[SFTphotography]

So - what should have been a simple job has led to a bit of a mess.

As you know - Wex use Fixation as their official repair/sensor clean partner and you can even drop off equipment at Wex stores - they'll send to Fixation in London who will carry out the repair and send back to the Wex outlet where you can pay the bill and collect your equipment.

Repair Services | Fixation

My local Wex in Glasgow is shut for refurbishment so the nearest one is over in Auld Reekie. Not a big deal but being the other side of the city it's quite a trip. Thus I decided to call Wex in Edinburgh to double check if they would be willing to send my two 645z's to Fixation for a sensor clean. Afterall - Wex sold me the camera's just over a year ago. Ffordes also sent one of my 645z's to Fixation in London for a sensor clean and it came back very good. So it seemed a very logical move to attend a Wex outlet with the camera's and get them to send them off and take some ownership of the customer experience.

I even called Wex Edinburgh on 17th of January (the day before) to double check if they'd be willing to do this as the 645z is a rare camera and the guy assured me this would not be a problem and they'd be happy to provide me this service, Fixation would do the sensor cleans and they'd call me when it was done.

So on Tuesday 18th January I attended the Wex Edinburgh outlet and dropped the camera's off. I supplied both with attached lens's and fully charged batteries as per Fixation's website - which mentions they clean cameras by Pentax, Phase One and Hasselbad. The Fuji GF camera's are mentioned by name - and they use the same 44x33mm sensor as the 645z. So clearly high end camera equipment IS something that Fixation will work on.

Professional Sensor Cleaning | Fixation

So on the 27th the young man I dealt with in Edinburgh called me to say he had the camera's back. Naturally I asked what the bill would be and discussed a time when I could attend the store to retrieve the camera's and pay the bill.

This is where it gets poor.

He said they haven't cleaned the sensors and they refuse to do it. Errr. Ok. So I called you before setting off to ask whether this was going to be a problem -I was assured it was not. Furthermore Fixation have cleaned the sensor in one of my 645z's before. In addition Wex supplied me the camera's and seemingly aren't able to provide a routine aftersales operation. And Fixation clean medium format camera's - Hasselblad, Phase One and Fuji GF are mentioned in their text as well as Pentax.

Now - the young man at Wex did recommend a place in Morningside to take them into called Cameratiks. I've spoken to them and they've advised they are willing to do this and quoted a price of £57 per camera.

With such delightful aftersales as this - I feel no guilt in buying grey and I will make sure if I go for a Fuji GF, Sony, Phase One, Hasselblad, Nikon, whatever I will never buy it from them. As I see 100mp in my life - and I am a big spender, and not that old - Wex will be losing a lot of business as I will never buy another thing from them ever again. I run workshops and will be advising every client I teach this tale of delightful aftercare and point them in the direction of Panamoz, AJ Johnstone and Ffordes.

[UncleVanya]

I suggest you escalate to Wex management. Give them an option to make this right. Is also ask Fixation directly if this was handled the way it is said to have been.

[SFTphotography]

I will be contacting Wex head office on Monday.

[c.a.m]

He said they haven't cleaned the sensors and they refuse to do it.

This has been a disappointing and annoying experience for you.

I live an ocean away from Scotland, so I don't have any direct experience with either firm. Was any reason given as to why Fixation refused to perform the service? Seems odd to me.

Sounds like you've had previous good service from both Wex and Fixation, so it might be worthwhile to gently probe a bit to find out more about the situation. From what I've read here on PF over the years, Wex seems to have a good reputation. Is the issue mainly with Wex, or Fixation?

Hope things work out for you.

- Craig

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Last edited by c.a.m; 01-28-2022 at 05:52 PM.

[stevebrot]

So - what should have been a simple job has led to a bit of a mess.

Indeed! As noted above, it would be entirely appropriate to escalate the matter with Wex with the hope that at least you can get a clear explanation. BTW...Fixation is a subsidiary of Wex.

With such delightful aftersales as this - I feel no guilt in buying grey and I will make sure if I go for a Fuji GF, Sony, Phase One, Hasselblad, Nikon, whatever I will never buy it from them.

I understand your frustration, but had to chuckle at the notion of trading poor post-sale service (Wex) for zero or sketchy post-sale service and no warranty (grey market purchase). Buying grey may punish Wex, but also punishes other legitimate dealers as well; undercutting Ricoh Imaging EU, the authorized distributor as a side-effect.


Steve

[carlb]

Hmmm, so don't you think the decent thing to do would have been to give Wex / Fixation (both who as far as I can tell have a decent reputation), a chance to either sort this out first or provide an explanation before chucking your teddy out of the pram and slagging them off on here.

If they don't step up, then by all means get stuck in.............but at least give them a chance to at least explain their response first.

[BigMackCam]

I can understand some of your frustration - especially since you made the journey to the shop then waited for return of your cameras. Did Fixation give a reason for refusing to carry out the work?

It's clear you're upset and annoyed and won't buy from Wex in future (which is entirely your prerogative), but I'd urge a sense of proportion. There are plenty of alternative service providers you can approach for sensor cleaning... or - better still - buy the necessary supplies and do it yourself. You'll have complete control over what is a relatively easy task, you won't have to ship and/or entrust your cameras to someone else, and you won't be without them for more than the few minutes it takes to do the work. A rocket blower, gel stick, wet sensor cleaning pads and cleaning fluid, and you're good to go for multiple sensors, whatever cameras you shoot currently and in future. I'm no engineer, and I've successfully cleaned the sensors on my K-3, K-5, K10D, *ist DL, Q, Q7, three Samsung GX-10s and a GX-1L, my Hasselblad HV and Sony A7 MkII. Two of those jobs were more than simple dust and debris removal and required multiple wet passes. If I can do it, I'm sure you can.

Since you'll no longer be buying from Wex, I guess you won't be visiting their stores to view and try equipment either. It's a pity to miss out on that. You're fortunate to have such stores almost on your door-step... I'd forgive a great deal just to have a Pentax dealer within reasonable driving distance

FWIW, I've enjoyed good service and decent prices from Wex in the past, so I'll happily buy from them again in future. I've also continued to buy from companies where after-sales hasn't been quite as good as I'd hoped, simply because the price and/or convenience suited me and I was covered by manufacturer's warranty. No company is flawless, they all make mistakes from time-to-time, and they all have the capacity to frustrate us on occasion...

Hopefully you feel a bit better having got this off your chest, and can move on now. It's doesn't warrant more than a moment's frustration, and certainly isn't worth stewing over

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Last edited by BigMackCam; 01-29-2022 at 04:10 AM.

[BarryE]

I will continue to buy from Wex (and SRS) in the future. They have both been excellent. This doesn't sound at all like what I'd expect from them. Escalate it as has been advised.

[biz-engineer]

I suggest a knockout of that inflatable Wex/Fix punching-ball , before calling them to complain.

[LennyBloke]

I feel your frustrations, I've managed to build up a list of companies to not deal with due to service issues - but one company stands out as providing top class service consistently - SRS !

[SFTphotography]

I can understand some of your frustration - especially since you made the journey to the shop then waited for return of your cameras. Did Fixation give a reason for refusing to carry out the work?

It's clear you're upset and annoyed and won't buy from Wex in future (which is entirely your prerogative), but I'd urge a sense of proportion. There are plenty of alternative service providers you can approach for sensor cleaning... or - better still - buy the necessary supplies and do it yourself. You'll have complete control over what is a relatively easy task, you won't have to ship and/or entrust your cameras to someone else, and you won't be without them for more than the few minutes it takes to do the work. A rocket blower, gel stick, wet sensor cleaning pads and cleaning fluid, and you're good to go for multiple sensors, whatever cameras you shoot currently and in future. I'm no engineer, and I've successfully cleaned the sensors on my K-3, K-5, K10D, *ist DL, Q, Q7, three Samsung GX-10s and a GX-1L, my Hasselblad HV and Sony A7 MkII. Two of those jobs were more than simple dust and debris removal and required multiple wet passes. If I can do it, I'm sure you can.

Since you'll no longer be buying from Wex, I guess you won't be visiting their stores to view and try equipment either. It's a pity to miss out on that. You're fortunate to have such stores almost on your door-step... I'd forgive a great deal just to have a Pentax dealer within reasonable driving distance

FWIW, I've enjoyed good service and decent prices from Wex in the past, so I'll happily buy from them again in future. I've also continued to buy from companies where after-sales hasn't been quite as good as I'd hoped, simply because the price and/or convenience suited me and I was covered by manufacturer's warranty. No company is flawless, they all make mistakes from time-to-time, and they all have the capacity to frustrate us on occasion...

Hopefully you feel a bit better having got this off your chest, and can move on now. It's doesn't warrant more than a moment's frustration, and certainly isn't worth stewing over

They gave no reason at all and the guy from wex said "they refused to do it and that is that".

Bedside manner apart this raises some questions.

It took Wex nearly two weeks to come back to me - if Fixation (their subsidiary) refused to do the job - why would it take well over a week to come back and say - we don't clean those. Fixation's website mentions several makes of large sensor camera's so there is no reason why they wouldn't? Especially as they cleaned the sensor, very well before, on my behalf when I went to Ffordes and the chap there sent it on to Fixation.

Something isn't right - I will call Fixation on Monday and I will deal with Wex as well.

[BigMackCam]

They gave no reason at all and the guy from wex said "they refused to do it and that is that".

Bedside manner apart this raises some questions.

It took Wex nearly two weeks to come back to me - if Fixation (their subsidiary) refused to do the job - why would it take well over a week to come back and say - we don't clean those. Fixation's website mentions several makes of large sensor camera's so there is no reason why they wouldn't? Especially as they cleaned the sensor, very well before, on my behalf when I went to Ffordes and the chap there sent it on to Fixation.

Something isn't right - I will call Fixation on Monday and I will deal with Wex as well.

Out of curiosity, did you supply a lens and fully charged battery with the camera? I note the following from Fixation's website:

Which models can be cleaned?

All Nikon, Canon, Sony, Panasonic and Fujifilm DSLR and mirrorless cameras can be cleaned while you wait, taking around 45-90 minutes. The latest drop-off time for while-you-wait cleaning is 4.30pm Mon-Thurs or 4.00pm on Friday.

Other makes

We can clean the sensors of most other DSLR or Mirrorless models including Olympus, Sigma, Hasselblad, Phase One and Pentax, but these must be supplied with a fully charged battery and a lens for the full testing procedure.

Good luck. If you're courteous and reasonable with both Fixation and Wex, I'm sure you'll get this resolved, or at the very least you'll establish why they didn't / couldn't carry out the work...

[UncleVanya]

Out of curiosity, did you supply a lens and fully charged battery with the camera?

He did. Stated in post 1. A bit of detail to wade through but it’s there:

I supplied both with attached lens's and fully charged batteries as per Fixation's website - which mentions they clean cameras by Pentax, Phase One and Hasselbad.

[BigMackCam]

He did. Stated in post 1. A bit of detail to wade through but it’s there:

Thanks, Brad. I missed that

[SFTphotography]

So I spoke with Fixation this morning and the call handler was very polite but not ultimately very helpful.

She said they won't sensor clean medium format equipment. So I then asked - why does your website mention Fuji GFX, Hasselblad and Phase One. Her reply "does it" - mine "it most certainly does".

She will pass this on to her superiors as she was very clear they don't do it - with the exception of Fuji GF which "they send to Fuji UK as we have a relationship with them". When I pressed that they did the work for me, on behalf of Ffordes - she said as a one off they might do one if we have a relationship with a retailer or if we are very quiet but it's not something they routinely do.

The issue, in my mind, remains with WEX who advised me they would do it - clearly one isn't talking to the other very effectively but in lost time etc it is me who will pay. So Cameratiks in Morningside it is.