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David Newman
·European Jewellers Fraud
My wife bought me an Omega Seamaster 2220.80.00 as a wedding gift and I have been wearing it every day since then. I love the watch, and was very upset when in the Fall of 2010, it stopped working. I searched the Internet for licenced Omega dealers in the Greater Toronto Area, and found European Jewellers at Yorkdale Mall in Toronto, where I took my watch to have it serviced and repaired. I had done my research on the Omega Canada website, where it outlines exactly what services would be undertaken when a complete overhaul of an Omega watch was performed. European Jewellers representitve assured me that once The Swatch Group informs them of the cost to overhaul the watch they would in turn contact me. Since European Jewellers was a licenced Omega dealer, I entrusted my watch to their services and left it with them.
After a few days, the European Jewellers representative contacted me to let me know what was needed to be done to repair the watch, and how much the repairs and overhaul would cost. I had anticipated a sum such as this, which was almost $500.00 CDN, and I authorized them to do it. After several weeks, I was called by European Jewellers and informed that my Seamaster was ready to be picked up. I attended at the store and when I inspected my watch, I noticed immediately that the cleaning, buffing, and polishing had not been done, as was specified on the Omega website was part of the overhaul service. I asked the representative about this and I was told that this was not part of the service. I informed him that he was mistaken, however, he remained firm in his stance that this was not part of what I was paying for in my $500.00 total. I also asked the representative for the broken parts that were removed from my Seamaster, only to be denied, once again. I asked for the manager of European Jewellers, and I was told she was not in for the day. I asked for the phone number of Omega Toronto which is known as the Swatch Group, so that I could call to find out why my watch was not cleaned, polished, and why I had a one year warranty, instead of a two year warranty which came standard with an overhaul. I was given a phone number for the Swatch Group by the European Jewellers representative. I was very upset when I left the store. When I got into my car, I looked through the bag given to me by European Jewellers, and noticed on the paperwork given to me with my Seamaster that the company name “timerevolution.com” appeared several times on the paperwork. I became suspicious at this point, and as soon as I could get to my computer, I began a search for this company name. Curiously, the website for timerevolution.com would not open on my home computer. I returned to the Omega Canada website to see if I had misread the overhaul procedures. I had not. I printed this information out and kept a copy for when I returned to European Jewellers. In the meantime, I made several calls to European Jewellers regarding when I felt was omitted in their service of my Omega, seeing as Omega prides itself in its reputation for impeccable service, I assumed they, as licenced dealers, would want to satisfy me as an Omega customer. The calls to European Jewellers got me nowhere.
I decided to write to Omega International’s Customer Service to report my experience and ask why I was not afforded the same treatment that was outlined on their website. I made my displeasure with the entire experience very clear. Within a few days, Omega contacted me by email to let me know that this matter was being investigated. Soon, the Customer Care Manager for Omega Canada, Mr. Laszlo Futo, let me know that there was no record of work on my Seamaster anywhere within the Omega system, and to please contact him with any invoice numbers or work-order numbers I had. It was during my contact with Mr. Futo that it was confirmed to me that Omega did not, in fact, overhaul and repair my Seamaster. European Jewellers had elected to use timerevolutions.com to work on my watch without my knowledge or consent. Mr. Futo was apologetic and seemed to deeply regret what had transpired between European Jewellers and myself, but had no way to assist me now that timerevolutions.com had done the work, not Omega. Mr. Futo stated that the next time my Seamaster needs repair, I should come in person to drop off the watch at The Swatch Group repair centre in Toronto. I felt deeply misled by European Jewellers, and that they misrepresented all of the work on my Seamaster as being done by Omega, and Omega ONLY. Certainly, I paid the same price I would have paid for an OMEGA overhaul, yet only received a “timerevolutions.com” overhaul, so European Jewellers pocketed this difference as total profit.
After several calls between European Jewellers and myself, I was finally able to speak with the manager there, Ms. Mirella DiSanto, and I informed her that I had been in contact with Mr. Laszlo of Omega Canada. It was at this point that she seemed to become a bit anxious and nervous, and began to agree to have my watch back to be serviced the proper Omega way, however, by timerevolution.com. When I attended at the shop to drop my watch off again, I attended with Omega Canada printouts in hand. They took the watch back to be cleaned, buffed, and polished, as per the Omega overhaul specifications. I also argued to have a two year warranty on this service, just as was stipulated on the printouts. Again, the establishment was agreeable to this. It seemed that there was an element of admitting guilt on European Jewellers’ part, realizing that I had uncovered their scam. When I went to pick up the watch again, after the cleaning and buffing, I was met by a clerk whom I had never seen before. She hid all paperwork after I asked for it, and dismissed my questions. The store manager, Ms. DiSanto, ignored me completely. I inspected my Seamaster and found it to be acceptable. I left with my two year warranty, which was all I had to hold onto, since Omega had not actually done my service and it was out of their hands.
My message to all of you watch enthusiasts is this: never go to a jewellery store to have your precious timepieces worked on, repaired, or overhauled, especially European Jewellers, which is blatantly misleading the public into believing that they are legitimate and honest Omega dealers and service providers. From this point forward, no matter which timepiece I own or plan to own, I will only be dealing with the companies directly in order to ensure that I am no longer defrauded by other shady establishments such as European Jewellers.
