11/8/2021: Similar story with Citizen for me. My $900 Promaster Tsuno Racer quit working on me while I was at work. I sent it in to be warranty repaired since it was less than a year old and 7 weeks later it was sent back to the jeweler I bought it from with not even a single update the whole 2 months I waited. They were not going to honor the warranty because they say the hands were bent. How the heck could I bend the hands? Infact the watch had not even been opened by Citizen because the time was still set right where it had stopped and the hands are perfectly straight. I remember watching this video before I made the purchase and I wish I had listened to your warning. Please highlight this so others can see my warning as well. DON'T BUY CITIZEN

@ShouldITimeThis

2 жыл бұрын

I'm actually going to pin this comment because people need to see it. This is what I'm trying to warn people about and everybody's pissed off. I never said Citizen made terrible products (as a whole). They're a terrible COMPANY with absolute trash customer service who doesn't care about the customer after they make a purchase. And I'm glad you posted this because one of the many dumbass comments I get in here is 1. you bought a cheap watch (well, you didn't: $900 is high-side for Citizen) and 2. you bought it gray market (well, clearly you didn't if they sent it back to the jeweler you bought it from). People just don't want to listen.

@coopercooper8745

Жыл бұрын

how coincident ,that is why citizen tech told him to SHAKE the watch . hmmm. online degree and this what they are . nothing beat old school tech . what a crap my new watch coming this wed . my very old seiko about 40 years old and still running like good as day one . my dad bought this for my graduatian , still have them dad .he pass few years back .

@OscarOSullivan

Жыл бұрын

@@ShouldITimeThisI will buy a citizen promaster automatic diver the older fugu. Writing off citizen is like writing off a beer based on the one pub you had it in various factors such as line cleaning etc. then I live in Ireland which is in the EU so customer protection is better.

@OscarOSullivan

Жыл бұрын

@@ShouldITimeThisCitizen use Miyota movements an in house movement

@gyges5495

5 ай бұрын

Never had a problem with citizen watches

I think the Citizen Eco-Drive is probably one of the best watches for the value ever made but if they have crappy customer service that's not a good thing and devalues the product!

Why don't you make a complaint to Citizen in Tokyo, Japan. They may take action against the Service Centre where you sent the watch. It may be worth the try.

@kroon275

Жыл бұрын

Great idea 👍👌

@frankmiller95

6 ай бұрын

@@kroon275 Exactly. From personal experience visiting Japan as a ship's officer, Japanese culture overall and engineering standards in particular are extremely meticulous and fastidious, which, while similar do not have quite the same meaning. This guy's problems would seem to be due to us, Americans, who have not always been known for those traits.

@emiljunegalorport2378

5 ай бұрын

❤😂🎉❤😂🎉❤😂🎉

I have three four Citizens. One from the 80s being a digi ani and another going on 17 years old. Both run perfect. You can’t say a thing that will every make me hate Citizen

@jak3All3n

7 ай бұрын

the issue here is not that there are citizen watches out there that do not work per specs, any brand will have some lemons. the problem is how citizen handled the situation

@BirdFromYakiVegas

7 ай бұрын

​@@jak3All3n....Yes but reading the caption and seeing the thumbnail one can be convinced that the watches are pure garbage & a waste of your money 🤷‍♂️. So to us "Citizen watch owners" of 20 plus years of no problems, we're not going to waste our time watching the video.

@massimo626

6 ай бұрын

Same here 😊

@gyges5495

5 ай бұрын

Exactly! They are great watches - they work forever

@BBHorology

9 күн бұрын

Yes this was just a bad customer service issue. Citizen watches are great

The problem is not with your Citizen watch, but the hopeless service center of Citizen Watch USA.

@garrettsmith8286

4 жыл бұрын

Welcome to the comment section Captain Obvious!

@ShouldITimeThis

2 жыл бұрын

@@garrettsmith8286 Glad you said it lol.

@kroon275

Жыл бұрын

​@@ShouldITimeThisanother comment advises you to complain directly to Citizen Japan about the terrible customer service from your American branch. The Japanese dont tolerate that shit

I sent mine in for capacitor replacement and got quoted $250 because they said movement was bad..I told them to send it back..I replaced capacitor myself for $25 and it runs like a champ

@ShouldITimeThis

3 жыл бұрын

Not surprised at all. See, at least you understand what this video is about: their customer service and the fact that they will NOT help you if they can't make a profit.

Citizen gets a 👍 from me

I think people are missing that this isn't about the quality of the watch, it's about how they treated you. Sorry dude!

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

You understood the video completely. People are missing the point. SOME of their watches are great / well made - but these same people work there regardless of which watch you bought, so it's a terrible company. Thanks for the comment.

@stefanocaraci1137

5 жыл бұрын

It’s not only how they treat med you,a watch that in Europe cost from 500€ up can’t do such things.I have a Tissot that I paid 500€ for and nothing bad happened.Even my swatch is working perfectly

@stefanocaraci1137

5 жыл бұрын

That’s why I personally disapprove non European watches.The best customer service a watch company can have is non at all

@greghemlock6679

5 жыл бұрын

@@stefanocaraci1137 that limits you then. I have a collection of mostly mechanicals and mostly ETA or clones but I must say my hats off to the Japanese as well as some Chinese movements. Pretty tough to beat a Lange and sonne and high horological movements just as works of art as much as a time teller.

@BenWoodruff

5 жыл бұрын

@@TZKBeats It is the responsibility of the brand to make sure their customers are treated fairly at a minimum and ideally treated well. The first mixup -- it happens. The second -- highly frustrating. The third? Unacceptable. Citizen should be ashamed and should investigate the entirety of this gentleman's case. Why and where did things fall apart, and what is Citizen going to do to make sure this doesn't happen again to other customers in the future? Put yourself in his shoes... how would you feel?

I have owned a Rolex, an Ebel, and my boss owned a Piaget. They all become junk once the new wears off. Not worth the hassle dealing with CS. I'm quite satisfied with my Citizen Eco-Drive. If it ever stops working, I'll just buy a new one.

@BuffaloNickel9

2 жыл бұрын

EXACTLY! About everything you said except for the my Submariner*! By the way if you're satisfied with your Citizen watch (hopefully it's an Eco-Drive Solar Powered) then you probably won't have to buy a replacement one for 8-20 years. Cheers

@panagiotiskapellos969

2 жыл бұрын

An eco - drive watch will never stop operating due to the solar mechanism!

@davesherry5384

Жыл бұрын

@@panagiotiskapellos969 LOL! you don't know anythig at all. My 22 your old titanium ecodrive stopped working this year. I have got a new capacitor in it and it is working fine.

@BoleDaPole

Жыл бұрын

About 40% of these watch companies profits come from their service and repair departments.

@OscarOSullivan

Жыл бұрын

Not junk fix it

I have two eco drives actually had them for more than 10yrs never had an issue with either of them sorry you had to go through all that drama

@BuffaloNickel9

2 жыл бұрын

Same

@Paul-vf2wl

11 ай бұрын

Had my eco drive for 10 years before I managed to crack the crystal. Sent it in to be replaced for $25 excellent customer service.

My Citizen Ecodrive is like an atomic clock, never fails, looks great, takes any amount of abuse and cost $100.

@tomskimcdouglegaming806

7 ай бұрын

Exactly. Automatics are for hipster doufeses with too much money.

@frankmiller95

6 ай бұрын

Ditto. l have a 200M "diver" style model which is over 15 years old and gains about 1 second a month. lt may be an anomaly, but l'll take it.

@massimo626

5 ай бұрын

"Never fails, and costs $100 : that's Citizen 🙂

horrible situation, certainly citizen america is responsible. Citizen japan is another story

@peoplez129

4 жыл бұрын

Maybe he got bad service, but the fact is the watch should NOT have any excuse to be running nearly a minute off time per day. That's way out of any reasonable expectation. So even if the service was horrible, the watch clearly had some serious quality issues, and at the prices they're asking for their watches in general, that raises big concerns. Especially since they're talking a $200-$400 watch that only uses mineral glass, not even sapphire, so you'd at least expect quality to be put elsewhere. In reality, this is a $50 watch priced at $200 that can't even meet the same reliability as a $50 watch.

@davidthecardcollector

3 жыл бұрын

130 dollar dive watch. Nuff said.

Good on you for highlighting poor service. There is Never an excuse for poor service and the cost of the product is irrelevant. In actual fact the UK price of a Miyota 8200 is less than £25. Shame on Citizen.

@jayn8392

3 жыл бұрын

Ehh kinda. When operating a company that is likely handling hundreds if thousands if not millions of claims at a time, you are bound to have some issues with customer service reps. The worst part though is that the higher up did not fix the problem which is very unfortunate. But it is impossible to keep these things from happening on occasion when running a massive operation. I had a fine experience when I had to deal with their warranty people. However, it took longer than I would have liked and next time I will just go to the local jeweler who is and authorized citizen repair/retailer and have them do the work.

Had a similar experience with Seiko-USA customer service. $250 solar movement just stopped keeping time after 3 months. Had credit card statement, but no receipt for proof of purchase. Seiko’s response... sorry... $250. That sealed it for me. Was looking at very expensive Seiko mechanicals ($500+), but nah.

Sounds like a company disconnect. FeelsBadMan because I like their watches. I have a ton of theirs.

like the video ,by the way i saw you wear red SEIKO ? or what brand and how is it ? may i ask how much and what brand . was thinking to get one nothing locally ,just mosly ship from japan only . what a crap my citizen coming this wed and hopefully treat me well . thanks for the video .

Wow they took you for a ride! I would have demanded a full replacement after giving them 2 chances to repair it and it wasn't fixed! ⚠️😯 I must say I have 3 Citizen watches and they have been great, no issues and all havev5 year warranties! You could have gone back to your original retailer and demanded a replacement or full refund if the watch was not fit for purpose ie so far out of whack you had to adjust it everyday! I'll wear my Citizen daily and it keeps time fantastic, after 6 months in a box I might have to adjust 1 minute at most!

I bought an ECO Drive Blue Angels Titanium. After 3 years I noticed the outer bezel had lost much of the printing preventing me from using the slide rule. I sent the customer service an email including photos showing areas where the printing was perfect and also areas that were unreadable. After several weeks I did a follow up call where I was informed that the 5 year warranty doesn't cover the bezel. They did offer to repair the bezel for about $150. At that point I decided they would never get another penny from me. I recently purchased a Samsung watch which I'm very pleased with.

@gl5308

5 жыл бұрын

Ken Rowley m

@batvette

Жыл бұрын

They arent responsible for cosmetic wear and tear to the watch. I think the warranty is pretty clear about that.

Were they always this way ? Was the quality better a few years ago or is it just recently its going downhill? I’m asking cause I just bought an excellent condition used eco drive gn-4w-s 10bar, only now I find your video after I purchased it !

@ShouldITimeThis

6 жыл бұрын

I believe that the EcoDrive stuff has always been quality. I STILL own a Calendrier that I love. Their mechanical watches (like this one) are garbage.

My question is whether you bought it through an A.D or on the gray market? I have the exact same nh8381 sport watch and when I shake it, the movement stops for a second or so... just like yours... ever find out what that is??

@orlandodasilva2529

Ай бұрын

I can't remember where I saw this but those older Minolta movements do that to protect the movement, but now I'm wondering, if that were true, wouldn't CS have known that when this guy talked to then? Idk I just do eco drive it works and I don't worry about it

Brutal, Thanks for the heads up dude. I ordered a custom sweatshirt a while back and when it arrived, it was too small. It cost about 35 dollars CAD. I called the company and after a short, pleasant conversation I was given a 42 dollar credit AND she told me to give the original shirt to a friend or charity. Citizen is probably ten times the size of this company. There's no excuse for treating customers the way they treated you.

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah they're a HUGE company. And you're right. There's no excuse for this type of service.

Have had 5 Citizen in the last 9 years, all of them have been fantastic watches. Your problem is of course you were dealing with customer service personnel that shouldn't have been there to begin with. They are the best watches for value received hands down.

@ShouldITimeThis

2 жыл бұрын

You didn't understand the video. You started your comment with telling us how great your Citizen watches are and ended your comment by telling us Citizen are the "best watches" bla bla.... I didn't say anything negative about Citizen WATCHES (minus the broken one I had in the video). The reason I recommend staying away from their watches is because they're one of the worst companies in existence when it comes to service. Read the comments in here - other people have similar horror stories. Read the pinned comment by Stick Figure Tree - that's from only 4 months ago.

@user-ef9bo5xp5c

Жыл бұрын

facts

@ekimandersom4478

11 ай бұрын

@@ShouldITimeThis In America !

@frankmiller95

6 ай бұрын

@@ShouldITimeThis For you. Most of us will never need to deal with CS and might have a different experience if we did. You're extrapolating your own, personal, admittedly terrible experience with Citizen CS, USA to include any and everyone who might need it. That seems like a stretch.

Thanks for the heads up so between Casio and Seiko who would you recommend?

@ShouldITimeThis

6 жыл бұрын

Definitely Seiko.. They have the heritage, the quality, some of the nicest dials in the business, WORKHORSE movements and they're crazy cheap for how much value you get. Check the Seiko review I did on this channel. That watch was only $130 or something..

@ruchirchaturvedi7793

4 жыл бұрын

Depends on what you are looking for. No Seiko can survive the kind of torture a Casio Gshock can. But if it is an automatic movement, a great heritage and aesthetic pleasure you are after, then yes, Seiko is your choice. If it's a daily beater you want, a Gshock 5600E and you are set.

I think the issue is with the miyota movement. They have a tendency to to stop with shocks as they are indirectly driven and the jumpy movement at particular times is a fault with the gear teeth. Ive had it on many of my miyotas. Having said that, the customer service was still shocking

The miyota 8 series movement has this known issue of stopping and stuttering when shaken. Glad you highlighted their customer support and service issues, I'll think twice before going for a citizen.

Wow, I love citizens and can’t believe they really did you like that. Now I’m hoping nothing goes wrong with my watch collection because I would hate to go through what you went through. They didn’t even try to make it right which is the worst part smh

I can't stand poor customer service.

Citizen also makes lower end movements in the brand name Miyota. Recently, I bought a Timex automatic watch with this Miyota movement which can also be wound. The funny thing about this movement is when the second hand is moving from 12 to six, if you wind the watch at that time, the second hand starts dropping fast, stops and restarts. This does not happen when the second hand moves from 6 to 12. I aligned the second hand of my Timex with another watch. When the second was moving downwards, I wound the watch. The second hand dropped from 1 'O clock position to 3 'O clock pisition, stopped and started to move. By this time the second hand in then other watch came to 3'O clock pisition and both the second hand moved in unison. There is no time difference, but why the second hand falls rapidly, stops and works again is a mystery.

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah it might just be an interesting quirk with that movement. Definitely odd.

It was fun to watch this. If it makes you feel better here is my story I recently had with the company called Merax. They make massage chairs. The chair we purchased broke. So I contacted them and asked to send repair service. They offered me 300 first to compensate for this broken 600 chair. When I refused, they stopped replying. I contacted again using my alternative email. This time they asked me to show which part broke. Since I didn't have the manual I pictured it and sent it this way. They replied with a pdf showing 10 small screws and asked which of these parts according to the manual was broken. I mean yea, these ten small pieces were all that this chair consisted off. At this point I realized their customer support either consists of special people or trolls. 600 dollars well spent.

Next time I buy a watch, I will consider Orient or Seiko, since I don't have enough pocket for Swiss watches.

I had a completely different experience here in the UK. I bought an eco drive for £189 but the strap was a little small for me. I emailed citizen UK and got an answer within one hour asking me for proof of purchase and the model number. Within a half hour of my reply I had a message to say that 2 extra links were being posted to me. Sure enough, two days later, two links arrived with a cover note. Pretty good service in my opinion. Sorry for your problems.

@ekimandersom4478

11 ай бұрын

Yeah the US isn't great with stuff like that

I had the same crap sevice, if it wasn't for the fact that I took a picture of my watch working as I handed it in to just have a battery change they would have screwed me for £60. It was an old dive watch that tracked my dives, it worked perfectly until the battery change! They said it was to Old and they no longer had some part!! Eventually it came back running but they wouldn't guarantee that it would be waterproof and they also lied about not being able to repair the watch. Not so bad as I stopped diving some years ago. Anyway they didn't charge me as I had proof of the watch running before it going in for a service. Great video, keep up the good work.

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks Julian! Much appreciated. Sorry to hear about your terrible experience with Citizen. That's what I mean though - they're a terrible company to deal with.

I have been watching your cigar channel for quite a while and also have an interest (obsession?) with watches , so I’m glad I had this recommended. Good stuff. My eco drives are just kind of, meh. The very first thought I had when seeing one of your cigar reviews for the first time was “ . . . this dude’s from Jersey.” Ha, takes one to know one. Keep up the good content.

@ShouldITimeThis

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Steve!

I took my Citizen to the shop, about a month ago.When returned from Citizen repair service, I have noticed a lots of scratches on a back of the watch.They send it back to a service with the damage!.Now they want to charge me for a replacement off back case!!?.They Fu.k with your property and you have to pay for it!! .I need to wait till nex week.The shop will deal with this shit!!.

@ShouldITimeThis

6 жыл бұрын

See? It's not just me. Citizen really does people dirty and doesn't care. Share the video and get the word out about your story and mine! People need to stay away from Citizen.

We dont shake the watch! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

@PILATUS1968

3 жыл бұрын

i cant stop laffing about that one.

Thanks... I I was thinking about getting a citizen watch.. I know you're trying to make a point on how the company treated you.. Not on putting down the brand.. I might even guess that even rolex might put out a defective piece.. But you are so right.. A company such as citizen.. Should not have any problem refunding or compensating a customer.. They should stand behind their product..

@floridaswissboy

4 жыл бұрын

Rolex....?????? LOL.....they wanted $750.00 (Florida) to just do a cleaning on my Submariner !! NEVER again a mechanical watch...it's just plain stupid to spend that money!!

These are all known problems with the Miyota 8200 series movements from my reading and limited experience, The new 9000 series are said to be better but I haven’t tried them. I’ll not work with the 8200 series again and I’m reluctant to try out the 9000 series because of my experiences. Too many good ETA or Sellita options, or even Seiko movements, to chance it with Miyota.

Its a sad and unfortunate experience with customer services which is usually the case with most companies out there. I’ve had my citizen eco drive satellite wave watch for 2 years. I’ve never really checked its accuracy because I’d hope that it being a satellite wave watch the time would be spot on wherever I am in the world. I’ve just checked it after 2 years against the time on my iPhone and there’s a difference of a second between the 2 devices. Not bad I think! Ok, so yes I bought it for the equivalent of about £500 in Malaysia & having not had a problem with it I hope I don’t ever need to deal with their customer support.!

@orwellknew9112

Жыл бұрын

I think that without satellite updates those watches are supposed to be +/- 9 seconds per month or better. My Promaster Aqualand eco drive BN2041-81L (no satellite connection) is +9 seconds per month. That is not great accuracy for a quartz movement, but I also have a Promaster Aqualand Quartz JP2000-08e (no connectivity to anything) that is a total of 9 seconds fast after 10 months. That’s probably just the luck of the draw because that kind of accuracy is in the same league as an expensive high accuracy quartz movement that makes corrections for factors (like temperature) that affect the accuracy. Having said that, I hope I never have to deal with Citizen Customer Disservice.

Thanks for Sharing this, Customer Service is extremely important to me. I was on the fence about picking up a 2 citizen watches, this helped with my decision. I will share this to all of my watch buddies and my military brothers.

@ShouldITimeThis

3 жыл бұрын

I have no idea why this comment didn't show up on my end til now (2 years later), but you're welcome. Customer service IS extremely important - which is what the majority of people watching this video don't seem to understand.

@BuffaloNickel9

2 жыл бұрын

Fighting with customer service is a losing battle every time man the sooner you realize this the sooner you can cut your time and losses

I've had similar problems but not anything like you've had. What got up my nose was that I was quoted £120 for a new capacitor, which I thought was a bit steep, but I went ahead anyway. A day later I was texted to say that it was misquoted and should be £200! For a capacitor! Again I went ahead and quite a few weeks later I got it back. It didn't show full charge by some margin even when I left it on a window cill so I took it back as not satisfied with the service. Eventually, I got it back after a lot of the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing and everything was well. Throughout this I spent well over £1000 on various other watches, including the purchase of a bullhead watch. The manageress was probably the rudest sales person I have ever met.

My eco drive is 14 years old with a small crack in the glass. Citizen Australia didn’t have parts but gave me a discount code. Signed up to their website as instructed but still unable to purchase on their site and customer service haven’t responded as to why, only to tell them the model number I wanted to manually do the purchase. Even trying to give them money they are unhelpful. They also had demo model at 70% off but now I am lead to believe they are warranty returns that they can legally offload as brand new.

You actually saved me from ever worrying about impulse buying citizens again

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

Good! Glad I could help..

@brianbuchert6382

5 жыл бұрын

Again......one persons experience

@dariuszgontarek4827

Жыл бұрын

Citizen automatic its Miyota. One of most robust and reliable movements in history

@superdrykidrobot

10 ай бұрын

He purchased from a non-certified retailer a.k.a. grey market which carries no warranty, then attempted to finesse citizen for a watch that cost more than he paid for it.

@DumpThump

10 ай бұрын

@@superdrykidrobot he does seem like the type

They don't seem to understand the value of loyal, long term, dedicated, repeat customers.

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

Exactly.

I had the opposite situation with a Seiko Solar powered watch which had to be sent away after only three months for repair after it stopped working completely. I took the watch back to the Seiko retailer I purchased it from and filled in the form with the fault details I had with it. After four weeks my retailer got in touch with me to say the watch was ready for collection. When I picked it up the retailer gave me the full service list of what Seiko did in fixing it which turned out to be a faulty capacitor. Seiko had also given me a further two years of warranty on the watch and given me an apology for the defective watch. Really good service by Seiko and the retailer who kept in touch with me throughout the process.

@Paul-vf2wl

11 ай бұрын

It's always the capacitor with solar watches you would have gotten the same service from Citizen this clown is just a whiny douchebag.

Dang, thanks for posting your Citizen watch problem. Now I can scratch Citizen watches off my list.

Wow...they should have just replaced it. I have quartz Citizen watches and they've been tanks, never a problem. Maybe the issue is their automatic movements.

@ShouldITimeThis

4 жыл бұрын

I agree. That's what they should have done. As for the quartz stuff, I still own my Calendrier, no issues, so that would appear to be the case, but they use Miyota movements that I've owned in other watches with no issues, so it would seem that the movement in MY watch was just way out of whack / defective and they just didn't want to replace it. Sad.

I purchased a Red arrows eco-drive ltd edition in summer of 2018, by the end of October 2018, I could not get the watch to do anything. It was worn most days but it just stopped. I took back to the retailer To send away for repair! And I have not heard anything since, it's now Jan of 2019 and both the retailer and Citizen do not know where the watch is or has gone? It's down to me to prove I returned it????? So now I am without the watch and £529 out of pocket. I moved on and got over it, I will never touch or look at a citizen watch again, currently saving for an omega spacemaster or maybe a breitling navitimer. Lesson learned.

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

Wow. Sorry to hear about that. That's sad. THANK YOU for sharing your experience though!

Thanks 4 the warning cool. What u are saying about the time table with shipping the watch back to Citizen, 4 repairs. I am experiencing, this myself! I call about my Citizen Nighthawk, and the reply I got from a representative, is we are backed up it will be another 2 weeks! From my memory, I sent my watch for polishing the bezel, new band, and clasps, around early March of this year. I hope Citizen, takes care of my business much better! Especially, since I have 3 more in my collection. I'll b on the look out for other issues you spoke on!

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

Damn. Sorry to hear that. It's really not cool. People spend cash on these watches and this is the lack of service we get. Hope you get your Nighthawk back fresh though.

@quickdubbs328

5 жыл бұрын

@@ShouldITimeThis Thank you very much.

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

No problem. Whole point of this channel is to try to help people enjoy watches and make informed purchase decisions. Tons of new stuff on the way!

I just bought the same watch you did. I wish I had seen your video sooner. Thanks.

Thanks for the info and greatly appreciated. I just suscribed to your channel. Take care from Montréal, Québec

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

My pleasure! Glad I could help. Thanks for subscribing! Lots of new videos coming soon!

Thank you for warning us. It is painful dealing with morons.

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

No problem. Glad I could help..

I have a Navi hawk made in 1990 and in new condition. Love it endlessly.. sorry you had trouble 😊

Um, thank you for this video, I was so close to purchasing a Citizen and or another analog watch. Going with the G Shock GW 5000U.

Wow. Very sorry to hear you had such a terrible customer service experience. I just ordered a Citizen watch... hope I never have to deal with their CS.

@JacobsDad

2 жыл бұрын

I'm in the same boat Ben and already regretting my purchase. Thankfully it's not an expensive purchase and my first and maybe last Citizen. No doubt most of Citizen's watches are fine but heaven help you if u need their services.

Change the movement. Problem solved. It’s that easy. I don’t know why management or people who are regular employees with the power to make decisions make their work much harder for themselves. Back when I used to work retail I had the power to override stuff when there was no manager around. When the managers would later ask why did you override this for a customer I would simply state, “You weren’t here so I took action. Problem solved and the customer was happy.” 😂 Then I’d walk away. I was rarely ever questioned again.

I came across your video today, rather late I guess, after two years. I subscribe to everthing you‘ve said concerning the „service“ you have experienced. Nevertheless the stopping second due to shaking the watch appears to me quite normal in order to prevent damages of the mechanical unit. The hand really stops a little biit ahead and continues to move on just in time, after shaking the thing. My watch has just 3 seconds + a day, a very good accurancy, I guess.

where can I find a place to replace my eco drive it's not working

@ShouldITimeThis

Жыл бұрын

don't know

@discountmorty213

Жыл бұрын

If is really long maybe it need a battery change.Maybe just head to any watch shop to see if the watch can be fix.

It was one hell of a shitty service... I hope it's not something normal at CITIZEN😔

I have a Citizen dive watch I hope I never have to send it in to Citizen for repair

WOW, I JUST BOUGHT A CITIZEN WATCH AND WAS TRYING TO FIND A VIDEO ON HOW TO SET UP. IT'S AN ECO DRIVE MODEL, DOES THAT MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE?? I LOVE YOUR VIDEO AND PRAY THAT I WILL NOT HAVE ANY PROPBLEMS WITH MY PURCHASE OF $140 ON THE INTERNET. GREAT VIDEO INFORMATION. I WISH I HAD SEEN IT BEFORE I BOUGHT ANOTHER CITIZEN!!👌👌👌👌

That sucks dude, just out of curiosity (not to defend them) but did you purchase it from an authorized citizen dealer, or was it gray market? In my experience I’ve had zero issues with them sending them a few watches over the years. One was I bought a promaster tough with the bracelet and then a day or two later it fell off the bracelet, thankfully not when my arm was out the window driving. But I sent it in and they fixed it. Apparently it was missing a collar in the bracelet. And I’ve had my grand classic serviced from them and had zero issues. All of mine have been purchased with authorized dealers and have complete paperwork. I had an issue with a seiko snzg15 I bough on amazon and they told me they couldn’t do anything about it because it was from amazon and not an authorized dealer. If my memory is correct, the NY0040 automatic citizens are European market not North American, so that’s prolly why.

@ShouldITimeThis

4 жыл бұрын

Gray market. This model wasn't available through an authorized dealer at the time. They were provided with the sales receipt though. They never made the argument of "since you didn't buy it through an "authorized dealer" we won't service it." It was a brand new Citizen, they said they'd make it right, and they didn't.

Seeing the problems of the movement, I think it was magnetized which explained why the movement was running so fast and the choppy seconds hand.

@ShouldITimeThis

6 жыл бұрын

That actually sounds logical to me. Very possible..

@CT66TTT

4 жыл бұрын

Tissot have a new model antimagnetic (the spring is made by silicium) but anyway is more higher priced than Citizen

@soulofjimi

4 жыл бұрын

Exactly!! And there are numerous ways this could happened! Doesn’t mean the watch was trash! Customer service is terrible just about everywhere! It isn’t just citizen that’s for sure!

Unreal! It reminds me of how Wells Fargo treated me during a house refi a bunch of years ago. Anyway, regarding the Miyota Citizen connection I mentioned during the super fun Should I smoke This live stream Patreon event Sunday - i looked and i think I was right, but could be a different group of people than the fools you were dealing with. I have never had a Citizen watch and doubt i will after your story.

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

Good to know David! Now I know to stay away from both Citizen AND Miyota.

@Vidmr2407

5 жыл бұрын

@@ShouldITimeThis Well, It probably is a different group of people making/servicing the Miyota movements vs the Citizen watch group, but I agree with your decision. As in other cases where the top down corporate attitude towards customers allows for this type of bull shit (however unwittingly), with so many other choices why bother with them. What do you think of the similar price point Seiko NH36, NH36a etc. movements and the Seiko company in general?

I have no confidence in a product such as a watch unless customer service is behind it. I won't buy another citizen after hearing your story.Thank you for the warning.

@ShouldITimeThis

2 жыл бұрын

You're welcome Roy. You're one of the FEW people who understood the point of this video. Constantly have people arguing that "Citizen makes good watches" (which I didn't dispute to begin with). They're not understanding that the "good" product they like HAS NO SUPPORT BEHIND IT if you DO need assistance.

I don't believe a word of this.

Sounds like Citizen's warranty service is just as bad as Seiko's. I wouldn't bother with either of them. If you run into a problem with your watch, it's best to just bite the bullet and take it to a watchmaker. Yeah you'll have to pay but it's cheaper in the long run.

@creaturedanaaaaa

5 жыл бұрын

I just buy a new movement for my Seikos off ebay because all the money spent on Seiko is spent on the finishing and not the movements.

Thank you... I almost got that exact watch today... needless to say, I will no longer buy anything from them. Thanks

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

Good call. And no problem. Glad I could help..

Really sounds like you had a frustrating time,lol..well I have 2 Citizens,Divers 200 Mts automatic,and a battery chronograph,100Mts,which I have had for 25 yrs..I took the automatic to have it tested at the local jeweller,who found it +60 secs a day,but he regulated it down to + -10 secs a day,which it still is,after all this time..another great plus is I can wind it if I like,which Seiko Divers watches don't have..for me Citizen auto Divers 200MT,turned out to be tough n durable,..Sorry to hear about your experience

That’s a shame you had a bad experience. My Citizen Proximity W770 has been great thus far. It is an eco-drive, so maybe that’s the difference. Hopefully, if I have to deal with their customer service department I don’t run into the same thing.

@claudea79

Жыл бұрын

Jesse, my experience with the Citizen PCAT and also with the Customer Service regarding a rebate is very positive! I rate Citizen as a top class corporation!

Sorry about your ordeal bro! I've had my Citizen Eco-drive for about 10 years w/o any problems whatsoever. Never lost a second. After hearing your story, I don't think I'll buy one again. But....pretty satisfied with my Eco drive, radio controlled chronograph.

@ShouldITimeThis

6 жыл бұрын

Johnnyhumbkr I'm right there with ya.. I still own one of my 2 Eco Drive watches (the Calendrier that I reviewed on this channel) and I love it. Never had an issue with my Eco Drive Stiletto either. But their mechanical movements and customer service are both trash, so you have the right idea. Enjoy the one you have, but I wouldn't buy anything else from them.

@furzkram

5 жыл бұрын

Johnnyhumbkr never lost a second on a radio controlled watch ... LOL.

@rafaelmondragon9524

5 жыл бұрын

All do respect.. I think the guy on this video is making a point on the poor customer service.. Not so much on trying go put down the brand...

@GuitarSal66

5 жыл бұрын

Johnnyhumbkr I have my Eco drive for 2 years and I love it. Only 1 prob. Didn’t leave it in daylight so it died. I called citizen and got it set up. So, how do you charge your watch? Leave it by a window?

@inventor1v

5 жыл бұрын

Had mine for years too without problem.

i had the same thing with citizen eco drive ive send them my watch twice and they just keep sending it back with out repair , its been 2 months now without my watch waiting now until they send me my money back ......

@ShouldITimeThis

Жыл бұрын

Sorry to hear that. Yeah this is the kind of service I was talking about here. Terrible.

The fact that Citizen never got in touch with you after you posted this video is stunning to me.

@ShouldITimeThis

4 жыл бұрын

I have to agree with you. I definitely didn't think they'd try to make it right, but I assumed they'd at least contact me to request that I take the video down or something? Nope. Because as I outlined in this video, Citizen doesn't care, at all. They're a huge company and they know that no matter how many views this video gets, they're going to rake in millions and still not give anybody quality service. Just goes to show you how disrespectful they are as a brand.

This is a bad situation for sure. I own a dozen or so Citizen watches along with the dive watch. Mine are all solar powered. They have been used and abused for the past 6 years and have never missed a second. They keep as good as time as my Rolex and Omega. But mine are not autos.

@Dilshan_Kasun

3 жыл бұрын

how is the battery hold up in Eco Drives friend? did you had to replace them?

@palehorsenameddeath7731

3 жыл бұрын

@@Dilshan_Kasun so far I have never replaced the battery yet and they are all still working. They keep great time as well.

@Dilshan_Kasun

3 жыл бұрын

@@palehorsenameddeath7731 thankyou very much friend for your support!

Love how he didn't just return the faulty watch at the retailer. I got a casual stainless every day watch. Great sale price and works great. Each customer experience with almost any company is different. My mk watch is less impressive than this citizen

@ShouldITimeThis

4 жыл бұрын

The retailer I bought the watch from was in a different country AND this was a discontinued model that had just gone out of production so I wanted to keep it. ..not that I have to explain that to you. Point of this video was that Citizen customer service is garbage.

@MilkyWay428

7 ай бұрын

@@ShouldITimeThis so, if you want to keep it, try to get a movement on the net and install it ...

I have my dad's tititanium solor tech 180 it's over 20 years old and still running he never took it off he worked on his cars welded with it on so needless to say I have to change the crystal because of the welding slag my point is he beat the shit out of this thing and it still works! I think I will service the watch myself after hearing your experience I have all the necessary tools.. thanks for the info...

@ShouldITimeThis

Жыл бұрын

You're welcome. And yeah if you can service it yourself, that's the way to go!

I also had issues with customer services at Citizen USA in California. I sent two watches for the depth sensor to be replaced. One of them could not be fixed because Citizen had discontinued it so they offered me half a price on a watch from the online store, which I bought before realizing like the video explains, prices are higher than anywhere else. At this point they fixed the other one but sent it with a rotten rubber strap that it was NOT the one I sent it with and wanted to charge me 45 bucks for a new one. After like 10 back and forth emails, the customer care lady told me that if I was trying to get a new strap for free that was not going to happen. I replied that i did not want a new one, I wanted mine back. They told me to send the watch back to them (on my pocket) which I replied NO WAY. I purchased a $10 band on ebay as good as the original one and I'm soooo done with Citizen.

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

Wow. Sorry to hear that! Sad that you had such a bad experience with Citizen as well. Thank you for sharing your experience though!

@Georgedepinedo

5 жыл бұрын

@@ShouldITimeThis Oh, and I forgot to mention the lack of communication, as you said, if you don't write or call, they will let you uninformed.

Thanks for posting your experience I was about to buy a citizen watch and was undecided between the citizen and bulova. Made my decision and I currently have two citizen watches that don’t work one being an eco drive. No more citizen watches for me .

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

THANK YOU for sharing your experience. Really sorry to hear that though. Yep - Citizen sucks.

@emmasalgado7877

5 жыл бұрын

Lol welcome to the club. Sorry to hear it. I have a few myself. Super nice paper weights.

@genehavermann4153

5 жыл бұрын

B.s. rules in your house....lol this is a genuinely ducked up piece of shit and way too fucking expensive. B.S. customer service reps!!!

@rockon21ful

5 жыл бұрын

Citizen owns Bulova!!

@ModernandVintageWatches

5 жыл бұрын

Bulova is owned by Citizen

The movement stopping when shaken is pretty alarming, especially being a divers watch, imagine relying on that to time how much oxygen youve got left or how long youve been under, you know like the watch is supposed to do

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

Agreed.

@brianbuchert6382

5 жыл бұрын

B345 123 being a former search and rescue diver for a decade you never ever base how much air you have left based on time! Too many factors like what kind of shape are you in? Anxiety?depth? Skip breathing? Among other factors your gauges tell you how much air you have left. Not trying to be smug but just thought I’d pass on some knowledge to you!

@soulofjimi

4 жыл бұрын

The nh8381 in this video is a sport watch... it’s a dive “style” sport watch and only 100m with no screw down crown.. I have the same shake/stop thing happening... I love the watch though...

@rustyspoonss

4 жыл бұрын

@@brianbuchert6382 i didnt know that but im 100% not a diver, id end up passing out in about 5 seconds.

2 жыл бұрын

It's not stopping, that's perfectly normal behaviour, as is the choppy movement when the seconds hand is descending. It's just a property of the 82xx series miyota movements, it's because of the indirect drive of the seconds hand. Try searching "jumping hand miyota".

I bought an eco drive for £289 and always kept it in the sun of under a light. After 6 years the rechargeable capacitor wound not hold a charge anymore. Citizen wanted £150 to replace it because it had a perpetual calendar? I said that I wasn’t prepared to pay that much so they sent my watch back and charged me shipping both ways. Citizen will not give estimates online of over the phone either. I was told that buying an eco drive would save me money on replacing batteries all the time. TIME to find another watch company to buy from!

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

Wow. I'm really sorry to hear about that. Yeah that's the kind of poor customer service I'm talking about. They just don't care..

@jipke

3 жыл бұрын

There are good instruction videos on bow to replace the capacitor. Mine's still running, but when it dies I will definitely change it myself. $150 charge for what is essentially a trivial procedure, that's just criminal, especially given that Citizen boasts a 'lifetime runtime' on the same capacitor.

Funny I’ve had my citizen Promaster aqua land for over twenty years & it’s never missed a beat

Hard to believe Citizen would try to settle with you for $95 of your money.

@gregtomaszewski563

27 күн бұрын

i call t BS.

Maybe they should stick to quartz movements. One bad experience leads to a lifetime lost customer not to mention the You Tube domino effect. I admire your perseverance.

@ShouldITimeThis

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Keyser. And I agree - their EcoDrive stuff is great - they should not do anything mechanical.

I have two eco drive watches, the oldest one was a find and it’s a gem of a watch, went on holiday- put it in the safe and forgotten all about it for about 6-7 months, took it out and it was still running and kept good time. The second one was a birthday present, wife brought it while on flight to USA and took me ages to “charge it up! Lol” and never run right,,, get this,, if left alone on the table with daily day light etc runs ok but as soon as I put it on! It’s stops within an hour!! So I put it back on the table and left it alone! It kept good time!!! Bloody strange or what!! But I’m happy with my Seiko 5 I had for over 25 years!! Lol

Bad customer service. That's not a Promaster but their entry level sports diver (I think that has a 50M rating) like Seiko 5. Still doesn't excuse the poor response from the company handling Citizen watches over there. Have had my share of poor service from the Citizen service center over here with overcharging and poor communication. I have a go-to watchmaker who services all my watches and he does better service than the service center. I have that same piece as well as the other automatic Promaster models (NY008x) and they all work well. My experience is from my Citizen pieces is that they are reliable as long as serviced properly by a proper watchmaker. I think you got the bad piece from the batch but the way Citizen there handled the situation is just poor. I can imagine your frustration, sad that this had to happen. And to others considering Eco-Drive pieces, I agree that they work very well... until their capacitors give out and you have to send it in for repairs. Repairs from Citizen are often expensive and unless that piece has sentimental value, you'd be better of buying a new watch. Just my two cents.

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah I might have been mistaken on the model. Same nightmare though. And What you said in the second part of this comment is 100% right (and what a lot of people aren't getting), YES, their EcoDrive watches are reliable - I still have one (my Calendrier), but as soon as it stops working, they're gonna have to deal with the same BS I dealt with.

Thank you for sharing your bad experiences with your Citizen watch. I suggest you to send your complaint to Citizen Japan.

@400btcmaster9

4 жыл бұрын

Send a letter to Japan to Satoshi Nakamoto, he will take care of it.

I would have swapped out the movement myself ( or had a jeweler I trust do it) and been done with it. Assuming I liked it enough to want to keep it running. Sorry for how they treated you. Sux!

The worst part about dealing with a huge company is that if you are talking to their customer support you're usually at the mercy of whatever random rep you get at some giant call center. I have worked in one of these places and saw agents that were just miserable people and would give the worst possible service to everyone. I recently had to deal with my insurance company when a guy smashed into me and totaled my truck. The guy I got from claims was not only a dick but he would only give me 20k for a replacement when I had paid 30k less than a year prior, and the truck was in excellent shape with low miles. I ended up getting another guy in the same position of power who gave me 29.5k after a short and very pleasant conversation. If I don't get good service at a call center, I always call back until I get a rep worth a damn if possible. That said, I have never bought an automatic citizen but I do have several eco drives and they have been excellent quality. I also had a much better experience with their support team when I had to have one serviced after I did something stupid with it. Unfortunately customer service at multi million dollar companies can vary a good bit person to person. I would have written them off too if I was you, but from my personal experience I will happily continue to do business with them until I have an issue.

Still have the same watch, same problem choppy movement from 1 to 5...thank you for the explanation so I dont bother to send them back....next stop the trash can...not buying Citizen anymore...

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

Good decision. Sadly that's the best move. That's where mine wound up too. Move on to better things. SO MANY better brands out there.

I would file a complaint with the BBB

Just received a 3rd Citizen Eco Drive…have worn the other 2 daily morning to bedtime for years. Beautiful, dependable. 🌞

I have four of them and only one problem, power reserve meters dont work on any of them. They stopped making them because of the number of warranty repairs. Still wearing one of them after 15 years of law enforcement work.

They just lost me as a customer. Sick of this sort of service from any company. Just not worth the hassle.

@ShouldITimeThis

4 жыл бұрын

Agreed..

Whoa! I didn't know you were a watch guy as well as a cigar aficionado. Glad I found your other channel

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

I LOVE watches! Don't have deep enough pockets to own most of the ones I want, but I can dream in the mean time lol. Glad you found the channel Aubrey!

Sorry this happened, my recent experience was different. About 6 months ago I bought a PCAT ecodrive perpetual day date chrono from Nordstrom Rack store, for exactly half off MSRP. Worked fine but as it was a Rack store deal it was a return or similar and the bracelet had been taken in to fit a skeleton. A few links were missing. I went to their site, registered, and went to parts and thought I would buy the 2 extra links. I went through the order process and was surprised they never asked for my CC number. 5 days later the links arrived no charge. The watch keeps time down to one second per year, literally. It is a marvel of engineering. This is my second eco drive chrono, the last was good for 20 years and only failed due to my neglect. I cant get on board with your request to tell everyone not to buy another Citizen watch, ever. I think your case is an anomaly not the rule, and I also wouldnt expect perfect time from a mechanical watch at such a low price. The price is virtually a giveaway compared to the big swiss brands. YMMV.

I’m sorry to hear about your experience with not the greatest customer care experience. I was just wondering, have you found a good watch repair person locally? I have a Citizen watch that I just replaced after 18 years of ownership. My old watch has a few things that are not working. I thought about sending it to the California service center. After watching your video, I’m wanting to find a shop locally that I can get taken care of. Thanks for sharing your experience.

@ShouldITimeThis

4 жыл бұрын

My pleasure! That's why I put this video out there, so nobody else bothers sending their Citizen to the US service headquarters. As for local places to have them repaired, there aren't any places where I'm at that will mess with cheap brands outside of warranty work. Places around here will service your HIGH END watches for more than a Citizen costs new, but that's one of the pitfalls of cheap watches - cheap service (because if they fix a watch 3 times that they already sold dirt cheap, the company starts losing profit).

@Harleyforever20

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your reply, I still love and want to keep my old Citizen watch. I want to find a shop that will fix it at a reasonable price and time. Your experience has opened my eyes to where I’m going to go for repair work.

Brother you just made my mind up. I'm sticking with Seiko.

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

GOOD! Seiko is the way to go. Actually editing a review on the Seiko Cocktail Time right now.

@ArrowNin

5 жыл бұрын

@@ShouldITimeThis As someone new to watches, and who works in a pretty extreme work environment.. would you recommend a seiko or a gshock? :) I know there are a lot of variations of each, but I was wondering your opinion. The work environment would be a kitchen by the way

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

That depends on whether you want a watch or a tacky-looking kid's toy. I don't consider the Gshock to be a watch just even though it tells the time. And I understand that they have a cult following and tons of people wear them, but it looks like rubber and plastic junk, it has a VERY unsatisfying digital lcd-style 1990's-looking display for the time, and it will never get you into "watches." You'll wind up going from there to a smart watch of some kind and that'll be it. If you want a durable watch and you're looking at Seiko, just about any Seiko dive watch will do you a solid. They make multiple series / case shapes / sizes / movements / colors / etc., and they'll be able to handle being beat up, wet, etc. and keep on telling time while looking good at the same time.

@ArrowNin

5 жыл бұрын

@@ShouldITimeThis How would a seiko deal with heat, if you dont mind me asking? And thank you, because honestly I'm super fresh to watches, and I think that even though the gshock looks indestructible, they do look sort of cheap, and they are. Do you think gshock are really indestructible as people say?

@ShouldITimeThis

5 жыл бұрын

Most watches of any brand can handle heat. It's the steam and water that are difficult for some watches. But that's why I said dive watches specifically. Any well-made dive watch will handle shock, heat, water, steam, whatever with no problem. As for the G-Shock, you're asking the wrong person. I don't have experience with them.

Great Customer Service is the foundation for future sales. Man, what a nightmare! Don't blame you for being po'ed with Citizen. Hope someone with any say-so from Citizen has viewed your post.I currently own 4 Eco-Drives and have never had an issue with any of them. The oldest I purchased in 1998, a Titanium Solar-tech 180 that works perfectly. That being said....it will probably die later today.

@ShouldITimeThis

6 жыл бұрын

Lynn Nelson lol well let's hope it doesn't. My EcoDrive Calendrier has been perfect too. It's a shame that their customer service is so poor. I would have purchased more citizen stuff for sure. Eh.. it is what it is.

My first Eco-Drive is now over 23 years old and has never had a fault. I now have 4 Eco-drive watches and all perfect. I keep mine in a window to get sunlight. I prefer the Titanium Sapphire range. All keep perfect time.

I just sent them 2 watches to have the capacitor replaced. They REFUSED the package!!!! Now I have to wait until it comes back. I'll just do it myself!!!!!

Can't be worse than my experience. Bought a Citizen world timer ECO-smart movement from what I thought was a reputable dealer at a watch shop in Hong Kong airport since they had a sale it was a great price. After 3 years it stopped. I sent it in to Citizen and they sent it back to me with a note saying they could not fix it! I called them and they said they couldn't fix it since it was a counterfeit watch and wanted to know where I bought it! I opened the back of the watch and they were right! But here's were it gets weird, the movement was made by Seiko and it used a battery. After replacing the battery it worked fine! Took it to a Seiko watch repair and they said it was a fake Seiko movement!!! Whoever made this fake watch, it still works fine after 10 years! Just have to change batteries every 3 years which I was trying to avoid.... Who builds fake Citizen or Seiko! Margins can't be that good to build fake low cost watches! Perhaps I'm wrong. All the times I placed it under light to charge.....

@ShouldITimeThis

6 жыл бұрын

Damascus Steele Wow! That's wild! I've never heard of something like that. Yeah who would counterfeit a Citizen? Lol. Glad it still works at least..

@makemelaughhysterically1331

6 жыл бұрын

Damascus Steele .

@tynungester2543

5 жыл бұрын

Well take a look at all of the fake Casio watches on the market.

@christosnsk

5 жыл бұрын

WoW The absolute fake watch :D But it works after 10 years !!!

@2011blueman

5 жыл бұрын

Ok, who else laughed when they read "reputable dealer at a watch shop in Hong Kong airport"?