Randy M.

In July of 2016 I purchased a JR1491 watch from the Fossil store in Florence, Italy. Less than a month later the watch began to not keep time so I went back into the store. They said they needed to replace the battery as a first attempt to resolve the issue. So they took it back to the back room and after a while came out and said they did not have the battery so I either needed let them send it in for repair and it would take probably 2 months to come back or check with another watch store in another part of the city. I told them that a less than one month old watch that has stopped and they cannot replace the battery and then me being out of having the watch for a longer period of time than I had even owned it was not acceptable to me. They kept telling me that was the only solution but after a time the manager told me she would exchange it for a watch of equal value or if it was more then I would have to pay the difference. I had no problem with doing that and felt at least they were beginning to try to take care of me. I ended up purchasing the same watch but this one had a metal band so it was 40 euros more. I paid the difference and felt all was good. Eight months later I began to have the same problem again. This model is a dual analogue/digital model. The digital model was still doing fine but the analogue part was losing time. The told me the same battery story and took it back to replace the batteries. After about 30 minutes the young lady returned and told me she had the analogue battery replace and it was working find but she needed more time for the other battery and they were busy and I needed to return in the afternoon. There were 3 employees working and the entire time I was there not one other customer even entered the door. This made me suspect of something wrong. I returned in the afternoon and again there was no one in the store but the lady who was there recognized me. The original lady who was working on it in the morning was no where in sight and she told me she would be there until 7:30 p.m.
The lady brought my watch out and said the analogue was fine now but they tried to replace the digital one (which was working) and now it no longer worked at all. I said to her then you are trying to get me to accept back a watch under warranty that you broke? She danced around the issue and finally said they would send it in for me but again 2 months out. I again asked her if that seemed correct in the fact they accepted it to replace the batteries and they in fact broke it in the process and now I am out the watch for who knows how long? She said we will not charge to send it in. Of course not it is under warranty! We continued for a bit debating this and finally she said ok I will do this for you. I will let you purchase another watch in the store except any smart watch at half price. Really! So now I am back to spending more money again to have a working watch that is the second one in 8 months! I told her the last time I had to spend more but at least they gave me full price back against the new one and she is saying only 50% which means I would be spending well over $200 for a $150 watch and maybe get the same thing in less than a year? She locked down her heals and insisted she would do no more so now I have a watch being sent in for no telling how long if ever I will see it again. My suspicion is that I won't get it back until after the warranty is finished and it will be not well repaired and then when it stops again they will say sorry it is out of warranty. I have owned more Fossil watches than I can remember and so has my wife and family and have always had very good luck with them until now. The attitude of the store and even the Fossil client service people I have wrote to simply says they could not care less about customer loyalty and service. Neither Fossil customer service in Italy or the U.S. even tries or respond to my plea for help. The U.S. side said sorry we cannot interfere with the process from other countries. I ask them if they were not an international company like they claimed and got the answer, "sorry you are not satisfied with our answer". So for all you Fossil owners out there beware. If you have a problem the best thing to do is trash the watch and go buy something else. You will be treated like a low life with no respect at all from the company. If you have not purchased a Fossil yet, DON'T! I need a watch but all my money for one is tied up in this mess and no end in sight. May have to spring for a cheap Timex!