My first post on this board so far. I had to tell someone about this.
I banged my wrist into some wooden furniture and my watch went flying. I found the pin on the floor and it was bent in half. So I went to the yellow pages and found someone about six blocks from my office. I went over with the watch and he spent about five minutes going through his supplies and playing around with it, then gave me the watch back and charged me a dollar.
Just for the record: this happened in March, 2005 in Manhattan. Is this as strange as it sounds?
I’ve gotten watch repair for free more than once. Then again, it was always from young men. Watch repair guys seem to be especially susceptible to my charms.
Not at all. It is a very simple replacement of a very common part. It is done to promote future sales. You will remember how you were treated at that store and return to make a purchase at some future date. Not to mention that the job’s real worth was on the order more than of $1.
What’s truly amazing is that it took me three reads and 10 minutes later to realize the title meant watch repair as in getting your watch fixed, and not that the guy charged you a dollar to watch the the repair happening.
I was in Toronto once when that fuckin’ screw fell out of the side of my glasses. (This was before I found amazingly clever little glasses-repair kits, complete with screwdriver and assortment of replacement screws, for $0.99 at Home Depot).
Desperate, I went into a Lenscrafters or similar store and implored them to replace the screw. They did so, and I asked how much, prepared to pay pretty much anything for the use of my glasses. “No charge,” they said.
They didn’t have to do that, especially since I don’t live there and they’d never seen me before; but my gratitude was bottomless.
Torontonians: if there’s still a glasses store in the Atrium on Bay, go there.
Plan B, Thanks for the email-- I broke two of my watches about 6 months ago, and could not find anyone willing to repair them for a reasonable amount (ie less than what the watches cost) so I may be bringing them to that store in the near future.
Matt, I can’t tell you how many times I repeated your scenario as a teenager…
Reminds me of the time I needed to get a battery replaced in my watch. Went into this store in a downtown mall and asked how much it would cost. The guy wanted $15! I asked him why was the charge so high. He said $5 for the battery and $10 for labor. Then I walked to a little neighborhood jewelry shop that charged me $5 to do the same job. Another time I went to my optometrist for a replacement screw for my glasses and she charged me $1 for putting in one of those dinky screws. I switched to another optometrist after that. Moral of all this … people can charge whatever they want, but you don’t have to pay it and you can always take your business elsewhere.
In the jewelery store above Verizon mobile at The Mall at Rockingham, I once had a watch battery replaced for free. I had offered to open the case and replace the battery myself if they weren’t comfortable doing it (it can be a real bear to get a water resistant watch’s battery changed), but he took it, replaced it and said, all set! When I asked how much, he said “Don’t worry about it”. If I’m in the market for a new watch, I’m likely to go back there.
I’ll return not so much for the “free” goods, but rather that they were friendly and helpful when I needed some service. Service is something you just don’t see enough any more in retail.