A Rhode Island couple who spent more than $600 on a Donald Trump-branded watch were left shocked when the product arrived with a mistake.
Tim Petit bought the watch as a gift for his wife, Melanie, after hearing a radio advertisement featuring US President Donald Trump's voice promoting a range of luxury watches.
Browsing the website, Tim found a silver-and-pink model that he thought his wife would love and paid $640 for it. But when the watch arrived, the couple noticed something was wrong.
Instead of displaying Trump's full surname, the watch read "Rump".
“I noticed it right away,” Melanie told WJAR.
She added: “How could they process this and go through something without checking their work?”
The watch featured a pink face along with Trump's signature and images of fireworks, but the missing "T" turned a special gift into a disappointing experience.
According to the couple, Melanie was so upset by the mistake that she cried after seeing the watch.
Tim said he had expected better quality from a product carrying the US President's name.
“I wanted to do a special thing for her. And we expected that it would have the integrity of the President of the United States and good follow-through,” he told the WJAR.
The couple said they tried contacting the company to fix the issue but initially received no response.
“We would like this corrected properly and quickly. [And] an apology would be nice for making my wife cry,” Tim told WJAR.
The situation changed after a local news outlet contacted the company on the couple's behalf. The watchmaker then responded, offering the couple an $800 gift card and sending a replacement watch with Trump's full surname correctly printed on it.
The watches are marketed using Trump's image and voice. In one promotional video on the company's website, Trump says: “Hello everyone, it's President Donald J Trump, and it's Trump Time.”
“Get your watch today!” he adds.
However, the company states in its terms that it is not officially part of the Trump Administration. Fine print on the website says Trump's likeness is being used under a paid licensing agreement with CIC Digital LLC and that the products are “not designed, owned, managed, or controlled by Donald J Trump, The Trump Organization, CIC Digital LLC, or any of their respective principals or affiliates.”
The company also maintains a strict returns policy, stating that “all sales [are] final.”