UK service nightmare

Please can someone provide contact details for someone in IWC customer service.

I am so shocked and appalled at what is going on here, and have received no apology or contact at all from IWC despite several attempts to engage them.

I have tried sending emails to the generic 'concierge' and using the web form but had no response. I also asked my local boutique for contact details and was ignored.

Situation:

I paid £1110(!) last week at my local IWC boutique to collect my watch after a service which explicitly requested (and stated on the paperwork that it had been done) full replacement of dial and hands.

However disappointingly it turns out the hands have not been replaced, despite the service paperwork stating this. This is super obvious as the original hands were Tritium. How on earth this passed any QC process is beyond me.

Just as concerningly, from the short time I had the watch back in my possession the timekeeping seemed out of spec (if the base movement service is priced at £730 I am expecting a good level of accuracy), and there were dust particles on the dial and under the glass.

The service update I received today - having returned the watch immediately last week at the boutique - is that they will proceed with the instruction to complete the work originally requested, but I should note that "the hands were replaced at service". No they weren't - that's the whole reason why the watch has been sent back!! What on Earth is going on?

I am now £1110 out of pocket with nothing to show for it and extremely disappointed and upset.

A premium service price does demand a premium service and unfortunately I feel IWC has fallen well, well short here.

Oh no. This is so sad.

I understand your disappointment and angryness. I hope that you and your watch will be better taken care of this time.

I also had service experience already that didn't come well at first but in the end all turned out well.

My recent experiences in the IWC boutique in London Bond Street were "meh" at best. In terms of welcome, politeness and feeling special I get a better experience having my shoes repaired in the local Timpson's. If you're there to buy a new watch then they are all over you, but if it's just a service or a complaint about the last service then they can't get you out fast enough. I think it's a Richemont thing because JLC, just down the street, is exactly the same -poor servicing (my JLC also had to be returned when it came back faulty after a "full service") and poor customer experience unless you're buying. Many years ago it was a pleasure to visit the AD to get a service but I'll never have a watch serviced by IWC or JLC again because I don't think they care any more.

Regarding the hands - and apologies for the daft question - are you sure that they have not replaced them with "aged" Super Luminonva to look like the old Tritium hands?

My advice to anyone taking a watch for service would be to take lots of close-up photos with the watch on a newspaper to confirm the date. That way when it comes back in worse condition than it went in you'll have some proof.

And indeed another trip to the IWC boutique is needed for my watch which I just got back after its second repair under the service warranty. That's one full service and three returns beause IWC's servicing and quality control are so poor. Given that it's seven+ weeks each time the watch is in it means that in the less that 100 weeks since the original service my watch will have been with IWC for more than 20 of them. Assuming it comes back working I'm going to sell it and my other IWC's and buy into a better brand.

I honestly don't think that they care enough to doanything about it even if there were someone to contact.

Have you filled in their post-service feedback? You can leave your email address for someone to contact you. I've just filled it in after my ongoing saga, but I don't expect them to contact me. The survey is at iwc.com/cs-feedback

Best of luck.

To be honest- unless there was a very specific reason to have a manufacturer do the service, I would always favour a good independent watchmaker.

The service will usually be better, faster and cheaper- and you have the ability to form a relationship with them and make sure that specific requests are honoured (for example, no polishing, no changing of hands etc etc). That has certainly been my experience of the last 10-20yrs, and outside of a clear warranty issue I will never use any AD for service for any of my watches again.

Hello all,

An update. Since this post, the watch has had to go back to IWC twice. So this is now the third attempt.

They are literally incapable of basic service. This is not to fault the boutique staff, it's their job to sell watches not repair them.

I am at my wits end with the sheer incompetency and lack of attention to detail.

PLEASE will someone provide contact details for customer service based in Switzerland so this can be sorted for once and all.

To anyone reading this I urge you to stay far away from IWC, I am totally off the brand.

I am happy to share photographic evidence of the abysmal quality of "official" IWC service.

Same here this week, except I'm on my fourth attempt. My watch's history is: Full Service, Returned a week later under guarentee because of problem. Returned again under guarantee because of same problem. IWC fixed this problem but caused a different problem so I returned it immediately under guarantee. I went to pick it up this week and the problem was still not fixed - it was as if the watch had just sat in the safe for 4 weeks. The boutique said it had been to Switzerland, but wherever it's been the watchmaker clearly didn't fix it and whoever does Quality Control for IWC didn't check it before sending it back. It's an obvious physical problem, nothing to do with the movement or the way the watch runs - it took me seconds to show the boutique staff that it was still broken and they were, as ever, apologetic but they can't do anything if IWC are incompetent. In the last 6 months it's been with IWC more than it's been with me and I still haven't got it. I've filled the post-service survey in twice now. It asks for the watch's serial number and email address so they can get in touch. I added in the service reference as well but so far, 6 weeks after the first survey, I've heard nothing. It's disgraceful. I'll never have anything serviced by IWC again and I'll certainly never buy an IWC again.

Good luck with complaining but to be honest even if you got to the MD I don't think they would care enough to do anything about it.

Thank you so much for your reply. Wow, our experiences are basically identical here. Down to the boutique staff claiming the watch has been to Switzerland when it probably was just the guy in the back.
If anyone at IWC is reading this and has a ounce of self respect please can you get in touch and intervene here. This is horrific and we can't even be the only ones this is happening to.

Just to complete this for me - I have finally got my watch back and it seems to be fixed. The staff in the shop were apologetic, but overall it's been a very disappointing experience. Hopefull hat's my last ever visit to IWC. I won't be going back unless I absolutely cannot get my other IWCs serviced by an independent watchmaker.

Hans- I wish you luck with your watch.