Lazy Daisy N.
Unethical Company
I recently lost a Raymond Weil watch that I had received as an anniversary gift from my husband. The watch was expensive to me $2,500, but more importantly it had a great deal of sentimental value. I wanted to replace the watch and found Authentic Watches. I called and ordered a watch on January 18, 2024. I was told that I would need to pay a 10% nonrefundable deposit that day. They had up to 3 months to find the watch. The gentleman that I spoke to said I would be billed the remaining balance once a watch was found and that Authentic Watches would email me regarding updates to the process. I gave them my American Express card and all the necessary information over the phone. Shortly after hanging up the phone, I received an emailed invoice. A week later on January 25th, I received a strange email from PayPal requesting a payment for $2675.89. Thinking this was a spam request, I ignored it. Then the next day, I received another PayPal email. Again, I thought it was spam. Two days later, I called Authentic Watches and explained that I was receiving strange emails from PayPal requesting payment. She said that those were invoices sent by them. When I explained that I had given my American Express number over the phone, she said that they couldn’t use that card because they couldn’t authenticate it. She said that they called three times and left voicemails and that they had sent emails as well. I explained that I had only received one email from them which was the original email on the day that I placed the order but hadn’t received anything else from them. I also indicated that I never received a voicemail from them and after looking at my recent incoming calls determined that someone had called me on the January 19th but never left a message. Giving Authentic Watches the benefit of the doubt, I asked if she could send an authentication request while I was on the phone with her so that we could both be sure that the came through and I did my part correctly. She said, “No” and then explained that her accounting department wouldn’t allow it due to fraud. She kept saying that I basically couldn’t be trusted as a customer and that the only way I could start the process of them looking for the watch was to pay the full amount via PayPal today. Due to their less than stellar online reviews, I said I was not comfortable paying for the watch 100% up front and using PayPal which gave me no recourse if they did not fulfill their part of the deal. They were unwilling to take my American Express card or any other card because they know I have recourse. This whole process has been extremely frustrating and nothing like was initially described to me when I first ordered the watch. When a company demands full payment via PayPal, I don’t think it’s the customer who is trying to commit fraud. Beware of this site!