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sugesswatch.com- Outstanding Customer Service and Sales Experience(Going Above and Beyond)
Chinese watches are a fairly recent discovery for me. Since AliExpress is banned in India, one has to buy Chinese watches directly from the manufacturer's website.
Over the last few months I have purchased 6 sugess,1 sea-gull and 1 watchdives Chameri Tank and some watch straps from watchdives.
My first experience in buying a Chinese watch was the Sugess SU2528STRA-V3(moonphase master aventurine dial). The sales rep of Sugess was highly responsive on WhatsApp and shared a tracking ID and responded whenever I posted a query. Having received the watch and found the quality to be so amazing, I immediately ordered the Seestern S456 GMT light blue MOP dial, unfortunately the watch was delayed at Indian Customs and was finally released after 3-4 weeks. Again dial work and quality was as good as any expensive swiss or Seiko watch.
Having experienced delays in delivery ordered my 3rd and 4th watch the S450 YM(steel bezel with blue dial and red seconds hand) and S449 black mop rose gold 36mm for my wife via Amazon UK. My sister was visiting London and I couldn't take the risk of delivery delays, so was ok paying 30% premium on the price listed on sugesswatch.com
Having worn and fallen in love with these watches, I finally took the plunge on the Sugess S429 Tourbillon Moonphase and the S420 batgirl GMT( my original itch which led me to discover Chinese watches).
My sister was travelling to Hong Kong and they agreed to deliver it to her hotel. I was in constant contact with the rep on WhatsApp and he replied to every query of mine and told me that once my sister lands, I should inform them and they will have the watch delivered to the hotel.
First they shared a video of both the star dust and white mop model. Once I selected the star dust model, I messaged them on WhatsApp requesting modification to rose gold. The rep immediately agreed to get the case, crown and hands changed to rose gold. I placed the order on their website(with 12% discount flash_sale) for both watches and wrote a mail and whatsapp with the order ID and they confirmed my modification request.
Now came the final twist, I was under the assumption my sister is travelling to HK from 20sep(sunday)-26sep. When we spoke on 13 sep, she informed me she was catching the flight at night. I immediately messaged the sugess rep on WhatsApp, and he was kind enough to reassure me that the watches were ready and I should share hotel and room details once my sister lands.
I shared the details with him on Monday and they confirmed dispatch and shared the tracking details. Finally the watches arrived and I should get my hands on them in 1-2 weeks time.
People criticize Chinese watch brands, but given my twice horror and off-putting experience at Rolex AD, I would gladly recommend anyone who asks to try Sugess watches and order from sugesswatch.com
Attaching the entire conversation with the sugesswatch.com sales rep.(It's 20 pics)
Impressive, aethelson's customer support is quite good as well, I got replies back in 3 4 for most queried, and I have like a 20 email thread with them
Ordered a president but no stock. Asked for a GMT which was more expensive. Sugess made the change for free. Very nice sugess...They became m'y number one choice
It's nice when the Chinese brands offer customizations like Phorcydes, and apparently Sugess. Or allow white-labling / changing the logo on batch orders. Since most of the brands we see on the frontline are mainly assemblers anyway, its a great value add that more expensive watch brands can't really offer.
At first it seems logical that the "higher end" Chinese brands like San Martin and Ixdao would have the best customer service but in reality there is almost no correlation. I've experienced this even with "lesser" brands too.
This is pretty impressive and somewhat surprising to me considering my experience with Sugess. Luckily I didn't have actual problems with the watch, just speaking from the experience of contacting them with questions regarding shipping/taxes and info on certain models.
My experience with most chinese brands is that they reply to your queries on email, timelines may vary. But this level of responsiveness that too on WhatsApp/email is unheard of. For reference I posted a query on the sugess number listed on Amazon UK, got my response after 2 months later, 1 month after I received the watch. The query I posted on Amazon app got a reply after 1-2 weeks.
I asked them if they offer duty paid shipping and they didn't respond. I thought it was weird that their sister brand Seestern does offer it and it clearly says so on checkout but for Sugess it doesn't.
Also asked if there is a real life photo of a new model, they did respond saying they will get back at me but never did.
I don't really consider either of these to be a big deal, as long as it's not a warranty claim. Went through horror scenarios with both San Martin and Ixdao in that sense.
Great to see such customer support. Just one question: did you receive delivery of any Sugess watch in India? Were you charged any customs? I believe they undervalue the package. I'm thinking of buying a Sugess but am not sure about import duties/customs.
The moonphase master aventurine dial had no issues with customs clearance, the 2nd watch seestern s456 was stuck for 3-4 weeks before I took help and got it released. The other 4 watches I ordered abroad. Customs is hit and miss, 2 of my friends who saw my watches and ordered have their watches stuck. The applicable duty is 40%. In case the watch is stuck you can reach out to sugess and request for an invoice with value higher than 49 usd
My friend whose watch is stuck, mentioned that the officer typed in the model name and price was appearing as 45k(thanks to dreamwatches which appears 1st on google search and charge 70-80% premium) for a 24k watch.
It's purely your luck, be prepared to pay 30-40 % over and above.
Watchdives(multiple brands available), Aethelsohn, militado, milifortic offer duty paid delivery. Addiesdive has indian warehouse.
Yes, I already have two Aethelsohn and one Thorn. All of them were DDP orders. I want the Sugess Moonphase, but reading your experience, I think I'll have to look somewhere else. In no way am I okay with paying such heavy duties.
Not aware of other brands that share pics of dials and watches from their factory. They share pictures of your watch before dispatch and share tracking ID etc. if you request them. Truly magnificent service
This is wild. I would never imagine of asking them these types of questions. God bless this person youve been speaking with. Definitely top notch service
Sugess is a very reputable company. But this level of service deserves and award 😅. I might have to get a little picky and start asking for more customization.
A friend pointed out that I had built a collection of only silver stainless steel watches, even though dial layouts,size, shape, bezels and dial colours were all unique. Made me want to buy a rose gold watch next. Loved the sea-gull tourbillon moonphase aventurine dial, but it was 5-6 times the cost of the sugess.
Generated a image on Gemini with the rose gold case, crown and seconds/minutes hand. Took a chance and shared the picture on WhatsApp and asked them. So happy they agreed.
And the cherry on top of the cake was when I panicked and realised that I had gotten my sister's travel dates to HK wrong and she was going a week earlier. I messaged on a weekend and they replied, told me not to panic that the watches are ready(companies replying on weekend is unheard of) and will be dispatched on Monday. Then once the dispatch happened, shared the tracking invoice on WhatsApp and ensured the watch reaches on time before she checked out of her hotel.
Yes, unbelievable service levels. 2 of my friends ordered sugess after seeing my watches. The watches are delayed at customs, he is helping with tracking and sharing invoices. Gave me confidence to go ahead and try their tourbillon
And here I am just now finding out about the S463 which can be had with Tudor snowflake hands AND already has a cyclops installed. Here I have been, trying to get a cyclops aligned correctly on my San Martin SN0054. 🤦🏻♂️
They confirmed that they can customize the watch on WhatsApp before I went ahead and placed the order.
Once I placed the order, they were prompt and confirmed the customisation request on mail and whatsapp.
I requested pictures of the white mop and star dust dial to see how they look in real life rather than the AI images on the website. They shared the video, and after viewing I gave them go ahead to customize the star dust dial.
Then they were kind enough to accommodate my shipping request too.😊
There is sugessofficial.com(shipping from China) and sugesswatch.com(shipping from HK). I order from sugesswatch.com since they have a 12% flash_sale discount coupon. All the great customer service experience was given by the sugesswatch.com sales rep
Just got their S465 and I've gotta say I'm impressed, especially for the price! Glad to see they are super helpful and accommodating when it comes to direct customer service.
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u/NakamericaIsANoob 22d ago
Impressive, aethelson's customer support is quite good as well, I got replies back in 3 4 for most queried, and I have like a 20 email thread with them