Who wants to laugh? (Tourneau story)

[Spencer]

While shopping today in Century City (Los Angeles) I went into the Tourneau shop in the Century City Mall. Side not the Century City mall is an out door mall and on a 70 degree L.A. day it was great!

Anywho, so I go into Tourneau find the Rolex boutique and proceed to ask the salesman…

Me: "Excuse, I'm sure I already know the answer here, but do you guys have an SS Daytona in the back?"
Salesman: "Why yes we do!"
Me: "REALLY?!?!?! So any chances a regular guy off the street can buy it for msrp?" Salesman: "You may have it however it is a preowned model and we are selling it for $17,000."
Me: "What!?!?!?!? No, no the SS retails at $6975 and can be bought on the grey market for $9500 to $11000 BNIB. You must meant it's a preowned WG for $17,000."
Salesman: "No, the Daytona is a highly desirable watch, it is $17,000."

That was it; I walked straight out the door. I was truly insulted. I mean really, he insulted me, Tourneau, and himself. Either A) This guy is a complete MORON who doesn't know his own ass from his elbow when it comes to the product he is selling, B) Tourneau is an absolute JOKE when it comes to their pricing or C) BOTH OF THE ABOVE!!!!!

I have NEVER had a positive experience in ANY Tourneau store, and can not think of ANY reason why I would EVER give them my business.

[dman]

The good news is, all the store seem exactly the same!

[rolexpower]

i thought rolex had set prices,

[Spencer]

Originally Posted by rolexpower

i thought rolex had set prices,

They do, but this was a pre-owned watch which any dealer can sell at a price TBD by them.

[dman]

They have recomended prices and are not supposed to discount. On pre-owned pieces all bets are off. I know AD's, mine included to non priority customers that jack up the price on Daytonas. They have us by the short hairs.

[maverick]

Now why would anyone in their right mind pay 17K for a SS watch, be it a Daytona or whatever? You can get an all WG one for that price. =) maverick

[Spencer]

Originally Posted by maverick

Now why would anyone in their right mind pay 17K for a SS watch, be it a Daytona or whatever? You can get an all WG one for that price. =) maverick

I know. But if you know Tourneau and the ass clowns that they typcially employ, I would be willing to bet it was a preowned WG.

[dman]

Originally Posted by Spencer

I know. But if you know Tourneau and the ass clowns that they typcially employ, I would be willing to bet it was a preowned WG.

LOL, never thought of that. But I have heard of one of their stores selling a pre owned SS for $15500 and it was just in okay shape.

[Atl]

Originally Posted by Spencer

While shopping today in Century City (Los Angeles) I went into the Tourneau shop in the Century City Mall. Side not the Century City mall is an out door mall and on a 70 degree L.A. day it was great!

Anywho, so I go into Tourneau find the Rolex boutique and proceed to ask the salesman…

Me: "Excuse, I'm sure I already know the answer here, but do you guys have an SS Daytona in the back?"
Salesman: "Why yes we do!"
Me: "REALLY?!?!?! So any chances a regular guy off the street can buy it for msrp?" Salesman: "You may have it however it is a preowned model and we are selling it for $17,000."
Me: "What!?!?!?!? No, no the SS retails at $6975 and can be bought on the grey market for $9500 to $11000 BNIB. You must meant it's a preowned WG for $17,000."
Salesman: "No, the Daytona is a highly desirable watch, it is $17,000."

That was it; I walked straight out the door. I was truly insulted. I mean really, he insulted me, Tourneau, and himself. Either A) This guy is a complete MORON who doesn't know his own ass from his elbow when it comes to the product he is selling, B) Tourneau is an absolute JOKE when it comes to their pricing or C) BOTH OF THE ABOVE!!!!!

I have NEVER had a positive experience in ANY Tourneau store, and can not think of ANY reason why I would EVER give them my business.

I had a great experience at Tourneau of Palm Beach, Fla. I bought my last Sub date there.
Let me set the scene: beautiful day, stunning 20'something blonde(aren't they all in West Palm)salesperson, and a new shipment of sport watches from Rolex. But it got better, as they knew me from buying my Reverso there, they asked me if I wanted a drink as I looked at the watches, wine, or mineral water. I am not making this up, and yes, the Tourneau store here in Atlanta sucks as far as service. So, it was not hard to resist the purchase, truly the BEST Rolex purchase experience I've had. I then got to test drive my new purchase swimming in the warm waters of South Beach. Did I mention that the South Beach beaches are topless? As Ferris said,"if you have the means, I highly recommend it."
Go to Miami, and buy a watch!

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by Atl

I had a great experience at Tourneau of Palm Beach, Fla. I bought my last Sub date there.
Let me set the scene: beautiful day, stunning 20'something blonde(aren't they all in West Palm)salesperson, and a new shipment of sport watches from Rolex. But it got better, as they knew me from buying my Reverso there, they asked me if I wanted a drink as I looked at the watches, wine, or mineral water. I am not making this up, and yes, the Tourneau store here in Atlanta sucks as far as service. So, it was not hard to resist the purchase, truly the BEST Rolex purchase experience I've had. I then got to test drive my new purchase swimming in the warm waters of South Beach. Did I mention that the South Beach beaches are topless? As Ferris said,"if you have the means, I highly recommend it."
Go to Miami, and buy a watch!

Whoop!! Whoop!!! I'm coming to Miami!!

[dman]

Originally Posted by Atl

I had a great experience at Tourneau of Palm Beach, Fla. I bought my last Sub date there.
Let me set the scene: beautiful day, stunning 20'something blonde(aren't they all in West Palm)salesperson, and a new shipment of sport watches from Rolex. But it got better, as they knew me from buying my Reverso there, they asked me if I wanted a drink as I looked at the watches, wine, or mineral water. I am not making this up, and yes, the Tourneau store here in Atlanta sucks as far as service. So, it was not hard to resist the purchase, truly the BEST Rolex purchase experience I've had. I then got to test drive my new purchase swimming in the warm waters of South Beach. Did I mention that the South Beach beaches are topless? As Ferris said,"if you have the means, I highly recommend it."
Go to Miami, and buy a watch!

Key point being you have purchased from them before. The three that I have been to, the salespeople did not know the difference between a cyclops and a crown.

I know alot of dealers that give the treatment you describe, but they also offer a discount and knowledge on the product. I may just be bitter, but if they were the only people that sold Rolex, I would never own a Rolex.

[Atl]

I agree with you, as I said, the store here in Atlanta sucks, even wearing my best watch, they seem sooo disintrested. And I do not know of any AD discounting the sport models, except the gold ones, so, if that is the case, if you have to pay full price, a perky blonde (didn't really care if she knew anything about watches), some wine, and South Beach sealed the deal for me. I would not buy anything at Tourneau of Atlanta, but West Palm Beach Tourneau on Worth Ave.? YES PLEASE!!

[Atl]

Hey JJ,
If you're serious, let me know, I would be happy to help with info. I love to vacation there, only an hour flight from here.

[Spencer]

Originally Posted by Atl

I had a great experience at Tourneau of Palm Beach, Fla. I bought my last Sub date there.
Let me set the scene: beautiful day, stunning 20'something blonde(aren't they all in West Palm)salesperson, and a new shipment of sport watches from Rolex. But it got better, as they knew me from buying my Reverso there, they asked me if I wanted a drink as I looked at the watches, wine, or mineral water. I am not making this up, and yes, the Tourneau store here in Atlanta sucks as far as service. So, it was not hard to resist the purchase, truly the BEST Rolex purchase experience I've had. I then got to test drive my new purchase swimming in the warm waters of South Beach. Did I mention that the South Beach beaches are topless? As Ferris said,"if you have the means, I highly recommend it."
Go to Miami, and buy a watch!

I'm sure that not ALL Tourneau associates aren't as dense as a brick, but I've been to 4 Tourneaus, NYC, LA, OC, and Vegas. With the exception of NYC, since I didn't talk to anyone there, I get the feeling that Tourneau hires 90% of their people people based on looks (which is ok when they are hot So. Fla blondes ) and only about 10% who know anything about wathces. Plus I think the Tourneau people may actually work on commision since they hound you so hard from the second you step foot into the store.

They're typically gorgeous shops with pretty good selections, but unfortunately the help is

[Spencer]

Not to sound like a Rolex forum whore here, but I posted the same message about my Tourneau encounter today at Timezone, and I just relaized that my thread was removed

Is Tourneau a sponsor on Timezone? Regardless that's kind of lame of them to take my thread off, especially since it got a few responses.

Hey Timezone

[rolexpower]

trust me they dont hire on looks, the on in OC cali, has some hideous women in there, all stingy and bitter, they had so much attitude, i on purposely asked to try on like 7 watches,

[mailman]

I've never set foot inside one of their stores but haven't ever heard anything positive about them

[padi56]

Myself don't know why all the hype with the S.S Daytona, there is no way I would pay more than list, for any Watch model.I would sooner have the TT model for the roughly the same price, as the ridiculously inflated prices for a SS.

[Rockrolex]

Originally Posted by Spencer

Not to sound like a Rolex forum whore here, but I posted the same message about my Tourneau encounter today at Timezone, and I just relaized that my thread was removed

Is Tourneau a sponsor on Timezone? Regardless that's kind of lame of them to take my thread off, especially since it got a few responses.

Hey Timezone

It's called censorship, Spence.

You won't find that here. For one thing there are no corporate sponsors. More important, there is a little something called "freedom of speech" that is rather precious to us. That's pretty tacky of TZ to remove your post.

As for your Tourneau experience, it doesn't surprise me. I've been in several and have found the sales people to be less than impressive. In fact some have been downright uninformed about the products they sell. They don't know models or anything else about the watches.

Maybe next time on Worth Ave., I'll stop in and give them a test drive.

[Spencer]

Originally Posted by Rockrolex

It's called censorship, Spence.

You won't find that here. For one thing there are no corporate sponsors. More important, there is a little something called "freedom of speech" that is rather precious to us. That's pretty tacky of TZ to remove your post.

As for your Tourneau experience, it doesn't surprise me. I've been in several and have found the sales people to be less than impressive. In fact some have been downright uninformed about the products they sell. They don't know models or anything else about the watches.

Maybe next time on Worth Ave., I'll stop in and give them a test drive.

Kind of silly they would remove the post huh?

I think if you're buying a sub,gmt, exp., etc it's ok to get it from Tourneau. But if it's a more rare or hard to find watch, Rolex or not, I see no reason to go to Tourneau, especially since they hardly ever give you a discount.

[infoe]

Miami is my home...and I love it here! Ive visited one mayors here, still have 2 or 3 others just a stone throw away that I can put to compete against each other :)

[Gedanken]

Originally Posted by infoe

Miami is my home...and I love it here! Ive visited one mayors here, still have 2 or 3 others just a stone throw away that I can put to compete against each other :)

Sorry, just need clarification here - I take it Mayors is a watch dealership?

[infoe]

Its a fine jewelry dealership. we have it in the three or four of the major malls here in miami. When I called rolex and asked them for my AD's in the area it was Mayors at this mall x 4...and one other regular named dealership. They sell rings,watches,necklaces all higher end.

[Gedanken]

Originally Posted by Atl

I had a great experience at Tourneau of Palm Beach, Fla. I bought my last Sub date there.
Let me set the scene: beautiful day, stunning 20'something blonde(aren't they all in West Palm)salesperson, and a new shipment of sport watches from Rolex. But it got better, as they knew me from buying my Reverso there, they asked me if I wanted a drink as I looked at the watches, wine, or mineral water. I am not making this up, and yes, the Tourneau store here in Atlanta sucks as far as service. So, it was not hard to resist the purchase, truly the BEST Rolex purchase experience I've had. I then got to test drive my new purchase swimming in the warm waters of South Beach. Did I mention that the South Beach beaches are topless? As Ferris said,"if you have the means, I highly recommend it."
Go to Miami, and buy a watch!

Well, it seems that someone there has some inkling of the concept of service. Similarly, at Watch Palace, where I got my SD as a first-time customer, the sales rep offered Sash, my mate and myself drinks and let me try on a Sub and (after I chose a model) three SDs before negotiations began in earnest.

Fact of the matter is that if you're going in to buy a Rolex (or any other high-end watch), it's a whole different ball game from cashing a bag of chips at the local supermarket. Any dealer who fails to see how service is an essential part of this kind of transaction really doesn't deserve to make a dime.

[Gedanken]

Originally Posted by infoe

Its a fine jewelry dealership. we have it in the three or four of the major malls here in miami. When I called rolex and asked them for my AD's in the area it was Mayors at this mall x 4...and one other regular named dealership. They sell rings,watches,necklaces all higher end.

Ah, OK, thanks for that!

[mailman]

Originally Posted by infoe

Miami is my home...and I love it here! Ive visited one mayors here, still have 2 or 3 others just a stone throw away that I can put to compete against each other :)

Back in Oct I was in Mayor's in the PGA mall in Palm Beach. Nice stuff in there. About 3-1/2 yrs ago I was on Worth Ave and there were two ADs at the time there. Both of them had some other nice stuff in there also. Can't remember exactly what the selection was at the time, just remember Kelly asking "How many watches can you look at?"

[Gedanken]

Originally Posted by mailman

just remember Kelly asking "How many watches can you look at?"

Now is that really a question she would want answered?

[mailman]

Originally Posted by Gedanken

Now is that really a question she would want answered?

That's when you say, "Sorry, I'm too busy staring at your t*ts."

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by mailman

That's when you say, "Sorry, I'm too busy staring at your t*ts."

[Atl]

Originally Posted by mailman

Back in Oct I was in Mayor's in the PGA mall in Palm Beach. Nice stuff in there. About 3-1/2 yrs ago I was on Worth Ave and there were two ADs at the time there. Both of them had some other nice stuff in there also. Can't remember exactly what the selection was at the time, just remember Kelly asking "How many watches can you look at?"

I think the Worth Ave. store maybe a fluke, it sounds like the didn't get the corporate memo about pissing off perspective customers, I like my AD here in Atlanta, Brown & Co., but the stars aligned right, and it really was a great shopping experience, have no idea if it is still like that, I hope so. Was Kelly blonde?? I wonder if she was the one that helped me. If it was, Tourneau should clone her.