Be careful with Bob's Watches - My Recent Experience

[Watchfan8]

I apologize for the lengthy post, but it’s worth the read of you buy/sell watches from Bob’s. I recently agreed to sell my 126610ln Submariner to Bob’s watches for $12k and wanted to share my experience. I can’t believe the lack of professionalism and and sketchiness from one of the largest online dealers, so hopefully others can take caution with dealing with them in the future. I’ll detail a timeline below to try to keep things organized.

All times will be in PST (Bob’s local time)

3/8/23 - 12:48pm: Received an email from Rachel that my watch arrived at their office. Rachel stated that the watch would be opened under video and I would get a call by the end of the day.

3/8/23 - 4:21pm: I received a call from Rachel Hanna stating that my watch “failed service terribly”. I was surprised by this because my sub always kept time at -2 seconds per day. I thought something may have happened in shipping to damage the movement, but she said this was impossible. She then offered me $10,400 for my watch because it would need to be serviced (this is a 2020 126610ln still under warranty). I told her I would not be accepting the offer because this sounded strange and I could get the watch serviced for free.

3/8/23 - 4:30pm: I email Rachel asking for the video of the unboxing (to see if was damaged in shipping) and to reiterate I want my watch back the next day on 3/9.

3/8/23 - 4:51pm: I call Rachel because I haven’t received a response to my email - no answer.

3/8/23 - 4:55pm: I call Rachel again because she won’t respond and their store is about to close for the day - no response.

3/8/23 - 4:56pm: Rachel emails me that Fedex left for the day, and says there’s no way a watch can get messed up by being shipped in a box.

3/8/23 - 5:00pm: I email Rachel to ask again for the video of the unboxing, and to ask if they opened up the case to inspect the watch.

3/8/23 - 5:01pm: Rachel replies by email to say she’s unsure how to send the video of the unboxing and that they did not open the watch.

3/8/23 - 5:02pm: I email Rachel to ask if she can call me to discuss - no response.

3/9/23 - 10:21am: I email Rachel to ask for the tracking info for the watch and to let me know what they found to be wrong so I could take it to my AD.

3/9/23 - 10:25am: Rachel calls me - she said she “spoke with their CEO” who is “out of the country” and could now offer me $11,400 for the watch. I declined the offer and asked to speak with the watchmaker to find out what was wrong with the watch. She puts me on hold and eventually Rachel picks up and says it failed their timegrapher twice. She agrees to send the tracking info in 5 minutes. STILL, nobody has clarified what is “wrong” with the watch even though I have repeatedly asked.

3/9/23 - 2:25pm: I never received the tracking info, so I emailed Rachel again - no response.

3/9/23 - 2:56pm: I call Rachel at this point to make sure they are actually shipping the watch this day. Rachel picks up and says they can now offer me $11,900 for the watch. At this point I’m so frustrated I decline the offer and tell her to just ship the watch back. She also says she had sent the tracking earlier, and “checks” to see if the email sent (it’s 2023, emails don’t fail to send and we have been emailing each other for days now).

3/9/23 - 3:06pm: Rachel provides the tracking info.

3/10/23 - 9:28am: The watch is delivered to me and I notice there are noticeable scratches on the lugs that weren’t there before I sent it to them. I believe these were caused by putting the watch on their timegrapher. I emailed Rachel the before and after photos.

3/10/23 - 10:01am: Rachel responds that they video everything that comes in/out and they will review.

3/10/23 - 10:24am: Lauren (Rachel’s boss?) calls me and offers to have me send in the watch and they’ll polish it. I walk through this whole story with her and she finally comments that the amplitude of my Watch measured 170. I told her that I have no interest in sending a watch to them again, and a polish isn’t acceptable to me. I keep all my watches in unpolished condition so that’s the last thing I’d want. I told her to talk to her boss to come up with an actual resolution.

3/10/23 - 10:39am: Sharon, the director of operations at Bob’s watches calls me to get the story and I supply her the same photos as I did earlier. She said she would review all the videos/images and call me back.

3/10/23 - Afternoon - I spoke with Sharon multiple times and she admits they scratched the watch and can offer three solutions 1. Send the watch to them for a polish 2. They will buy the watch for $12k 3. They will give me $150 to get the watch polished at an AD. I ended up taking the $150 because I don’t want the watch polished.


I would strongly suggest NOT doing business with Bob’s in the future. This has been an extremely frustrating process and would hate to see anyone else go through something like this with such an expensive watch. I’m not sure if they play games to try and lower their offer (like they did in my case), but every time I asked for my watch back, they would increase their offer until we almost reached the original amount of $12k. As far as performance of the watch goes, I don’t own a timegrapher, but it hasn’t lost more than 2 seconds a day since I received it back. Below are the before and after pictures of it being at Bob’s watches. I would normally never bash a company online like this, but I feel like this needed to be shared as the lack of professionalism while dealing with collectable items is absolutely ridiculous.

Before 1:


Before 2:


After 1:


After 2:


After 3:


After 4:

[TheVision]

Not just that but certain established resellers here are using the same tactic. Sent my datejust to one ..he texted me later with a scatched up clasp and said the value just dropped by $300. If I want it back, I have to pay him $200 for return shipping! I still broke even so didn't care but won't do business with him again. I had bought the watch from a AD and went home and put it in the pouch and there were no scratches when I had sent it off. If selling, I'd make a high resolution video and photo before u sent it over but even at that, if someone tempers on their end, I mean, it's not exactly like ya can sue them....either pay for return shipping (which you'll get ripped off at) or accept their low ball offer and let them polish the watch and resell at 40% more.

Perhaps the upcoming cpo program will change things a bit.

[Islero]

Thank you for sharing your experience. You would think an established vendor would take greater care and have better customer service.

[EEpro]

Wow. Sorry that happened. I'd have taken the $12k myself the second time around. Let them deal with the scratches.

[hgg43c]

Wow. I had actually reached out to Bobs @ the beginning of the year to see if they wanted to buy one of my watches. Ended up working with EWC and that transaction was very pleasant & transparent.

[Tridor]

Those "scratches" looks more like gouges. If they are gouges, then laser welding to the case could be required. I would take it to an AD for an evaluation.

[HERITAGE82]

They were trying to haggle you down which is a sad tactic. Also, the $150 would not make me happy either since those scratches are legit.

Crappy situation but I would have sent it back and gotten the original $12k and be done with the watch.

My

[Mr. K]

My experience is when dealing with them expect to get a counter offer for condition for a few hundred buck. Regardless of the condition of your watch. They know after you already mailed the watch, most sellers will just take the hit.

It's just a way to shave a little more off the buying price. Just know this going in.

[Annan]

Don't blame you at all for being upset and thanks for sharing. I've sold/traded in several Rolexes over the years but have never been willing to do business with anyone without a firm and final offer up front. DavidSW has been especially pleasant to deal with in this regard.

[TheVTCGuy]

Originally Posted by Mr. K

My experience is when dealing with them expect to get a counter offer for condition for a few hundred buck. Regardless of the condition of your watch. They know after you already mailed the watch, most sellers will just take the hit.

It's just a way to shave a little more off the buying price. Just know this going in.

I agree it happens all the time, doesn’t make it right or a respectable business practice.


OP, I hope you sent a link of this thread on a very popular watch site to Bob’s.

[RustE]

Unfortunately emails still do fail to send in 2023, especially at businesses that use Microsoft Outlook as an email server. The remainder of the timeline certainly suggests she was avoiding dealing with any problems.

[southtexas]

Did you have the watch timed upon its return? Is it truly in need of movement service?


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[the dark knight]

Originally Posted by Annan

Don't blame you at all for being upset and thanks for sharing. I've sold/traded in several Rolexes over the years but have never been willing to do business with anyone without a firm and final offer up front. DavidSW has been especially pleasant to deal with in this regard.

+1. DavidSW has been very easy to deal with when selling watches.

[dannyp]

First and foremost: scratches unacceptable. But that's a totally separate issue from the main one: lack of transparency.

In this case, I think the lack of transparency was more about uninformed employees than shadiness. There's a known issue with 32xx movements, where they are unable to maintain amplitude, which eventually impacts accuracy (though not right away).

A reseller like Bob's, offering its own warranty, has every reason to be cautious as it will be on the hook for any problems occurring during that period.

However, transparency could have been improved substantially with:

1. A list of tests that any watch must pass prior to closing a deal agreed upon in principle. Timekeeping, amplitude, etc.

2. Employees better informed about possible reasons for rejecting a watch or offering a lower price.

3. Better communication between employees - mostly so that the first communication could have spelled out the issue.

4. Recommendations to sellers to have timekeeping and amplitude checked by watchmaker, seek warranty service if applicable, etc. in order to receive the highest offer from them.

So, OP has every right to be upset, but I think this can be a teachable moment for the reseller, rather than a caution as to its business ethics.

[rpstrimple]

What a terrible experience, but thank you for sharing. You should throw it on a time graph and see what it actually says. I highly doubt there’s anything wrong with it. They probably try this tactic on unsuspecting sellers.

[Driver8]

Very unprofessional from Bob's on pretty much every level there. Shocking stuff. Thanks for posting.

However, I can't for the life of me fathom why you didn't take the $12K when it was finally offered. You originally wanted to sell the watch for $12K, meaning the watch is already "in the departure lounge" as far as you're concerned, and when they eventually offer you the $12K, you decline. So as it stands you still have to sell the watch, only now it's also got scratches on it!

I totally get not wanting anything else to do with them, but at this point the watch was already with them (so no more concerns of shipping issues for you), it's been damaged by them, and they were offering what you wanted. Feels like cutting your nose off to spite your face, so apart from the $150, the only person worse off here is you I'm afraid.

Anyway, hope it all works out for you.

[BillA]

Agree with earlier poster, take the $12K and be done.

[dannyp]

Now that you've declined, it's worth adding: You should probably send to RSC for service for the low amplitude issue, whether you decide to keep or sell.

[DeVille]

The same people who remove some of the original number of links to max out for a 7" wrist, then charge $150+ each if you need them...

[Watchfan8]

Originally Posted by Mr. K

My experience is when dealing with them expect to get a counter offer for condition for a few hundred buck. Regardless of the condition of your watch. They know after you already mailed the watch, most sellers will just take the hit.

It's just a way to shave a little more off the buying price. Just know this going in.

Yeah, I kind of figured they would offer $100-$200 less than the original offer because they would give it a light polish to make it mint condition. By the end of dealing with them, I was so frustrated and almost felt like I got scammed when they were unresponsive, which is why I decided not to sell the watch to them at all.

I ended up taking the watch to my AD and they said they would be able to get the scratches out without polishing it too much. I'm wearing the watch as it is for now though.

[Watchfan8]

Originally Posted by Driver8

Very unprofessional from Bob's on pretty much every level there. Shocking stuff. Thanks for posting.

However, I can't for the life of me fathom why you didn't take the $12K when it was finally offered. You originally wanted to sell the watch for $12K, meaning the watch is already "in the departure lounge" as far as you're concerned, and when they eventually offer you the $12K, you decline. So as it stands you still have to sell the watch, only now it's also got scratches on it!

I totally get not wanting anything else to do with them, but at this point the watch was already with them (so no more concerns of shipping issues for you), it's been damaged by them, and they were offering what you wanted. Feels like cutting your nose off to spite your face, so apart from the $150, the only person worse off here is you I'm afraid.

Anyway, hope it all works out for you.

I still do really enjoy the watch, and I actually had the watch back when I was deciding what to do with Bob's. I'm planning on building on the collection, as my main intention for selling this watch was to fund another piece. Lesson learned, hopefully others can take something away from this.

[VegasBoy]

Thanks for the write up. Sorry You had to go through all that frustration.

[het5385]

DavidSW is great. Never an issue. Never a counter offer.


Have dealt with bobs and never sold to them for the same reasons, just seem off with them.

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by EEpro

Wow. Sorry that happened. I'd have taken the $12k myself the second time around. Let them deal with the scratches.

Same, exact same. I had to re read it twice

No excuse for the treatment from Bob’s, but seems like you could’ve got out for what you wanted

[NYG1121]

That is awful. I have never sold or bought from them but have inquired here and there. Always was put off by how disorganized they seemed compared to the TS. And the offers were terrible

[Watchfan8]

Originally Posted by brandrea

Same, exact same. I had to re read it twice

No excuse for the treatment from Bob’s, but seems like you could’ve got out for what you wanted

I didn’t up selling the watch for the $12k because I don’t trust Bob’s at all and I don’t want to do business with them. After, everything that happened, who knows if they would’ve paid out the $12k. I still enjoy the watch, and I’m planning on keeping it in the collection instead of selling it and using the funds for something else.

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by Watchfan8

I didn’t up selling the watch for the $12k because I don’t trust Bob’s at all and I don’t want to do business with them. After, everything that happened, who knows if they would’ve paid out the $12k. I still enjoy the watch, and I’m planning on keeping it in the collection instead of selling it and using the funds for something else.

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[101031-28]

Sorry this happened, OP.

But why not take the original 12k and leave them with the scratched up watch?

[amh]

This issue is all too common with Bob's. I don't consider them a "Trusted Seller." (If I were local I'd consider visiting their B&M store)

[pa1113]

Wow. Sorry to read this about a "big" online seller. This should be pinned somewhere as it wasn't one bad employee. This was clearly a directive.


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