Dispute: advice needed (UK)
\[Advice needed\] Hello team! Having a strange one. Have obv consulted AI, and a watchmaker near me and well as a friend who works at WOS, but I wanted to check what this r/ would make of it:
Bought a nice vintage 1960-70s oyster based watch from an online ‘shop’ in the UK. They don’t have a premises, or any phone number. But the watch looked great, and I negotiated it down from £1100 to £900.
The ad and subsequent emails stated the watch was checked by a watchmaker and running well, in addition, had the original crown and all parts. They claimed it had been serviced two years ago.
Soon as I got it, it felt weird - the crown only screwed in a quarter turn then stopped dead, leaving a few threads showing. And it was running like 15mins fast over a day.
Took to a watchmaker, they opened it and found that the barrel tube was brittle and worn out so would barely let the crown screw in, as well as reporting to me that the movement was “dirty and full of debris”. They said theyd never sell a watch in that state. It will cost £450 to fix and clean, and they didn’t even want to do the work as it looked so bad. I’ve not got any photos yet, but I will get a written report and pics soon.
I’ve written to the seller and they are refusing to refund. Less than 30days since I bought it. Any advice?