Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

Let me start this thread by saying that Cousins UK as a watch materials house / wholesaler are brilliant - 99.9% of the time.

Let's face it, where else can you get virtually anything you might need (if it's still available) delivered next day in the UK ? 

And I'm talking about placing an order just before 4:00pm on a Friday and having it delivered by the postie on Saturday morning.

Not only that, but as an amateur individual / hobbyist / tinkerer we've got access to all this good stuff at 'trade' prices. 

But then there's that odd 0.1% of the time when they screw up. And Boy can they really wind you up in the process. 

My first first-hand experience of a classic Cousins' screw up dates back to November 2010.

At the time, I was trying to source the correct 'mushroom' style stainless screw-down crown for a 38mm 'reduced' Yema Spationaute III.

I documented my trials and tribulations in a thread on RLT: http://www.thewatchforum.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=60293

Need Help With Sourcing A Screw-Down Crown Well, actually - help with horological terminology !

Part of the problem was that the descriptions / dimensions given for some of these crowns on Cousins' website were wrong at the time.

If you're interested in reading some of the details, skip forward to this post of that thread. Here's where I made my first 'mistake'. 

So, on the basis that Cousins listed 6 different 'ISO Swiss' screw-down 'mushroom' crowns (between Styles J and K),

and ISO Swiss also listed 6 different variations of a very similar appearing mushroom-style crown (see the table above) .... 

I decided to take a chance on it, and ordered Cousins' part numbers C9039 (gold plated) and C9067 (Stainless).

In the hope (fingers crossed) that they were directly equivalent to ISO Swiss part numbers 31527 and 31027.

As you'll see if you continue reading that thread, the gold-plated crown was spot on. The stainless one wasn't ! 

I subsequently ended up going 'cap in hand' direct to the manufacturer ISO Swiss, who supplied the correct crown free of charge. 

But then I was stuck with a 'wrong' stainless screw-down mushroom crown, which had cost nigh on 20 Quid incidentally  that was neither any good for use on a 38mm 'reduced' Yema Spationaute III nor the 43mm full-size version, which uses an externally similar appearing crown (but otherwise with totally different threads / internal dimensions). So I needed to return that for credit. I wrote next:

Knowing Cousins UK operate a strict non-return policy (except in cases of their error) ....

Which of course, under Cousins' T&C's, I'd be perfectly within my rights to return. 

Bry1975 wrote a little way underneath that: Fecking Cousins are a pain with this no returns policy! 

I did get a full credit in the end, but it took numerous emails, with photos and phone calls to their Quality Manger Phil Marshall.

To say that Phil is an arrogant sh!t who is never wrong (in his opinion) is a minor understatement. That's when he'll actually deign to talk to you. If you ever phone Cousins UK and ask for him in person, he's usually very conveniently 'in a meeting' or not available. 

Oddly enough, when I was searching on RLT for that thread about the Spationaute III screw-down crown saga, I found another:

http://www.thewatchforum.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=71464 - that I'd started in December 2011, which I gave the title:

Total Incompetence By Cousins Uk Customer Service (Again) A well-deserved rant about our favourite supplier.

Quite by coincidence I began that thread in a very similar manner to this one:

Let me start by saying that I think Cousins UK are brilliant .... 99% of the time. 

I mean, where else (as a hobbyist) can you place an order for watch parts, and get next day delivery ? 

That is, as long as you know exactly what you're ordering (some of their descriptions leave a LOT to be desired).

Further down that thread, Roamer Man wrote:

Having a little difficulty are we? You're not the only one. I don't think Cousins are very strong on customer service!

Enjoy the read.  If you can't be bothered to read through my rant, here's the punchline:

But I did miss my opportunity for a (stating the bleeding obvious style) punchline. 

In case anybody missed the point of what made me so angry this afternoon (by my slight omission) ....

Today, Cousins UK charged me £2.81 (made up of Postage +VAT) for sending me an empty* jiffy bag.

*Empty that is, apart from their invoice. 

If you read through that thread on RLT, you'll possibly have gathered that was the third complaint I'd had with Cousins UK.

The other one I briefly touched on was when I was supplied with a batch of Sternkreuz MSM310 crystals that were under thickness.

They're nominally 31.0mm diameter x 1.5mm thick (and nearly always exactly that), but the packet actually states 1.4mm - 1.5mm.

From memory, the batch of 10 received varied in thickness from about 1.25mm to 1.37mm, so I sent them back for replacement.

Needless to say it took months to get sorted. Lots of emails and phone calls. In the end they still sent me one of the 1.37mm back. 

Their next screw up happened in September 2012.

I can't remember exacly why I ordered them now (it may have been to use on my 7A34-7019 sample case bracelet, in the absence of the correct original Seiko SQ clasp), but along with a few other bits and pieces, I ordered two (both plain) 18mm 'generic' Z-fold clasps.

They supplied the wrong style clasp against the 18mm x 8mm fixing version, which turns out was the one I really needed. 

Here's a copy and paste of my email to Phil Marshall of Cousins UK dated 15th September 2012:

Hi, Phil. 

Sorry to be a whinging pain in the A$$ (again). 

In my last order (Account #          ) various references: CSN161286; Ref. # 247328 and Yours: 474360 / invoice 1442106 .... 

I ordered a C19311 18mm x 8mm (normal) Z-fold clasp. 

See attached photo for what I actually received (in a zip-lock packet marked C19311) 

It appears to be the equivalent 'safety' version p/n C13755 (which I didn't particularly want). 

Please could you send me the correct C19311 as a FOC replacement.

Thanks in advance, 

Regards, Paul Skett.

The reason I asked for a free of charge replacement (without offering to return the incorrectly supplied item) was that we are talking about a part costing only 95 pence, and to my simple way of thinking, at least, it seemed the most logical and cost effective approach.

This is the reply I received from Phil Marshall a couple of days later (after I'd re-sent my email):

Hi Paul 

Sorry for the delay. 

Unfortunately I cannot deal with this via personal e-mail please could you log this on the my returns system at the foot of every web page and log under incorrectly supplied where it will be dealt with directly. 

I do apologise for any inconvenience. 

Best regards, Phil

I took one look at their returns process page and gave up in disgust ! 

Now where was I ? Ah Yes, Cousins UK and their historically sometimes lousy Customer Service. Here's the reason for my latest rant.

I have a JDM 7A38-7110 incoming. I was hoping it might have arrived today, but according to ParcelFarce, it's still awaiting Customs clearance at their Coventry hub, and has been since the 23rd. Unfortunately, before it's even arrived, I'd already sussed it isn't going to fit my wrist. As is often the case with watches coming out of the Far East, it's had a number of bracelet adjustment links removed.

Because it still has the original SPEEDMASTER logo'd clasp, which I naturally want to retain ....

.... my only real option is to fit a (fixed length) 18mm clasp extender. So I thought I'd order one in advance of the watch's arrival.

These things are all over eBay. Prices vary considerably. Most reasonable eBay sellers (like redroosteruk) are asking around £3.50 for them, but I did find this shark asking £5.75 (before he reduced his price slightly):

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140939845329

But of course I knew where you could get them a lot cheaper - indeed very likely where this eBay seller gets his supply from:

http://www.cousinsuk.com/catalog/watch-straps-bracelets-fittings/fittings-clasps-for-watch-bracelets/-extenders-for-3-fold-clasp-covers

So I added one to my Cousins order yesterday afternoon. The package arrived in this morning's post, just as I'd anticipated.

What I wasn't so quite happy about was the condition of the 18mm clasp extender they supplied me with:

It's covered in small dings ! 

Those of us who've dealt with Cousins for any length of time will know they don't like returns, one bit.  But I thought I'd give it a shot.

http://www.cousinsuk.com/users/returns.aspx

First I tried doing it the 'proper' way - after all the sub-standard item supplied was in effect 'faulty':

Not exactly a surprise when I hit the submit button:

So I thought I'd frigg the system a little. 

That appears to have been accepted by the system, although I must admit I was rather surprised that it actually allowed me to enter the same part number twice (hence by implication 'incorrectly supplied') in both the 'Item Code' and 'Item Code Ordered' fields. 

Let's see what kind of response I get on Monday. 

You shouldn't have to dress that part     Hold their feet to the fire    So the 18 mm is used on most Seiko's ?

Yes, Don. But you know what'll happen even if they admit liability - I'll have to return the defective part before they send a replacement.

It'll cost more than the 95p cost of the part in postage (hence why I didn't bother the previous time with that incorrectly supplied clasp).

It's beyond re-brushing anyway. Although they're all quite small two of those dings are very deep.

What REALLY hacked me off is that, at the same time, I ordered a couple of 16mm extenders (Cousins p/n C33491C), which to answer your question, is the most commonly found width of clasp used on 7Axx's. I wanted one of them to extend the short original clasp on the very knackered bracelet of my recently acquired Racer J39026-70 beater:

So I couldn't have cared less what condition one 16mm was in. Needless to say, both 16mm clasp extenders supplied were pristine. 

Taking into account my past experiences with Cousins, I was rather surprised by the positive response I received on Monday morning.

I posted the dinged clasp extender back to Cousins UK yesterday afternoon, Royal Mail First Class (Large Letter rate), but because of the low value involved - 95 pence, I deliberately didn't bother paying extra for 'Signed For' tracking. Let's see what happens next. 

I hadn't heard any more from Cousins until 9:00 this morning, when I received an email notification that my Return had been updated.

I clicked on the link to find this:

A few seconds later, another email from Cousins UK, with a .pdf invoice attached wafted into my inbox:

So they're sending me a F.O.C. replacement, which they sell for 95 pence - by RMSD, which will have cost them approx. £6.50.