Horrible experience with SohAIS

[Wayne7]

I've been lurking this site for awhile and finally decided to take the plunge and purchase my first Rolex Submariner 126610LN. As such, I wanted to purchase like new complete set. Up for sale was SohAIS' listing which was up for 7 weeks:

FSOT: BNIB Rolex Submariner Ceramic Date 126610LN 41MM Random Serial Box & Papers

Everything was supposed to be included with outer box, inner box, warranty card, and serial number hang tag. All the trimmings that go with BNIB and my first unboxing experience. Transaction went smooth until I received the watch and noticed the Serial Hang Tag was missing. So, I called Aamir thinking maybe he forgot to include it. This is where things went south and each opportunity to recover was lost by digging a bigger hole.

Aamir first sent a picture saying the tag was not in the picture. Despite description showing the tag was included. Despite being labeled in BNIB. Despite having confirmed the contents prior to purchase. Once I pointed this out he acknowledged he made a mistake in the description and then took his turn on the AD saying their AD that they source these watches will keep the serial hang tags and this should be expected. At this point, I felt like I was dealing with a street vendor. This is not what I expected from a Trusted Seller. In frustration, I expressed what I had anticipated was "I'm so sorry this never happens and we'll make sure this never happens again and is there anything we can do to make this better?".

Then tried to explain over me that he's losing money on this 14.5K Submariner and it could sell for more than over $1k I paid for. That he had sold a used one without a box last week. I was extremely irritated at every point raised with the tone and lack of sincerity. Then asked me to hold on as he looked up his supposed losing margins and offered $75 or I could send the watch back. Aye caramba.. was ist das?! You know when you have those moments when you see young people just not get it and spelling out how you're being insulted?? The only thing missing from this discussion was a stream and some fly fishing rods. At this point of mutual animosity being asked to send back the watch to someone I don't know with only a hope and prayer I get all my money back is not even a question. I wasn't doing this twice for one transaction. And I had to explain it wasn't even about the $75 and could care less at this point; rather it was the denial and treatment.

Then he got the rock salt in the final round and asked if I would accept the $75 and that I "agree that there will be no more claims". Geez luiz... I'm thinking to myself what other claims could there be other than this watch being fake? Why would I have to agree to anything? What is this legally binding that I accept a fake watch? If there were any other issues wouldn't they want to hear about it? Taking into consideration I checked everything as best as I could before calling. Enough was enough and just had to ask him to stop because there was no way for him to recover this situation and having practically ruined an entire experience dealing with the already miserable "Rolex Purchase Ecosphere" for a newbie.

This thread should have been titled "Double Check Watch and Contents are as Described Before Purchasing", but unfortunately the creative story telling by Aamir made this is into a complete underwhelming experience. I want to love the watch. And I'm 99% sure the watch is real. But if you're buying a watch from him or anyone else I highly recommend doing a FaceTime and visually confirming together everything is as described to the extent possible. Lesson learned. Not sure at which point they contemplated disclosing it didn't have all the tags. When they advertised the headline as BNIB? In the item description? Seems a bit disingenuous to me. Or lackadaisical in what constitutes BNIB at best.

First time buyers are already going to deal with getting over the "trust hurdle" of wiring money across the country and we're really looking for that amazing experience on that first Rolex. I won't be buying from SohAIS again in the future and hopefully my next expereince will be like some of the great reviews with other sellers I've read in this forum. Customer service really matters more when you have issues.