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I own a beautiful Junghans Mega Solar Ceramic. It is a simple sober watch. However with solar power and radio accuracy it is perfect for me. After 14 years the internal accu (battery) that is charged by the solar panel has died. So I asked Junghans to exchange the battery. I thought this to be a plain and simple question. Hereunder the summary of the correspondance which I send to Matthias Stotz, the CEO of Junghans.
Dear Mr. Stotz,
Since 2001 I wear a Junghans watch with great pleasure. It is a beautiful Mega Solar Ceramic 018-1720 (No 9919957).
After all these years the watch still looks perfect and also works perfectly! Thank you very much!
However, after 14 years the accu / battery has died. This means that it can not hold the power for much more than a few days instead of months. I understand this that such a battery needs to be changed.
For this, I sent below request to your factory in Germany. Since then the problems began and I am very disappointed with the responds and lack of service by Junghans service department.
The accu / battery can easily be bought in China for less than €2,- a piece. But I understand that this type of watch needs special tooling to be opened and I am very willing to pay € 20 or even € 30,- for the accu exchange. If possible I would even gladly do it myself.
Below you can read the full correspondence with your service department. Herewith the summary with a few responses that unpleasantly surprised me:
1 Junghans is unable to specify upfront how much an accu exchange costs. Why is that?
2 Follow up by me revealed that there is no accu anymore of this type (so the costs of € 36,- for shipping and checking the watch would have been for nothing).
3 Then, I was offered a complete exchange of the inner work for €180,- (??!!). So, in terms of a car: “I would like to have new tires' and as responds: “We do not have these tires, but we can exchange the engine of your car”.
4 After even further follow-up by me it turns out that the inner exchange would be inclusive a a new accu! So, Junghans does seem to have spare accu’s!
5 My logical question then to have this accu used only (instead of the full inner watch exchange). But then I received the responds that this was not possible.
I worked myself for the customer department of a large company. Therefore I am focused, maybe more than usual, on other company’s service quality.
The watch was quite expensive. Approx. € 500,- back in 2001. For this amount of money I would expect a much better customer service than the one I receive now.
My proposal:
I sent the watch to Junghans factory. Junghans replaces the accu for € 25,- and I pay an extra € 10 for shipping & handling.
Thanks for you understanding and cooperation, and I trust to hear from you soon.
With kind regards,
Frans Hartmann
Anyone having similar experiences with Junghans with respect to battery exchanges?
Thanks!