Beware: Oris Calibre 400/401 Warranty Service Story

I know I'm not the only person who's posted here about servicing calibre 400/x movements. This was my experience.qq

I own a limited edition piece from Oris with calibre 401. The watch was a gift, was bought from an AD in Italy, and is officially registered on my MyOris account, with AD information and serial number. As it was a gift, I was never provided the bill of sale.

Fast forward a couple years, the watch is not operating as it should (the watch stopped ticking). I contact the Oris US service center, who provided me guidance on shipping the watch to them, as well as their repair form. I take the time to fill out their paperwork and pay out of pocket to ship the watch.

When they received the watch, they claimed they needed the paper bill of sale in order to process the warranty repair since the AD was in Italy. I told them I didn't have it since it was a gift, but that the warranty was added by the AD and was clearly active in the Oris database. The US service center did not care. I then asked what if I pay out of pocket for the repair? They said there was nothing they could do on this movement and that I'd need to ship the watch to Switzerland and that I'd need to pay out of pocket for a movement swap with them directly. This is coming from the "official US service center" for Oris time pieces....the US service center then shipped the watch back to me without notice and attempted to charge me for return shipping.

Absolutely unacceptable and horrendous service.

I go back and forth with Oris US customer service, who seems to be closely tied to "The Watchmaker", the "official" US service center for Oris time pieces. They tell me the same thing and tell me to try one of Oris's European service centers.

I contact Oris UK and Chrontime limited, who, upon review of my warranty information in MyOris, were confused as to why the US service center was not helping me. Oris UK was extremely polite and were more than willing to service my watch. I had to pay international shipping and duties, but through Oris UK, I was able to get this piece repaired under warranty.

The only explanations for this is that Oris US was either being lazy, did not want to handle the international shipping necessary for having this piece service, or did not have the technical ability to repair this watch. I love the watch, but I will never be acquiring or recommending Oris time pieces to anyone after going through all of this (unless you live in Europe; then it seems you'll have much better luck).

TLDR: Oris US refused to service calibre 400 even though its was clearly registered in MyOris and the Oris warranty database, claiming I needed a paper bill of sale since the original AD was in Italy. The watch was a gift so I did not have the paper bill of sale. Oris UK made no such claims and was more than happy to assist me with the warranty repair. It seems calibre 400 must be shipped out of pocket to Europe for servicing, even if you have a legitimate warranty active in MyOris/the Oris warranty database. US service center will only service if you have paper records, which is absolutely absurd and completely defeats the purpose of MyOris and having an electronic warranty tracking database. It seems to be a cop out to avoid servicing watches, which would be understandable from a third party; but this is coming from the "official" Oris US service center.