WatchBrokers customer gets heirloom back

The Buckhead consignment shop WatchBrokers deals in pricey watches, and is rarely open these days as state investigators go to court to force them to pay back their customers.

The I-Team recently managed to catch someone there, knocked on the door, and something unexpected happened.

"Since WatchBrokers is here on the corner of Peachtree and West Paces, I figured it was a legitimate place and had been here for a while," said customer Andrew Dietz.

Dietz, a neighborhood businessman, dropped off an heirloom watch in February to have the battery changed at WatchBrokers, a fancy Buckhead consignment shop for timepieces.

"I've come multiple times, physically walked in, called many times, impossible to reach anybody, and I get the same story every time, ‘We're going to pick up the watch this week and give you a call,'" said Dietz.

The state got a judgment demanding the cash-strapped company and its president, R.J. Bergh, pay customers the money they're owed for their sold watches.

"I hope that they didn't sell it. I don't know. I know it was somewhat of a rare watch," said Dietz.

In complaints to the Better Business Bureau and to the Governor's Office of Consumer  Protection, Dietz said he just wanted his watch back. He also called the I-Team.

The I-Team met him at the storefront, where like most days, it's closed up. On the day the I-Team met Dietz, there was somebody behind the locked door.

So they knocked on the door, expecting nothing. Instead they got an employee who said he'd look. While we waited another angry customer arrived. That was no surprise, but the employee opening the door was a surprise.

After a brief talk with Dietz, the employee returned his watch to him. The employee said he planned to quit anyway. So, he walked inside, found the watch and handed it over.  After months of asking his family heirloom be returned, Andrew Dietz got it.

"Why couldn't I have gotten that? Why'd I have to get a news crew to get it?" asked Dietz.

If you are a customer of WatchBrokers waiting on money, it's important to go ahead and file a police report so it's on the record. Also, you need to get in touch with the Governor's Office of Consumer Protection and file a complaint there, so that you can possibly get on a list to for a refund providing they can collect some money.