BigEd781

No, it was seized, the email said as much.

I wouldn't expect professionalism in this hobby. You may find out from time to time, but expecting it is just asking to be disappointed.

Bump.

Didn't even see this and I can no longer edit. I would appreciate the names of the shops. It's not so much an issue of money as it is one of simply not trusting the dealer to do a good job. In my mind it makes no sense to think that he will do the right thing this time when he sent me this lemon to begin with.

Well, I didn't go in thinking he would pay for return shipping, but any _reputable_ business would, so I had some hope. I can accept that this is just how it goes when dealing with reps, but the fact remains that I don't want to ship it back, so I'm really just looking for a repair. I have found a couple of resources for the bezel repair thanks to some googling and help from people on this forum. If it were just that I would probably try it, but the watch does not work due to the stem issue. I can't get it to latch, so I can't set the time. I don't feel comfortable attempting that repair. I'd rather just pay someone who knows what they're doing to do it right. Yeah, I've learned my lesson on BP's.

So, long story short, my first rep purchase didn't go so well. My BP Sub Hulk is a lemon. Bezel has a ton of play in the _vertical_ direction, one of the SEL's is bent (was visible in QC pics, so partly my fault), and the damn winding stem came out as soon as I tried to set the time. Not pleased. Anyway, the "trusted dealer" refuses to give me a refund. He has offered to repair it for me, but in my opinion it makes no sense to expect him to repair the watch when he sent it in this condition in the first place. I don't believe that all of this happened in transit, plus, he won't even pay for return shipping. I realize I didn't buy something from Amazon here, and he seems like a nice enough guys, but talking to him is like talking to a wall and I'm just not going to ship it back to China. So, I would like to have the watch fixed. I have talked to all of the repair shops I could find in and around SD and none of them will touch it. I would be fine with sending it to someone in the CONUS who has a history of performing these sorts of repairs on the forum, but I haven't been able to find anyone still taking work. If you guys no of an option I would be very grateful as I don't want to screw up my watch further trying to fix it myself.

Just thought I should add some resolution to this for anyone who may stumble upon this thread in the future. I went the WU route with toro. Everything went smoothly and I received my watch about a week later. Watch is beautiful, no problems at all. So thanks to toro and everyone else here.

Thank you both very much, that's a huge help. Weekend project fun time.

Sorry, but one more question. So I called four watch repair shops (mom & pop) and none of them will service a rep, flat out refused. I gave them the whole spiel about it being sentimental, wouldn't hold them responsible for any damage, yada yada yada, but they all seem very afraid of losing their agreements with the manufacturers. Anyway, as I have had little luck finding someone in the CONUS to do the job, I would feel more comfortable performing surgery myself if I knew the cause of the problem. If I understand what may be causing this I will at least know what to look for and how to fix it. Also, just to be clear, when I say that the bezel is loose I don't mean that it is loose in the rotational axis. It is loose in the space between it and the midcase, as well as side to side. I think you understood that already, but I want to make sure. Thanks for any help you can offer.

Yeah, it's not the gap that bothers so much as it is the bezel having so much play. I can even move it side to side. That said, I picked up some tools prior to getting my first order as I expected to be rolling up my sleeves on some of these.

Ok, well, may be time to learn something new. I wanted to change the insert anyway, so good practice.

So I got my BP sub-c (c... not really, but meh) and I noticed something that I didn't in the QC pics. I found a gap on one side of the bezel. So I tried to push on it a bit and realized that I could push it down quite easily. I can't make it stick though, so if I push one side down the other lifts up slightly. I'm not used to being able to push the bezel down at all as this is my first rep. I haven't contacted the dealer yet because I am inexperienced and don't know exactly what to expect. So, I'm looking for an opinion from someone here who knows more than I. I would rather not send the watch back even if it came to that, so any ideas on how to fix it would be appreciated as well. Thanks in advance.

I actually called the CC company yesterday to fill them in when I still thought I would be able to use it. The WU rep could not give me a definitive reason, but the way in which she worded it made it sound like the problem was a combination of two things (and she did specifically say that *WU* could not authorize the transaction). 1. I had never used the card for a WU transaction before, and 2. I was sending money to China. I think it's more the latter than the former as the first on its own would be a real catch 22. Anyway, I wired cash to Toro. I'm not overly concerned.

All good ideas. I was going to use my CC with the lowest limit, but meh, I'll just have to trust toro this time I think. I may just be a bit spoiled at this point as I've only ever dealt with Andrew who accepts PP the first time around. I am a new member, but I spent about a month reading this forum as well as RWI before making my first purchase. I won't create problems for a TD (and all of you) by freaking out and filing a PP dispute should a movement stop working or the watch arrive with some other issue. Really that would be reserved for getting completely ripped off, last resort. I understand what sort of problems can arise when purchasing a rep. I have read and taken to heart: http://www.rwgforum.net/topic/139448-how-to-deal-with-sellers-and-acceptable-expectations-if-problems-arise/ http://www.rwgforum.net/topic/171237-what-are-the-rep-collecting-10-commandments/ Good idea. Just tried, payment declined through WU. Online didn't work, called them, and they wouldn't put it through. I'm guessing that it was the combination of me never having used the card with WU (or WU at all) and sending money to China. Yeesh, what a pain. Looks like I'll just have to suck it up and use cash via a brick and mortar WU location.

Well... That would make me sad I suppose. Of course, I could choose another model.

Using a CC gives me fraud protection. Cash... no such luck. Worst case; my CC gets stolen, but I quickly contact my bank and I don't incur charges (when I say CC, I don't mean a debit card). I don't know, maybe I am being overly cautious, but as you say, I haven't been doing this long (only one purchase so far) and I just don't like the idea of sending cash to China for a rep. I'm working it out with toro and, if that falls apart, there are others. Maybe it would be worth a one time cash order just to be able to use PP in the future.

I'm not convinced you have a leg to stand on when it comes to logic... 1. I wouldn't send cash (WU, MO, whatever) to any internet shop I'm not extremely familiar with (and then I would wonder why I am being asked to do it in the first place). If you will, ok, but it's certainly not an unreasonable stance when shopping with people you don't know. And let's be honest; "very reputable" in the rep watch world doesn't really hold the same weight as if we were talking about Amazon or some similar operation. I don't expect him to rip me off, but I also don't want to open myself up to a problem with no recourse whatsoever. 2. If you had read (more slowly perhaps?) what I wrote, you would understand that I don't fault him for not taking PP from new customers, only that I don't want to send cash, and that his CC setup is faulty, because... 3. His site is taking CC info over *http*. If you don't know why that is bad, look it up and learn something.

Well, that's handy, thanks. I received an error trying to select Visa at intime... but at least I have a better idea of what my options are now. I'll work it out with one of them. Thanks all.

I didn't manage to find the current address for puretime (all links in the TD section are outdated), but I had forgot about intime. Just to be sure, intime.co, correct? They have it, so thanks for that, much appreciated.

Yeah I know, it's a crappy situation. I've done business with Andrew in the past and he accepts PP. I'll see if he can find it for me.

I would prefer not to use cash the first time buying from a dealer (and just in general), even if they are reputable. There are few online companies that I would send cash to.

I tried that, but he didn't budge. I understand what he's afraid of when it comes to first time customers, but I couldn't convince him that I wasn't an unreasonable noob who would file a PP dispute at the first sign of a problem.

Good idea, not sure why I assumed they were limited to what is on their site. Thanks.

So, I would like to purchase this watch here: http://www.torobravos2014.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=35_52&product_id=566 Unfortunately, torobravos has a policy which will not allow me to use PayPal for my first purchase. I understand why this is, and I know he is a reputable dealer, so I decided to use my CC. Unfortunately, his checkout page is not encrypted, and I'm not going to enter my CC number over a connection that anyone could snoop. I've sent them a couple of emails, but it doesn't look like we're going to be able to work out a deal that suits both of us, which is too bad (I really don't want to send cash). I've looked at all of the dealers in the TD section (well, those which still have valid links), and I cannot find the watch I am looking for. So, short of someone knowing some way for me to work this out with TB (seems unlikely), does anyone know where I can find this watch? I also looked at trusty time, but he doesn't have the noob version.