[sandpipe]

I had the sdm fail on my DA 50-135 lens which I purchased on my VISA credit card July 11, 2008.

I sent it in to C.R.I.S., the Pentax authorized repair center in Arizona on April 15, 2010. They replaced the sdm and returned the lens on May 13, 2010.

The repair was $189 plus shipping and although the original Pentax warranty had expired on July 11, 2009 my purchasing the lense with a VISA card doubled the original warranty.

VISA was very friendly and after sending them all the necessary purchase and Pentax warranty info I received a reimbursment check on June 25, 2010 for the full cost of repair and shipping.

C.R.I.S. gives a 6 month warranty on their repair so I am covered by them until November 11, 2010.

Now here is the interesting part-- VISA offered me a 5 year extended warranty through Westchester Fire Insurance Co. of PA. for $112.99.

This coverage sounded too good to be true so I jumped on the offer. Protecting a problematic lens like the 50-135 for around $22 per year with full authorized factory repair and lemon protection that would give me a new lens if it failed for a fourth time seemed like a prudent use of aftermarket insurance.

Alas, when I received the "VISA performance guarantee extended sales agreement" my coverage only went to July 11, 2013.

I called up VISA and they assured me that it was a full five years of coverage on the lens. They mentioned several times that the valuable(?) lemon protection clause on repeat failures includes the falure I already had and so I am getting covered by this new insurance policy back to the inception of the original purchase.

Since CRIS gives me coverage until Nov 2010 I am really only getting 2 years and 8 months of coverage from VISA for the $112, not the nearly 4 years and 8 months I had expected. The insurance policy no longer seemed too good to be true but was still tempting.

So far I am planning to keep this aftermarket coverage due to the potentially problematic nature of this lens. I have seen many reports of repaired lenses failing a second time on this board and others. I have 30 days from the issuance of the policy to decide whether to keep it or get a full refund.

Hopefully this info and my experience with this process will be of use to others who find themselves in similar circumstances with sdm lens failures when the lenses were purchased with a credit card that offers doubling of factory warranties.

[kalison]

Sometimes companies say five year, and actually they are adding on the required time for the coverage to equal five years. Which is BS in my opinion but it's happened to me before.

Posting this from my phone so maybe I missed something.

[MCsquared]

Thanks for pointing that out. I would personally keep the warranty, even at 60 bucks a year I would consider it a decent deal. I am considering buying the 50-135 but definitely want an extended warranty.

I don't want to hijack your thread but I do have a quick question that you or someone else may be able to answer. I'm sure there are threads about purchasing aftermarket or extended warranties but I have yet to find them, anyone have any links?

[foxhead]

I had the sdm fail on my DA 50-135 lens which I purchased on my VISA credit card July 11, 2008.

I sent it in to C.R.I.S., the Pentax authorized repair center in Arizona on April 15, 2010. They replaced the sdm and returned the lens on May 13, 2010.

The repair was $189 plus shipping and although the original Pentax warranty had expired on July 11, 2009 my purchasing the lense with a VISA card doubled the original warranty.

VISA was very friendly and after sending them all the necessary purchase and Pentax warranty info I received a reimbursment check on June 25, 2010 for the full cost of repair and shipping.

C.R.I.S. gives a 6 month warranty on their repair so I am covered by them until November 11, 2010.

Now here is the interesting part-- VISA offered me a 5 year extended warranty through Westchester Fire Insurance Co. of PA. for $112.99.

This coverage sounded too good to be true so I jumped on the offer. Protecting a problematic lens like the 50-135 for around $22 per year with full authorized factory repair and lemon protection that would give me a new lens if it failed for a fourth time seemed like a prudent use of aftermarket insurance.

Alas, when I received the "VISA performance guarantee extended sales agreement" my coverage only went to July 11, 2013.

I called up VISA and they assured me that it was a full five years of coverage on the lens. They mentioned several times that the valuable(?) lemon protection clause on repeat failures includes the falure I already had and so I am getting covered by this new insurance policy back to the inception of the original purchase.

Since CRIS gives me coverage until Nov 2010 I am really only getting 2 years and 8 months of coverage from VISA for the $112, not the nearly 4 years and 8 months I had expected. The insurance policy no longer seemed too good to be true but was still tempting.

So far I am planning to keep this aftermarket coverage due to the potentially problematic nature of this lens. I have seen many reports of repaired lenses failing a second time on this board and others. I have 30 days from the issuance of the policy to decide whether to keep it or get a full refund.

Hopefully this info and my experience with this process will be of use to others who find themselves in similar circumstances with sdm lens failures when the lenses were purchased with a credit card that offers doubling of factory warranties.

Thanks for posting your experience. I have just had my DA*16-50 SDM fail. It was purchased on Feb 11, 2009 on my Platinum MasterCard which also has a one year warranty extension provision. so I will also be filing a claim after having it repaired by CRIS. I'll also be seeing if I can purchase some additional insurance on the repairs and on my other SDM lenses

[reeftool]

Judging from the number of failures we hear about with these lenses, I would say that the $112 is a good deal to get 5 years of coverage. However, it sucks that we should even have to consider buying extended warranty's form a third party.

[sandpipe]

Judging from the number of failures we hear about with these lenses, I would say that the $112 is a good deal to get 5 years of coverage. However, it sucks that we should even have to consider buying extended warranty's form a third party.

Unfortunately the coverage is only 3 years as explained in my post. Still, I went for it just so I could relax and not fear the motor dying again like has happened in some cases. Of course with Murphy's Law I expect the lens to be perfect for at least the next three years.

If I do have any problems I will certainly let this forum know!

[kalison]

Anyone have good experience with sagemax extended warranty that bh sells with new lenses?

[Edmund]

Sandpipe:

Thanks for the warranty information. I have already have an SDM failure on a lens that was only five moths old, so the Pentax warranty took care of it. It is good to know that VISA was standing by their initial extended warranty period.