while I was in the water. He even complimented me on the watch design.

On the ride home I looked at my watch to give a friend my ETA to a party I would attend that night and noticed the watch had condensation on the face and was no longer working.

This has never happened with my Skagen watch. I have been swimming and have showered and bathed in this watch so I was concerned.

I decided to take the watch back to Batteries and Bands on Sunday 7/23/2006 to see what happened or see what can be done to fix the watch. When I approched the Kiosk I was promptly greeted by a young lady by the name of Jodi who turned out to be the manager.

I told her my story and she took the watch and my receipt and put the watch on a machine to test the water resistance. She then returned and stated it passed the test and that I must have left the setting pin pulled out when I went swimmed which allows water to get in the watch.

I was stunned that she would tell me I did this to my own watch per I didn't set the watch nor had this ever happened before. I asked about the warranty I purchased and was told that since it was not thier fault, I would have to pay 15.00 to have them replace the battery and check the seal.

Of course this made me very upseet but I didn't lose my top. I told her that the work was under warranty and she told me that I could send the watch to Skagen to have them fix it.

I took my watch and reciept and walked to a different watch repair location in the mall I have used in the past to replace my watch batteries. Immediatly they notices the rear place was placed on with the logo out of alignment and the rear place was not flush with the watch.

You could clearly see a gap in the rear plate. I returned to the kiosk and showed my finding to Jodi the manager and she then stated that I took it to another kiosk and had the plate opened

Now I was pissed off because now she was accusing me of tampering with the watch to attempt to get something for free. She then stated that she called her supervisor and there was nothing she could do.

She stated the machine passed the watch and that the machine is never wrong. When I showed her the gap in the rear seal I stated if the seal is open could the machine stil be wrong when you can clearly see the plate open. she then told me to talk to her supervisor on 7/25/2006 -----to be continued!

THe purpose of this conplaint is principle! I use to manage 2 different stores and the first rule of customer service is to empathize with the customer and find a way to solve the issue.
In this case Jodi blamed me for the water in my watch and then told me I would have to pay more for them to fix the problem they caused.

DO NOT FALL FOR THE WARRANTY SCAM AT THIS KIOSK!

Dwayne
Brandon, Florida
U.S.A.