Invicta Watch Company 5 year warranty always costs money..even when it's free Hollywood, Florida

I've been a collector of Invicta watches for almost 3 years now. To date I've bought 27, some have been gifts while 21 have been for me. Overall, most of them have given me good service and most of them are the "Reserve" line which come with an automatic 5 year warranty. However, since I've bought them all through Shop NBC, I register all the non-Reserve watches as soon as I receive them and have all my paperwork from each watch to verify the extended 5 year warranty as described on Shop NBC.

The gripe I have first off is regarding the $28 fee that every watch (under warranty or not) is assessed to the owner when it is sent to Invicta for repair. Since each watch is then sent to Europe for repair (including such mundane "repairs" as changing out the battery) I know that my $28 is going to shipping my watch over and back..makes me wonder why simple repairs like battery changes can't be done in the states..of course, if you have a 5 year warranty and take the watch to a local shop you make the warranty null and void. But i'm questioning what's the difference at this point?

My case in point is that in July, 2010 I bought an Invicta Speedway watch as a gift for my dad who is in his 80's..he normally wears an old "beater" watch around the house but the Speedway is classy looking and he wears it when he wants to wear a nice watch. Which means he wears it primarily when heading to the doctor or going to church. It's not abused and hardly has a scratch on it..so when he said he recently pulled out the crown to set the watch a few weeks ago and the crown wouldn't reseat, I told him to give me the watch and I would send it to Invicta.

So I go to the Post Office, get my $28 money order and spend another $7 postage to get it off to Invicta. I had filed an online "e-service" request so they knew it was coming and mailed it off March 6th of 2013. The post office said it would arrive on March 8th and I've been checking the Invicta service website each week which showed "awaiting receipt". I sent along copies of my paperwork and warranty registration. Today is March 25th and after two prior calls which I was told they were backed up (and this is after being on hold for 30-40 minutes) I finally get an email saying the watch has been received and my bill for repair is $38. It's only coincidental that after calling earlier today I get an email that afternoon.

I called Invicta (my second call to them today) regarding this $38 repair charge and asked "what does my 5 year warranty cover?" Well, according to them, the crown and stem don't count..they only have a 1 year warranty. They told me that the works inside are covered but crystal, band and crown/stem are not. I paid approx. $80 for the watch on Shop NBC and now this repair will run $73 by the time it's done..not to mention the 90 day turnaround that all repairs seem to take. So my dad's watch will get back some time this summer..I have trouble with both the cost and length of time it takes to be repaired. Seems to me that not counting the stem and crown is like saying the steering system of your car isn't covered although the engine is..

Yet when I see the lavish Shop NBC shows from the Bahamas or the Invicta pavillion with the Invicta yacht in the background and some high dollar sports car parked next to it, it makes me angry that a 5 year warranty is worth so little that I need to pay for my watch to make the trip over and back from Europe and then to pay for non-warranty repairs which aren't (but should be) covered. To me, a warranty is a warranty..short of blowing up a watch with a stick of dynamite or obvious rough treatment, I don't think Invicta is standing behind what they make. I guess I need to move on to other brands. I don't begrudge anybody making money, that's good old capitalism, but if the product is that good, stand behind it and honor the warranty or don't offer a 5 year warranty and then the customer will know where they stand.