It’s About Time

TL; DR: don’t come here for anything more than watch batteries. And make sure you have small bills on you in case their credit card machine isn’t working.
I’ve visited this business twice. My first experience was fine and about 2 – 3 months ago, and it’s the only reason I’m giving this business two stars (though really I wish I could give it a 1.5). I was getting batteries replaced in three watches and they’re all still working. Your receipt is a warranty for the batteries up to one year, so hold on to it. However, if you are getting work done for anything more complicated, I do not recommend coming here.
My second visit I needed a hole punched into a leather watch strap. When I walked in, I asked how much it would be to punch another hole into a watch strap. Immediately the person seemed unsure of what I was talking about and right then I should have just left and gone to the jewelry shop a few doors down. She kind of hemmed and hawed and was unsure until I elaborated and said it’s a leather strap that I need to make smaller and asked if she needed to see it. Then it seemed as if a light bulb went off and she said, «Oh yes! I can do that. That will be $ 5.40,» as if she’s done it a million times. She said she would be right back and went into the back to her work area. From what I understand, punching holes is very simple nowadays because there are actual leather hole punchers for watch straps and belts. They’re inexpensive and seem pretty commonplace in jewelry, watch repair, and cobbler shops. Long gone are the days of using an awl and hammer. However, I heard her banging away in the back with her hammer. No big deal if she knows what she’s doing. But when she came back out and had me try it on, it didn’t look good. First, the job was not clean. The leather looked frayed and with her method, she literally just punched a hole through the leather rather than punching out leather to create a clean hole. Second, and what really made me upset, was the hole was off center. You would think that if someone specializes in watch repair, s/​he would be very detail oriented. Centering the hole seems like common sense. When I pointed it out to her, she said, «Oh, oops. I was focused on making sure the tab would fit through the hole.» Not an excuse in my mind. Now the little metal tab doesn’t sit in its designated little notch in the buckle. She apologized, but barely. She seemed to realize her mistake and that I wasn’t happy, but she didn’t really do much to try to make things better. She did say the job wasn’t perfect, but offered no discount or any type of consolation for messing up my brand new watch, and she asked me to come back for any other work I need done. If I were a business owner and messed up this badly on such a simple and inexpensive task, I would have apologized profusely and not charged the customer. But here’s the kicker. When I tried to pay, the credit card machine wasn’t working and luckily I had cash on me. Sometimes the machine doesn’t work and that’s fine. But if you’re a business and your credit card machine isn’t working, you better make sure at the beginning of the day that you have sufficient change to break common bills like a $ 20. She didn’t have any singles on her and instead tried to give me change in dollar coins and quarters. She didn’t even think to go out and make change next door until I said something. I was not about to carry out a massive handful of coins, especially considering how upset I was.
There is no way I’m coming back for more than a new watch battery, and even then I may consider going elsewhere. It’s unfortunate because I really appreciate all of the small businesses in the 5^th Street Arcades and try to support them, but this experience was completely unacceptable and disappointing.