[shimside11]

It was great to hear Jim talk about what Invicta has done with its customer service over the past year. For those who didn't catch it, he mentioned that EL has put some effort into the CS portion of Invicta. To paraphrase: sometimes as a byproduct of a company's aggressive growth curve, things like CS tend to fall through the cracks. In an effort to get back up to speed, Invicta has subcontracted with a world-class consulting firm to train and fine tune the after-sale service. Throughout 2007 alot of time, energy and money was spent to make CS more effective and efficient.

A caller with a positive CS experience sparked the conversation. Maybe they have been talking about it on other shows, and I missed it, but it looks like Mr. Lalo has taken some note from various forum posts (this and other fora), and acted.

I've never had an issue with any Invicta, so I can't talk about that, but has anyone noticed any improvement over the past several months? I seem to recall that our resident skeptic (Mr. B) purchased yet another one recently.:wink::laugh:

If this is old news, just slap me and point me in the direction of the relevent posts. I tend to avoid negative stuff, just for self preservation, so I may not have followed the "cs sucks" posts of late. :biggrin:

 

[Datsun240Z71]

They talked about this several months ago as well.

My recent experience trying to order a part was definitely mixed. I sent a total of 6 emails over a three week period to three different people at Invicta (two reps in CS and Eyal Lalo) and never got a response from anyone. I finally called, ordered the part, and two follow up calls were also made by me as it took 30 days exactly to receive the part. I was initially told 10 days, as it was coming from Switzerland, the first follow up call revealed the part had been backordered and the new date I was given was spot-on. The final call confirmed the shipment with a tracking number. All three people I dealt with were prompt, courteous and efficient. No phone call lasted more than 7-8 minutes total.

It seems from what I've read and my experience that CS has improved, and if the QC is ramped up as well, they might really be on to something.

 

[Rusty]

Since I visit not only this forum but other fora searching the internet for comments and news about Invicta, I can absolutely say that over the past year, actually the past 6 months there is a marked decrease in negative comments about both Invicta QC and CS.

Often, for a company to make these changes it is like turning the QEII. . . it takes a little time for the ship to be righted. I think one of the issues that always pops up in a discussion of this topic is how good the CS of cable TV show competitors Croton, Chase-Durer, Philip, SWI, and others are. This may be true but with the exception of Croton, Invicta sells a ton more watches each year and the sheer numbers equate to more problems=more CS cases in which to respond. If the others were selling 1.7 million watches, I wonder how good their CS record would be?

 

[Catbird]

shimside11 commented:

"A caller with a positive CS experience sparked the conversation."

Just out of curiosity, do "they" ever permit callers who have had poor experience(s) on the air?

As a relatively new Invicta customer, recently, I had a minor bezel problem with one of my watches; I sent a number of emails requesting assistance and they all went unanswered. I'm not impressed, to say the least.

 

[Rusty]

Catbird,

I have only one interaction with Invicta CS, and I used the phone to contact them and it went fine. I suspect they have some institutional spam filter built into their email system and some emails seem to go unanswered. When Randy from Nashville had emails go unanswered and he finally called, his concerns were quickly addressed.

 

[Catbird]

Yes, Rusty, I will definitely phone next time I have an issue.

I do think that in order to prevent a certain level of customer dissatisfaction, Invicta should not provide a CS email address if they are unable to respond due to a shortage of personnel.

I don't want to come across as mean-spirited... I simply feel that their CS reputation could be helped by eliminating the exasperation caused by unanswered emails.

 

[Datsun240Z71]

I don't know if the emails I sent went through, but I assume they did as they did not get a "bounce-back" report as I normally do when my emails do not get delivered.

I don't know if they indeed have such a spam filter (why would a CS dept. have such an overzealous filter????), but as Rusty noted, my phone calls were handled in a prompt, expeditious and professional manner.

 

[boscoe]

Invicta hired that consultant about TWO years ago. I remember posting it. The consultant - not Invicta - was crowing about landing the new client.
This was about the same time Invicta opened the SNBC-only CS phone line.
I'm still skeptical. However, I haven't written for my Reserve bracelet screw yet.
I'll do that right after the first of the year.
And we can all have fun tracking the progress.

My issue with Invicta CS was all phone based. Nightmarish.

 

[145]

"finest consultants" sounds an awful lot like " finest factories in the world" to me. And Rolex has great CS and they sell 1 million watches a year or sales of $3 Billion. I cannot see why Invicta cannot do a better job at CS. All smoke and mirrors to me, Next excuse will be the dog ate the CS rep.

 

[Datsun240Z71]

The thing that I found most perplexing was that there was no indication that you had even reached Invicta when I called. The greeting said nothing about "Hello, you've reached Invicta Watch Group" or anything like that. It went straight to the "listening to the menu" and then ''hold for the next available representative" after selecting the appropriate option.

Seems like the "best consultants in the world" would have found that to be a great starting point. Phones 101.

 

[RichardMT]

Strange. I personally like my Invictas but have never had to deal with CS. I do however love to hear "consulting group for CS"...please, CS should not be something that has to be taught...I mean you either have it or you dont. Do you want your emails ignored, phone conversations dismissed once the call is over? No? Then dont do it to others, simple as that. Lets say they have a call and the representative writes the order (or complaint or repair issue) down, how hard is it to put it in the right box or deliver it to the right person? You need to spend a million dollars on some "consultant" to tell you "dont throw the paper in the trash"? Gimme a break.

As for spam filters, I have always felt that the "Gee, my email was down or the spam filters got it" is an overused excuse...email is actually surprisingly reliable and I do have enough experience to know that.

As for spam filters, most email shuffles it to the spam folder and it is still viewable. Every few days I make a quick (and yes it can be done very quickly) browse through my spam folder to see if any legit emails got shuffled there and occasionally it does happen. If they are to lazy to do that, then maybe they need to change the settings on their filter.

Excuses are just that. If the people managing the CS end are bad and dont have enough common sense, then nothing short of staffing changes can fix it...you cant teach common sense.

 

[markdl]

Invicta CS is just like every other CS department in the world. It depends on the person you get. Most of the time it will be good and sometimes it is bad. I've never had any reason to contact Invicta CS. But I have had to contact plenty of other companies over the years and things have been good and bad within the same company. It can be frustrating, but problems are usually rectified and it's not exactly a matter of life and death.
Invicta makes wonderful looking and well-made products that people can afford. I will always support a company that produces that. If people want to complain and boycott a product because they've had a problem or heard about people who have had a problem, more power to you. But I can guarantee you, you won't have a single product to buy. And that includes Rolex, Omega, Patek, and all the other watch companies that if you believe the hype, have flawless CS. You can find people who've had problems with everything created, including those things created by the Big Guy himself. Should we avoid life?

Enjoy Invicta and enjoy life as much as you can while you are here. Life is too short to spend so much time complaining.

Long live Invicta!

 

[Birdman]

Invicta has been my #1 watch brand fopr some time, but I recently bought an invicta sunday run multifuction that I absolutely love and the stem fell out of it! Will let everyone know how this comes out.

 

[foghorn]

Invicta hired that consultant about TWO years ago. I remember posting it. The consultant - not Invicta - was crowing about landing the new client.
This was about the same time Invicta opened the SNBC-only CS phone line.
I'm still skeptical. However, I haven't written for my Reserve bracelet screw yet.
I'll do that right after the first of the year.
And we can all have fun tracking the progress.

My issue with Invicta CS was all phone based. Nightmarish.

I remember reading blurbs about this so called effort to improve CS and like Boscoe says-it was about 2 years ago.

Old news resurfacing as something new.