A little backstory:
Last Christmas, I received a pocket watch from my parents. I am partial to pocket watches because I don’t like things strapped on to my wrists. It was a beautiful silver-faced “skeleton”-type (visible innards) pocket watch from Fossil. I carried it for a few months, treating it well (I thought) until one day, I looked at it and the second hand had popped off. That’s all; no chipped crystal, hour and minute hands still worked, but the second hand was floating around the face of the watch.
Fossil says their watches have 11-year warranties, so I thought I was covered. I packed my watch securely in bubble wrap and sent it on its way to Texas to be repaired.
That was a month ago. Today I received my watch back. I anxiously tore the envelope open, ready to put back into service the pocket watch I liked so much. But, to my surprise and disgust:
-
The case, around where the opening was to pry the back off, was scraped and mangled.
-
Upon opening the watch up (see 5 below), the watch’s battery had been removed, and had not been replaced.
-
The turnscrew used to set the time no longer moved the hands when twisted, as though it had been disconnected.
-
The face, which had been oriented so that the above turnscrew was at 12 O’Clock, was now uspide down. This caused parts of the watch (such as the white plastic battery casing) to become visible from the front of the watch, reducing its aesthetic appeal somewhat.
-
The back had not been replaced correctly, and was left pressed on crookedly. Thus, I was able to open the watch with by bare hands, where otherwise it would have taken some tools.
Needless to say, I am royally pissed off. Fossil completely fucked up my watch. They included with the package a note saying that due to the unavailability of parts (the watch is only a year old, assholes!) they were unable to repair my watch. Also, they said that due to this, they were sending me my watch “as is”. WHAT? I sent you a working, slightly damaged timepiece, and you send me back an utterly ruined piece of non-functioning scrap metal?
Now, I can accept that pocket watches are not Fossil’s bread and butter, and that parts for these models might not be available, where parts for their wrist-worn counterparts might be. But dammit, you manufacture the fucking watches; you can’t open one up without mangling the fucking thing?? And you can’t refer to some documentation as to how to put it back together so it resembles the watch I sent to you? Including the battery, which I paid for, remember?
To make up for it, they’ve said I can pick any watch I want from their website or one of their stores, as long as it costs between $65-$75. Uh, I checked out the website, fucksticks. And since you’ve chosen to widely ignore those of us who prefer pocket watches, I can’t choose the one I want! The watch you broke was worth $95 when it was new. It stands to reason that its equal would still cost that much. So I have to choose a cheaper one. And there are only 7 to choose from! Great selection.
Rest assured, Fossil, that you will be hearing from me, and that I will get what I want. Also, don’t count on any business from any of my friends or family.
Fucking hell! I just want to punch something. That means I should probably step away from my laptop. I’ll have to find a jeweler that might be able to fix my watch.
Don’t buy Fossil.
