Swatch, Armani, Seiko dissatisfy consumers

By Park Jae-hyuk

A growing number of Korean consumers complains about the quality and service of luxury and well-known watch brands such as Swatch, Armani and Seiko, according to data of a local consumer group, Sunday.

In particular, Swatch Group seems to be the main target as its after-sales service here has been under fire for years without improvement.

The Korea Consumer Agency announced that it received 550 complaints about watches from 2014 to 2016.

It got 158 and 156 reports in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Then, the figure rose to 236 last year.

Among the total, 32 complaints were about Swatch products.

Armani, Seiko, Gucci, Burberry and Tissot watches followed, with 26, 22, 18, 11 and 11, respectively. Tissot is the mid-range watch brand of the Swatch Group.

A total of 81 cases were about luxury watches costing more than 2 million won ($1,764). The overall prices disgruntled consumers paid for these watches amounted to 374 million won.

Consumers mostly took issue with the watchmakers’ service and product qualities such as keeping time, water resistance and endurance.

In most cases, the watches not keeping time prompted most complaints about quality. Consumers claimed that the defects of their expensive watches caused the problems but companies countered that consumers are responsible.

In the past, people were more tolerant of watches not keeping accurate time but that is no longer the case because their smartphones keep accurate time. Plus, they seem to be running out of patience because they paid so much for the watches.

The watchmakers also charged buyers for expensive repairs even before the warranties ended. Some of them even refused to repair the watches.

“We urged government institutions and watchmakers to improve instruction manuals and to actively respond to consumer complaints,” a Korea Consumer Agency official said.

Swatch, which topped the list causing the most complaints, has been notorious for years in this country, as the Swiss watchmaker has demanded customers pay the repair costs or buy new watches.

“The Swatch Group Quality Management team ensures the quality, reliability and security of the Group’s products,” the group wrote on its official website. “Swatch Group accords great importance to customer satisfaction, and has reinforced its commitment by creating a division dedicated entirely to customer service.”

However, consumers have long criticized its service policies as there is only one local service center in Seoul and it is very difficult to contact. Moreover, the center did not accept complaints about its signature Swatch brand. Consumers had to contact stores for repairs.

In addition, the world’s largest watchmaker has caused controversy for breaching commitments to its employees.

While the company highlights the welfare of its employees on its official website, the local affiliate was accused in 2014 of paying its employees less than two-thirds of the average wage paid by Korean firms hiring more than 300 people.

The watchmaker’s Korean branch has also been criticized as it hardly makes any donations here. But it appears to be loyal to its shareholders. Swatch Group Korea paid 17 billion won in dividends in 2015, when it posted a 19.3 billion won operating profit.