Bought a watch from Chrono24 that was stolen, still in mediation after 1 month?

[ellnorris7]

I don't have much experience buying from Chrono24 but I seen a fairly nice 6694over a month ago from a private seller here in the UK. So I paid for it £1700 via the trusted checkout service. The seller sent it via Hermes, when I got home the evening 'it' was delivered, as soon as I picked the package up I knew something wasn't right. Therefore, I video'd myself opening the delivery bag, and found nothing but rolled up bubblewrap.

Initially I had thought the seller had tried to scam me but it would appear that someone from Hermes has cut the bag open, taken the watch out and re-sealed it with brown tape.

Anyway, this has been on mediation for over a month now and Chrono24 claim they cannot release funds, at least not until the investigation has been carried out. It's getting extremely frustrating to be honest and feel as though nothing is really been done about it. I think most people would agree Hermes are useless.

Can anyone offer any advice or has anyone experienced anything similar? Thanks in advance.
Elliot

[zapokee]

Originally Posted by ellnorris7

I don't have much experience buying from Chrono24 but I seen a fairly nice 6694over a month ago from a private seller here in the UK. So I paid for it £1700 via the trusted checkout service. The seller sent it via Hermes, when I got home the evening 'it' was delivered, as soon as I picked the package up I knew something wasn't right. Therefore, I video'd myself opening the delivery bag, and found nothing but rolled up bubblewrap.

Initially I had thought the seller had tried to scam me but it would appear that someone from Hermes has cut the bag open, taken the watch out and re-sealed it with brown tape.

Anyway, this has been on mediation for over a month now and Chrono24 claim they cannot release funds, at least not until the investigation has been carried out. It's getting extremely frustrating to be honest and feel as though nothing is really been done about it. I think most people would agree Hermes are useless.

Can anyone offer any advice or has anyone experienced anything similar? Thanks in advance.
Elliot

Sorry to hear this. Hope it works out for you.

Too late now, but there's a lesson to be learned here: I use Chrono24 only for checking general (often inflated) prices. That's all. Otherwise I'd pay a little more every time to buy from a trusted seller *recognized by this forum.*

I'd also question the surprisingly low price of 1,700 GBP for a decent 6694 Rolex OysterDate. I wouldn't necessarily conclude that the shipping service is the culprit.

[Dan S]

Very sorry to hear a story like this. It definitely seems like the type of thing that could take a while to investigate and resolve, so unfortunately you may have to be patient. Please keep us updated.

[rootbeer7]

Originally Posted by zapokee

Sorry to hear this. Hope it works out for you.

Too late now, but there's a lesson to be learned here: I use Chrono24 only for checking general (often inflated) prices. That's all. Otherwise I'd pay a little more every time to buy from a trusted seller *recognized by this forum.*

I'd also question the surprisingly low price of 1,700 GBP for a decent 6694 Rolex OysterDate. I wouldn't necessarily conclude that the shipping service is the culprit.

I agree that it’s unlikely that a Hermes employee opened parcel. Did you happen to screenshot or save pages from C24. Did you pay through their escrow service?

[77T]

In our area, the detectives arrest 3-4 drivers per year (our county alone) from FedEx, UPS, DHL and other carriers who steal packages.

The easiest theft is the one where the package gets delivered and nobody can determine who was at fault.

The question will be the weight of the package at shipper upon receipt from the seller.

File your claim against the seller who will likely offer proof of shipment. And notify your CC too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Boaters]

Sorry to hear I only look at watched and check prices on Chrono buy from T.S.

[alwayshere]

Originally Posted by 77T

In our area, the detectives arrest 3-4 drivers per year (our county alone) from FedEx, UPS, DHL and other carriers who steal packages.

The easiest theft is the one where the package gets delivered and nobody can determine who was at fault.

The question will be the weight of the package at shipper upon receipt from the seller.

File your claim against the seller who will likely offer proof of shipment. And notify your CC too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

My two cents on this.

1) agree with 77T, check the weight of that package when it was first sent. They would have logged that. Not sure if you still have the package now but check the weight against what was filed.

2) if you paid via Credit card, I would pick up the phone and fight tooth and nail and send the video of it being empty. Hopefully you have paid via CC and not bank transfer.

If you did bank transfer, I hate to say you might be out of luck.

[swaini3]

Sorry to hear. I think it might actually work out for you, since you video'd it. C24 may refund you and ask the seller to claim it stolen via insurance, after the investigation. I hope it works out for you.

[talkingbollox]

This happened to me but the carrier was UPS and from an EU bricks and mortar trader. The delivery was automatically receipted and escrow released following that with no input from me whatsoever. I initially did a Credit Card chargeback/dispute and got it credited back to the card but C24 subsequently disputed it, claiming I was the scammer, and the CC company agreed with them so the credit was reversed! C24 also made me file a claim against UPS even though I wasn’t party to the carrier contract. To cut a long story short I eventually got refunded after the seller was successful in their insurance claim on the lost watch. Had they not made the claim and not been successful I very much doubt I would have had the refund. I asked C24 why I was only refunded after the sellers insurance claim and they never answered. Lesson learnt. Never again from C24 for me.

And oh, law enforcement is non existent. The police did not recognise the crime and asked me to log it with ActionCrime, who “could not determine a party they could pursue”.

[alwayshere]

Originally Posted by talkingbollox

This happened to me but the carrier was UPS and from an EU bricks and mortar trader. The delivery was automatically receipted and escrow released following that with no input from me whatsoever. I initially did a Credit Card chargeback/dispute and got it credited back to the card but C24 subsequently disputed it, claiming I was the scammer, and the CC company agreed with them so the credit was reversed! C24 also made me file a claim against UPS even I wasn’t party to the carrier contract. To cut a long story short I eventually got refunded after the seller was successful in their insurance claim on the lost watch. Had they not made the claim and not been successful I very much doubt I would have had the refund. I asked C24 why I was only refunded after the sellers insurance claim and they never answered. Lesson learnt. Never again from C24 for me.

And oh, law enforcement is non existent. The police did not recognise the crime and asked me to log it with ActionCrime, who “could not determine a party they could pursue”.

I have never bought from C24 but my couple of "near misses" has vowed me to never use that platform again. Terrible site - I only use it to see whats out there and if I do like a piece, I generally contact the dealer directly afterwards.

[Richard Carver]

I did make a purchase from them which worked out fairly well. Only issues were lack of communication with both the seller and C24. The seller has been around for a very long time so I wasn't too worried but the whole thing had such an unprofessional feel I won't be using them again.

It was a nice chubby 16030 case which aren't that easy to find and the price was right.

[RolexGonz]

I bought a legit insert from c24 once, but first looked up the guys username on Instagram and found a match. He was a collector, which gave me some confidence. I then lowballed on C24 and he took the offer :). I did receive the insert, as described. All that said, I don’t think I’d buy a watch on c24. It’s worth checking usernames on other platforms to see if you can verify people, works on the bay too.

[ellnorris7]

Thanks everyone. Appreciate all your advice. It is a real shame but I guess it's a lesson learned. I am certainly going to steer well clear of any purchases on Chrono24 in the future.

[douglasf13]

I’ve purchased a few things on Chrono24 and it went very well each time. Sorry to hear about your troubles.

[Oyster Perp]

Sorry to hear about your problems. The seller sending via Hermes is a ball acher for a start, with anything valued over £10 Hermes is NOT the carrier of choice !! The price was also quite low for the watch so there are two possible 'fails' here. Ive used Chrono 24 only once and that went well. Best of luck

[Cryptochonos1]

Sorry to hear that, that’s the problem with having a middleman destination when shipping something of value, hope this gets resolved in your favor keep us updated

[Woody]

Seems like a fairly classic con to me - advertise watch at a low price and hook a buyer looking for a bargain.....my money is on the seller being the culprit. I would be contacting my CC company to dispute the payment. Hope you get your money back.

[BNA/LION]

Sorry to hear this. I hope everything works out good for you.

[214270Explorer]

Sending watches for service only a few times, it always made me nervous as all get-out. Very stressful.
So many seem to be stolen in transit.

[wb55]

Imagine sending a watch via Hermes. What kind of seller does that?

RMSD covers up to £2.5k and is a much more trusted avenue.

[ellnorris7]

It was originally advertised for £2000 and admittedly I put in a low ball offer and he accepted. I suppose some would say that alarm bells should’ve already been ringing at that point. But look, I don’t know if it’s the seller that’s tried to con me, or whether it’s an honest sale and it’s been stolen in transit, but either way, it’s an experience and a lesson learned (I’m 24 and still probably figuring out the game!). But anyway, I can only hope it gets resolved, we’ll see what happens and I will keep you updated. Thanks everyone for your comments, I really appreciate it

[TomLou]

Even at the advertised Price of 2000 pounds (?) …it was 400-500 pounds too low for a very nice 6694 in today’s crazy prices…and he let it go for 700 pounds below average price. (?)
I don’t believe it was the courier.

[ancientmariner]

Originally Posted by wb55

Imagine sending a watch via Hermes. What kind of seller does that?

RMSD covers up to £2.5k and is a much more trusted avenue.

Yep, seller did not minimise the transit risk. Only a couple of £ difference in carrier cost.

[Wahlberg]

Originally Posted by TomLou

Even at the advertised Price of 2000 pounds (?) …it was 400-500 pounds too low for a very nice 6694 in today’s crazy prices…and he let it go for 700 pounds below average price. (?)
I don’t believe it was the courier.

''400-500 pounds too low for a very nice 6694''

So why isn't 1700-2000 reasonable then, for a maybe not so nice 6694?

[TunaTuna]

Sounds reasonable that chrono is waiting for the investigation to be done. At least you are protected and will get your money back. Chrono24 is really best when dealing with professional and reputable dealers though. Stick to them

[talkingbollox]

Any follow up on this, OP?

[ellnorris7]

Again, thanks everyone for offering your advice. I have received a full refund on Wednesday from Chrono24 so I am pleased with that. I do think after all it could've been the seller that was trying to con me but can't 100% confirm this.

[bob sims]

Well that's great news. Score one for chrono 24.