[Mikhail_Kriviniouk]

Of course they had the correct address already, having used it for sending the first lens.

After some outraged messages from me to her and to her 'chief', this Silvia Fischer, account manager, changed her mind:

Hi,

it is not easy to know the exact adresses from another countries. You adress was gaven to us from Ebay like this.
I will mail it to GLS the missing data. So the lense will arrive you on your correct address.

If you have any question please don?t hesitate to contact us

So it turns out that it was possible to change the address after all. Note the initial reaction, however, when you point out to them their screw up - no, sorry, can't, too late, not my fault etc. etc. - instead of trying to learn something. This is them trying to rectify a problem with the customer already being quite annoyed with them...

And even now it is not her fault, it is, presumably, my fault that I don't live in Germany and have the address that 'is not easy to know'!!! Total rubbish about e-bay giving it to them like that, e-bay has my correct address.

Feels like dealing with a shop assistant in a soviet-time soviet-run shop and not with an 'account manager' of a huge European mail-order warehouse. Burgheim is in Bavaria though, so they have no excuse for this kind of behaviour. Had it been the East of the country it would have made more sense.

[Mikhail_Kriviniouk]

The replacement has finally arrived - 21 (!!!) days after it was shipped out. This service is offered by this shop at 79.99 Euro to Russia. Tell me what shipper you use and I'll tell you who you are! Well, back to the lens. It came with defects similar to the first one.

Here is my exchange with the shop:

Me:

Dear Daniela
.....

The replacement lens has arrived today. It would have been good news if it was brand new...

BUT it has one the same defects the first lens has - silvery specks on a surface that is supposed to be matt black (anti-reflective, inside the barrel). I can send you photos of both of them side by side... While I don't believe this is of your doing, it looks like either the guys didn't bother checking the replacement lens against the list of defects in my initiall letter to you OR your shop (or some of your managers) is trying to sell off old bad-storage damaged stock passing it off as "new". Especially having in mind the special offer (49.99. Euro) on this lens the shop had a couple of weeks back :)

Writing this off as "bad luck" would be inappropriate sinse the replacement should have been checked, don't you think?

I don't think I'll spend more money, time or nerves buying from Walser ever again, as unfortunate as it may be.

I do hope you find youself a more honourable employer before too long.

Mikhail

Them (Susan Langer, as it turned out Daniela was off sick):

Dear Mr. Kriviniouk,

thanks for your Mail.

Weґre sorry that you have received a defective article again.

We will send it to our quality management and they should check the objectives. Can you use the objective or should we change it again?

Have a nice day and sorry for the trouble

Which I just forwarded to Daniela asking what I should do.

Daniela:

Hello Mr. Kriviniouk,

I just read your message. Sorry for the delayed reply, I had a hard fight with a specially weird type of flu.

Mr. Kriviniouk, all I can say: I ordered 5 pcs from stock, will check them personally and send you a correct one.

There are no apologies for the two defective lenses. It seems as if there was a certain percentage delivered

damaged by our supplier. We will return those, of course.

The new consignment to Russia will be packed by myself.

Wishing you and your family all the best – I am sure to find the appropriate solution for the lens situation.

and then, suddenly, an e-mail by one "Mrs. Antje Koch, photographer":

Dear Mr. Kriviniouk,

We checked three lenses and all of these lenses have silver points on the black part in the front. These silver points get into the lens during the production process and will not influence the image quality.

Have you already used the lens? Have there been any problems with the pictures/result?

Do you want to change the lens again or do you want a refund? We are sorry for the inconvenience caused and are looking forward to your reply.

Some service heh? NO LENS should have these kinds of defects when leaving the factory or a shop when new! I wonder where her deep knowledge of the Cosina production process comes from so you that she can make these claims as if it was the gospel truth. Actually I am not interested in the least!

I wonder if the "dried up puddle"- looking stain is also a part of the "brand look" of the Cosina 19-35! I have never heard such nonsense in my life. No other lens I have ever owned (I have been taking photos since 1976) or seen shows anything similar.

Wouldn't you call excessive weird flaring (light reflected off these silver spots on supposedly non-reflective surface) an image quality issue? So now they are lecturing me on what a brand new lens should look like. And all this just to save a few hundred Euro at most. They should be nagging their suppliers and not customers, they should be grateful to me for pointing the defect out - they found now that all their stock is a bit weird. Happens, you know. I once went through a dozen of frontfocusing K-r bodies in a shop before I gave up. The fact that they were all like that didn't make it right did it?