[pentup]

1. The extended limited warranty is registered with PENTAX Imaging Company. It is not refundable or transferable and is only valid if received at the same time as the purchase of a new PENTAX Camera, which is covered by a PENTAX New Product One-Year Limited Warranty. This extended warranty applies only to the PENTAX Cameras distributed solely by the U.S. distributor, PENTAX Imaging Company, 633 17th Street, Suite 2600 Denver, Colorado 80202 and purchased from a PENTAX authorized dealer. 2. PENTAX Imaging Company warrants to the original purchaser the product, once registration is completed, to operate according to factory specifications for a period of three years from the original date of purchase (one-year standard + two-year extended).

Ok, now I'm really confused. Item 1 there seems to imply that the warranty is automatically registered with Pentax when it's bought at the same time as the camera, but item 2 says "once registration is completed" -- implying that the purchaser needs to register the thing after purchase.

So do we need to register the warranty on line after purchase, or not?

I had hoped my slightly annoying experience with the salesman who had to be pressed for the Pentax warranty was an anomaly -- sad to see that B&H may be deliberately hiding the least expensive option from its customers.

Incidentally, once he "found" the warranty I asked about, he tried to make me think the "two year extended warranty" was inclusive of the original warranty -- that is, that I would only get two years in total, thus making it seem less attractive than the other warranty he wanted me to buy.

[Docrwm]

I don't disagree with your comment, I saw that too on their website... But that is what Pentax customer service told me... and has told several other forum members as well... For example check this thread out:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-k-5-forum/157886-k5-2-year-extended-warranty.html

I will just keep a copy of that Chat in case I ever need to use my extended warranty and hope for the best. For $20 I took my chance.

Good plan. My advice, for what its worth, is to get it with the camera and barring that in <30 days - just to be safe. But, for $20 I'd get it in <90 and see if it worked if I only found out about it after the 30 day period.

[Docrwm]

Ok, now I'm really confused. Item 1 there seems to imply that the warranty is automatically registered with Pentax when it's bought at the same time as the camera, but item 2 says "once registration is completed" -- implying that the purchaser needs to register the thing after purchase.

So do we need to register the warranty on line after purchase, or not?

I had hoped my slightly annoying experience with the salesman who had to be pressed for the Pentax warranty was an anomaly -- sad to see that B&H may be deliberately hiding the least expensive option from its customers.

Incidentally, once he "found" the warranty I asked about, he tried to make me think the "two year extended warranty" was inclusive of the original warranty -- that is, that I would only get two years in total, thus making it seem less attractive than the other warranty he wanted me to buy.

Apparently you used to have to register the extended warranty but Pentax has gone to a system of Serial #, Receipt from Auth Dealer for camera and for warranty, and copy of warranty to determine if service is within the warranty or not. I did take the precaution of registering my K5 (as I did with my other pentax cameras) at the Pentax Imaging USA website. Hope that helps clarify things.

[pentup]

Hope that helps clarify things.

Thanks! It does.

[jamesm007]

Not to beat the already dead horse too much

No, I will beat it some more. But serious on a slightly different topic of the value your getting, why its a "must have".

I bought my K20D late Feb 2009 the extended warranty was free and Pentax mailed me my warranty card. Now I have been shooting care free for almost 3 years. The K20D is a old reliable work horse; I think most would agree. But I was a really hard shooter I pushed it to the limits, sometimes. I have over 50,000 clicks on it. OK my main point. This summer (2011) my rear edial started to skip (a little) turning it to the left. It did not however render my K20D unusable, but since I had the warranty I sent it in to Pentax Repair (CRIS USA) came back with the rear edial replaced (not cleaned or sprayed!), bottom cover replaced, the AF checked and tuned (it was off) and camera cleaned. Great service. This repair alone would cost me probably about $280 Maybe more.

Now shortly after that using my K20D to do some BIF shooting I get home pop open the SD card door and it pops open but you could feel something let go. The rear SD card door lever no longer had a spring motion. The door had to be manually shut then turn the dial to close. Now this did not render my K20D unusable. Perhaps in bad weather as the door was no longer being pulled into the silicone sealing (its pulled shut in the K10D, K20D). But I still had a working camera. Until I thought wait, broken parts might be floating around in my camera; if I had no warranty I would remove the bottom cover and extract any broken pieces. But I did have a warranty and I had to stop shooting even one pic so Pentax could clean and fix it; in for warranty repair again. Pentax (CRIS) was great, superb. Pentax (CRIS) repaired my K20D in just four days! Now that's fast service, this repair also included checking all manufactures specs and general cleaning. I would guess that repair would cost me about $200, worse $280, best $100.

Now the real kicker. I still have my free check-up I am going to use before the warranty is up this March 2012. CRIS will perform a check-up including auto-focus, aperture, shutter speed and a quick cleaning of any debris. This would cost me $75.

If your even a casual shooter you should buy this warranty. If enthusiast shooter, odds are pretty good something will need a tech to look at and fix or adjust or both during the three years. If nothing else goes wrong until my warranty ends I will have had three great years with my K20D and over $500 in warranty work done for free.

Believe it or not three years ago you had six months to buy the extended warranty and you could buy it from Pentax. However Pentax charged $99 for the extended warranty (say on a K200). Its even worth it at $99. But this is why I won't give ADORAMA or B&H too hard of a time over the $20. But I do wish they would promote it more (they won't) so lets remind folks now and then here

[pentup]

If your even a casual shooter you should buy this warranty.

Definitely, and I would go so far as to say especially if you're a casual shooter. Some problems might not arise until after a certain number of shots (or a certain amount of time being used in adverse conditions, or being subjected to vibrations or temperature extremes or whatever) and a casual shooter simply might not use the camera enough within one year for problems to manifest -- but then be hit with an issue after the original warranty has expired.

Other problems might relate to certain functions of the camera that a casual shooter simply hadn't used much, or not at all, and might not discover until past the warranty expiration. (I once had a laptop that had a defective ethernet port; I didn't discover the flaw until after the warranty had expired, because at the time I was still on dialup. I haven't even tried the video recording feature of the K-5, so I don't even know if it works as it's supposed to. If a year or two from now I decide to hook up an external mic to it and do some video shooting, though, and then find there's a defect, I'll be glad I have the extended warranty.)

A pro is more likely, I would imagine, to give his/her camera a thorough workout well before that first year expires; a casual shooter can really use the luxury of extra time on the warranty.

[c a sugg]

Aarrggh --- "not valid in the Commonwealth of Virginia" Why?

[Docrwm]

Aarrggh --- "not valid in the Commonwealth of Virginia" Why?

Thank your state legislature for "protecting" you.

[glanglois]

They probably treat it as insurance rather than a product warranty. Wisconsin has some rules about that and Square Trade had to suspend business here for a year or more, IIRC.

No government (or business) action benefits everyone.

[vanyagor]

Considering there is some inconsistency between the stated rules and what Pentax customer service says, I decided to ask Pentax once again so that I have the logs if I need them. Here is what Pentax had to say:

"Thank you for contacting Pentax.

You can purchase the PENTAX Extended Warranty for the K-5 for 30 days from the date of the camera purchase. You can purchase the extended warranty from any PENTAX dealer that offers it, or from us directly for $99.95 plus tax and mailing cost by calling the technical support center number below."

If you haven't read the whole thread, here is a brief summary:
- the official extended warranty rules state that the warranty has to be purchased at the same time as the camera
- other people have been told by a Pentax representative that you can still purchase the warranty up to 30 days (some were told - 90 days) after you have purchased the camera

[funky1]

I found it funny that the salesman at B&H who sold me my (first) K-5 denied that Pentax even offered such a warranty and tried a hard sell on a very expensive third party warranty instead. I finally got him to look up the warranty I wanted on their website.

I don't consider the price "absurdly low."

Now I feel a bit foolish. I bought my K-5 on cyber Monday from Abes of Maine. I fell for the "hard sell". I ended up with the 5 year 3rd party warranty (which BTW overlaps the 1 year manufactures warranty) for $150 with an upgraded 16GB memory card thrown in.

Is it possible to return the 3rd party warranty and get the aforementioned Pentax warranty? It has only been less than 2 weeks. I guess I'll find out tomorrow when I call, but thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

Adam

[pentup]

I fell for the "hard sell". I ended up with the 5 year 3rd party warranty

You shouldn't necessarily feel foolish -- the warranty you got probably provides more extensive coverage: anyway my salesmen led me to believe I could practically smash the thing with a ball-peen hammer or throw it in a vat of flaming vodka and still get it fixed, with the $175 warranty, no questions asked. The Pentax warranties only cover manufacturing defects, plus the one-time complete checkup. Since I'm not hard on equipment and simply couldn't afford the super-duper 3rd party warranty, I went for Pentax's. But I don't know that the other warranty is actually a bad deal; maybe for some people it works out well.

If the warranty you bought is transferable (it probably is, right?) it might not be that bad an investment, if you decided to sell the camera after a couple years.

[Docrwm]

You shouldn't necessarily feel foolish -- the warranty you got probably provides more extensive coverage: anyway my salesmen led me to believe I could practically smash the thing with a ball-peen hammer or throw it in a vat of flaming vodka and still get it fixed, with the $175 warranty, no questions asked. The Pentax warranties only cover manufacturing defects, plus the one-time complete checkup. Since I'm not hard on equipment and simply couldn't afford the super-duper 3rd party warranty, I went for Pentax's. But I don't know that the other warranty is actually a bad deal; maybe for some people it works out well.

If the warranty you bought is transferable (it probably is, right?) it might not be that bad an investment, if you decided to sell the camera after a couple years.

+1 and if you are hard on equipment or accident prone the other warranty may actually be much more useful for you.

[vonBaloney]

Pentax warranty is NOT transferable.

[selar]

Is this an international warranty?