Rolex dissatisfaction...

[MITS]

I always liked Rolex. It's been in the centre of my heart years now. But one thing that i can't get out of my mind is this and it came once again in my mind after i have just been delivered the new A. Lange & Sohne catalogue. It was a wonderful book with the history and all the models in detail. It included all the retailers, prices and a personal letter to me. When i bought my Rolex noone invited me in a Rolex club, noone sent me a special Rolex catalogue and noone sent me a book of Rolex's history etc. I believe that a manufacture of this stature should have been more organized and care a bit more for it's customers. Don't you think?

[Art161]

Originally Posted by MITS

I always liked Rolex. It's been in the centre of my heart years now. But one thing that i can't get out of my mind is this and it came once again in my mind after i have just been delivered the new A. Lange & Sohne catalogue. It was a wonderful book with the history and all the models in detail. It included all the retailers, prices and a personal letter to me. When i bought my Rolex noone invited me in a Rolex club, noone sent me a special Rolex catalogue and noone sent me a book of Rolex's history etc. I believe that a manufacture of this stature should have been more organized and care a bit more for it's customers. Don't you think?

A good bit of the stature of Rolex comes from the marketing image it has created for itself. It is a mass producer of watches. Nice watches, but with a volume of 750,000 to 1,000,000 per year, hardly exclusive. They have a money machine going. If they thought they could make more money by providing the services you mention, they would do it.

[nch209]

I understand what your stating, and feel it is what it is- a company that sells itself without added customer care. Some recent calls to Rolex NY reinforced to me they don't care much about their customers. I might be off base some, but just calling it the way I see it.

[Andad]

IMO Rolex sell too many watches to be bothered with the buyers.

I do like my Rolex watches despite Rolex.

I remember ringing Rolex in Melbourne to ask about buying some spring bars. The smirk in the Rolex Melbourne's lady voice as she told me that this 'IS NOT POSSIBLE' was visible over the phone.

Rolex watches are

Rolex the Company is

Lets hope Rolex management are Forum Members.

They 'MIGHT LEARN SOMETHING' .

[MITS]

The manufacture has indeed created a huge marketing image for itself, but customer care is set to zero and my own opinion for it is beggining to change a little bit... It's got huge sales but it should have been more interested to have it's customers happy not by just wearing it's watches...It's such a pitty...

[MikeV]

I would be happy if Rolex can just somehow convince their AD's to better train their salesperson's and to make them less "car salesman like"

[dotcomakazee]

Rolex has it's faults, but Rolex is actually owned by a group of charities. So they can't be all bad.

[Parachrom]

With what we pay for one rolex, they cant still be charities ! They cant be a not for profit organization. Not at 5 thou a pop minimum sellking a million watches a year.

[TempoKing]

Comparing Lange with Rolex..?
Is equal to comparing a 3 Michelin stars restaurant with Burger King.

Lange provides state of the art super complicated horological tradition and Rolex satisfies your "hunger" for a feel good watch.

As my old ex-Rolex trained master watchmaker will say:
...Wanna climb mount Kilimanjaro with loafers..?...Go ahead and buy a Rolex.

...and what do I do..?....I buy more and more loafers.
..'scuse me...I meant ...more and more Rolex......

[BigHat]

Well for those of us that enjoy other brands this doesn't come as a surprise. The best customer service I've experienced is from VC. I got a nice leather folio when I bought the watch. About 10 days after purchase I get a letter thanking me for buying it from the President of the US branch. A month later I get a nice leather wallet for no particular reason. Four months later I get a large box of Swiss chocolates for Christmas.

Lange is first class too. They just hired their 500th employee, Rolex probably has more janitors and robots than that.

The aura of Rolex stems from their ad budget. They make solid but unremarkable watches marketed as the ultimate when they aren't even in the top 10. That's why five year olds know Rolex, but 99% of adults couldn't tell you what AP, PP and VC even make. It's just the way it is. Lange sells about 5,000 watches a year (if I recall correctly) and Rolex is at or over a million. Just impossible for them to treat the customer base the same.

[Marrk]

Free gifts are nice, but what kind of watch service have you gotten from Lange? How much do they charge for a standard service? How long does it take? Where are their service centers?

Originally Posted by MITS

I always liked Rolex. It's been in the centre of my heart years now. But one thing that i can't get out of my mind is this and it came once again in my mind after i have just been delivered the new A. Lange & Sohne catalogue. It was a wonderful book with the history and all the models in detail. It included all the retailers, prices and a personal letter to me. When i bought my Rolex noone invited me in a Rolex club, noone sent me a special Rolex catalogue and noone sent me a book of Rolex's history etc. I believe that a manufacture of this stature should have been more organized and care a bit more for it's customers. Don't you think?

[sfrolex]

Originally Posted by TempoKing

Comparing Lange with Rolex..?
Is equal to comparing a 3 Michelin stars restaurant with Burger King.

Burger King? Ridiculous comparison. So many self-loathing Rolex owners.

[Tools]

I can't get noooo....

............Satis faction.......

..

[sfrolex]

Originally Posted by BigHat

Well for those of us that enjoy other brands this doesn't come as a surprise. The best customer service I've experienced is from VC. I got a nice leather folio when I bought the watch. About 10 days after purchase I get a letter thanking me for buying it from the President of the US branch. A month later I get a nice leather wallet for no particular reason. Four months later I get a large box of Swiss chocolates for Christmas.

Lange is first class too. They just hired their 500th employee, Rolex probably has more janitors and robots than that.

The aura of Rolex stems from their ad budget. They make solid but unremarkable watches marketed as the ultimate when they aren't even in the top 10. That's why five year olds know Rolex, but 99% of adults couldn't tell you what AP, PP and VC even make. It's just the way it is. Lange sells about 5,000 watches a year (if I recall correctly) and Rolex is at or over a million. Just impossible for them to treat the customer base the same.

Leather folio ($149.95 value)
Letter from President ($0.00 value)
Wallet ($79.99 value)
Swiss chocolates ($5.99 value)

All for the purchase of a $20,000 - $100,000 watch.

Doesn't seem to be prudent. Like buying a first-class airline ticket for $10,000 and the only extra is a slightly wider seat and a meal that costs 7-dollars more than what is served in coach.

[Numismatist]

Can't we all just agree that:

On the TRF forum, ROLEX is the best, has no problems, beats everything else.

On the Patek forum, Patek is the best, has no problems, beats everything else.

On the Vacheron forum, Vacheron is the best, has no problems, beats everything else.

On the...

You get the idea.

[Brcmpbl]

Business is business. Rolex does not need to try very hard to sell their product, others do. Rolex could probably drop their advertising budget to zero for all of 2009 and hardly suffer...they are the epitome of a brand, they sell themselves.

[Dalton]

Originally Posted by MITS

I always liked Rolex. It's been in the centre of my heart years now. But one thing that i can't get out of my mind is this and it came once again in my mind after i have just been delivered the new A. Lange & Sohne catalogue. It was a wonderful book with the history and all the models in detail. It included all the retailers, prices and a personal letter to me. When i bought my Rolex noone invited me in a Rolex club, noone sent me a special Rolex catalogue and noone sent me a book of Rolex's history etc. I believe that a manufacture of this stature should have been more organized and care a bit more for it's customers. Don't you think?

pffft If you want fluff go with those other brands. Personally I don't care about those things. I care more about the watch and not about a bunch of marketing mumbo jumbo. There is reading material out there so go find it and make sure you're wearing a Rolex when you begin your adventure.

a year ago I bought a Bimmer and decided to get a Mercedes 6 months later. Mercedes sent me roses to congratulate me on my new purchase(My girl thought I bought em for her) But BMW never sent me a thing. The BMW is a superior car and not once did I ever wish for flowers or brochures to come with it. I simply did my homework.

[Quicksilver]

At the end of the day what counts is the quality and value of the watch and Rolex do very well on that score.

Frankly, if I spent $100,000 on a watch the least I would expect is a wallet and a box of chocolates.

You have to compare like with like - although I agree that its nice to get recognition from the company but at the end of the day Rolex are not in the super league for watches and its unrealistic to expect any more than what you pay for which is a very fine watch with a great pedigree.

[boa2]

Originally Posted by sfrolex

Leather folio ($149.95 value)
Letter from President ($0.00 value)
Wallet ($79.99 value)
Swiss chocolates ($5.99 value)

All for the purchase of a $20,000 - $100,000 watch.

Doesn't seem to be prudent. Like buying a first-class airline ticket for $10,000 and the only extra is a slightly wider seat and a meal that costs 7-dollars more than what is served in coach.

You're missing the point. He paid his money and received a watch. He didn't invest in the watch, but the company did invest in him. In addition, his watch retails for less than your low figure, and can be purchased for about the same price as a SS Daytona.

Markk, there is a service center in NY for Lange. Owners seem to get their watches serviced in about 4-6 weeks. As to cost, that would depend upon the movement. Rolex and Lange movements are not in the same realm.

[BigHat]

Originally Posted by sfrolex

Leather folio ($149.95 value)
Letter from President ($0.00 value)
Wallet ($79.99 value)
Swiss chocolates ($5.99 value)

All for the purchase of a $20,000 - $100,000 watch.

Doesn't seem to be prudent. Like buying a first-class airline ticket for $10,000 and the only extra is a slightly wider seat and a meal that costs 7-dollars more than what is served in coach.

I bought the watch at the price charged as I thought it a good value. Their efforts to keep me a satisfied customer are just gravy.

So using your analogy to air travel, you must be wearing a Casio right? Or are you saying wearing Rolex is like riding in coach class. Just trying to understand where you're coming from.

[Rolexitis]

Originally Posted by Numismatist

Can't we all just agree that:

On the TRF forum, ROLEX is the best, has no problems, beats everything else.

On the Patek forum, Patek is the best, has no problems, beats everything else.

On the Vacheron forum, Vacheron is the best, has no problems, beats everything else.

On the...

You get the idea.

X2 PERIOD

[mrkool]

i am not sure what the fuss is all about a super duper complicated watch can not have more functions than a 400 dollar casio and will be less accurate and will need service over time lange or patek or rolex. In times when we did not have the computer chips the price for these watches made sense but in todays world paying 100k-500k for a watch that you know nothing about is just wrong. I do understand that the movement is complicated but how many people, other than the people on these forums, really know that the watch they have is a piece of art and not a time piece?

[BigHat]

Originally Posted by Numismatist

Can't we all just agree that:

On the TRF forum, ROLEX is the best, has no problems, beats everything else.

On the Patek forum, Patek is the best, has no problems, beats everything else.

On the Vacheron forum, Vacheron is the best, has no problems, beats everything else.

On the...

You get the idea.

Chris,
You have a point, but it doesn't have to be this way. Due to the nature of the company, none of us owns a piece of Rolex, but you think some were major stockholders.
We buy their watches, we have a right to comment on what we like or don't like. You are wrong about the PP and VC forums, unlike here, they tend to be more watch people than brand people and there are some serious trashing of company policy when warranted.

We used to have a saying in Marine Corps aviation I find to to apt here as well. Don't attach your balls to your tactics. In other words, you'll never learn and grow if you feel every mistake you make or criticism leveled at you during the flight is an attack on your manhood rather than just some guidance to help you improve. It gets like that here all the time.
I get so sick of the boneheads that surface here with a week old SS Sub that are now the "burning bush" of watch knowledge and do nothing but unfairly disparge other brands.

By the way, many of us feel strongly about the good things Rolex manages to execute and think constructive criticism fosters improvement more than the brain dead loyalty.

[haakon59]

A. Lange and Sohne is an elite manufacturer doing a lot of hand work on it's watches. Rolex is a production watch company which has an output of around 750,000 watches a year. If they had to set up a club too, they would just charge more money. If you want personal attention, save up and buy a Lange or PP, or VC, or AP, or Breguet.

[Welshwatchman]

MITS is new to the forums and hasn't seen the dozens and dozens of previous "Guess what? There are other brands that are "superior" to Rolex" threads.

Big surprise !

The thing is our Rolex bonfire burns so fiercely it can withstand plenty of p!ssing on it.

[sfrolex]

Originally Posted by BigHat

I bought the watch at the price charged as I thought it a good value. Their efforts to keep me a satisfied customer are just gravy.

So using your analogy to air travel, you must be wearing a Casio right? Or are you saying wearing Rolex is like riding in coach class. Just trying to understand where you're coming from.

I was attempting to provide another viewpoint to a thread that, like other threads have from time-to-time, classify Rolex as nothing more than pond scum on the evolutionary scale.

The perceived value of a chocolate bar, a leather folio and wallet (where were they made? China?) is acknowledged, however, I would prefer to have comfort knowing that my Sub can be serviced anywhere in the world with relatively quick turnaround especially given the quantities produced. If this means I do not get the automatic shipment of a Hershey bar to my door, so be it. In the *rare* event that my Sub needs service, I can *walk* to RSC San Francisco, which everybody on the planet agrees is one of the best service centers, and receive excellent service based on everything I have read here.

By the way, this is not a diss of VC, which are some of the more beautiful watches around.

[daveathall]

All the watches mentioned are stunning time pieces, I would cherish any of them, it wouldn't bother me that other people didn't know that what I am wearing was an horological masterpiece and as such commands a premium price because I know, I didn't buy it for them, I bought it for my pleasure, as for after sales, didn't really bother me that I didnt receive a gift, or that no virgin maidens were scattering rose petals in front of my feet as I left the shop.

I just loved my new watch.

[BigHat]

Originally Posted by sfrolex

I was attempting to provide another viewpoint to a thread that, like other threads have from time-to-time, classify Rolex as nothing more than pond scum on the evolutionary scale.

The perceived value of a chocolate bar, a leather folio and wallet (where were they made? China?) is acknowledged, however, I would prefer to have comfort knowing that my Sub can be serviced anywhere in the world with relatively quick turnaround especially given the quantities produced. If this means I do not get the automatic shipment of a Hershey bar to my door, so be it. In the *rare* event that my Sub needs service, I can *walk* to RSC San Francisco, which everybody on the planet agrees is one of the best service centers, and receive excellent service based on everything I have read here.

By the way, this is not a diss of VC, which are some of the more beautiful watches around.

Actually, I find the trashing of Rolex to be as unprofessional as the trashing of other brands. I have owned four of them in the last year and still have three. It has to be obvious that I appreciate the brand and am not a self-loathing owner.

I have yet to deal with the VC customer service. My Overseas is working well and it's a year old. I understand that until about 18 months ago, VC service in the US wasn't all that timely. They have made a major effort to insure parts availabilty to their US repair facility.

In a way, I understand your comments on the wallet and chocolate. My point was that I wasn't expecting any of that stuff. I bought the watch on the merits alone. Boa2 seems to understand that I was just trying to convey that they continue to nuture the relationship. If their repair service stinks, they couldn't send me enough trinkets. If the personal correspondence and gifts are emblematic of what I can expect when I service the watch though I will be happy.

[SLS]

I bought my wife an Lady DJ, she puts it on every morning and takes it off every night, it's a watch to her....and to the other 99% of the Rolex owners out there. When you make the step towards some of these more boutique brands, they actually cater to the "WIS" type of customer, that is not Rolex's niche IMHO.
~Scott

[BigHat]

Originally Posted by SLS

I bought my wife an Lady DJ, she puts it on every morning and takes it off every night, it's a watch to her....and to the other 99% of the Rolex owners out there. When you make the step towards some of these more boutique brands, they actually cater to the "WIS" type of customer, that is not Rolex's niche IMHO.
~Scott

Scott,
I agree with all of the above except the "99% of all Rolex owners" think of it as a watch.
Not only do many think of it as more than a watch, thanks to Rolex marketing, they think it to be the ultimate watch that reigns over all other brands. You can tell Rolex owners that it's truly a super nice watch in the top 1% of those of the planet, but they still trash other brands despite nothing little if anything about them. Personally, I see this as a sad by-product of Rolex marketing, the status aspect out weighs the pride of ownership and curiousity about the operation and maintanance of a piece of wrist art.

You have a great day. I've vented enough.