| MyBob.net- Bob Piker |
| MyBob.net- Bob Piker Accutron Watch Repair Watch repair is a joke! Unskilled Hobbyist Normal, Illinois |
| 11th of Jan, 2011 by User299283 |
Two attempts at vintage watch repair and restoration. Mailed and remailed watch to the business. Watch works however no new crystal as he stated, no new watch hands as he stated. With first repair effort, he "forgot" to install hands and crystal. Second repair effort he "forgot" to send the replaced parts. He said, "Maybe I damaged the crystal when I installed it." "Yeah, right!" Cost $410.00.
Asked for $80.00 refund of the cost for the crystal and hands and I was given $15.00 after I told him I was going to mail my watch to a watch craftsman. He said, "Here is $15.00 to help with shipping to the other person." "Thanks Bob!"
He did however include a watch band at no charge. An old twist-o-flex that was filthy and needed a thorough cleaning before wearing. He did install it on the watch and got mad when I didn't appreciate the band and mentioned that it was dirty. He did wantme to return the watch a third time. You bet, "Third time is a charm."
Ok, let me get this straight! "Didn't do what you said you would do. I didn't get what I paid for and when I asked for compensation you got mad that I didn't mention the free dirty watch band!" "Go figure!"
This guy is an unskilled hobbyist at the least. Watch out! (interesting he calls himself a "hobbyist" on his website). He is no professional. He has a nice website and talks a good game.
Here is his warranty stated by himself on his website."Is there a written repair warranty? If you ask for one I will gladly provide it without question. It is easy to know where you stand after an Accutron repair has been performed by me. There isn't a better quarantee available."
Priceless!!!
Watch repair: $410.00. Refund when work is not completed: $15.00. Lesson learned: Priceless! |
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Winston Churchill once quipped :"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." I have read with sadness and dismay the negative rant of a customer of Bob Piker's regarding Bob's skills and abilities. May I relate my experiences with Bob Piker over these last three years.
I found Bob's web site while searching for an Accutron technician to repair my 1971 Spaceview. As it turned out the problem was minor, The watch was fixed and returned promptly. A few months later I purchased an Accutron Spaceview on eBay...a watch best described as a total wreck! Having perused Bob's web site I knew he offered restoration services for these watches. I was almost apologetic in sending Bob the watch. After he received the watch he e-mailed a detailed cost estimate and his assurance that the watch could be restored. The results were spectacular! I sent him a lump of coal and he returned a diamond.
Since that initial restoration, I have sent Bob a total of 10 Accutrons for either service and/or restoration. Without fail Bob had met and exceeded my highest expectations. His charges are reasonable, communication timely and informative, and quality of work simply amazing. If you have any doubts as to Bob Piker's abilities or capabilities, rest assured that your treasured Bulova Accutron will be in the best of hands.
Carl
West Cost of Florida |
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| A few months back, my dad had decided to give my his space-view watch that had had worn on his wrist daily since 1968. The watch had definitely seen a lot of wear. Somewhere along the way, he dropped the watch and it had stopped working. I had a difficult time finding anyone local to repair the watch so my online search began. Among other sites, I ran across Bob Piker and mybob.net. The website looked to be the most professional and I liked the story and the sound of Bob taking loving care of your time piece and restoring it to its former glory. After talking to Bob, I was convinced that Bob would steer me correctly. The communication with Bob seemed to be no issue in the process and we decided that I would go ahead and send the watch for evaluation. I already had a good idea that I would be looking at a coil repair so I knew I would be looking at $225 there plus service at $150. I was considering adding a band but was on the fence with N.O.S. as I wasn’t really a fan of black. At any rate I told Bob that I would buy a band locally. I did however ask Bob to leave the twist o flex band off the watch after servicing. I made the assumption that The band had to come off to completely clean the case. Bob received the watch and we again talked about it now that he had the watch in front of him. He gave me the bad news that coil indeed needed to be replaced. We talked about the poor condition of the case and Bob explained to me that he could make it look new again however it would be fairly costly to do so. I wasn’t so concerned with the back but I wanted the parts you could see to look good. Bob explained that when he cleaned the watch and buff the case that from the top down it would look like it came from the factory. I also talked about the crystal but bob said mine was not to bad so he didn’t seem overly concerned of its looks. That sounded good enough for me as I plan to wear the watch. To my surprise the watch was actually done at least a week or two before I expected it. Bob didn’t give me any update on how things went, I just received a note from the post office that my package was on the way. I assumed I would be so blown away by the end product that no words were necessary. I rushed home to find my space-view waiting for me. I opened the box to find my space-view still attached to the twist o flex band that I asked Bob to leave off. I looked deeper in the box as Bob promises on his site to return any worn parts…….no old coil. The inner workings of the watch looked good which is what I expected. To my untrained eye, the case looked no different than when it was sent to Bob. It certainly did not look like it “just came from the factory” from the top down. I was left with a hohum feeling and was reminded of the joys of doing business over the internet and phone where you are not communicating directly with each other. Today I happened to luck into a shop near work that happens to repair very high end antique watches while looking for a band. The owner was fantastic and had exactly what I was looking for. I told him the story about my watch and how I just received the watch back from servicing yesterday. As he was replacing the band, he had a bit of a disappointed look and after removing the twist o flex. He brought the watch over. He told me that I should avoid whoever serviced the watch in the future because there was dirt in the lugs and the twist o flex had never even been removed during the servicing of the watch. As I said, I am a civilian, but after spending $150 for a cleaning, I would expect the watch to be…...clean. To be fair, I don’t think I gave Bob the impression that I wanted to spend a ton more money however I don’t think Bob gave me an accurate account of the services that I would receive. To also be fair I am 97% sure Bob had to replace the coil however I would have been 100% sure had he sent the old one back. Should I be having this conversation directly with Bob?????? Maybe. The problem is that I will not go through the trouble of sending the watch back through the mail so why bother talking to Bob about my unhappiness. Bob should also expect that when customers are sending their watches half way across the country that he has one shot to make them happy. If you are looking for a great experience, I suggest you look elsewhere, but if mediocrity is what require, Bob is your guy. |
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Because I chose the path of not contacting Bob after recieving my watch back, I did not give him the opportunity to either explain himself or fix the problem. When Bob read this report he contacted me directly through email and was rightly upset that I did not contact him after I recieved my watch back. We are both civil people so our emails back and fourth were not malicious in any way. I explained to Bob why I was upset and he explained to me exactly what the services that I purchased included. Ultimatly we went back through the email chain and there was an email where I asked Bob if the servicing included cleaning the case and back of the watch and I also asked him to see if he had access to a band that was not presently in stock. Unfortunatly the email was overlooked and that ultimatly created our problem. This was a small oversight which I will take some responsibility as I could have also called Bob back to be sure that we where on the same page. I also want to say that I was never disatisfied with the service of the movement. The watch is working perfectly and has not lost any time in the weeks that I have had it back. My only issue is the esthetics of the case. In talking to Bob after this I realize that his main concern repairing the watch back to perfect working order as cheaply as he can for his customers. I gave Bob the opinion that this may not satisfy everyone. I don't think any customer wants to spend money if it is not nessesary, but everyone has different opinions on what is important to them. I think Bob is a craftsman first and a communicator/sales person second. I do think with some customers the later would be helpful to Bob. To Bob's credit, there are other accutron craftsmen out there that only offer a complete restore from top to bottom period and Bob offers his services Alla' Carte. For most customers this gives them the opportunity to save hundreds of dollars. In my case my watch was rough enough that in order to make me happy, the complete case restore will be nessesary.
In the end, Bob has acknowledged that there are some things with our communication that he could handled better and that he also could have read my buying signals a little better. I actually told Bob that he needs to be a little more aggresive in upselling his services which further proves Bob is a craftsman first. None of these are bad qualities. On my end I acknowledge that I could have explained what was important to me more clearly, I could have followed up to be sure Bob understood all of my communication and I most importantly could have called Bob with my concerns to express my concerns before addressing them here. Bob has offered me a free case restoration and shipping for his part in our miscommunication. This is far above and beyond what would satisfy me. Unfortunatly I cannot remove the report above as I would like to, so unfortunatly the punishment does not fit the crime. I will update this report with the results of my case restore which I am sure will be done above my expectations" |
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