Originally posted by stevebrot I am not sure what Ricoh has to do with this particular problem. The lens was purchased used, i.e. is no longer on warranty, and the work was done for on a cash basis. Any relationship of Ricoh to mee's problem is peripheral. If Ricoh should be in the loop, so should Sony and other companies that authorize Precision for repair.
Yet the director of operations for North America, the marketing manager, and Joe Virgil himself have all reached out to me so far during this 2+ month fiasco. And the reason being, it appears to me, is that any support Precision gives me on a cash basis for an out of warranty Pentax product is the same level of support they're going to give an in warranty Pentax product. A job is a job -- Precision is getting paid either way. From joe customer directly or from sending Ricoh a bill.
If Precision cannot fix my lens (and it appears they cannot) regardless of the reason is inconsequential... the situation still remains that Precision cannot fix a simple issue as infinity focus on a DA* zoom lens. Even after 3 tries. Even after having their lead Pentax tech work on it. Even after supposedly having the manager of pro services look at it. Even after having my primary camera body in house. It should concern you too, provided you live in the USA and are subjected to Precision camera repair for your Pentax equipment repairs. Because this is showing a lack of ability to repair certain issues.. at a company whose one job is to repair.
But it does go beyond Ricoh because if you search online for Sony and Panasonic repairs (who use Precision) you'll see similar issues there too with Precision. However, it seems Ricoh cares more than the other companies, which I think is a big plus for Ricoh and Pentax products. Ricoh could have just told Precision to refund my money and say 'too bad so sad' but they didn't. They're supposedly replacing the whole lens. Kudos to Ricoh. I still feel they need to drop Precision like a bad habit and will make it known to them.
That said, I have been CCing the marketing manager (whom said it was OK to communicate with them) on most of my email correspondence thus far with Precision so they are pretty well in the know. Maybe why they are replacing the lens as they can see the huge headache Precision has been.