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Birks Canada Ripoff Watch Repair Disaster Toronto Ontario Montreal P.Q. Canada
This summer I bought a nice old platinum and diamond watch on ebay. It was supposed to be working but apparently it did not. Having in mind that it would be a fantastic birthday gift for my sister, I brought it into the Birks Canada store in the Eaton Center because it was a Birks Ellis Watch and I thought they would be the best to restore/refurbish this nice old watch. This was in May of 2006. I was told that it would have to go to Montreal P.Q. for an ?appraisal? of the work. A few weeks later I was called about the appraisal for the work. The amount quoted was over 500 dollars because ??the watch mechanism was not replaceable? and it would have to be replaced with a new contemporary mechanism. This was on top of the other work required, it being a clean up, a replacement of the watchband with a black cord band (more suitable to the original watch which had a bad replacement bracelet). The other work involved removing the previous owner's name which was heavily engraved on the back of the watch. There was a date of 1934 which was specifically to be left on the back of the watch, in order to retain its original date and wonderful old style engraving. It was also very deeply engraved in the platinum back (marked inside). Also, because I felt the original mechanism might be good to keep should it ever end up in a collector's hands, I asked that the original mechanism be returned.
About a month later I was called and told the watch was ready. Surprise! They had removed the entire engraving on the back, even though the repair slip specifically said not to remove the original engraved date. All through this process I was told that the removal of the engraving (the name) would involve ?filling in? with extra platinum and that was one of the reasons for the high cost. Because it was for a special birthday, even though the cost was very high, I felt that due to the cost of platinum, ?filling in? might justify the cost.
The now empty back looked like the engraving had involved a ?scraping off? of the platinum to the level of the deepest engraving. Never mind that the entire back was cleared of engraving, this not in accordance with my specific (and written instructions). The salesperson agreed they did not do the right job and said not to worry, they had photographed the back of the watch and would re-engrave the date ?exactly where it was and exactly in the same manner?. Another month passed as the watch was returned to Montreal again.
I was called in to see the newly re-engraved watch. This time, they engraved the date very lightly in a different place. I saw that it was not in the same place nor as deep as the original date engraving and said so. I was told that they would either redo it or just again ?fill in? with platinum and leave the back blank. At this time, I commented on the other aspects of the 500 dollar job ? the cleaning up of the diamonds and general appearance of the watch. I was told that nothing could be done. I did not quite believe this because I have worked in jewelery stores in the past and know that platinum and diamonds are quite capable of being cleaned up to appear nice and clean. I was told by the salesperson that the Montreal head office repair department would do it and as agreed (I was very annoyed at this time) and remove all engraving by again ?filling in? with platinum.
Finally, after another month and way past my sister's end of July birthday I receive another call telling me that the watch was now ready for pick up. To my horror, I saw that the back of the watch was not bent and bumpy. In my mind this confirms that the previously heavy (as evidenced by the deep original engraving) platinum back was once again shaved down and there never was any ?filling in? of platinum. I was more upset one more time but this time I was told that this was ??all they could do.? The store policy is to either pay up or leave the item there for the store to sell at their own discretion. I paid up and decided to follow up on my own.
On top of everything, the appraisal I asked for indicated that the diamonds were more or less dirty looking because of the epoxy they were set in. No attempt seems to have been made to clean around them or reset them. The replacement watch band, which cost 50 dollars (a black string like band with a stainless clasp) was made in China. Go figure on a platinum and diamond watch they have to use a dollar store band.
I emailed Birks head office to complain but have never heard back. It is obvious that a) my platinum was being shaved down each time b) their workmanship is crap and c) their attitude is one of ??take it or leave it? and we can resell your item.
Birks used to be a respected Canadian company. It was taken over and now no longer worthy of its previously respected name.
Phyllis
toronto, Ontario
Canada