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i report here my history:
I 'm a pro penta user. I have had many problems during the last year with some lenses, and i have used pentax repairing service in the last three years. What's going on now in pentax is really incredible, and is making me really hard of changing brand. The point is the price of service have arised exponetially, even compared to germany service.
I livein italy and my gear went before to a service in germany, now it goes to a laboratory in france, PM2S.
So here my 2 cases:
1- my 50-135 last year fall down from a tripod. germany laboratory change af system and zoom system for 260 euro. This year i noticed that left part of the image was soft at left wide open. i sent the lens to tecno 2000, and they sent it in france.
My lens was working normally i repea, no af , no aperture no zooming prioblem. Well they qoute 300 euro for changing zooming and even the frontal lens. they told me there are scratches in it. I KNOW THERE ARE!! they are there since 2 and half years. they are little scratches and nobody would change a frontal lens if not requested. ANy aother manufacturer would have just made a calibration, here they want to fix even things not requested.
2 - i was hit by a car in france. my pentax camera hitten too. the 16-50 2,8 was broken, the base remained in the camra the lens fall down. Practically the same damage i had last year in dubai. my pentax 540 was brokke too. The foot was broken, the door battery was broken, and for the rest i didn't see anything strange apart some scratches and little bump in the front part. but no sign on the lens and front screen no sign on the rear panel no moving of internal part.
well these are the two quote i had:
lens 16-50 2,8: 830 euro!!!!!! ahhhahah...i mean new can be found at 790 and less, used as was mine at 500 550 euro...
flash 540: 480 euro euro!!!..ahhhhhhh.....is this a joke? in shop is 380 and less.
the arises of prices have been so strange, and even my italian dealer don't know what to think, and they have seen this tendency in the last year. simply the french official service is overcharging, and doing sometimes things not requested.
In my opinion they don't know the difference between FIXING and MAKING BRAND NEW. Any service center before a quote, knows if the fixing is economical or not. METZ service last year told me not to fix a flash and buy one new, cause it would have been uneconomical.
I have never complained of pentax , never. But this time i'm really struggling, at this point stay with pentax means being ripped off at any service, with the addition that service time are long a lot.
Sad cause i was ready to buy a 645d , but really i cannot imagine the price to service such a camera.
))) As an example K-7 + kit lens for 2643 EUR - how reasonable does that sound? 
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