TeeJay

I agree, it will be interesting to hear Joshua's side of things. However, LJ did post the email received from Josh himself, so there's no way he can really get round only offering the 45% refund, and, as mentioned above, taking dealer markup into account, it's not as if he'd actually be down 55% of the overall transaction (as he'd still have the markup profit from the original sale, even if the watch never made it back to him) An interesting one to keep an eye on, I think...

You mean buying from Andrew and Josh? I believe that the explanation of their higher prices, is that they are the Cartel, and know they can charge what they want, and people will still buy from them I quite agree, why pay more, just for the sake of it, one would expect that extra cost to count for something, especially in an event such as this

Well, that estimate makes the assumption that the watch was being sold at cost price, it does not take into account dealer markup. As Doc Savage pointed out to Victoria on pg 1: So to give Josh the benefit of the doubt, rather than just saying "Keep the shipping charge", let's add a 're-stocking charge', as, there are some companies which do this (admitedly, their re-stocking charge is paying the employee who returns the item to the stock room, not actually ordering an entirely new item). We both know that that is going to be much less than what the customer actually paid. Hence, why I feel 55% is an unreasonable percentage to retain.

Indeed, that's fair enough, but even so, it still does not warrant keeping 55% of the cost. That is taking advantage of the situation.

I love the 'Redneck' series of photos, especially the Redneck Flatscreen TV As for the 'timeout', I think the duck adds to the hilarity Indeed, such dipping's not a good idea. I expect it's some superstition like a dunked baby will never freeze to death or something Doesn't matter what country they're from, redneck stupidity is pretty much a world-wide constant.

Interesting. The three times I've sent watches back to China, they all arrived at their destinations. I admit, I did not use 'registered' shipping, and just sent them as a regular package, so the delivery was obviously not as quick as arrival, but, they did arrive.

Okay, that is a fair enough point, but, in all honesty, that is a risk that dealers face with customs seizures. I'm sure either Andrew or Josh has previously issued straight replacement of goods which were seized, which, in theory, would put them down two watches, not just the one. As above, by all means only issue a refund for the amount minus the original shipping, but 55%... Sorry, that's just not justifiable. It's the risk of being a dealer, and not a fair cost to put back onto the customer in such a way.

He would only lose the cost of shipping. The watch has been returned to him. If it was my transaction, I would accept a refund minus the cost of first shipping, but seriously, how can Joshua justify keeping 55% of the money? For something he has received back? It's daylight robbery, nothing more, nothing less.

Yes, you did. I've quoted your original post above. Read it. You may not have intended your post to come across like you were making fun of what Tom does for a living, but it certainly reads like that was your intention. Again, apologies if that is a misunderstanding on my part. I'm not being two-faced at all, and as for self-rightous, that applies way more to your posts towards Tom, so stop condescending towards me. Did you just try and PM me? For some reason it is not appearing in my inbox, although I received a notification while in the middle of sending another PM.

Wow. I am absolutely disgusted to hear about such an attitude for someone to take. 45% is an inexcuseable insult. Okay, so it might have cost him money to ship the watch, but, it has been returned to him. There is no need for him to keep 55% of your money. To refuse to cancel the order and simply refund it is utterly disgracefull and thoroughly unprofessional. It sounds like the customs officer really did do their research, so all credit to them for actually doing their job properly, but as for Joshua's attitude, although I have not been impressed with him at all, I'd certainly never expect to see such a case of blatant robbery. Best of luck with a successful resolution, and, of course, welcome to the forum

I take it I shouldn't be looking after my godson in this manner...

No you didn't, you said: Why would the point be lost on him, if he could afford the cost of repairs anyway? You implied (or certainly appeared to) that he was in a low-paid job. This impression was created by the preceding part of your comment: What he does, and what he is paid, is irrelevent to the issue. Namely, that he asked for help, was given the brush off, and did not get any other responces until he started the thread. I agree, not the best way to get people to help, but, if it touches a nerve, then maybe people ought to think why. If people had come forward and initially responded, then he wouldn't have felt the need to do this. I don't agree with the way he's gone about it, but I think the point he raises is a valid one, in terms of people not offering him help. It's like the comment Chieftang made about sending the watches to TWP or RBJ. It came across as a suggestion that they are not good modders. I don't know who RBJ is, but, the majority of work I've seen from TWP has been excellent, certainly not work to be scoffed at. We're all Human, we all have our off days. I prefer to judge someone by their overall portfolio of work, rather than only focussing on negative aspects. For the record, I'd fully trust TWP to work on one of my watches, and indeed, plan on doing so when I have the spare cash to do so. Oh, you think you're being generous, do you? I'm not the one who made an unnecessary comment to someone and is now trying to backpeddle out of it. Maybe I misunderstood your intention, if so, I apologize. Your comment appeared rather straight-forward in its intention. Peace be upon you.

I'd like it if it weren't for the datewheel and chronos... Other than that, banging watch. The strap is particularly awesome

If the knife's good enough for MacGyver, it's good enough for me

As promised, watch, phone and knife

My favorite of all my wathes. My 127, now fitted with a set of River's springbars The obligatory 'cream sweater shot': Closeup:

As promised, photos of my

IMPORTANT NOTICE!!! If you ever intend to use the springbars with a dive strap, ORDER A SET FOR EXCLUSIVE USE with that dive strap. Do not plan on removing them from the dive strap. Ever. It is EXTREMELY difficult, and will likely result in damage to the strap, the bar, or both. With leather straps, by all means swap away, but rubber, consider it being a permanant mod to the strap, rather than part of the watch. Normal broadcasting will now resume

I'm a definite convert now Can't see the point in using screws when the springbars look the part and are easier to swap out

I think it's certainly an issue which it can only be helpful to discuss. I don't think anyone is intending or trying to take customers away from Ziggy, just to give people more options which might be closer to home. I think R11co's post is also incredibly relevent to the view people might be wise to consider. For what it's worth, I've never had any problems with my Asian movements which I didn't cause myself. I found a local jewelers, who took watch repairs, and, I had them work on a few watches (just regulation and waterproofing) It turns out, that they sent the watches away to an independant watchsmith, rather than being carried out 'in house'. Those watches came back okay, so, when the back of my 111h got broken (by me) I took the watch in for servicing. This is where things started getting bad. When the watch was first returned, it stopped at precicely the same time every 12 hours, so I took it back. When it was returned the second time, there was dust on the dial and back of the crystal, and, the lower movement retaining clip had not been put in, so the movement was loose. To add insult to injury, the smith had put the screw back in place, but not the retaining clip To make matters worse, while the watch was being serviced, I was contacted by the jewellers to let me know that the watchsmith would be retiring at the end of the year. Wouldn't've been an issue if the watch had been returned okay, but, returned with such rudimentary flaws, really irritating, made more so by the knowledge that, even if I'd said something to the staff in the jewellers, they simply couldn't do anything about it. Oh well. Back on topic... Depending on one's budget, it might be better to source simple movement repairs locally, and keep the big bucks for sending watches away to have modifications (re-lume etc) done... Of course, finding a good local watchsmith is the hard part

Like that vodka with gold flakes in it? I remember hearing that back in the 70s, additives were added to dog food to make their 'waste' luminous so people wouldn't tread on it in parks (of course, the only people in parks after dark tend to be perverts ) but the trend didn't continue... Instead, the government brought inti fouling laws and make owners clean up after their dogs immediately Such a simple reason, but one I'd never considered

This one's in the public domain already, so a quick re-post won't hurt.

There was nothing to be confused about. You insinuated that they were a burger flipper, or got paid burger flipper wages. It was unnecessary. It makes no difference what the person does, or how much they earn, so your comment was an unnecessary low blow to try and discredit them.