Reply With QuoteJust sign up as a trader
Guys a quick query if anyone knows off the top of their heads (then I won't need to contact them tomorrow).
I'm looking at watch straps and you're required to sign in, which is fine. But it asks me to confirm that I am a trader. I'm not, but a private buyer.
Don't they sell to the public then?
If not, does anyone have any recommendations for strap suppliers?
Their faqs don't deal with the query.
Many thanks.
Just sign up as a trader
General public can purchase from them, I believe the reason you have to confirm you are a trader is you are basically giving up your consumer rights protection.
I have purchased them in the past and had no issues whatsoever
Watchobsession and Monkey Swag have a decent collection of straps.
Surely it's pretty much non enforceable to get customers to waive their rights under English law ?
It would give the company the right to sell faulty merchandise and avoid taking returns .?
If you choose to use Cousins you are not de facto a 'consumer'. Any purchase would be trade to trade (ie you). Lots of TZers have used Cousins without any problems for years. Their straps in particular are excellent quality. There's another thread on this somewhere...Originally Posted by Tomaitch
First part of the T&C:
Cousins Material House Limited is a trade wholesaler. By placing an order or request for quotation with Cousins, you are accepting our trade terms and conditions and confirming you are purchasing items for use in your trade. Your existing statutory rights are not affected by these conditions.
https://www.cousinsuk.com/page/termsconditions
Last edited by Geralt; 20th March 2016 at 22:02.
No, they do not knowingly sell to non-traders.
If you dishonestly signup by saying that you are a trader then you are, by lying, in effect saying that your usual consumer rights do not apply.
This.
Thanks to all for the suggestions and recommendations.
I'll look into Watchobsession and Monkey Swag next week.
Thanks again.
All well and good but they still have an obligation by law to provide goods which are fit for purpose .
And I'm sure that they honour that obligation as well. What they are trying to do, quite understandably, is avoid having to deal with consumers who expect to return a part because they didn't know how to specify the right one (or fill their TAG with the supplied oil and then want to complain when their watch stopped for instance :) ).
Why would you think they don't? Cousins have been trading since 1969, are very well known in the trade, and have built up a very successful business over that time - no easy feat. (No connection, just a regular customer).
And are seemingly price gouging in soon to be unavailable Swatch Group parts allegedly with he full support of Swatch UK, and create their terms and conditions in such a way as to make returns impossible. They are a useful resource indeed but their business practices are a little severe to say the least.
I've returned goods to Cousins that have been faulty and broken on arrival and on all occasions my queries have been dealt with very quickly and I've received refunds or replacements. I've even had replacement parts sent out and been told I didn't have to send the broken part back.
Just to highlight, apart from distance selling regulations, no business has to take back products which were purchased in error (I.e. Wrong size) or if you have changed your mind. Any businesses offer such returns as part of their overall customer service, but they are under no legal obligation to offer this.
I would say you were lucky. I received a faulty movement a while back and they were very unsympathetic about it, suggesting that as they couldn't return faulty goods neither can I. Was a bit gutted to have wasted £40 on a duff.
I've had my share of problems dealing with Cousins. I've resorted to posting faulty stuff back with a covering letter; each time they've sent a replacement without quibbling despite the website saying 'no'.
Anthony Cousins certainly has a bizarre attitude to customer relations and I doubt I'd get along with the guy. However, he is still fighting the Swatch Group parts supply decision and for that he deserves credit.
Paul
Surely if an item is faulty they should replace it.
If a Watch repairer buys a replacement movement and it arrives faulty Cousins must replace said faulty goods, a repairer couldnt stand that potential loss could he?
I recently bought a 20mm Omega buckle. It arrived vacuum sealed but measured 19mm. I wrote to them attaching a pic up against a steel rule and my SMP watch lugs. They said I had to provide a picture of it being measured using a digital vernier gauge or pay for posting and a handling charge. When I complained they said those were the rules when dealing with a trade supplier. Very unhelpful and an abrupt tone to the correspondences too. I eventually lost faith in their ability to accept that they had supplied me wth a faulty product so I am using it on a NATO which is still not ideal.
Rubbish, of course. As long as you ordered a 20mm buckle and they supplied a 19mm then they were at fault, and that is as true for a trader supplier as it is for a retail supplier. Lack of consumer protection protection in a B2B transaction does not change this one bit.
I do understand their desire to avoid retail customers (it should be noted that many trade distributors in other fields similarly try to make sure that they only have traders as customers, e.g. computer hardware distributors) but it does seem from people's experiences that Cousins sometimes go beyond this and don't want to correct their own errors or take responsibility for DOA hardware.
The big problem with Cousins is their refusal to communicate effectively. Phoning them is an exercise in futility; the folks who answer the phones have zero technical knowledge and are unable / prohibited from discussing anything . They simply reiterate the rules and tell the caller to use the website........ Which can't talk either! It therefore isn't possible to resolve any questions about stuff they're selling and to me that's unsatisfactory.
Cousins are not my favourite folks to deal with, but Sometimes I have no choice.
As for the Omega buckle referee to, I wasn't aware that a 19mm buckle existed. I thought they were either 16mm or 18mm measured between the lugs of the buckle. Most straps which are 20mm at the watch head are 18mm at the buckle but some are 16mm.
Paul
Last edited by walkerwek1958; 23rd March 2016 at 09:36.
It seems your experiences have been the same as mine. I have to say that I did not know they did a 19mm either. I suppose it could be a defective one, but I would have thought Omega's QC and machining would have ensure that this was not possible.
This is the pic I sent.
I would say this is nominally 18mm but is actually a tad wider. Your picture doesn't prove conclusively that it's 19mm, but it shows that it's significantly smaller than the 20mm lug spacing of the SMPc.
If you photograph it against a ruler you'll have a more convincing case with Cousins, I would say it's a (nominal) 18mm that's been packaged wrongly.
Bear in mind that these buckles will be hard to obtain when Cousins' stock runs out, you'll have no trouble reselling this in my opinion.
Paul
Last edited by walkerwek1958; 23rd March 2016 at 23:56.
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