Replacement watch batteries

[Guest moonraker]

Can someone with knowledage of the trade please comment on the following. I have just gone into my local branch of Timpsons seeking a replacement battery for my ageing casio watch. I had the most bizarre conversation which went basically as follows:-

 

Assistant takes look at watch.

 

"we can fit a battery and pressure test for £16.95"

-but the watch is worthless, I only want the battery, I never even let it get wet.

"If you sold the watch to someone that went scuba-diving(!) you could be sued"

-a) can a watch injury soemone?

it would be a foolish scuba diver to place his trust in an old casio watch

c)i dont intend selling it to a scuba diver!!

 

"sorry"

-the back only screws on, I can take the back off myself, can you sell me the battery.

 

"no, because we know what you would do with it"

 

So as a customer who will never use that chain again, I went to a local market trader who sells a card of 40 batteries of various sizes for £2.

 

Fitted the battery myself, watch works fine.

 

So Timpsons can't "aid and abet me to break the law"

But I could take a key and get it cut and then use that key to enter a property unauthorised.

 

What a load of nonsense!!

[Lee]

Hi Moonraker & welcome to the forum.

 

Its always saddening to hear some feedback from a member of the public who has not had a good experience.

I can only comment from my own views on watch batteries & there replacement.

First of all well done on changing your own battery, you was lucky!

 

often screw on backs & replacing batteries can throw up problems which from a DIY point of view would be impossible to fix.

the batteries from the market you mentioned work out at just 5p each! and from this price bracket, you can probably expect one of 2 things to happen!

1. It will flatten very quickly.
2. It may leak in the watch which will reduce the life of the watch, probably no further than this battery.

batteries that we fit to watches in most cases are of a very high quality giving long reliable life cycles.

 

From this sites own price survey it shows that the UK's national average replacement watch battery price is £4.51 for a battery, with no water proof test or £12.97 including a pressure test.

 

the majority of retailers will offer a guarantee on their work & be fitting a far superior battery to you market purchased ones.

 

I can't comment on the legalities of the information given to you at the time, but I personally give a guarantee which states the resistance of the watch to water.

I would recommend having the watch re-looked at, maybe by a different retailer very quickly before the battery fitted causes any long term damage.

 

Lee

[Lee]

Having just re-read your post back, the “Can you just sell me the batteryâ€

[ironplanet uk900]

Hi Moonraker, If you have a watch that is worthless to you, then you shouldn't be expecting a quality outlet to replace the battery for next to nothing, because I'm sure the watch would become of great value/sentimental value should anything go wrong in the process. I'm sure you see were I'm coming from

 

You are paying for a quality sevice backed up by a quality company.

 

However in my expirience, the £2 market trader has little or no knowledge of watch repairs, or the proper tools for the job. These things cost a lot of money. So if he had invested in the correct tools and the proper training to do the job to a high standard, I feel he would want more than £2 for the job.

 

I have a market watch battery merchant near me, I have had many many unhappy customers come to me after bad experinces. I could go on, but I think you get the jist.

 

 

If you are the type who puts price before quality, then you were right to go to the market

But don't expect the same after sales care as you would get from a quality outlet.

 

uk900

[Hugh-Candoit (ENG)]

Moonraker I think you have let yourself in for some severe criticism.

 

Would you go to a hotel for a meal at £20-£50 and walk out because you can get the ingredients from Market stalls for £2, then complain on a Food Forum about the price and service ?

 

Granted the customer service was not as it should have been but we have only got one side of the story.

You are fortunate in that removing the screwed back from the watch you did not encounter 4 small springs that can jump out never to be found again as is the norm with some watches. This is commonly known as the 4 Sprung Dork Technique.

 

I'll bet the Market trader failed to mention not to touch the batteries with your hands!!

[Guest jamesstratton]

the comments that you received in this particular branch of timpson are not down to training. if you came to my branch in northampton i would ask you if you wanted it done, and if you didnt i would just go ahead with a normal battery. unfortunately with the way we are paid we need to make as much money as possible to earn our bonus. some go for pressure sales, others like me prefer good service to get my sales up. if you dont like the way you were dealt with, the best way to deal with it would be to talk to our customer services department (so the staff can be retrained), not post it on the internet so others reading it think that i too have bad service because i work for timpson

[Guest mark]

Hi Moonraker

Not sure if you were not happy with price , but if you had ben in my shop I would have charged £5.00 for battery, the pressure test is down to the customer, I have watch guarentee cards with a box saying pressure test done or not and signed and stamped by me, I too have had customers come in to my shop who were told they had to have pressure testing on a watch which never goes in water, it even said water resistant, 3m,

I would not recommend fitting your self for reasons stated above, but you should have gone to an independent, T are not the end or beall of the high street