Got my watch battery replaced and now my watch doesn't work?

Question

I went to a local small jewelry shop to get the battery replaced in my digital running watch. I'd gotten other watch & calculator batteries replaced there before. When I picked up my running watch last week, it was "on" but is really messed up--I can't set it, and it just blinks.

It worked perfectly fine before it ran out of batteries, before I brought it in. So I went back to the shop and explained the situation. They said they'd look at it, and give me an estimate for repairs if it needed it.

I don't think I should have to PAY for repairs if they messed up the insides of the watch when they put the battery in. I said that politely, and they basically said, well, we didn't break it, so you have to pay if you want us to fix it.

I don't think this is right, but they won't budge. It's a $120 watch...should I stand my ground? If it's broken beyond repair, should I ask them to replace it? I basically have no actual proof that they broke it, though...

Answer 1

If you can easily open the back with a jeweler's screwdriver, there's usually a small contact that you need to connect the battery to (called Reset). If you still have your owner's manual (or can download one from the manufacturer), it will show you exactly where it is and tell you what it needs to connect with. All you need are a couple of large steel safety pins, stick pins, or paper clips that you can touch together when you have the points on the two places that need to connect. Most manuals require this for the watch to work as guaranteed; most of the time people don't reset it and it works anyway, but when it doesn't, it's worth a try.

The other thing it might have is a "demo" mode, that blinks and does other things until you press and hold the magic combination of buttons. Again, the owner's manual can tell you how to cancel this mode.

Sounds like the jewelry store is looking for some quick holiday shopping cash for something they should've done the first time. If you aren't interested in opening up your watch yourself, I'd suggest finding another store that is an authorized dealer of your watch and see if they can help you.