fake tag heuer with warranty card and box

[connecting_rodd]

Hi all. slightly less than a year ago I purchased a Tag Heuer Aquaracer off a Canadian seller. The purchased seemed safe as it came with the box, the tag and warranty cards. I have had a few Swiss watches but I have never been serious collector but I like to think I knew the basic things to look out for. The seller had 300 sales with 100% positive reviews, as mentioned, the watch came with authentic looking box, serial number stamped on the back, all dials functioning and no other obvious signs of being anything less than genuine. About a week ago, I run into a discussion on one of the forums about some very good Tag Heuer fakes coming out of china and some relatively minor inconsistencies in one example. After reading it I examined mine and to my dismay found some some inconsistencies in it. I then dug a little deeper and found that the serial number although appearing authentic and for a Tag is for the wrong model. I went back to the seller whom has since changed his handle name and now states his location to be in the US. Of course he has provided no assistance and I'm long since the time period that paypal would provide protection. Anyway I just wanted to provide my story to help someone else avoid this happening to them. The seller is still activity selling watches all of which I suspect are fakes. Who knows how many more are being marketed on eBay at this very moment. 

[reallynicestamps]

You have 30 days from delivery for protection by eBay's Money Back Guarantee.

You have 180 days from purchase for protection by Paypal's Buyer Protection program.

You may also be covered by the chargeback provisions of the credit card you used to back your PP payment.

All of which have passed.

Your best bet at this point would be to contact the Tag Heuer company who are going to be very interested in protecting their brand.

Have all the information you have collected about the seller handy for them.

The company may also be part of eBay's VeRO program which is meant to protect brands and manufacturers.

All that being said, there's a lot of garbage on the internet and chat groups of anonymous people are not necessarily the best place to get accurate unbiased information.

https://www.snopes.com/

Many Canadians spend up to five months of the year in warmer climes. The time is only limited by their health care policy, which ends if they spend longer outside of Canada. So a change of address is no big deal.

[connecting_rodd]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, it's true I've passed all the usual protection mechanisms in place so I don't have too many avenues to appeal to. Contacting Tag themselves is a good suggestion which will at the very least help get the word out. 

[patken123]

It is true that there are some great/genuine looking fakes out there but In my opinion there's a limit on what purchases are considered "risk free", to buy online, for example high end electronics, jewelry, cars etc. are items that I would be extremely nervous to buy that way . I doubt the seller even knew he was selling fakes.