Watch33Reviews 68

I recently (14.08) placed an order with watch33.com for a watch priced £109 plus £9.95 delivery.The watch was AVAILABLE at the time of purchase. According to them "Our usual turnaround time is 5 to 7 business days, although some items may take slightly longer as certain watches do need to be ordered in on demand due to frequent changes in stock levels and model availability. We state availability time clearly next to each product."After 11 days of not even hearing back from them for a tracking number (again according to them):"All orders are trackable. In addition to your confirmation e-mail and receipt, when your order has been dispatched our system will send you automatic tracking notification via e-mail." i sent an email requesting an update on the watch and its delivery. The response I got was:

Your item is scheduled for delivery on 3. 9. 10.

After receiving this email I was frustrated as the watch was a gift and the delivery date was not acceptable by me since the item had immediate availability and it should arrive before the 3rd of September. Thus I sent a complaint email requesting at least for the delivery charge to be returned. The answer again was disappointing:

I am sorry for this delay your item is being dispatched as a matter of
Urgency. Unfortunately this item can not be discounted any further.

So I decided to wait it out until the 3rd of September. Of course, the item was not delivered and I contacted them yet again but this time they only replied on the 6th saying:

Your watch will be with you this week. You will receive a Fedex tracking email on Wednesday evening, 8. 9. 10.

Apparently, they had no problem taking the money from my credit card on the 14th of August but they did not bother to place the order and they kept feeding me lies. On the 8th I got the email from Fedex stating that the shipment information was only sent to Fedex ON THE 8TH! And that the expected delivery date is the 14th of September! (ONE MONTH AFTER I PLACED THE ORDER). I got a call today from FEDEX saying the watch arrived but I needed to pay around £30 import duties as it was sent from the US. However in their T&C's they state: "All prices on WATCH33.com are final. There are no hidden costs on our site. Where items are dispatched from one of our locations outside the EU, WATCH33.com will cover all duty and taxes prior to shipment. At no point will any of these charges have to be covered by the customer. This policy took effect as of 19th May 2010." Of course I sent them another email and of course I am still waiting for a reply. NEVER USE THIS WEBSITE unless you don't mind waiting a whole month for delivery, getting rubbish customer service (they also never answer the phone) and paying hidden costs when the item finally arrives. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I have to say I have read many reviews of Watch 33 on this site that appear to be of a negative ilk, however my experience with Watch 33 was exceptional. Anthony handled my queries promptly, was open and honest in answering all of my questions including the time of which it would take for my watch to arrive. It was shipped from the U. S, it took a little over a week to get to the UK and 1 month on, I am delighted to say as per Watch 33's commitment that there are no hidden charges, I have not received any form of duty bill from Fedex. Looks like Watch 33 have listened to the feedback posted and made changes for the better! I got an amazing watch, at a great price, with great service... thanks Anthony and Watch 33.

I have placed an order on the 31st Aug, the money was taken on the same day. I was expecting to receive the item at least within 3 days or at least a dispatch confirmation email. It is 7th Sept, I still haven't received anything from watch33. It went straight to the voice mail after calling. I don't know what's gonna happen especially afer reading the views. Well, DON'T buy anything from this site, it is not worth for the stress..

I have just spoken to Anthony from customer services and have been promised a refund which will take 2-5days. The order i placed did not arrive at all and is not going too seeing as it was needed for this saturday. I've raised a report with trading standards (who already know of these people), my bank have registered a fraudulant claim and the police have been informed. PLEASE PLEASE AVOID! Its not worth the hastle of chasing up, pleading for a refund and no sign of any goods.

Awful company.

- Failed to process my initial payment and yet didn't notify me
- They took 8 weeks to deliver my watch instead of the claimed 2-3 weeks
- I had to chase every step of the way for status updates
- To compensate for the delay they refunded the delivery cost (just £16!)
- They only mentioned you had to pay VAT in their terms and conditions, yet they claim "no hidden charges"!
- Very difficult to get hold of on the phone

STAY WELL AWAY!

My experience is that you cannot rely on these people to keep to the statements made on their web site. I ordered a Movado watch from them on 30 April 2010. Their web site home page and the item page both clearly promise UK shipping and No Hidden Costs. After chasing, it eventually arrived on 26 May 2010. Without my knowledge or consent watch33 decided to ship the watch from the USA. As a result I received a demand from FedEx for VAT and a Clearance Charge. Despite the current Terms & Conditions clearly stating that all goods will be dispatched from the UK and that "Tax Charges - All prices on watch33.com are final. There are no hidden cost on our site." watch33 have so far refused to pay the VAT and Clearance charge. They say that their Terms & Conditions used to be diferent to the ones i've printed off. Even if it was just the main pages that were misleading I would never deal with them again. Any possible saving is not worth this risk.

Delays in shipping, had to be reminded several times before shipped my order even though took money from my account. And uses bad business practice is not upfront about vat / duty / fedex admin charges on the order confirmation, it should have done so if it claims to be a fair and upfront company. Also I suggest that buyers do not accept fedex charges as FEdex should have referred to buyer for authority before clearing goods at customs - in reality if all customers were contacted then it is likely that fedex would not have been able to deliver, the stuff would have been sent back to the seller and the customer would be entitled to a full refund.

Using this website was an absolute waste of time and money. I ordered a watch 3 weeks ago and was told it would be dispatched that day and delievered in two working days. I have still not recieved it! I have been told more than six times that it will be dispatched that day but as yet it has still not been dispatched. I have been speaking to Jenny who seams helpful enough but it is all talk. After every conversation I am promised an e-mail or call back but it is always me making contact. Once I have recieved by watch or money back I will not use this company and would advise others of the same!

I honestly have not come across a worse website than this - I will never ever be using this website again.

At first glance it looks really good value for money but then weeks later you get a fairly large bill through the post from FedEx and you realise that it has been shipped from abroad. It does say this in the smallprint but it is not clear whilst ordering.

So I ordered my watch and I was told it was garunteed to arrive in less than 3 weeks. 3 weeks come and go and so I email, I get told it will be here in a few days. Four emails later and five weeks after I have ordered, the watch finally started on its way from America.

I would not have minded if I was told that the watch was going to be late, it is the fact that they kept fobbing me off assuring me me it was going to be here in a couple of days. As it happens it came far too late for the birthday of the person it was intended for.

In all fairness after I received the FedEx bill I wrote and complained about the very poor service and the charge, and they gave me a small amount of money towards the FedEx bill. However, I do not think that this makes up for the service I received. I will not be using this website again.

Stay away from this site!

Ok; for some of you that will read the following reviews afteer this one will probably draw a negative conclusion based on the reviews alone.
People; Watch33.com are a legitimate business and they offer hard to find watches at a good price. They are able to do this by acting as on behalf of the customer and importing timepieces from the states.
My first and last piece of advice is READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS!
It is quite clear and if you are looking for a hard to find timepiece at a good price I highly reccomend these guys. I ordered a non UK spec stainless steel Citizen eco-zilla and it arrived at my home address in nine days (that includes a weekend too!) with all of the correct paperwork and marques.
The fedex service is highly efficient and if you have any questions then just email watch33.com and they will reply!

Best of luck to these guys, they provided a good service and an excellent timepiece to a happy customer!

Well when i went on to Watch33 and brought an armarni watch that was £40.00 cheaper than the one i like in selfridges i was over the moon! So i pIaced my order already checking on the bottom of the page that it was a UK registered company etc as i have been hit by customs before when buying from overseas so i knew what the procedure was already and didnt want to experience this again! The order was placed and the money was taken from my account straight away, 1 week went by no emails to say the watch had been dispatched and no watch! So i email watch33 who came bac to me straight away, and told me the watch was now in stock and was due to be shipped (so why take my money if the watch wasnt in stock in the first place!) then another week passed no watch and no email!. So i sent a further 3 emails and the same lady replied apologising and said that the watch was defo going out tonight and fed ex would email me to confirm this, 3 days later after starting to think i wasnt going to see this watch i had a phone call from fedex telling me that they had tried to deliver a parcel from america but no one was in. I thought america? I havent brought anything from there, or so i thought! I mean how ace is this you buy from a UK registered UK VAT registed company and the watch is delivered from the USA!? Then to add to my great week the Fedex invoice dropped through my door! I argued with watch33 and they never responsed (no suprise there!) and Fedex explained that i was liable regardles for the £40.00 tax charge! I mean what a load of $#*!e Watch33 are, its all right having terms and conditions but where are they when placing your order? Does it show you these?, does it direct you to these or even tell you that you agree to them!? NO is the answer! I defo will not be using watch33 again and will make sure other people learn from my experience! Dont get stung by watch33 you might aswell buy from the uk by the time you add all the charges to the price let me tell ya!

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 (*******@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?

I ordered a Tag tag heuer watch on the 7th January, as at the 3rd March I have not received delivery. I have had replies from Jenny at watch 33 saying the watch will be despatched in the next days but has never happened, the snow has also been used as a delay. I have now asked for a final delivery date or an immediate refund but reading the above reviews I can tell I am going to have to chase for this. My only advice at the moment is to stay away from this site

I suggest you look elsewhere to purchase a watch.

Watch showing as 'in stock' on the website and also confirmed by calling them and asking directly. Two weeks later no watch.

They respond to emails regarding an update on when it is likely to be delivered but will never directly say when, other than the generic '5-7 days, unless it's not in stock when it can take up to 21 days'. Do bare in mind that I called to ask if it was in stock and ready to be delivered - the answer was 'yes'. So why is it taking so long?

I've asked for an immediate refund but not had any response and my bank account is certainly not looking any healthier.

Worth noting that there are other review websites with remarks about watch33.com. One of them is quite amusing - one author has left many positive reviews although claiming each one was their 'first purchase from this company'; how many 'first purchases' can one have?! This just goes to reinforce my suspicions about the reliability of the positive reviews that have been left.

In my opinion I would NOT PURCHASE FROM THIS STORE. Which is a shame really. I really like the watch but would now rather just have my money back!

Regards,
Nick

Update - Thursday 18th Feb

I sent yet another email asking for a refund, Jenny from Watch33.com replied, apologised for the delay and said she will process the refund straight away.

I have started looking elsewhere for a watch (from a shop, not online!). Next time I will use my Barclaycard which provides some reassurance with online purchases.

Regards,
Nick

Update - Monday 22nd Feb

Still no refund. I think this is clear proof of why you should avoid internet shopping.

Update - Tuesday 23rd Feb

I can now see that the refund has come through. That was a stressful experience and one that I hope I never have to go through again! When passing over large amounts of money online - read reviews first! I didn't and ended up with my confidence in online purchases quite rightfully damaged.

Regards,
Nick

Email to Wattch33.com - Yet to get a reply!

***REFUND PLEASE***

Dear Jenny

Without seeming unkind, you seem like a bunch of Charlatans! I have not had a response to my email or any acknowledgement to my request of a refund. If I'd of known your customer relations was this dire I would of avoided you like the plague. The reality of your flashy website is no reflection on your delivery and to your relief the countless negative reviews about watch33 are only read by people like me - after you've taken my cash!

The purchase of an expensive watch is not a frequent occurrence. On this basis I doubt you give a care for your customer as the likelihood of returning won't be for some years. Smart work but surely you must get bored.

If you've bothered to read this far please will you confirm when I will have my money returned.

Corrina

02/02/2010 17:02
To
"WATCH33.com" <*******@watch33.com>
Cc

Subject
Fw: CK01**********

Dear Jenny

The delay in despatch and lack of feasible explanation has made me doubt the reputability of watch33.com. Consequently, after a little on-line dirt digging I have decided I do not want to trade with watch33 and promptly ask for my money back.

I will refrain from posting anything myself on site jabber or the like as long as you guarantee an immediate refund.

Please acknowledge this email and advise when I will have all money refunded.

Regards

Corrina

UPDATE: 04. 02. 10

I feel really bad for having a rant and being abusive. A girl from Watch 33 called Jenny contated me explaining she was really up against it. She did promise a refund and said it'll show in my account 1-2 days.
I feel like a bit of a bully now but I still stand by what I say and would advise you to be aware of all the facts before going there.
I have since ordered my watch from Lingray (yet to get it) but on the face of things they seem legitimate.