Elliot James Watchmakers: A shady service option

[avivalasvegas]

I gave Elliot James (EJ Watchmakers) a call via his website following a forum member's recommendation. Here's exactly what happened:

Last week, I spoke with Elliot who explained that he deals with the trade and customers, and shared that he could service the Tudor for £195 + extra charges as needed, with no obligation to proceed following inspection. He shared that he would have no problem sourcing grey market parts for his service watches which gave me some confidence. When I asked if I could drop the watch off to him (vs. risk postage), he shared that he did not have a shop but would share an address to a jeweler he works with called Adorn Jewellers in Wimbledon. Elliot assured me that he knows the staff at Adorn well and deals with them weekly (I have the text messages).

This seemed unusual but I went along with it and gave Adorn a call earlier this week. The lady who picked up didn't know the name of their watchmaker, but a male voice in the background did mention Elliot by name. I once again reconfirmed with Elliot via text message, as I was worried I had the wrong location. Once again, he assured me that dropping the watch off at Adorn would be seamless and that I would be dealing with him directly.

I decided to lower my guard and drove the hour and 15 minutes to Adorn. When I arrived, another lady at the desk didn't know who Elliot was but another employee, a gentleman who appeared to be fixing something, looked over his shoulder to confirm that Elliot was indeed their watchmaker but that the owner of the shop (Dave) didn't like Elliot's customers dropping their watches off at his shop.

This is when things took a surprising turn. Elliot answered his phone, and said "This is why I don't deal with the general public buddy. You will be handled by Adorn Jewellers directly and I will service your watch as a customer of theirs. All further communication will be through them"

I instantly reminded him that Adorn was supposed to be a drop-off location only, to which he simply repeated his most recent statement. He then spoke with the lady at the customer desk at Adorn. After hanging up, I asked Adorn Jewellers if the cost would be £195 as shared multiple times by Elliot, to which I was told that the cost would now be higher than that.

That's when I thanked her, took my watch and left. It's clear that Elliot James is anything but transparent, crafty, and appears to be running some kind of scam. I'd avoid him like the plague.