My view....
I have been to a few boutique in other parts of the world (Pam and Rolex and others). There is no such thing as paying for authentication of watch. I walked into a boutique overseas (say Pam) wearing a Pam. I show it to the guy there saying that I recently picked this up and ask him if it needs servicing? He would le tthe technician check and tell me the answer. No payment needed. Why in Singapore RSC and Richemont charges for this is still a puzzle to me?
But I guess it could be our own doing....many people bring many pieces to them to do this so it takes up their time to do real servicing. That could be the reason RSC and RM start charging for this. Not sure why this is not happening in US or Europe or even HK. On my visits to these places, never see people go into RSC, ask to authenticate and strike a deal there. Maybe its because those people buy the seller or do their homework more so there is less reliant on RSC to do the checks for them. And since such request are low in those places, there is no need for them to charge...its just regular service for the occasional request to check a watch and they are happy to do it FOC.
Now, RM cancel this service is just going back to its original policy which is they should not charge customer for just looking at the watch. However, they have not reinstead the service of checking the watch FOC. I suppose if this is not abused, then RM/RSC may do it happily FOC like in other countries.
I have been to a few boutique in other parts of the world (Pam and Rolex and others). There is no such thing as paying for authentication of watch. I walked into a boutique overseas (say Pam) wearing a Pam. I show it to the guy there saying that I recently picked this up and ask him if it needs servicing? He would le tthe technician check and tell me the answer. No payment needed. Why in Singapore RSC and Richemont charges for this is still a puzzle to me?
But I guess it could be our own doing....many people bring many pieces to them to do this so it takes up their time to do real servicing. That could be the reason RSC and RM start charging for this. Not sure why this is not happening in US or Europe or even HK. On my visits to these places, never see people go into RSC, ask to authenticate and strike a deal there. Maybe its because those people buy the seller or do their homework more so there is less reliant on RSC to do the checks for them. And since such request are low in those places, there is no need for them to charge...its just regular service for the occasional request to check a watch and they are happy to do it FOC.
Now, RM cancel this service is just going back to its original policy which is they should not charge customer for just looking at the watch. However, they have not reinstead the service of checking the watch FOC. I suppose if this is not abused, then RM/RSC may do it happily FOC like in other countries.
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