Deep Blue Watches Failing to repair my watch, return my watch or even reply to my enquiries New York New York

I bought one of their Pro Diver models a few years ago and this summer the battery ran out. Because of the helium safe valve feature I chose to return it to them for a battery replacement, rather than using a local jeweller (I'm in the UK). A price was quoted for the replacement and return shipping, so I sent it off.

More than a month laterI was being told by Sam that they had the watch but were "testing the movement" (?????) beffore replacing the battery, but the battery would be replaced in due course. I told him that even allowing for this (why not just replace the battery to see if this fixes what is most likely the issue ?) a month was an unacceptable delay, and I asked to speak to the owner or proprietor of the business. They have refused to answer any attempt at communication since.

Reading other posts on this forum and elsewhere I'm starting to suspect that they may be running a little scam...other posters have reported repeated inadequate repairs causing them to just "give up", or watches going missing altogether, or, as in my case, they acknowledge they have your watch, and just refuse to send it back, or explain why. Especially when it comes to people like me living a long distance away, once they've got your watch, what exactly can you do to get it back from them other than sending them complaints which they ignore ? They will be left with lots of premium watches in their workshop which they can fix up properly and then sell on ebay. The owner has little choice other than spending large amounts of money, more than the value of the watch itself, on legal and travel expenses to reclaim it. Given that they are now point blank refusing to respond to my query after a month, I don't believe it is as innocent as simple incompetece or inefficiency.

I'm not letting them get away with it. I've just sought advice from a process server in NY who advise me they will file a law suit for $100. Legal expenses are estimated to run to between $4,000 and $7,000 for a case, which I can reclaim if I win the case, in addition to whatever my travel expenses are, which I cannot reclaim. So, I'll just treat the trip to NY as a holiday. If they think they can con people of a few hundred dollars worth of watch expecting people not to pay ten times that to get it back, let's see if they think that's a viable business model when they have to start paying lawyer's fees.

Also, I'm trying to speak to NYPD about this in case they agree there might be lawbreaking going on here. All I can get is a social media page, if anyone in NY knows of a non-emergency number I can call from the UK I'd appreciate it.