Warranty Repair From Ad to Swatch Service Centre

[nicholaslee]

Hi everyone, I've sent in my Certina DS Action automatic for repair cos it keeps stopping at random times even with full power reserve. I sent it in through an AD at Puchong and was asked to wait 3 months for a complete repair. Does it usually take that long to repair a watch? Anyone had any similar experiences with the Swatch Group and how long does it usually take?

[Everdying]

dont mistake AD for Swatch group.
AD's dont have the need / capacity to immediately send or collect your piece from Swatch.

if you wanted quick, you should have gone to Swatch group yourself in KL.

[nicholaslee]

I was aware of that option but Swatch Group only opens on weekdays during business hours and not on weekends. Was hard to take a day off from work just to send my watch. So I was left with no choice but to drop it off at my AD.  What is the normal turnaround duration to get the job done?

[Everdying]

there is no 'normal' turnaround as it depends on the job undertaken.
can be a few days to a month or more depending on parts availability or if they need to send back to swiss hq.
for AD, as far as i know some have a 'queue' system going on, so they basically have to wait their turn in terms of collection...which is why it can take up to 3 months.

[nicholaslee]

I see. So you're saying that there is a day(probably once a month) which a driver will drop by at the AD to pick up the watch and then send it over to Swatch Group. Is my understanding correct?

[D'Andy]

It's better to send the watch yourself as customer walk-in has priority. When I asked the AD to send the PO in for servicing, they also told me that it would take app 2-3 months. They advised me to try walk-in for faster services. I did just that and a full Class 1 servicing took just a week, IIRC.

[nicholaslee]

Yes well I didn't have the privilege to take a day off from work to do so. If only Swatch Group would open on weekends  Anyway the watch had already been sent in and I'm hoping for the best. Thanks all for the input here and I will update when the watch gets back for other members' reference in the future.

[spacewalker]

I had several time dealing with Swatch Group SC. First with my new under warranty Certina for the replacement of second hand. The marking paint on the second has some very tiny defect, so I email them and they ask me to send that watch back. I do talk to the AD but they said it takes around 3 weeks to let them send that watch back to SC. 3 weeks and the AD is in KL. The AD told me better to send them by myself. I'm not origin from KL that why I ask them to do that plus I'm sure the AD better know how to deal with the SC.

So, I go by myself. Register at the counter, around 10 minutes they call me and I show the watch. They inspect the watch and ask me to wait. 20 minutes later, they call me again. They replace all those my watch hand. The hour, minute and second hand. They even show me the old hand that they took from my watch.

The second time I at the SC is around last month. The CK watch that I recently bought suddenly stop. They inspect the watch and they said the battery is almost drained out. They replace the new battery and the problem solve within 15 minutes.

 I do also think their priority is the walk-in customer. The service is quite fast and the waiting area is nice. Unfortunately, they only open on weekdays. I have to take a leave to take my watch there.

[nicholaslee]

Thanks for sharing your experience here, Spacewalker. Already 1 week past since I sent my watch in through my AD. Like something missing without my watch and I'm using my Hydroconquest chrono as daily wear now. Everyday paranoid that I will scratch it by accident. Praying to get my watch back soon haha.

[Timeless]

always send to swatch group if u want to repair and return asap, normally AD will send watches by bulk which mean AD may not send 1 pc of your watch to repair only

[nicholaslee]

Hello everyone, just a quick update on my watch in case there are others out there who are like me.

Got my a call and received my watch back on the 16th of February from my AD. However, Swatch declares that the watch had been repaired and returned to my AD on the 6th of February. So that's 52 days if you count till the 6th of Feb, and 62 days if you count till the 16th of February.

The timekeeping on the watch is now superb. Running at +(10-15secs) a day, which I understand is normal after a full service and will slow down after a while.

Thanks all for your inputs