[gjtoth]

After over SIX WEEKS of waltzing around and unreturned phone calls trying to get my camera repaired of the mirror flop issue, I finally find out it's been sitting on a shelf in Colorado waiting for payment. Pretty stupid since the repair was to be free of charge. I've been pretty patient through this crap but now I've had enough. I'm going to let their CEO in on how this has been handled. BUT, it seems he's secreted himself away with nothing I can dig up on the web. Anyone have a snailmail or email address for this joker?

[abmj]

Do you speak or write Japanese? The Ricoh CEO is in Japan.

If not, you might try Ricoh imaging USA.

Contact Us - RICOH Imaging

[stevebrot]

I finally find out it's been sitting on a shelf in Colorado waiting for payment.

How did your camera end up in Colorado? It is supposed to be in Connecticut!

All joking aside, Precision Camera (Connecticut) won't work on a camera until they get payment authorization from Ricoh in Colorado. The problem is that Ricoh has not been very good about providing the authorization in a timely manner and is only loosely coupled with Precision's process. I had that problem when I sent a camera in and others on this site have reported similar issues. The worst part is that Ricoh customer service is not able to access the status of authorization requests nor are they apparently in a position to expedite handling of such.

Fortunately, I had good luck working with Precision's telephone support and after two tries, they were able to get the auth from Ricoh. What I would have wished would have been something like this:

• Warranty service initiated through Ricoh
• Ricoh issuing a customer service ticket # to be used as a reference on Ricoh's end Ricoh providing a mailing label similar to the one issued from Precision's Web form but with both Ricoh and Precision's ticket #s
• Ricoh to be proactive about their ticket status
• Precision to be proactive about their ticket status once camera is received
• Both Ricoh and customer to be notified of any change in status
• Both Ricoh and customer to be notified when when camera is shipped
• All parties (Ricoh, customer, and Precision) to be notified when a replacement is made in preference to repair.

That way nobody is in the dark and Ricoh has full records of how it discharged their warranty obligations.


Steve

[geomez]

I spoke to Ricoh about my long awaited GR warranty fix. The rep said they have a policy where they replace your unit if it takes more than 60 days for repair. It took 66 days for my GR to get repaired.

[stevebrot]

In case you were wondering, Ricoh Imaging Americas' president is a fellow named Jim Malcom:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmalcolm


Steve

[gjtoth]

How did your camera end up in Colorado? It is supposed to be in Connecticut!

All joking aside, Precision Camera (Connecticut) won't work on a camera until they get payment authorization from Ricoh in Colorado. The problem is that Ricoh has not been very good about providing the authorization in a timely manner and is only loosely coupled with Precision's process. I had that problem when I sent a camera in and others on this site have reported similar issues. The worst part is that Ricoh customer service is not able to access the status of authorization requests nor are they apparently in a position to expedite handling of such.

Fortunately, I had good luck working with Precision's telephone support and after two tries, they were able to get the auth from Ricoh. What I would have wished would have been something like this:

• Warranty service initiated through Ricoh
• Ricoh issuing a customer service ticket # to be used as a reference on Ricoh's end Ricoh providing a mailing label similar to the one issued from Precision's Web form but with both Ricoh and Precision's ticket #s
• Ricoh to be proactive about their ticket status
• Precision to be proactive about their ticket status once camera is received
• Both Ricoh and customer to be notified of any change in status
• Both Ricoh and customer to be notified when when camera is shipped
• All parties (Ricoh, customer, and Precision) to be notified when a replacement is made in preference to repair.

That way nobody is in the dark and Ricoh has full records of how it discharged their warranty obligations.


Steve

I did, indeed, send it to Connecticut! Funny how that works (OR DOESN'T!).

Yeah... that would be nice if all parties are on the same page at the same time. However, as Dale at Ricoh CS is now aware, SOMEBODY dropped the ball and now they are going to eat overnight shipping as I leave for a major shoot next week. Dale is missing rather large chunks of his butt and I certainly hope he, in turn, passes the favor down the line! I still fully intent to contact the CEO. I have a friend that is Japanese and can write the letter for me so nothing will be lost in translation... provided I can ferret out the address!

I'm so furious at this point I'm seriously considering a platform shift to Sony or Panasonic.

[Steve.Ledger]

Zenji Miura is CEO of Ricoh

► A Conversation with Our CEO / Sustainability Report | Ricoh Global

[gjtoth]

In case you were wondering, Ricoh Imaging Americas' president is a fellow named Jim Malcom:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmalcolm


Steve

NOW we're talkin'! THANKS!

[btnapa]

NOW we're talkin'! THANKS!

Gary,

Go easy on him...LOL.

He is a nice guy. I met him at WPPI. He has not been on board long and he wants to make a change for the better. He is the one who pushed through the 645Z giveaway at the show, something that was unheard of until that point. He means business and I think Ricoh brought him on board to make changes for the batter. He just needs time. Let's not piss him off and let him do his thing.

[gjtoth]

Gary,

Go easy on him...LOL.

He is a nice guy. I met him at WPPI. He has not been on board long and he wants to make a change for the batter. He is the one who pushed through the 645Z giveaway at the show, something that was unheard of until that point. He means business and I think Ricoh brought him on board to make changes for the batter. He just needs time. Let's not piss him off and let him do his thing.

We'll see what happens in the next couple days. But, it's stuff like this that he NEEDS TO KNOW to make the changes that need to be made. You, me, and everyone that's had these kinds of problems know how it feels when big corporations blow off the little guys. They forget that it's the little guys that are their user base. It's the little guys that help pay their exorbitant executive salaries. I'm not asking for anything that's not right. I just want good... no, EXCELLENT customer service. As it stands in the U.S. today, most companies do not honor their warranties or stand behind their product... even when they SAY they will. There should be no need for anyone to go through this crap. It should have been taken care of at, "Hello. This is Ricoh-Pentax Customer Service." Period. They are not the only ones guilty of this type of slipshod customer disservice.

[interested_observer]

Ricoh Japan

RICOH JAPAN CORPORATION
3-8-2, Shiba
Minato-Ku, Tokyo, 105-0014 Japan
+81-368378800

... the link actually works.

• 404 Not Found

[btnapa]

We'll see what happens in the next couple days. But, it's stuff like this that he NEEDS TO KNOW to make the changes that need to be made. You, me, and everyone that's had these kinds of problems know how it feels when big corporations blow off the little guys. They forget that it's the little guys that are their user base. It's the little guys that help pay their exorbitant executive salaries. I'm not asking for anything that's not right. I just want good... no, EXCELLENT customer service. As it stands in the U.S. today, most companies do not honor their warranties or stand behind their product... even when they SAY they will. There should be no need for anyone to go through this crap. It should have been taken care of at, "Hello. This is Ricoh-Pentax Customer Service." Period. They are not the only ones guilty of this type of slipshod customer disservice.

Hi Gary,

I am with you 100%. Remember that Ricoh inherited Pentax with its shortcomings and it is trying to fix it the best and as fast as they can. I just want to give Jim the benefit of the doubt. BTW, read up on his background, he was a photographer way back when, so he is on of us and comes from the trenches. As I mentioned before, I met the guy. He is real and he struck me as a person who is not afraid of taking on "Japan, Inc."

[normhead]

I hope I never have the misfortune to get caught in gjtoth's sights.

[lukulele]

gjtoth,
I waited until December to send my K-3 for the flop in to Precision. Three day turnaround, Three days UPS shipping each way. Just sent in the K-5 for the three year extended warranty checkup. Same scenario. All sent in OEM packaging with extensive paperwork/receipts. Just my experience. Get a K-01 and a 30 year old A lens and see what fun is.

[DeadJohn]

I am with you 100%. Remember that Ricoh inherited Pentax with its shortcomings and it is trying to fix it the best and as fast as they can. I just want to give Jim the benefit of the doubt. BTW, read up on his background, he was a photographer way back when, so he is on of us and comes from the trenches. As I mentioned before, I met the guy. He is real and he struck me as a person who is not afraid of taking on "Japan, Inc."

Bad USA warranty service can no longer be blamed on Hoya or Japan. Ricoh has already owned Pentax for a few years so the "it was this way when we got here" is old. The service center change (from CRIS to Precision) was done under Ricoh USA's watch and has not improved things.

Being a photographer means little. The prior CEO of Pentax USA under Hoya was a photographer, too. We need a CEO who can rebuild USA operations - maybe Jim Malcolm can do that - but the CEO's photography skills don't matter much.