Kai Joo Departmental & Optical - 1 Tanjong Pagar Plaza

dishonest owner, complete charlatan. went twice to duplicate keys, both times he said it was a “special key” and charged $25 and $18. one of them didn’t even work. also terrible attitude

The shop owner is dishonest.. Tried to buy contact lens but he insist that I buy at least 4 boxes before giving me a trial pair in case the contact lens does not give me sufficient vision.. I told him that other stores usually give a free pair or 2 but he said what if I go every store to get free contact lens... I told him that's ridiculous. He could have just gave me a more thorough eye check but he refused and hid the printed results from the simple machine to check my degree (not the through eye check) and try to get me to buy 4 boxes first.. refusing to show me my eye degree. I highly recommend people to avoid patronising this store.. I would have given 0 stars.

Very Dishonest Shop. My maid brought my casio watch there to replace the strap. He took away the authentic casio strap, (without asking my maid who would have called and asked me), gave a lousy china strap that broke the next day. When i asked him about the old strap over the phone, he retorted that he threw it as no one would want an old strap. Asked him about the lousy strap that broke, he asked us to top up more money for a better quality one. Lured by the convenience, i asked my maid to go down again and while he did gave a better quality one, this time for no reason, he replaced the other authentic casio strap that was working well and gave a china one with some white spots! Called him to try to confront him but his wife said he was busy. Totally bummed!

As of 23 Feb 2018, I visited the shop for my watch battery replacement, usually it will cost me between 6 to 8 dollars. However, this shop quoted me 12 dollars. Stating it requires a bigger battery. The attitude from the shop owners is also very rude. Take it or leave it! Of course, I left and visit another shop which is open on the opposite site of the shop where I managed to change for 8 dollars. Strongly advise patrons to check the price before dealing with them.

STAY AWAY FROM THEM! I sent in several vintage watches for servicing and all but 1 came back working. First was the AGS which Mr Lee of Kai Joo assessed and told me that it could not be repaired. As such, I got him to swap a working AGS watch movement into another AGS watch which movement spoilt, but had a better condition case and bracelet. I ended up with both watches not working after the swap. When questioned, Mr Lee retorted that swapping the movement does not guarantee a working watch as he did not service it and that the watches were pretty old. Next is my Bulova Accutron Spaceview, which was working perfectly fine when I handed it over to Mr Lee to remove and replace the stuck battery hatch. It came back with scratched crystal and the movement not working. The battery hatch was not repaired either. Again he retorted that this is an old watch and it probably spoilt on its own, as he did not do anything to the watch module. A Seiko Kakume was also sent in for repairs as the second hand came off. I was advised by Mr Lee to service it as well else they will not be responsible if the watch does not work after reinstalling the second hand. Not wanting to risk having a broken watch back after, I obliged. However, after servicing, the watch came back with the chronograph not working and was told that a part inside was broken. He then added that he can source for replacement parts but I will have to pay more. In desperation, I obliged. But the Seiko Jumbo that I sent in to have the subsecond dial hand and chapter ring realigned made me doubt if Mr Lee even serviced the watches at all. Similar to the Kakume, I was advised to service it, and I obliged for the same reasons as the Kakume. However, when I went to collect the Seiko Jumbo, the subsecond dial hand was still not centered and the chapter ring was still off alignment. As nothing could be done for the AGS-es and the Accutron Spaceview with Mr Lee shirking all responsibility, I have no choice but to accept them in the condition as they are. However, I left my Jumbo and Kakume with Mr Lee to resolve the alignment issue and non-working chronograph as he would have still charged me for the servicing nonetheless. But when I came back a few months later to collect the 2 Seikos, I foundd the chapter ring on the Jumbo still off alignment and the Kakume chronograph still not working. He claimed that he could not source the part for the Kakume but I still have to pay $250 for the servicing which I am not even sure was done. For the Jumbo, the subsecond hand was aligned but not the chapter ring, Mr Lee tried to realign the chapter ring for me on the spot. I was about to leave the shop when (luckily) I decided to give the chronograph function a test and realised that the pushers felt weird and does not start or stop the chronograph. Mr Lee then took the pushers out and reinstalled the them before it finally worked - the pushers were misaligned and given that he did not check after aligning the chapter ring, I can't help but suspect that he did it in a slipshod manner. Also in the midst of doing reinstalling the pushers, I noticed that the watch movement looked dry and had grime. The rubber o-ring also looked dry and not re-greased, which made me wonder if a proper servicing was done, if at all. Not to mention his shoddy workmanship and seemingly lack of skills while reassembling the watch that added to my suspicion. Basically I think Kai Joo is dishonest, is irresponsible, and lacks professional watchmaker skills. They are outright scammers, and does a shoddy job as per all their Google reviews - should have checked their reviews out before engaging them.

Hesitate due to negative review . But I had a different experience . Took a watch there for battery change . Another shop could not do it as unable to open the watch cap. Not sure if the price charge is $ because it’s my first time changing the battery for this watch. Just glad they are able to fix it .

Bad service of keys duplicate. Key couldn't couldn't be use and return to shop 2 times also cannot work. Ask for refund but shop keeper lady is so rude and claim her material is wasted and that the key has a problem. Make third time. I went another shop to make and it works. Call the shop to say the key still don't work third time causing me so much inconvenience to travel back with bad attitude staff.!