Originally posted by jcp5 Don't feel sorry for CRIS. They have an exclusive deal for warranty work (USA) with Pentax and we know they are doing good business these days. Unhappy customers are normal business for a service center and broken cameras is how they make their money. Since CRIS is Pentax USA authorized warranty repair center it is appropriate for a customer to see them as Pentax. Worked out nice for everybody that CRIS is also the exclusive authorized warranty USA repair center for RICOH. CRIS is doing fine.
This.
It doesn't matter one bit if the problems lay on the side of Pentax, on poor performance of CRIS, or both.
The end customer experience is the same - lousy turnaround times in many cases, and more than one person having to send a "fixed" camera back more than once, none of which is acceptable for a ~$1500 or more purchase. The experience for the most part remains "experience with my Pentax gear," and will play into how customers consider additional purchases, or not.
If CRIS needs to stock up on more parts, or do more training, or lay off some under-performing "techs," so be it. If CRIS management is pushing volume over ensuring all cameras going out the door are checked fully to factory specs, then they likely are in breach of contract with Pentax. If Pentax won't allow some repairs to be done by CRIS, requiring cameras to be sent to Japan, there's another problem resulting in poor turnaround times and customer experience. There are lots of places blame
may lie, including in Pentax replacement components, training, CRIS technicians, etc. - with the same end result. Customers don't care if CRIS is making record profits, they care if their gear takes forever to be repaired and/or isn't repaired properly or the repairs result in other problems, and the same applies to Pentax. 5 years down the line when the newest Pentax/Ricoh super camera appears, few will remember their repair experience with a particular technician as much as "that was not fast nor pleasant, and I wasn't happy overall" and that does little to retain customers.
I hope all of the issues get sorted, regardless of where the problem(s?) actually lies.