If you buy a watch that has a battery in it, eventually, the battery will need to be replaced. That makes sense, right? You don’t need a college degree to understand that concept.

Well, the college kid in this story didn’t seem to grasp that concept.

A watch repair employee looked at the watch the college kid sent in to be repaired and realized that the only problem it had was the battery. It needed a new battery.

You’d think that would be a relief for the college kid since it’s an easy fix, but he didn’t seem relieved at all!

Keep reading for the full conversation between the college kid and the employee.

My Mom and Dad WILL be hearing about this!

Background: I work in a store that sells nice watches. We are a repair center for some particular watch brands and people send their watches in from all over the states to us.

There are two types of common watches, quartz and mechanical. A quartz is battery powered by a battery that lasts anywhere from 18-24 months, or longer, or less. This depends on how well your watch works.

A mechanical needs to be wound and is more expensive. One of the cheapest mechanicals we sell is $500 and the most expensive is 60k.

Here are a couple misconceptions customers often have.

People usually make the mistake of:

Not knowing that their watch needs a battery to work and….

Thinking that since they paid over $100 for their watch and that it’s by such and such well-known brand that it’s invincible and problems with it are warrantied for life.

This story involves a watch that a customer sent in to be repaired.

Story: A young man sends in his watch by well known watch brand that we repair. He makes sure to include a rambling typed description of everything wrong with the watch (this is common for people to do) and his Amazon receipt complete with the “warranty” given to him by the Amazon dealer.

(Buying a watch online is a big mistake. Especially if you’re looking for something genuine and especially if you want customer service from that company or a warranty. If you’re buying for looks or the website is legitimately for that dealer, then whatever.)

Anyway I have my watch technician check it out and he tells me nothing is wrong with it, it just needs a new battery.

So I call the customer with the estimate and it goes like this.

The employee explained that situation.

Me: So we’re going to need to put in a new battery, everything else seems to be working fine. That’ll be $XX.XX and will take 3 days in the queue….

CB (College Boy) interrupts: UGH, what are you even talking about? It had a battery in it when I bought it!

I checked his rambling notes and his receipt and it said he purchased the watch three years ago…

Me: Well it looks like you purchased the watch three years ago, three years it quite a long time for a battery as they typically don’t work past 2 years, so I’m actually surprised it didn’t die sooner.

The customer thinks he knows better than the employee.

CB: What? Why is my watch dying? What do you mean a it needs a battery, it had one in it!

Me: ……. well batteries do die, they have a limited time span. This is a battery powered watch.

CB: I paid good money ($120) for this watch and it’s by well known brand! My friends have these watches and I’ve never heard about this.

Me: I can assure you that batteries do die and that this watch needs one. It’ll be $XX.XX for it.

The customer continues to argue.

CB: Now hold on, this is nonsense. That watch is under warranty. I shouldn’t have to be paying for this.

Me: Well sir, battery replacements aren’t part of any warranty. We warranty our batteries themselves for a year to cover the possibility of a dud battery and nothing beyond that. There’s no such thing as a warranty that covers a known service this watch needs to work.

CB: What? Of course a service like that would be under the warranty. I paid A LOT of money for that watch and it’s by well known watch brand and I shouldn’t have to pay this.

I’m going to have to bring out the big guns with this guy.

He compared a battery to gas for your car.

Me: That would be like saying that gas refills on your car are warrantied for life. It makes no sense. This is a battery powered watch that needs a battery inside to work. You purchase the watch with that understanding, at the very least. Besides, you purchased this from an online retailer who isn’t a certified dealer and it’s been longer than three years. Even in a world where a warranty that covered batteries made sense, you wouldn’t have this covered.

CB: I’M IN COLLEGE AND DON’T HAVE THE MONEY FOR THIS. MY PARENTS ARE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS AND MY MOM AND DAD WILL BE HEARING ABOUT THIS!

Me: Alright, well let me know and I’ll get this in the queue for you, until then it’s going to sit here.

And he hung up.

I guess he doesn’t want his watch back!

Never heard from him again and his watch is still here.

I imagine he’s in the bar telling his broskies that well known watch brand must not be that great because batteries don’t defy the laws of chemistry when they’re in them.

Sigh. People and their watches. Oddly enough people with ridiculously expensive watches and ridiculously expensive repairs are always way easier to deal with.

Unless you’re telling them the Rolex they paid 8k for is a fake. That’s a different story.

I’m not sure how much the replacement battery cost, but if it was a significant cost, maybe he thought it was just better to buy another watch.

You’d think a college kid would be smart enough to realize batteries need to be replaced!

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a mom who is irate after she gave a group leader money for her daughter’s lunch, only to have him pocket the cash and ask all of the kids to pay their own way.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

One person guesses at what the kid said to this parents.

Someone who works in auto repair shares their experience.

It’s not like a watch battery is that expensive!

Someone who has experience repairing watches weighs in.

You’d think a kid smart enough to get into college would understand that batteries don’t last forever. It’s not like the watch is magic and simply works and works and works. It’s an easy fix though. I’m surprised he never called back.

It’s crazy how many customers don’t have common sense.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a stepmom who says stepson isn’t doing enough, despite the fact that he’s working 12-hour shifts to pay for his own college.