zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

After 5 months, the bezel on me Seamaster Bond Auto went bad (would turn clockwise). I called Omega in PA and they suggested I send the watch to Womble Watch Works in GA (I live in JAX FL). I figured taking the bezel off and repairing the defective spring would be an easy "no brainer" so I sent it off. To my surprise, the watch came back in the following condition:

+Various rub marks on the band
+Tool marks on the outside of the bezel
+Dings on the watch case itself
+The watch was placed in a blow up bag for return shipping and the back of the watch rubbed the band. They took no effort to prevent this.
+The back of the watch had been removed and the removal holes dinged and scratched in the center (how can a round tool cause sharp dents to the outside of these holes? My guess is they didn’t use the appropriate tool to remove the back. Also, the little paint blob indicating a factory seal was only partially removed…could some of it be in my watch right now?)

I called Omega PA and explained the situation and was told they could do nothing about it and I’d have to send the watch back to Womble. In short, the customer service rep was totally unhelpful and at times became down right rude. I asked her if the back had to be removed for a bezel change and she didn’t know. Again, she became rude when I asked her to find out from a repair person if this is the case. After her (not me mind you) chat with the repair tech she said it didn’t need to be removed. I then told her I wanted to send the watch to Omega PA as I didn’t trust Womble. She told me they might not honor the warranty if I send it to them! At this point I was starting to get heated up and told her I’d contact Womble with the situation they created with my watch.

I called Womble and inquired as to why the watch back was removed and they told me it was standard procedure in order to get caliber and reference numbers for ordering parts. Anyone who knows anything about Omega watches should know they come with credit cards that have all that info printed on them. A simple phone call to me is all it would have taken to get this info. She told me to send the watch back to them and they’d make good on the repair. I requested a call tag (why should I have to spend another $18 to ship this watch back to them) and she said she had to clear it with her manager. This was a few days ago and I haven’t heard from them since.

I called Omega back. Got the same rude rep and explained my total lack of trust with Womble (do I think they changed the seal and pressure tested the watch?…..huh, NO!). I told her I wanted the name of someone else in the Omega organization in which to discuss this situation and was told in an exasperated tone to send the watch back to Omega Pa. Didn’t get the name of a contact and no effort was made for them to pay for the shipping.

Obviously, I’m not too happy with Omega and their customer service. I don’t want a "repaired and refinished" watch when 5 months ago it was a brand new one. I’m going to contact Omega in Switzerland before I do anything more with this watch. From day one, I was committed to having any service requiring the opening of the watch to be done in Switzerland because I don’t trust the service here in the US due to past experiences with other Omegas of mine. Omega and Womble were informed of this before I sent the watch in for repair.

Can anyone offer any advice on a contact within Omega that I can contact? Am I asking to much to have this new watch replaced with a brand new one?

Thanks, John