Rolex warranty card no good?

[904VT]

Originally Posted by ROLMARINER

Having recently purchased a 500C, BLRO, and DJ41 from grey dealers I have the three warranty cards, there are person's names on them, and there are imprinted AD's names on them.

How does one go about finding out if the warranty cards were swiped? Would any local AD be able to swipe my cards for me to confirm they are valid? Is it poor etiquette for me to contact the original AD for each to confirm the swipe occurred?

JS makes some nice points regarding full vs limited warranties in the US and Rolex USA.

If your cards are stamped, your warranty is active. Truth be told one could actually add a date after the fact to the card, and the AD would be the one getting in trouble by Rolex if the date wasn't accurate. For that reason, I'd find it highly unlikely any AD would risk letting a watch leave their store with incomplete paperwork. The serials would track back to the AD's inventory through Rolex and the store would risk their AD status.

What you purchased were likely, technically pre-owned watches from resellers, considering the cards and how they were completed. Grey dealers would officially be those that sell stock as new with unactivated warranties (think blank warranty cards, perhaps watches coming from other regions that are then distributed in a different region without license/AD Status).

The good thing is we're unlikely to need warranties as often with Rolex vs other brands

[ROLMARINER]

Originally Posted by 904VT

JS makes some nice points regarding full vs limited warranties in the US and Rolex USA.

If your cards are stamped, your warranty is active. Truth be told one could actually add a date after the fact to the card, and the AD would be the one getting in trouble by Rolex if the date wasn't accurate. For that reason, I'd find it highly unlikely any AD would risk letting a watch leave their store with incomplete paperwork. The serials would track back to the AD's inventory through Rolex and the store would risk their AD status.

What you purchased were likely, technically pre-owned watches from resellers, considering the cards and how they were completed. Grey dealers would officially be those that sell stock as new with unactivated warranties (think blank warranty cards, perhaps watches coming from other regions that are then distributed in a different region without license/AD Status).

The good thing is we're unlikely to need warranties as often with Rolex vs other brands

Thanks 904! I feel better now.

[seabreeze60]

Originally Posted by 904VT

JS makes some nice points regarding full vs limited warranties in the US and Rolex USA.

If your cards are stamped, your warranty is active. Truth be told one could actually add a date after the fact to the card, and the AD would be the one getting in trouble by Rolex if the date wasn't accurate. For that reason, I'd find it highly unlikely any AD would risk letting a watch leave their store with incomplete paperwork. The serials would track back to the AD's inventory through Rolex and the store would risk their AD status.

What you purchased were likely, technically pre-owned watches from resellers, considering the cards and how they were completed. Grey dealers would officially be those that sell stock as new with unactivated warranties (think blank warranty cards, perhaps watches coming from other regions that are then distributed in a different region without license/AD Status).

The good thing is we're unlikely to need warranties as often with Rolex vs other brands

My 2017 DJ is gray and stamped by a Rolex AD in another country. So if it’s stamped by an official Rolex dealer all should be OK if I’m reading the thread correctly.

[HogwldFLTR]

Originally Posted by seabreeze60

My 2017 DJ is gray and stamped by a Rolex AD in another country. So if it’s stamped by an official Rolex dealer all should be OK if I’m reading the thread correctly.

True that. As long as all was done it should be good.

[PepsiGMT]

I just went through this last week:

Yes, in order for the Rolex warranty to be in effect it needs to be activated by the AD at the time of purchase. From that date it's good for 5-years. It doesn't matter whose name is on the card. But the warranty needs to have been activated by a Rolex AD.

If the card is blank or filled-in by someone other than a Rolex AD then the warranty is not valid. A gray market seller can't just write your name on the card and it be valid.

The warranty follows the watch...so long as the warranty was activated by an AD at the time of purchase.

[Shy]

I'm in the market for a watch and been looking at AD's to no avail. At the grey dealers, I've seen alot of new with stickers but I don't think they come with the papers/card. I'm guessing having no papers will decrease the value if I plan to resell in the future and no 5 year warantee. But I'm guessing I can still send it to a rsc for repairs at a cost?

[RJRJRJ]

Originally Posted by PepsiGMT

I just went through this last week:

Yes, in order for the Rolex warranty to be in effect it needs to be activated by the AD at the time of purchase. From that date it's good for 5-years. It doesn't matter whose name is on the card. But the warranty needs to have been activated by a Rolex AD.

If the card is blank or filled-in by someone other than a Rolex AD then the warranty is not valid. A gray market seller can't just write your name on the card and it be valid.

The warranty follows the watch...so long as the warranty was activated by an AD at the time of purchase.

All Rolexes originally come from from an AD. If it includes the warranty card, it should be activated. It doesn't matter what is written on it or if it's blank and you fill it in yourself.

[vritra]

Originally Posted by psv

As long as the card is properly filled out and activated, the warranty transfers. If the card has been altered, e.g. the original purchaser’s name blacked out, that voids the warranty.

Also, Rolex bought internationally - you need to present a copy of the purchase receipt at the time of service, I’m speaking from experience.

Well, this is a bit worrisome - I just bought an unworn Submariner Date from one of the trusted vendors mentioned on this site, and the warranty card indicates that it was originally purchased a few months ago from an authorized Rolex dealer in Mexico.

I did not get the purchase receipt from the AD in Mexico. Does this mean I am not covered by the Rolex warranty?

[ragnk]

If your name is on the warranty card definitely you would use up the 5 years, but if it is not that wont be possible.

[HogwldFLTR]

Originally Posted by ragnk

If your name is on the warranty card definitely you would use up the 5 years, but if it is not that wont be possible.

Yes and no. If your name isn't on the card by definition you purchased the watch after the five year warranty began and you can't have five years of warranty coverage as it began sometime in the past.

If your name isn't on the card you can have coverage for the remainder of the time that the warranty covers providing of course that the card was activated correctly.

That is always the issue I have with definitions of "new" here on the forum. A new Rolex receives a full five year warranty for the original owner. Any watch where the owner receives less than five years is used whether or not it's been worn.

[RJRJRJ]

Originally Posted by HogwldFLTR

Yes and no. If your name isn't on the card by definition you purchased the watch after the five year warranty began and you can't have five years of warranty coverage as it began sometime in the past.

If your name isn't on the card you can have coverage for the remainder of the time that the warranty covers providing of course that the card was activated correctly.

That is always the issue I have with definitions of "new" here on the forum. A new Rolex receives a full five year warranty for the original owner. Any watch where the owner receives less than five years is used whether or not it's been worn.

Every Rolex comes from an AD. And every AD swipes the card.

[JacksonStone]

Originally Posted by RJRJRJ

Every Rolex comes from an AD. And every AD swipes the card.

How do we account for gray market watches sold without a warranty card or an active factory warranty? Sellers like Costco or Jomashop sell "new" watches without factory warranties or papers, and back them instead with their own warranties. If the factory warranty is always activated by the AD prior to distribution to the reseller, why wouldn't the reseller pass that along to the customer?

[HogwldFLTR]

Originally Posted by RJRJRJ

Every Rolex comes from an AD. And every AD swipes the card.

Are you 100% certain? How did I buy a Tudor with only the AD name on it? How do I know it was activated correctly. The card certainly wasn't filled out correctly. How should I date such a card to make certain the warranty is valid? It doesn't really matter anymore since I sold the watch to an AD (traded). Also see Larry's post (Tools).

Originally Posted by JacksonStone

How do we account for gray market watches sold without a warranty card or an active factory warranty? Sellers like Costco or Jomashop sell "new" watches without factory warranties or papers, and back them instead with their own warranties. If the factory warranty is always activated by the AD prior to distribution to the reseller, why wouldn't the reseller pass that along to the customer?

From my understanding there are watches brought into the country without warranty activation; those don't have warranties. Those are true gray market watches. Costco likely isn't in that category but more than likely holding the warranty cards to try to protect the ADs they purchase from. Just a hunch. Their warranty is better than the one Rolex offers imho.

[RJRJRJ]

Originally Posted by JacksonStone

How do we account for gray market watches sold without a warranty card or an active factory warranty? Sellers like Costco or Jomashop sell "new" watches without factory warranties or papers, and back them instead with their own warranties. If the factory warranty is always activated by the AD prior to distribution to the reseller, why wouldn't the reseller pass that along to the customer?

Those watches do not come with the warranty card. Every Rolex sold came from an AD and had a warranty card swiped. Whether a seller gives you the card or not is a different story.

Well known sellers like jomashop basically throw the warranty in the trash and give you their own warranty.

[seabreeze60]

Originally Posted by RJRJRJ

Well known sellers like jomashop basically throw the warranty in the trash and give you their own warranty.

Why would Jomashop throw the warranty in the trash and do the warranty at their expense? My guess is Rolex has so few warranty issues in the 3 year warranty they offer the risk is low.

Also they have a 30 day return policy. So the watch you buy may have been purchased and returned.

[jonnyz1245]

Originally Posted by PepsiGMT

I just went through this last week:

Yes, in order for the Rolex warranty to be in effect it needs to be activated by the AD at the time of purchase. From that date it's good for 5-years. It doesn't matter whose name is on the card. But the warranty needs to have been activated by a Rolex AD.

If the card is blank or filled-in by someone other than a Rolex AD then the warranty is not valid. A gray market seller can't just write your name on the card and it be valid.

The warranty follows the watch...so long as the warranty was activated by an AD at the time of purchase.

The middle part is not accurate. A grey market seller can write a name in on a card as long as the card has been swiped at the AD at time of sale. Does Rolex frown on it? yes. Is the Ad supposed to let it leave the store blank? no. Does it happen? yes. Quite often. As another poster said, you can write Donald Duck or XXXXX on the card. The warranty follows the watch and rolex does not track names in the US.

[JacksonStone]

Originally Posted by jonnyz1245

The middle part is not accurate. A grey market seller can write a name in on a card as long as the card has been swiped at the AD at time of sale. Does Rolex frown on it? yes. Is the Ad supposed to let it leave the store blank? no. Does it happen? yes. Quite often. As another poster said, you can write Donald Duck or XXXXX on the card. The warranty follows the watch and rolex does not track names in the US.

So it's a myth that the customer's name is recorded at the time of activation? Someone posted in a thread a few months ago that Rolex started implementing the procedure recently in an attempt to curb the gray market. Supposedly the card swipe encodes the name of the buyer in some database, and the name on the card has to match the name on file in the database in order for the warranty to be valid. It was a "my AD said" type of claim, so I didn't know how much weight to give it.

[seabreeze60]

Originally Posted by jonnyz1245

The middle part is not accurate. A grey market seller can write a name in on a card as long as the card has been swiped at the AD at time of sale. Does Rolex frown on it? yes. Is the Ad supposed to let it leave the store blank? no. Does it happen? yes. Quite often. As another poster said, you can write Donald Duck or XXXXX on the card. The warranty follows the watch and rolex does not track names in the US.

I believe your post to be accurate. My question is how do you know this to be true?

[Drkitch109]

Just came from the Rolex service center in NYC with a friend moments ago. He recently bought a barely used SubC from non-AD on 47th and wanted to get it regulated to be on the plus side (watch was running slow but within COSC spec).

Rolex refused to honor the warranty even though he had the warranty card (dated 2/19/2018) in hand. They did not even swipe the card; simply refused to do anything with the watch and stated that the warranty is not valid.

Apparently, the warranty does not follow the watch.


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[extra260]

Originally Posted by Drkitch109

Just came from the Rolex service center in NYC with a friend moments ago. He recently bought a barely used SubC from non-AD on 47th and wanted to get it regulated to be on the plus side (watch was running slow but within COSC spec).

Rolex refused to honor the warranty even though he had the warranty card (dated 2/19/2018) in hand. They did not even swipe the card; simply refused to do anything with the watch and stated that the warranty is not valid.

Apparently, the warranty does not follow the watch.


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What was their reasoning ? They cant just say it’s not valid without an explanation . Vital info is missing from this post.

[lawrence1]

Originally Posted by Tools

The Grey Market is not the used market. Any watch properly purchased from an AD will have a 5 year warranty, regardless how many times it is sold.

A new Grey Market watch was imported, bypassing the distributor, so the AD never sold these to a retail consumer. Grey Market products seldom have a valid warranty, such as those from Costco, Jomashop, Alan Furman, etc. .

How can that be? Every Rolex originates from an AD somewhere, regardless if the buyer is a grey dealer or retail customer. As far as I know, the grey dealers supply fictitious names to be reported as "buyers" to Rolex at the time they purchase the watches, so technically those watches appear as being retailed on Rolex's end. Similarly, I doubt an AD would "wholesale" a watch without reporting it to Rolex at all, since that could be a red flag as well in the event Rolex came in and audited their inventory, not to mention Rolex likely requires every warranty card to be scanned and filed out upon the watch being sold.

Having that in mind, how would Rolex know the difference in how the watch was acquired by the warranty claimant? Surely they could investigate it if they really wanted to find out but I doubt they do this for basic warranty work.

[JacksonStone]

Originally Posted by Drkitch109

Apparently, the warranty does not follow the watch.

Originally Posted by extra260

What was their reasoning ? They cant just say it’s not valid without an explanation . Vital info is missing from this post.

Agreed. More info is needed. What info was exchanged, such that they knew your friend was not the original owner? What explanation was given by RSC for their claim the warranty is invalid?

Also, as a general rule, do not assume that one utterance from a customer service person becomes a definitive pronouncement on the legalities surrounding Rolex warranties. Under the law a full warranty transfers to all owners for the duration of its term, provided it was valid at the time of the original sale. The person at RSC could be wrong, and may need to be "persuaded," or there could be more going on with your friend's watch than you have told us.

[Drkitch109]

Originally Posted by extra260

What was their reasoning ? They cant just say it’s not valid without an explanation . Vital info is missing from this post.

In effect, the CSR did just that. Again, they did not swipe the warranty card as he had it it hand the entire time.

1. Entered the SC and filled out the inventory slip
2. Discussed why he was there (i.e., regulate watch)
3. CSR came to collect watch; asked if he was original purchaser - he replied he wasn’t - CSR must have presumed that he purchased it from non-AD
4. CSR stated that watch may not be under warranty
5. CSR took watch - did not take warranty card - into the back
6. CSR came back out - stated that they would regulate - but that warranty is not valid
7. Friend asked why - CSR said warranty is not transferrable
8. Kick, scream, pout
9. Left with unregulated watch and unchecked warranty card - stated he was done with Rolex


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[Drkitch109]

Originally Posted by JacksonStone

Agreed. More info is needed. What info was exchanged, such that they knew your friend was not the original owner? What explanation was given by RSC for their claim the warranty is invalid?



Also, as a general rule, do not assume that one utterance from a customer service person becomes a definitive pronouncement on the legalities surrounding Rolex warranties. Under the law a full warranty transfers to all owners for the duration of its term, provided it was valid at the time of the original sale. The person at RSC could be wrong, and may need to be "persuaded," or there could be more going on with your friend's watch than you have told us.

Basic info was exchanged regarding the watch - when purchased, what he was looking to do, etc. but my buddy stated that he was not the original owner when asked because the name on the warranty card was not the name he put in the inventory slip.

There really wasn’t a reason provided so much as a firm position held by the CSR based on the fact that he was not original owner and that there warranty is not transferable. Again, the CSR did not even take the warranty card at any point in the 20 minutes we were there.



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[Drkitch109]

Originally Posted by lawrence1

How can that be? Every Rolex originates from an AD somewhere, regardless if the buyer is a grey dealer or retail customer. As far as I know, the grey dealers supply fictitious names to be reported as "buyers" to Rolex at the time they purchase the watches, so technically those watches appear as being retailed on Rolex's end. Similarly, I doubt an AD would "wholesale" a watch without reporting it to Rolex at all, since that could be a red flag as well in the event Rolex came in and audited their inventory, not to mention Rolex likely requires every warranty card to be scanned and filed out upon the watch being sold.



Having that in mind, how would Rolex know the difference in how the watch was acquired by the warranty claimant? Surely they could investigate it if they really wanted to find out but I doubt they do this for basic warranty work.

Couldn’t tell you. The name of the original purchaser and AD are on the warranty card. The AD is a US AD as well. This jumped out at me because the AD has a location at the Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus NJ that I have been to and am familiar with.


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[lawrence1]

Originally Posted by Drkitch109

Basic info was exchanged regarding the watch - when purchased, what he was looking to do, etc. but my buddy stated that he was not the original owner when asked because the name on the warranty card was not the name he put in the inventory slip.

There really wasn’t a reason provided so much as a firm position held by the CSR based on the fact that he was not original owner and that there warranty is not transferable. Again, the CSR did not even take the warranty card at any point in the 20 minutes we were there.



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did you ask them to show you where in the rolex written warranty guidelines it says that the warranty is non transferable. did you escalate to a manager?

on another note, if the watch is running within COSC specs, i doubt Rolex would regulate it for your buddy for free to begin with, even if he was the original owner.

[Pauln]

Originally Posted by Drkitch109

In effect, the CSR did just that. Again, they did not swipe the warranty card as he had it it hand the entire time.

1. Entered the SC and filled out the inventory slip
2. Discussed why he was there (i.e., regulate watch)
3. CSR came to collect watch; asked if he was original purchaser - he replied he wasn’t - CSR must have presumed that he purchased it from non-AD
4. CSR stated that watch may not be under warranty
5. CSR took watch - did not take warranty card - into the back
6. CSR came back out - stated that they would regulate - but that warranty is not valid
7. Friend asked why - CSR said warranty is not transferrable
8. Kick, scream, pout
9. Left with unregulated watch and unchecked warranty card - stated he was done with Rolex


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Pretty interesting information. Not saying this is more than anecdotal, but if Rolex wants to get rid of grey dealers, this is how It could really make a dent.

[Drkitch109]

Originally Posted by lawrence1

did you ask them to show you where in the rolex written warranty guidelines it says that the warranty is non transferable. did you escalate to a manager?



on another note, if the watch is running within COSC specs, i doubt Rolex would regulate it for your buddy for free to begin with, even if he was the original owner.

He didn’t ask to see anything in writing. The CSR was not budging. He did ask to see her manager but she replied that the manager would tell him the same thing and that she was just doing her job.

I don’t think they charge. I have a deep sea and I’ve had it regulated for free in the past under warranty.


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[Macnavara]

Originally Posted by JacksonStone

False. As long as the warranty was properly activated by an AD at the time of original sale, the warranty will travel with the watch for the full five years, irrespective of whose name is on the card. The pitfall here is if the watch was purchased "new" from a gray, and the warranty was not properly activated. Some are, some aren't.

This is all you need to know

[edyu]

When I bought the 2 Rolexes from AD, they told me they are required to fill out the card and register my name.