Looking for info on forum favorite AD

[greedotx]

Hello,

I am searching for a AD to purchase a new Rolex. None of the dealers locally(Houston) want to discount. Any help would be greatley appreciated.


Charles

[Gaijin]

How far away are you willing to travel? My AD in Oregon will discount just about any model 10% or so and there is no sales tax in Oregon.

[Robb]

Or Tennessee. There is sales tax here but you could ship it home and not pay tax!

[greedotx]

Will your AD ship to houston?

[Robb]

Originally Posted by greedotx

Will your AD ship to houston?

Not sure if you are talking to Kansai or me but I believe they will ship to Houston. What are you looking for?

[greedotx]

I am looking for a Sub 16610. Can you forward me some info on your guy? Name? Number? So I can call and talk to him.

[Robb]

PM sent!

Hope it helps

[Vanessa CW21]

How can you expect value if you are always looking for a discount?
And why would a dealer discount if they know they'll get it sold to somebody else at full price? When you buy out of state, you won't have the service you can expect from a local dealer. Sometimes the extra services they offer, is worth more than the discount...
Think about it.

[Gaijin]

I think it is just normal to try and get the best possible price on a big ticket item. We are not talking about buying a pair of jeans here. My AD offers discounts and after sales service. They have an in house watchmaker and won't hesitate to send it to the RSC cost free if needed. That combined with no sales tax and it is a no brainer for me.

They also have a darn near full bar and offer up a decent Scotch everytime I am in and want one.

[Vanessa CW21]

Originally Posted by KansaiVet

My AD offers discounts and after sales service. They have an in house watchmaker and won't hesitate to send it to the RSC cost free if needed. That combined with no sales tax and it is a no brainer for me.

I totally agree. But for you this is locally. The point I was trying to make for somebody wanting to buy a Rolex, is to buy it locally, so you have this service. Just buying out of state to avoid paying tax (don't we all drive on the tax-paid roads?), would give you less off the service a local dealer can offer. That's all I was trying to say

Vanessa

[Robb]

Originally Posted by Vanessa

How can you expect value if you are always looking for a discount?
And why would a dealer discount if they know they'll get it sold to somebody else at full price? When you buy out of state, you won't have the service you can expect from a local dealer. Sometimes the extra services they offer, is worth more than the discount...
Think about it.

I am only 5 minutes from the state line so it is a local dealer to me!!!!!!!!

[Blue Bull]

Originally Posted by Vanessa

How can you expect value if you are always looking for a discount?
And why would a dealer discount if they know they'll get it sold to somebody else at full price? When you buy out of state, you won't have the service you can expect from a local dealer. Sometimes the extra services they offer, is worth more than the discount...
Think about it.

I am always looking for a large discount.Not losing money at resale,lets us buy more.Providing more work for someone like you.

[chris_nor_cal]

Originally Posted by Vanessa

How can you expect value if you are always looking for a discount?
And why would a dealer discount if they know they'll get it sold to somebody else at full price? When you buy out of state, you won't have the service you can expect from a local dealer. Sometimes the extra services they offer, is worth more than the discount...
Think about it.

Because people care about saving money. I got 15% off my SS Sub/Date. This being said, the "Authorized Dealer" I purchased my watch at is terrible. When I went in to have my bracelet and a small part of my case polished, they didn't even have someone on site who felt comfortable polishing my watch because "the movement would have to be removed"

Additionally, they wouldn't even remove the bezel for me to realign it when it was off centered--they said that no one other than RSC was qualified to perform this kind of work. I later found out how to perform this work with a pocket knife on Rolex Forums.

This experience didn't provide me any "value" other than saving me 15% on the watch.

I understand you're a watchmaker, and we all love Rolex watches here, but Rolex overprices their watches--pure and simple--and it's an additional slap in the face that they continue to raise prices every year on the same products without providing any kind of justification in terms of providing additional features or benefits. Any discount is welcome in my eyes.

[Downing]

Originally Posted by Vanessa

I totally agree. But for you this is locally. The point I was trying to make for somebody wanting to buy a Rolex, is to buy it locally, so you have this service. Just buying out of state to avoid paying tax (don't we all drive on the tax-paid roads?), would give you less off the service a local dealer can offer. That's all I was trying to say

Vanessa

Vanessa: Normally, I would agree with you. But the problem with my local ADs is that they don't know much about Rolexes--at least the ones I've been to so far. Now, I don't know much about them either, but after a week or so of surfing the web and lurking here (mostly lurking here) I was able to run rings around my local ADs. This was made even easier because, it seemed to me, that the focus of my local ADs was on selling jewelry, not watches.

A typical example:

Me (standing in front of the Rolex display case): Hi, do you have a Sea-Dweller I can look at?

AD (a cute 20-something young lady): Yes.

Me: Where? I don't see any in the display.

AD: Oh, let me look...Gee, I guess not. How about this uuuuuuum... [now I have to wait for her to pull a Submariner out of the display so she can read the dial and say "Submariner?," because I'm standing in front of the Submariners so naturally that's where she's going to go and once again it's painfully obvious that I'm dealing with a jewelry person, not a watch person]...uuuuuuum, Submariner?

Me: Right, but I was looking for a Sea-Dweller.

AD: Well, this is a very nice watch [duh], and I think you can even take it underwater.

Me (sighing): Yes, you can as a matter of fact. Almost as deep as the Sea-Dweller. But I don't care for the cyclops. The Sea-Dweller looks similar but doesn't have a cyclops.

AD: (with a blank look on her face, nodding) Yeah.

Me: And of course the crystal is thicker.

AD: (blank look continues) Uh huh.

Me: So it sits higher on your wrist.

AD: (faking interest) Really?

Me: (realizing as I'm speaking that she may be cute but she's not that cute): And it's heavi--oops, would you look at the time. Gotta go.

AD: (perks up) Perhaps we could order one for you. Can I get your name and number?

Me: Hey, look (pointing behind her)! That lady over there wants to buy a diamond necklace!

AD: Oh, gotta go!

Personally, I just can't stand doing business with someone who doesn't know squat about the product. Especially when it comes to the finer things in my life, like flamenco guitars, diving equipment and Rolex watches.

So I was ready to throw up my hands and buy from a reputable but unauthorized dealer over the internet and across the country, thereby saving a few bucks and getting a better warranty to boot.

Until Tom PM'd me. Looks like I'll be buying local after all.

Tom: Lets go try on some fine watches and break out the scotch. I can't wait another two months. Thursday's good for me.

[Vanessa CW21]

Hahaha That's a great story!
And I'm very sorry you had to go through that!
To be honest, I go Rolex-shopping myself on occasion, to hear what the "competition" knows, and you're right, sometimes it's pathetic!
But please realize not every dealer is like that, there are some good ones out there, and you should give them a fair chance. And even if it's not right in your neighborhood, try to appreciate the value of the services some of us offer.

Good luck!
Vanessa

[triton]

i agree with Vanessa. Once a watch buyer builds up a relationship with the sales person in a watch shop. The services they provide to you is of a different level.

So far, there are couple of instances where i bought watches from overseas because @ the point in time, the shop does not carry the piece i was looking for and the discount was too huge to pass up.

however, on another occasion, i managed to get pretty good discount on a particular watch.

[Gaijin]

Thursday is good for me! How about after 4 or so? Have an appointment at 2:30. Should be done by 4. I'll meet you downtown somewhere. Aaah. Geez, I'll just PM you.