I'm looking to get links removed from a watch and have the battery replaced. Any idea what the going rate for this might be?
It's always nice know what to expect before you go in.
Posh jewellers £7.50 for a 5 year battery maybe a freebie for the link removal.
Cheaper end (but may not replace seal if its a sealed watch) £3.50 and probably freebie for link removal.
DIY if you have suitable tools and buy the battery from say boots or Tesco £3.50.
If its not a waterproof watch DIY is very easy and always the best way forward.
I've paid from 99 pence to £15 for a battery - if it's a waterproof sealed watch some places won't do it for some warranty reasons.
I went into my local jewellers who told me they'd charge £7.50 to change the battery and £9 for the links. A little steep I thought, but it gets the job done so I agreed.
Turned out the watch had two batteries inside and they replaced them both. So they tried to charge me £24 - £7.50 for each battery + £9 for removing the links.
Fair enough if I'd had 2 watches, but given that the watch had already been opened to fit the first battery, virtually no time was necessary for the second. So surely a reduced cost for the second would be far more reasonable?
The salesperson asked for £24 so I questioned why they were charging the full amount for both batteries. The manager passed behind on her way to serving another customer, and said she knows it sounds expensive "but I can't do discounts just because it needed 2 batteries. If you want we'll just take them out again".
I asked the salesperson if she'd take £20 for the job, which she said she couldn't, so I said I'd wait til the manager had finished with the other customer. When the manager saw me still standing there she told the assistant just to take the £16.50 and muttered something angrily along the lines of "don't be surprised if we go out of business..."
Frankly I don't think I'd care if they did.
errrrr.... I paid £60 earlier today for a new battery, re-seal and pressure test.
Your watch is probably worth considerably more than mine Yeti!...
Bought this one for 85 quid, and it didn't get sealed or anything.
Batteries cost less than a pound, so even allowing them 100% markup I think £20 for 5 minutes work is generous.
I'll stick to doing it myself next time, all I need is a smaller screwdriver!
I got proper fed up with paying dollar for battery replacement for watches (50 for my wifes tag) so i bought an adjustable tool from ebay that opens the back. She never even does the washing up in it, so no point 'sending it to switzerland' or what ever they claimed to be doing with it. I do all my own now, none of them have leaked yet.
"but I can't do discounts just because it needed 2 batteries. If you want we'll just take them out again".
It's amazing how some businesses survive. I'm sure the owner would be less than happy with the managers attitude.
Batteries cost pennies and the additional labour cost for the 2nd battery is pennies.
Cost of lost customer - potentially ££££££££