Igor G.

I wish I have done my homework and searched the Net for reviews of Watch33.com site before committing to the purchase from them. Well, hope other people will be smarter and take a lesson from my experience with this company.

If you decide to buy something from this guys, please do read their terms and conditions very carefully. First of all, they are NOT an authorised dealer/retailer of any of the watch brands they are selling. Therefore, if you buy from them, you will NOT benefit from a manufacturer's warranty, but will have to rely on Watch33's own guarantee, which will last for only as long as this company is in business, which I suspect is not going to be very long...

Second, the price you are paying to Watch33 is NOT the final price of your purchase. Expect a separate bill for the UK VAT (currently@17.5% of the item's customs value) plus a small documentation charge (c. £10), which will arrive from a carrier few days after you had received your watch. By Watch33 terms and conditions, you are an official importer of the item they sell and therefore you, not them, are liable for customs clearance of your purchase. Interestingly and frustratingly, you would have to pay this charge even if your purchase is faulty and you return it back to Watch33.

And here is my story. I placed my order for the Citizen watch with Watch33.com on February 11. According to the website, the item was in stock. My credit card was charged on the same day. On February 26, after 3 phone calls to the seller, the watch had arrived missing a birthday for which it was a gift. In addition, the watch turned out to be faulty and I had to send it to Watch33, to their address in Newcastle.
Initially, they refused to acknowledge the defect. Then, few days later I received a phone call from them informing me that the problem had been fixed and I can get my watch back. By that time, my intention was to cancel the purchase and ask for a refund, which I did. In response I was told that since there was nothing wrong with watch, the company would charge me a re-stocking fee of £40.
On the same day a bill for £36 from FedEx had arrived. Having spoken to FedEx, I realised that I would have to pay VAT and admin fees regardless of the fact that I had sent the watch back, unless Watch33 gets in touch with FedEx and confirms whereabouts of the watch.
I called Watch33 asking them if they would help me to deal with this matter. The answer was NO because "you agreed to our terms and conditions when placing your order". Then I pointed out that all I needed was a proof that they sent the watch back to the US, but I was told that it wasn't their intention to do that and that they would re-sell the watch in the UK.
At this point I realised that it would be simply too expensive to pay the FedEx fee and the restocking fee just to cancel the trade and I asked Watch33 to send the watch back to me if indeed it was in an working order now as they claimed. This was less than 24 hours after I requested a refund. Guess what happened then? – I was told that the watch had already been sent back to the US (but I still cannot have a proof of that) and that the refund was issued to me a day before. Needless to say that there is not a sign of a refund on my credit card as of now (24 hours later).
While I am pretty sure that eventually I will get at least a portion of my money back, I will have ended up without a watch and without £76. Watch33, on the other hand, has already made £40 profit from this trade and has a watch that had been custom cleared for them by myself... Quite profitable business, don't you think?