Bad experience at Poh Ling Watch in chinatown

[gavinang83]

Sent my sinn chronograph to a local shop for repair and servicing on 22th mar and was told on 6th apr that it's ready for collection. But he told me the second hand broke and got replaced by a non-original hand. Instead of apologizing, he blamed it on the model of the watch.

This person is also dishonest, the agreement was to seek my approval if the cost was above $350. When he told me the cost was $380, i told him that I do not wish to proceed and wanted to collect the watch back. He then said that the technician was halfway through the repair/service and lowered the cost to $350. I lan lan had to proceed.

Went to the shop on 7th apr hoping to resolve the situation, shop owner did not allow me to bring the watch to THG for repair, he kept claiming his profit margin is very little for such repair/service. (How is that any of my problem, your so called 'Ex Tutima technician' damaged my watch.) He also claimed that anyone who tried to remove the second hand will break it, due to the make of it.

Watch also wasn't serviced properly, various crown position can't be engaged properly when pushing it back. Caseback was also badly scratched when using the caseback opener. He also claimed its unavoidable.

To end this, he said he will get the technician to rectify the problem and source for an original hand to replace.

[triton]

thanks for sharing your experience.

IIRC, yours is a sinn 103, hence there is no Ar-Dehumidifying Technology hence it is possible to send the watch for service outside sinn factory.

personally i prefer to send my sinn back to THG for service even if there is a absence of Ar-Dehumidifying Technology as most watch technicians do not have experience (enough experience since they do not handle many sinn) to service sinn watches compared to rolex.

the shop in this case has breached the mutual agreement which is not acceptable, however i do give the shop a benefit of doubt because they would not know if it would exceed the $350 as agreed until the watch is being serviced. this brings back to the point mentioned earlier that most watch technician outside do not handle enough of sinn watches to give customers an estimated quote of repair.

to use a third party second hand is really not unacceptable. the second hand got damaged because the watch technician does not have enough experience in handling sinn watches. servicing a tutima is not the same as servicing a sinn despite both having similar movement (ETA based)

different watch brands requires different case back opener. just like rolex/seiko/etc have their own case back opener tools. the case back was again damaged due to the watch technician using a generic case back opener.

the lesson most of us can take away from this experience is

1) always go to service centre whenever possible unless one is very confident of the watch technician experience and capabilities. just like how some seiko owners prefer to engage the services of a watch technician in east. the watch technician handles so many seiko, hence experience is great.

2) before going to a third party watch technician, do ask around in forum if anyone has any experience in dealing with the watch technician (cavet emptor - this does not mean that the person who gives a thumb up on a particular watch technician means the watch technician can service watches without glitches)

once again, hope thread starter can get back your watch soon and send it to sinn for a re-look.

Sent my sinn chronograph to a local shop for repair and servicing on 22th mar and was told on 6th apr that it's ready for collection. But he told me the second hand broke and got replaced by a non-original hand. Instead of apologizing, he blamed it on the model of the watch.

This person is also dishonest, the agreement was to seek my approval if the cost was above $350. When he told me the cost was $380, i told him that I do not wish to proceed and wanted to collect the watch back. He then said that the technician was halfway through the repair/service and lowered the cost to $350. I lan lan had to proceed.

Went to the shop on 7th apr hoping to resolve the situation, shop owner did not allow me to bring the watch to THG for repair, he kept claiming his profit margin is very little for such repair/service. (How is that any of my problem, your so called 'Ex Tutima technician' damaged my watch.) He also claimed that anyone who tried to remove the second hand will break it, due to the make of it.

Watch also wasn't serviced properly, various crown position can't be engaged properly when pushing it back. Caseback was also badly scratched when using the caseback opener. He also claimed its unavoidable.

To end this, he said he will get the technician to rectify the problem and source for an original hand to replace.

[gavinang83]

[triton]

based on the conversation, first the shop request for $380.

however when you mentioned that you don't want to service since above $350, shop ask you if you ok for $350. when you agree, they proceed. so why ask for $380 since they can do it for $350.

[gavinang83]

I believe this shop is trying to ask for more, when I declined (mutual agreement was to seek my approval if above 350), he then lowered it to 350 and added technician had already proceeded, leaving me not much of a choice to continue with it. By the way, the service/repair are all outsourced to other people and not an in-house technician.

[geoteow]

I double confirm this shop sucks!!! Do not trust this shop. I sent one of my vintage bracelet for a clasp replacement. He told me he will msg me once completed. I told him not to take too long. He said he need a deposit. It has been about 3 months plus now no sound no news from him.

[KS88888]

Hi Mr Gavin, I think you should be fair to me. as u already agree $100 compensate

Hi Gavin. I am Derrick of PohLing Watch. I am sorry and disappointed to read about your experience on this forum. I would like to first apologise to you for all the inconveniences caused.

However, I thought you should be fair to me and not just selectively present your experience. I was deeply apologetic for the mistake by the technician and was committed to rectifying the problem. However, you related you would like to collect the watch back and approach another technician.

I agreed and offered to compensate you $100 for the servicing. I was prepared to compensate a higher amount and asked you if $100 would be sufficient. You mentioned it will be enough.

I subsequently followed up with you on WhatsApp to check on the status of the repairs and total cost. However, I did not hear from you since.

It's only after one of my customers showed me this review that I got to know about your deep unhappiness. I tried to contact you to no avail, and therefore decided to reply on this forum.

I hope you can get back to me on the status of the repairs of your watch, so I can follow up on the compensation as promised. I also hope you can give me a fair reply as my repair business has dropped significantly the past month or so. Look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.

[triton]

there is another post by another user which indicate unhappiness about the watch servicing rendered.

it maybe a good idea to address the concern as well.

Hi Gavin. I am Derrick of PohLing Watch.It's only after one of my customers showed me this review that I got to know about your deep unhappiness. I tried to contact you to no avail, and therefore decided to reply on this forum.

I hope you can get back to me on the status of the repairs of your watch, so I can follow up on the compensation as promised. I also hope you can give me a fair reply as my repair business has dropped significantly the past month or so. Look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.

[triton]

do note that there is another website where user indicate about the service rendered was negative. the post is couple of months ago.

I hope you can get back to me on the status of the repairs of your watch, so I can follow up on the compensation as promised. I also hope you can give me a fair reply as my repair business has dropped significantly the past month or so. Look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.

[MTC]

I double confirm this shop sucks!!! Do not trust this shop. I sent one of my vintage bracelet for a clasp replacement. He told me he will msg me once completed. I told him not to take too long. He said he need a deposit. It has been about 3 months plus now no sound no news from him.

Wah ,hopefully all will turn out good for u

[triton]

you left your vintage clasp replacement with the shop?

why not ask shop to inform you when the replacement clasps arrives and you bring your existing one to be fitted?

as with vintage parts, it is not always readily available for certain parts hence the timeline is not fixed.

to be fair to both parties, shop requires a deposit however, it can be mutually agreed that after x period time, if the part does not arrive, the deposit has to be refunded.

I double confirm this shop sucks!!! Do not trust this shop. I sent one of my vintage bracelet for a clasp replacement. He told me he will msg me once completed. I told him not to take too long. He said he need a deposit. It has been about 3 months plus now no sound no news from him.

[Trinidad]

I double confirm this shop sucks!!! Do not trust this shop. I sent one of my vintage bracelet for a clasp replacement. He told me he will msg me once completed. I told him not to take too long. He said he need a deposit. It has been about 3 months plus now no sound no news from him.

Next time check with the bros in here first.
Some of us have more parts than the shops out there
Some of us may also have better knowledge and experience than some shops out there

Clasp replacement dont have to leave bracelet there and wait.
When clasp available then go down to shop and fix.

[gavinang83]

Hi Gavin. I am Derrick of PohLing Watch. I am sorry and disappointed to read about your experience on this forum. I would like to first apologise to you for all the inconveniences caused.

However, I thought you should be fair to me and not just selectively present your experience. I was deeply apologetic for the mistake by the technician and was committed to rectifying the problem. However, you related you would like to collect the watch back and approach another technician.

I agreed and offered to compensate you $100 for the servicing. I was prepared to compensate a higher amount and asked you if $100 would be sufficient. You mentioned it will be enough.

I subsequently followed up with you on WhatsApp to check on the status of the repairs and total cost. However, I did not hear from you since.

It's only after one of my customers showed me this review that I got to know about your deep unhappiness. I tried to contact you to no avail, and therefore decided to reply on this forum.

I hope you can get back to me on the status of the repairs of your watch, so I can follow up on the compensation as promised. I also hope you can give me a fair reply as my repair business has dropped significantly the past month or so. Look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.

Dear Derrick,

firstly this post was written before I accepted the $100 compensation. secondly, i did not reply because thg had not provided me with a quotation until recently. thg quoted the replacement to be $100 but they will not do it unless i do the complete servicing (1k), to ensure water resistance and accuracy.
End of the day, i would suffer the most loss. If i paid 1.1k for the replacement and servicing, i would have paid $1350 in total and the damage to the caseback will still be there. If i go to you for the replacement of the hand, the damage to the caseback is also irreversible.
Also, as of current, the crown is still not able to go to individual positions when pushing back. The problem still persists despite you sending back to the technician again.

[gavinang83]

Derrick,

I accepted the $100 compensation and would bare the outstanding if it exceeds $100 for the replacement of hand at thg not because it was sufficient but rather I do not have faith in sending the watch back to you again. Your outsourced tech will not bare the responsibility, claiming he had already replaced it (non-original). This clearly showed his integrity, furthermore the watch still had problems despite the duration at the tech.