murcielagoboy
33
I have mixed feelings....
Baron,
Thank you for your sharing your positive and optimistic story with us. I do believe however, that there are two ways of viewing your story.
- the first is that, it was unacceptable for a watch to be returned to you with such a flaw which would manifest itself within just a single day of wearing and that Pateks subsequent actions are not optional but 'necessary' to redeem themselves after such a QC oversight.
- the second is that "these things happen" and that they have gone out of their way to satisfy their customer by way of waiving the cost of the original service too which is "in excess" of their obligations and more than could be reasonably expected.
I believe that the middle ground between these two negative and optimistic scenarios is where we should place our expectations as reasonable customers, in other words - "it shouldn't have come defective but they've more than made up for it" - and the result is your satisfaction and happiness, which is what we have here.
IF (and this is a big IF) Patek deliver this kind of value to ALL customers, and maintain production at levels where product design, finish, QC and service is in line with the past products, and the pieces retain value and exclusivity, then the brand will continue to prosper for many decades into the future and purchasers will happily invest in the brand at ever higher levels without batting an eyelid....
I've heard that PP is now cutting production and the new facilities will be dedicated to service. Bravo.
Over to you Mr T. Stern to see how this pans out.
Patek Philippe - where is the value?
We hear a lot about value on our forums. Some watches give "great value" for what they are. It is not often one hears this on the Patek Philippe forum. But we should. I have had 8 or 9 vintage watches serviced through the Patek Philippe Salon in London ov...
Wise words
a business prevails or fails with customer service. Of course, you do need some half-decent product or service in the first place, but getting customer service right seems a very difficult task. Why else so many other manufacturers (not just of watches) g...
spot on......
.....it is about taking responsibility. On this occasion, they go beyond that.... and that is why they have my custom....and why other manufacturers who don't treat me fairly lose my custom.
Another way to do it would be to offer extended warranty on their watches.
You were very lucky not to have been charged, especially on a 50-year old watch. Are you a significant Patek collector perhaps?
"Significant"? No....not at all....
I have bought two modern watches over the last 5 years...and both watches were modest pieces..... I think I wasn't lucky. I think Patek Philippe treats its customers generally with more respect than other manufacturers....even small collectors like myself...
That's good to hear!
Company values and heritage is one of the things that attracted me to PP in the first place.
Well...
In my view, they simply did the right thing. By which I mean that your reaction is at least partly a reflection of how poorly customers are often treated with regard to the service of vintage watches. I could tell many stories, including my own remarkable...
indeed.....
.....I think we all have horror stories to tell. What I think is frightening is that I have a horror story to tell for EVERY single manufacturer where I have owned a watch.....so it is not as if I have a bone of contention with a specific manufacturer. Pa...
respectfully disagree: as fas as I know there is a waranty period of one year after service
therefore the 570 example could not count. The incident with your 5110 is clearly a good will service! However, if Patek is thinking to be the summit of watchmaking one can expect also they are the summit of customer service. Apparently they are. I have a...
I should explain better.... my original point is still accurate.
My 570 was sent for service. I paid the service fee. The problem happened. They gave me back the service fee. They sent the watch back to be corected. It came back. They asked for no service fee. So...I have paid NOTHING for the 570 service..... That is n...
This is all very interesting...
First off, a lovely story and a beautiful watch. Second, much has been made of late about long Patek service times - many months even for routine servicing of basic movements, and poor (or nonexistent) communications from the manufacturer - so much so tha...
some questions.....
......first, yes it does take many months. But actually, the entire watch is dis-assembled and then re-assembled. It is then tested very thoroughly. Given the attention that is given to teh watch, I don't mind in teh slightest that it takes so long....giv...
I gave 5110J, 5110G and 5110R
for complete service. The guess was 4 months. It's not too bad and my 5110P came back in about 3 months. Best, Kari
Choosing the right people,
then training them correctly and having the correct high standard corporate policy. Best, Kari
The sad thing is that this sounds a normal behaviour to me. A treatment every " luxury " brand should give to their clients.
The bad thing is that it is so rare than when it happens we are amazed. Brands lost the definition of the word " Luxury ". The good thing is that, from time to time, they remember they are luxury brands. Best, Joe. Nicolas
Luxury is only in the price tag
A quick servicing must be the rule, not the exception! I've heard so many stories of bad servicing that i could write a book, and i think many of you could do the same.
all i can say is that I totally disagree with you.....
i want a comprehensive and top quality service. If, to get that, it takes months, then so be it. I am not at all interested in a quick service that is not high quality. Many companies claim to be "high quality", but their service is not. Patek service is ...
A friend of mine took one year to get his 5712 serviced
Glad for them that you (and many other happy customers) can wait peacefully. When i write quick i mean a couple of months (for a time only); i'm aware there's a queue, they likely have many watches to services, so a reasonable time is some months, but as ...
if i was ordering a Big Mac....then yes, I woudl want it fast.
But if i was ordering from a Michelin 3 star....then i would enjoy and savour the wait. I guess that is how I view it. But I also know that the typical service at PP is not the same as the typical service elsewhere..... A year for a 5712 may reflect the f...
The old rule of project management applies
Pick any of the three: high quality, fast, cheap. Service charges are high, therefore we should be able to expect a high quality of a service, done in a fast manner. People are not having it, hence the problem. I watched Mr. Stein saying the new Patek bui...
teh subject of this thread was about how Patek IS focusing on its customer service .... and just how excellent I think it is.
It would be interesting to see just how many Patek owners seriosuly have a problem with customer service. My guess is not that many.
My late mother used to say:
If you want to have good & cheap, then you need to buy two items. Best, Kari
Agree, but vintage is a world apart
For what i know, PP was the only maison able to service every vintage watch. actually i think nobody is so naive to believe that they service a watch for all the months they keep the watch, but i dont take anything for granted ;-)
ok....
....but once a watch has been taken into all its individual components....each component checked and cleaned......re-assembled......at that point the watch is tested for reliability and accuracy and variability. It is tested for some time like that. Hones...
The manufactureres lack watchmakers, this is the truth
In 2 weeks a friend had a tourbillon serviced at the factory of a famous swiss master. It varies on how important and introduced you are
My wive's vintage PP from 40s
stayed over 8 months. But Patek made new golden hands according to the original ones (SFR 70 each), they made a new plastic glass, also ridiculously cheap. Now my daughter's vintage Patek from 1900 will take about 24 months. But they need to remake quite ...
Well written my friend
love your story and I agree - this is value ! Loyalty take a lot of efforts to gain but very little efforts to lose. Kudos to PP! I also heard many good stories about PP 's customer service from Kari whom I met this week. Consistent with what you shared C...
Dear Joe
I always love to read your posts and when on vacation it is even bigger pleasure cos I have more time and can enjoy them slowly Now you are bigger Vlad than Vlad and Vlad junior combined Never was in PP but after this lines of yours...hmmm...value you say...
yes...... i did tell you that this vacation thing was a positive, right?
Thankfully, I tend towards the more simple PPs....simplicity is something to value too.
All that you said to me was..... right...buuuut ;)
I fear the day you'll said me wrong...cos I started to trust you uncontrollably Yes I tend toward simplicity...specially if moon phase is involved
It is the incredible attention....
.... to service are one of the many differentiating factors that makes Patek exceptional. Thanks for sharing!
Music to my ears too, Joe
Thank you also to mention loud such a positive point. Usually people complain loud and never point out the positive elements. I share your point of view totally ; contrary to our today's world which favours fast food, speed dating, or quick delivery, it i...
Mike....
.....when one sees a comment from a Patek owner, there is a tendency to see a positive feedback. Simple.
Yes Joe I agree but...
...you know well that if I have the experience of quite some services with PP, I also have the expetrience of several other brands to compare. So I am not biaised but I can compare facts with my experience. Of course statistics based on the experience of ...
and yes...we share a similar experience....
.....both with PP as well as with other manufacturers. I guess my point is that amongst the PP collectors that i know (and that is some 10-15 people who i know well), there is a very very similar experience.
Awesome service from Patek and great watch !
Just to confirm that the brand is really really top notch for its customer service, I had a story similar to yours. I had my 1951 serviced in 2012. When it came back, I was so happy that it was the only watch I could worn. However, one year later, the wa...
another perfect example.....
......another owner with a great experience. Yes, there are members on this forum who buy many many new Patek Philippe ... and spend considerable sums. They get great customer service. There are also members on this forum who buy very few new Patek......t...
I have mixed feelings....
Baron, Thank you for your sharing your positive and optimistic story with us. I do believe however, that there are two ways of viewing your story. - the first is that, it was unacceptable for a watch to be returned to you with such a flaw which would mani...
am not sure that the negative end of the spectrum is entirely fair....
......losing a jewel from its holding is something that the watchmaker said he had never seen before. Could Patek reasonably have anticipated that, after almost 50 years, the jewel would come loose? I think that is not a reasonable expectation. Reacting t...
Well said
It depends on how you view it; glass half empty or half full. Being a glass half empty type of person myself, I would have probably expected this level of service given the extra time but the refund of the service charge makes up for the incomplete servic...
My two cents...
I think the issue the industry facing now is the lacking of talent pool. Today's generation not necessarily has the patience to be trained and practiced to become a technician at a place like PP. PP, on the other hand, will not sacrify quality of their en...
I do have a question regarding PP's service experience
Is all this excellent service experience limited to the three salons they own or does it apply to its worldwide service centres? Thanks.
that is a question that I do not know the answer....
....my experience with service has been only London Bond Street.
There are different service centers all over the wolrd
For instance in NYC (but not for very complicated watches were a very high trained skill is need), Geneva, etc... Or also local Salon watchmaker (there is one in Paris) who have the possibility to check specific movements. Also you have the volume taken: ...
Because I travel a lot, I have always used either London or Geneva Salons.
I guess if you go through an AD and the watch is sent to Geneva, the service is the same. But the AD could be slow to send the watch and that might cause some delays people are complaining. Best, Kari
Service shall determine the success or failure of a company.
Thankfully PP seems to realize this. I have been documenting in detail my experience servicing a Ref 96 in another thread: Send a ref 96 to Patek for servicing? I think it is worth nothing that so far the only operational hiccup was from HSWA, not Genève,...
I think I disagree about the warranty period of servicing
I don't think there is a link between the time between servicing schedule and what a work must be garanteed for. Brands usually say you have to service your watch because of oil ageing and seals ageing. This has no link with the problem with something not...
I think we agree on most points; perhaps I can explain the link I draw.
Let me first say that all my experiences with PP services have been excellent. I as well prefer a properly serviced piece to an improperly serviced one, regardless of warranty. My judgement of PP SAV is excellent, and like with any company, there can be i...
If a watch "needed" a service in under 36 months....
.....yes...i would be disappointed and surprised. So too, I expect, would Patek Philippe. And my guess would be that they would make the situation right. The difference, it seems, between us is that I am not focussed on the warranty. Rather, I am focussed...
I bought a "double sealed" 5134P from 2002 (if I am correct)
and took the watch to London Salon. Kevin, the chief watchmaker, had a look and said "oils are still good, so are the seals and the watch is accurate. Wear it 2-3 years and service it then". Best, Kari
I too would expect the same.
Although I am not treating the warranty and the actual behavior of the company as mutually exclusive options. Please bear in mind that I am speaking from a position of what is 100% satisfaction to date. I see your point of the expectation for PP to remedy...
Only Good Words!
I must agree. I had purchased my Calatrava from Geneva with a regular buckle and went back after 2 months, wanting the deployment clasp. Not only did they just only charge me the official difference in price (post due examination of the buckle) but I did ...
Respectfully disagree
So if I understand the situation correctly, you had your vintage watch sent for service, waited patiently for months only to receive a watch back that wasn't functional? Then you sent it back and waited ANOTHER three or four months and now have a properly...
Good questions and i will answer them fully....
1) Why didn't quality control pick up on the problem initially? Well, the problem that occured was that the jewel in the watch came loose. This is an extremely unusual and highly infrequent event. In fact, as I stated in my post, it is the first time that...
Probably after the first time they wanted to be 10x sure
My guess would be after they attached the jewel they went examining all others, as well as movement screws, etc.
You are happy
And in the final analysis, this is all that actually matters now. They've got a satisfied, happy customer that feels great towards PP. From this point of view, we couldn't ask for anything more. But my dear Baron, you've seen from his thread alone, how ex...
you make a good observation....
......we are all different and with varying expectations. The cynic would say that this episode only goes to demonstrate how we have come to see customer service as "outstanding" customer service. Further, just how many "luxury" brands fall way short of e...
Thanks for the clarifications...
And to answer your question, no, I've never had any experience with Patek customer service. It's precisely because of the long service times that I've avoided routine service for my Pateks. Until the turn around time becomes more reasonable, if ever, I've...
Thank you, Sam.
Yes, I can be patient with service times... but I do expect a high quality. Over the last 9 services....I have not been disappointed.
Now I cry! Is Kerri really leaving?
I have nothing else but good things to say about her. But the same applies to the whole team in Patek London Salon. Sometimes when I have nothing better to do, I will list ten examples. Simply, it can't get any better. And Joe, you are right: that's value...
Real shame....
.....but yes...she is leaving the industry. You are correct about the London team....all excellent. But Kerri was my direct contact...so i will miss her. On the definition of value...... from this thread, we can see that some peopel are just incredibly ha...
An experience better than any HQ marketing
Thanks for sharing your story Baron, Like reading your surprise and emotion. Shall this example always remind you of this service experience and bring a message. It\'s a good looking watch, too. Congrats. Cheers, Kolosstt
