Serious watch lovers - amazing customer service story.

[Rick Lee]

I wore my Sinn U2 to Germany and it's been losing about two min. per week. No one in the US can replace the argon capsule in this watch and it's a real pain to send it to Germany for the job, which has to be done anytime it's opened up. I wasn't going near Frankfurt on this trip, which is where Sinn is based. Just happened to browse their site yesterday and saw that there was a service partner with the argon capsule refilling cert. a whopping 7 km from where I was staying. I called them and they said to bring it on by. I figure the job would take a few days and I'm flying home in the morning, so I was fine with leaving it there and having them ship it. Then they said UPS charged 130 Euros for shipping and insurance and that killed the deal. But I brought it by today and they said they'd have it done before closing if I came back. While there I fell in love with a Sinn 857, which was plenty cheaper than here in the US, even without the VAT refund. But they didn't take credit cards and I couldn't withdraw that kind of cash from an ATM in a foreign country in one day. Oh well. Wifey and I went shopping in Duesseldorf and then came back to pick up my U2 before closing.



By then the lady I had spoken with was gone and an employee had my U2 in an envelope waiting for me. I asked her if there was any way they could take a credit card for that 857. She called the boss and then said the boss would be by in a few min. Five min. later the first lady I had spoken with and her husband, the owner, showed up and asked how they could help. He looked pretty lean and tough and spoke very fast (all this was in German). They thought the woman I had come in with earlier was my mom, but she was a friend I was visiting, so they knew I had connections or "roots" in the area and obviously was a Sinn guy. They said to just wire them the money in the next few weeks. But I said the shipping cost of 130 Euros was outrageous and the boss said, "No, you take the watch today and send us the money when you get home." I couldn't believe it.

So he sat down to start the paperwork and tax refund docs. He even stamped it that I had paid cash, so I could get the VAT refund immediately at the airport. We talked watches for a while and then guns. He said he carried a Glock for work and I asked why he carried a Glock to run a watch shop. He said the Sinn gig was his hobby and he was a customs special investigations cop for his real job. Unf&*kingreal. Here was a German Zollbeamte stamping a tax doc that I had paid cash for a watch, when I hadn't paid him anyting for it. He copied my passport and took a business card and that was about it. He said to drop him an email when my bank had it all taken care of. Where else in the world does this stuff happen? We're talking around $1800 USD on a handshake here.

Before I left he brought me a Sinn coffee mug in a nice shopping bag and told me to have a great flight. He and his wife were so awesome.

[Noah930]

Great story, Rick.

I've been eyeing a couple of nice watches for the past week or two. My wife is not going to like this thread...

[David]

Too cool!

[herr_oberst]

Better make sure you don't forget to wire the cash, he's got a Glock.

(Great story, thanks for sharing)

[Don Plumley]

Isn't great customer service great! Wonderful story!

[campbellcj]

Cool story! I've been wearing a 757 almost every day since I got it. Kinda big for me but as expected, it is built like a tank and I've had zero probs.

[Hugh R]

Did a search saw lot of ads for the watch, but no explanation on the argon capsule thing, what is it.

[Joeaksa]

Damm, should have had you pick up an extra for me!

Good deal!

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

Did a search saw lot of ads for the watch, but no explanation on the argon capsule thing, what is it.

It's an inert gas. But that's not important right now...

[porsche4life]

I'm curious what they use the argon for as well...

And gorgeous watches! Makes my invictas look like Childs toys

[Eric Coffey]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Damm, should have had you pick up an extra for me!

Good deal!

No Kidding! RL - That is the exact watch I was talking about when we last spoke about Sinns. I hate you! See you in a couple days.

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

I'm curious what they use the argon for as well...

Argon gas and dehumidifier capsule eliminate moisture intrusion in virtually any environment.

Sinnwatches.com - Sinn Watches

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by Eric Coffey

No Kidding! RL - That is the exact watch I was talking about when we last spoke about Sinns. I hate you! See you in a couple days.

Eric,

You can tell he really thinks of his friends!

[A930Rocket]

Never heard of the watch, but it's a great story!

[Rick Lee]

Sorry guys, but they didn't exactly have a bunch of 857's on the back stockroom shelf. However, they did have a large selection of Sinn's and sold no other brands. I'm sure they'd hook you guys up if you wanted to contact them. Just not sure about the VAT refund. I do have a good friend in the neighborhood who could do the deal for you and then ship for way less than UPS wants, but again, not sure about the VAT.

BTW, VAT in Germany is 19% and I only got 10% back at the airport (which almost caused me to miss my flight yesterday). Is there some way to get the rest of the VAT refunded? My wife's LV bag in Paris got her only 12% VAT refunded.

[azasadny]

Excellent story, but it would have been even better if he was a Sig guy!!

[Rick Lee]

I told him I was a SIG guy and not a Glock fan, but that I agreed they were excellent guns. He was pretty surprised when I told him private party sales between residents of the same state were legal in much of the US. He also told me he had done some "training" in San Diego, Ft. Benning and "someplace near Las Vegas they wouldn't tell me how to find on a map." Yes, I suspect this guy was a badass who ran a watch store as a hobby. He looked very tough.

[masraum]

Awesome story. My wife was amazed.

[masraum]

Who votes on these threads anyway? I can understand a 1 for a thread that belongs in PARF, and I have seen some other 1 star threads, but for this one? I had to fix it.

[jriera]

Have a similar story with a 'private' diamond dealer in Amsterdam, first thing I did after I came back was to wire the money, even before I unpack .. Old World customer service!!

Congrats on the watch.

Did you got much Altbier while in Dusseldorf??