Scam alert london

[watchvert]

So, I decided to sell one of my watches for a couple of reasons, one - not wearing it and the other one is to partially fund a close friend's cancer treatment.

The watch in question is a rose gold Day-Date 40 228235 chocolate dial. The watch was unworn and never even been resized with all of the accessories purchased in 2022.

I went to sell it to Pristine Watches London PWL (Luxury Time London is another name) based in Knightsbridge, as a few years ago I sold a couple of watches to them and apparently they are a sister company, if this can be said, of Watchtrader and Co in Newcastle.

The watch was sold on the 1st of September 2023 at an agreed price of £31500. To the present day I only received £15000. The first payment arrived on the 5th of October (£10000) and the second payment was made on the 16th of October (£5000 respectively).

Every day I get promises that they will pay the rest and nothing ever happens.

They have caused nothing, but aggravation, distress and wasted time. I can't even begin to describe the difficulties in relation to my friend's treatment because of this.

Every promise they make/made was not fulfilled, every day there is another bulls*** story and how they are going to pay me extra for the trouble.

I dug out more information on them through companies house, google reviews and other sources. There are other people who had/having the same experience with them.
One of their representatives (supposedly the owner) is sat in Dubai and just keeps feeding me nonsense information, while the other ones based in London don't even pick up the phone anymore and not replying to my messages.

The case is now with the Sussex Police, Action Fraud and the watch has been declared as stolen by me.

I am intending to spread the word throughout all the of the watch communities including the US, Dubai and other Emirates, the Middle East in general, so nobody else wastes their time with these scammers.

The watch was not sold on consignment, it was an outright sale. Receipt present, calls recorded, all communications are documented.

BEWARE!

[Oystersteel92]

Sorry to hear you've dealt with a bad actor and I hope you get your money.

Also, doesn't the UK have free health care?

I'll also be the first to say that I just can't comprehend buying a watch, never having it sized, and never wearing it.

[london_v]

Thanks for sharing mate and really sorry to hear you're going through this. I'm assuming you've got paperwork stating the sold price? Did they mention at point of sale that payment would be sent partially over time?

Hope it gets resolved soon.

[writemem]

Originally Posted by Oystersteel92

Sorry to hear you've dealt with a bad actor and I hope you get your money.

Also, doesn't the UK have free health care?

I'll also be the first to say that I just can't comprehend buying a watch, never having it sized, and never wearing it.

it's technically not free if you have a job, you have to pay a lot in tax and it's hit or miss the type of care you get with the NHS. I've had 3 operations on it in my life and although I'm still alive now I still have the very bad scars to show for it. I also knew two people, both close family friends, who died due to "negligence" - so you take your chances

And in more recent times you could end up dying waiting for the treatment due to the huge backlog of patients thanks to government cuts to public spending, therefore money gets you a private healthcare queue jump.

[mario1971]

I guess I didn't fully understand. If it was not a commission sale but a direct sale, why didn't you demand payment/transfer of all funds at the time of the transaction? You confirm the funds in your account and then hand over the watch, unless the parties have agreed otherwise.

[Harry-57]

If you parted with the watch before the £31500 was in your possession and cleared, it sounds like you have learned a hard lesson a hard way, although you do at least have some of the money. Time for a solicitor to swing in. Good luck with it.

[watchvert]

Originally Posted by Oystersteel92

Sorry to hear you've dealt with a bad actor and I hope you get your money.

Also, doesn't the UK have free health care?

I'll also be the first to say that I just can't comprehend buying a watch, never having it sized, and never wearing it.

Thank you. Times have changed and it's a full gold piece, I was a bit weary about having it on. I kind of put it away to wear later or maybe in a different country where it is safer. The person in question (the one having treatment) lives abroad and certain things he needs are not too accessible unfortunately, to speed things up and have extra expertise much money is required...

[watchvert]

Originally Posted by london_v

Thanks for sharing mate and really sorry to hear you're going through this. I'm assuming you've got paperwork stating the sold price? Did they mention at point of sale that payment would be sent partially over time?

Hope it gets resolved soon.

Thank you. Yes, I have the receipt with all of the details provided to me at the time of sale. No, they just said "We'll get quickly paid today" (1st of September that is), then the conversation went about how the payment was blocked and they are going to speak to their banker and every time I call, they say "I am just walking in to the branch" Such coincidences...

[watchvert]

Originally Posted by mario1971

I guess I didn't fully understand. If it was not a commission sale but a direct sale, why didn't you demand payment/transfer of all funds at the time of the transaction? You confirm the funds in your account and then hand over the watch, unless the parties have agreed otherwise.

They made a payment in front of me. Sometimes payments don't go through immediately, especially nowadays, when everything is considered fraud and scam. I had situations like this myself, so this is not unexpected. And it is a large amount so extra checks by the bank are possible. As we dealt before years ago, I did not think much of it and just went on my way.
When my bank blocks a transaction, I call their compliance/fraud/risk, whatever it is called, confirm everything and it goes through. I've done it many times.

[watchvert]

Originally Posted by Harry-57

If you parted with the watch before the £31500 was in your possession and cleared, it sounds like you have learned a hard lesson a hard way, although you do at least have some of the money. Time for a solicitor to swing in. Good luck with it.

Thank you. I'll just copy my above answer and reply to you.

They made a payment in front of me. Sometimes payments don't go through immediately, especially nowadays, when everything is considered fraud and scam. I had situations like this myself, so this is not unexpected. And it is a large amount so extra checks by the bank are possible. As we dealt before years ago, I did not think much of it and just went on my way.
When my bank blocks a transaction, I call their compliance/fraud/risk, whatever it is called, confirm everything and it goes through. I've done it many times.

[jaydav2306]

Yeah I’m not sure I would be handing over a £31500 watch before receiving the cash, weird that the second payment was £5500 was that agreed on some kind of schedule?

[georgew]

yep, deliberate on their part for sure. Could be they're struggling with cash flow, or seeing how determined you are to take them to court to get the full amount. Sleazy company

[watchvert]

Originally Posted by jaydav2306

Yeah I’m not sure I would be handing over a £31500 watch before receiving the cash, weird that the second payment was £5500 was that agreed on some kind of schedule?

No, it was an outright sale for the full amount, I have the receipt to confirm it. And the second payment was £5000, not £5500.
Again, we dealt before and I had situations when the payment does not arrive immediately, sometimes takes up to 2 hours.

[jaydav2306]

Originally Posted by watchvert

No, it was an outright sale for the full amount, I have the receipt to confirm it. And the second payment was £5000, not £5500.
Again, we dealt before and I had situations when the payment does not arrive immediately, sometimes takes up to 2 hours.

In which case this is definitely one for the police and fraud squad

[Oystersteel92]

Originally Posted by watchvert

Thank you. Times have changed and it's a full gold piece, I was a bit weary about having it on. I kind of put it away to wear later or maybe in a different country where it is safer. The person in question (the one having treatment) lives abroad and certain things he needs are not too accessible unfortunately, to speed things up and have extra expertise much money is required...

All very reasonable. I know a guy who married a Filipina with the expectation that he would be providing some support to the family back home. It's amazing how what is to us just a little bit of money can really buy better medical care and food down there.

[watchvert]

I have finally received the outstanding balance from them. Took over 2 months and a lot of grief for many people...

[Radbloke]

Originally Posted by watchvert

I have finally received the outstanding balance from them. Took over 2 months and a lot of grief for many people...

Great to hear. Sounds like you may have been lucky. There's probably a lot of watch-related businesses in this situation at the moment, living on the razors edge.

[DoricSpiker]

Great to hear this has been fixed.

For the record every grey dealer I have ever sold a watch to has inspected the watch first. Never had a situation where someone on a desk inspects it and sends you that kind of cash in an instant. This means they could have scammed me, they could just not send me the watch back or do what these guys did to you. The only mechanism I have to protect myself is the reputation of the people I am selling it to.

Just feel some of the comments you have received here are a little unfair and a bit hindsight heavy!

Enjoy your 30 big ones. Have a beer with it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk