Time Center

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Buyer Beware! I took my 83 year old mother to Time Center in Huntington Beach to purchase a new watch on January 8, 2010. She purchased a Timex Expedition because she liked the Indiglo night-light and its style. Historically we have purchased many of our family watches at this Time Center.



After purchasing the watch whenever my mom would be asked the time she was always an hour off. At first I assumed that it was because she is older until I looked at the watch myself. Unfortunately the watch’s hour hand is no aligned correctly. For example, when the minute hand is on the half-four (30 minutes past the hour) the hour hand is already on the next hour. So it looks like when the time is 1:30 it reads as 2:30. We initially thought we would simply go to the store and they would be happy to assist us.



To our surprise this was not the case. After explaining the issue and showing them a copy of my mom’s bank statement they initially said they had no record of the purchase. When we pressed them and showed them the bank statement again they found the transaction. They then printed out a copy of the receipt, obviously we did not have it, and they pointed out that the following statement on the receipt:



“No refund: Exchange Same Value or Higher within 10 days after date on receipt. The Merchandise must not be sized and returned unused, in new condition with the Original Sales Slip.”



It was not our intension to return the watch; we were merely seeking their assistance in repairing the watch, even thought it was clear that we were sold a watch that was defective from the beginning. This seemed reasonable to us since we have been customers for a long time. At this point in time we were treated very poorly and made to feel as if they were not concerned with our past patronage of their shop and that any repairs to the watch would have to be done by Timex. I asked if they would send the watch to Timex for repair considering the circumstances and they said “NO” and provided us with box to mail it to Timex ourselves.



The entire experience was very disappointing. What is more disappointing is that Time Center has designed its return policy so that they are not responsible after 10 days of purchase. Not only can you not return the watch, because they will not accept it after 10 days has passed, but it also removes the possibility of disputing the charge under VISA rules. I can only imagine that they have set up their policy for this specific purpose. Once I found this out from the bank I felt that all buyers should be aware of this policy. The watch we purchased was not that expensive, this is specifically a matter of customer service. I will not buy a watch from Time Center ever again. If you do, beware of their policies and inspect what you are buying very carefully.