Cousins UK Incorrect Parts Substitution - Rant !!!

[Seiko7A38]

I've dealt with Cousins UK watch supply house for over 10 years. Whereas in years gone, by they did hold limited stocks of a few desirable genuine Seiko 7A38 parts (especially crystals, gaskets, crowns and pushers), their inventory has long since been depleted by the greedy profiteering eBay re-sellers like ljmdirect and watchfan700uk. However, they are still a very useful source for other generic parts and I usually place a consolidated order with them at least twice a year. I'd started my current order, by adding items to my basket as far back as January, but there was nothing that I needed particularly urgently, so I just let it sit there. Last weekend I realized that I was about to run out of Seizaiken #394 batteries (a fairly basic requirement) so I tacked 10 x 10 packs onto it a bit sharpish. I'd also made a few mental notes (on Post-its) to add on a few other parts to my order, like a Sternkreuz p/n MSM304 crystal for that 'grubby' Junghans 24/4610 Hi-Tech Chrono I restored recently.

[Seiko7A38]

Speaking of generic parts ....
I've never had much luck (or success) identifying or sourcing genuine OEM parts for any of my Orient J39's or Puma Y19's.
Even with the part number information that's available on Boley.de:

Boley.de-Orient-J39.JPG (29.02 KiB) Viewed 7231 times

Boley.de-Orient-J39001-70.JPG (19.8 KiB) Viewed 7231 times

Boley.de-Orient-Y19001-70.JPG (19.68 KiB) Viewed 7231 times

The bottom (case-back) gasket is an O-Ring, rather than the flat hard section Seiko type. It sits in a machined groove in the lip of the case. It's common to all Orient, Racer J39 and Puma Y19 variants (and the Orient / Racer HFA's I collect). The Orient part number is 30-1448\B, but knowing that has done me no good whatsoever. So after carefully measuring the dimensions of the groove and a couple of old gaskets (and admittedly a bit of trial and error), I eventually found the perfect substitute generic gasket - Cousins p/n 803250. Their website description shows only: 32.50 x 0.80, ISO Swiss, but comes out printed on their invoices thus:

Cousins-803250-Gasket-Invoice-FullDescription.png (14.76 KiB) Viewed 7223 times

Also as similarly printed on Cousins' paper packets - 803250 is on the left of this photo. Note N°53 in the top L.H. corner and that I've annotated the empty packet. The other two are slightly thinner section, which I've used on other watches.

rsz_p1700065.jpg (109.71 KiB) Viewed 7222 times

I'd remembered that I'd used my last gasket on a Racer J39930-70, which is currently with Simon for movement service:

rsz_p1130446.jpg (228.91 KiB) Viewed 7220 times

So naturally I added a couple of packs (3 in fact) to my Cousins order, as the last item, before I submitted it yesterday.

[Seiko7A38]

The postman delivered my package from Cousins this morning. I unpacked it and started checking off the parts supplied. You can probably imagine my annoyance when I picked up the first item at the top of my invoice. Instead of the familiar Cousins N°53 packet (which I must have ordered at least half a dozen times before) they'd sent me these instead !!

rsz_p1700066.jpg (90.02 KiB) Viewed 7218 times

They are Cousins p/n 1003200, which are described as 32.00 x 1.00, ISO Swiss. I've flipped over one of the packets, so you can see where someone has deliberately placed a barcode sticker for p/n 803250 over the original 1003200 label !! Another discrepancy worth noting is that these ISO SWISS packets are printed with N°52. Very strange. Check out the N°52 in the middle of my previous photo. These incorrect 'substitute' gaskets that Cousins have erroneously supplied are absolutely no use to me. They're 1.0mm thick. No way will they fit in the case lip groove of an Orient J39 (or anything else of mine). As far as I'm concerned they're not as described; not fit (literally) for purpose and they'll be going back !

[Seiko7A38]

Don't get me wrong. 99.9% of the time, Cousins UK service is absolutely brilliant. They rarely screw up. I haven't started the return process yet, but will probably do so tomorrow. Frankly I'm dreading it (and putting it off), because I already know what to expect. Past experience (one particular instance I vividly remember from 10 years ago - an ISO SWISS screw-down crown, where the dimensions stated on their website were incorrect) has taught me that Cousins can be particularly intransigent, when it comes to admitting their mistake. As far as their Customer Service and Returns are concerned, Cousins have a poor reputation within the watch collecting enthusiast community (if not the repair trade, which is their primary business). Here's a typical post from a thread on Omega Forums from a few years ago:

Cousins-OmegaForums-Padders-Post.png (86.73 KiB) Viewed 7142 times

Rather than email them, I was going to try phoning them tomorrow morning, but having checked their contact page ....

Cousins-Contact-Returns.png (68.24 KiB) Viewed 7202 times

and seen what it says about returns, I'll give it a try. Having prepared my case here might make it easier to explain.

[Seiko7A38]

Return started. Fingers crossed.

Cousins-Return-Email-Confirmation.png (63.61 KiB) Viewed 7175 times

[Seiko7A38]

As Cousins were clearly at fault, I wasn't unduly surprised to receive what is obviously a standard copy and paste reply:

Cousins-Return-StandardReply-LukeCousins.png (52.9 KiB) Viewed 7173 times

Note that they don't want the items returned ('cos they're NFG) but there is no offer of a partial refund. The part about automatically re-adding the items to my next order is complete bullsh!t. Not only have they failed to do so in the past, but if they haven't any pukka stock of p/n 803250, what's the point of giving them the opportunity to make another 'human error' ? I replied to Luke's message suggesting an alternative solution, but 3 hours later hadn't received a reply.

[Seiko7A38]

Bloody typical !! While I was typing that, advice of another reply from Sam Cousins had arrived in my email inbox !

Cousins-Return-Reply-SamCousins.png (29.4 KiB) Viewed 7169 times

Which begs the question, if indeed they have stock of the correct p/n 803250 O-ring gaskets, why they can't just stick 3 packs in a jiffy bag and post them out to me ? So I've replied to Sam, asking just that.

[Seiko7A38]

I replied to Luke's message suggesting an alternative solution ....

Incidentally, that 'alternative solution' was to supply me with a different O-ring gasket as F.O.C. replacements (4 packs of the cheaper Cousins own brand equivalent, versus 3 packs of the ISO Swiss item). I'd previously used p/n 803240C before I 'discovered' their more expensive p/n 803250. They're marginally smaller in diameter and have an annoying tendency to 'ping' out of the case lip groove, until the case-back has been screwed down tight and compressed them.

rsz_p1700071.jpg (168.03 KiB) Viewed 7163 times

I found I still had one left in my stock (hence the reason I sometimes annotate packets). Tried it for size on an empty J39001-70 case. Worked OK, but as can be seen in the photo, the gasket is trying to make its escape around 11 o'clock.

[Seiko7A38]

Which begs the question, if indeed they have stock of the correct p/n 803250 O-ring gaskets, why they can't just stick 3 packs in a jiffy bag and post them out to me ? So I've replied to Sam, asking it.

To my surprise, I've just received another reply from Luke Cousins, which sounds encouraging.

Cousins-Return-Reply-LukeCousins.png (27.57 KiB) Viewed 7151 times

That was followed swiftly by an email from Cousins UK, attaching a Zero charge invoice. Unfortunately they've sent them by 2nd class (Royal Mail 48 Hours Signed For), so for now, I'll reserve judgement, wait until next week and see what actually arrives, before I start celebrating.

[Seiko7A38]

My faith in human nature (which as we all know is fallible) has just been restored by a Postman's knock on the door.

rsz_p1700069.jpg (106.16 KiB) Viewed 7117 times

Exactly as it says on the (correct N°53) packet(s). Thank you to Luke and Sam Cousins for doing the right thing.