Hi all Sifu,
I was promised a brand new Rolex Submariner if I paid a "booking fee" (35% of the retail price) by an employee of a reputable fine watch store in Malaysia. This would be on a pre-order basis, with the watch delivery scheduled for 4 months later. The final price would be approximately +15% of the retail price, which still seemed like a very good deal compared to grey market watches.
The employee boasted about her experience in the watch industry, even providing me with her business card from the reputable fine watch retail store. She claimed to have been doing this as a side job regularly. Hence, I paid the booking fee to her, but unfortunately, 9 months later, I have yet to receive the watch. What I received instead was all kinds of stupid excuses.
Has anyone else experienced this before, or is it likely a scam? Should I continue to wait, or should I report her?
FYI: She refunded the booking fee to me after 5 months. However, in order to prove her innocence, she claimed she would still deliver the watch to me as soon as possible. I suspect she may be taking booking fees from various customers and making empty promises to fund her side business.