[stevebrot]

Today, all manufactures use CNC machines. This means that only molded plastic, and sheet metal parts, cannot be immediately made. Any part that can be made on the CNC machine, can be made almost immediately with very little effort. Unless that rail was made out of a stamped metal or molded plastic, they should have been able to make it in that time frame. and even if it was molded plastic, these days the 3-D printer can make it, It just takes longer.

It would be nice if things actually worked that way, but I am unaware of any manufacturer anywhere that will custom machine parts for repair of a consumer product....even very expensive consumer products. There are shops that specialize in vintage camera repair that are capable of replicating a factory part for a collector's camera, but it ain't cheap.


Steve

[stevebrot]

So Pentax wants me to ship it back a third time for repair

What other remedy would you prefer?


Steve

[UncleVanya]

What other remedy would you prefer?


Steve

I would expect them to replace it at this point.

[stevebrot]

The fact is, cameras are now a "commodity" -- there is going to be a shakeout. In the end, you will replace your DSLR with no more thought than replacing your point and shoot. Repair is secondary in the commodity market.

Yep! The same is true for lenses.

To put it in perspective consider a new Galaxy S6 mobile phone at $584 (about the same price as a DA 12-24/4 new at B&H). If you accidentally step on it and only break the glass, no problem! Batteries+ will fix it for about $250 . If you broke the motherboard as well, better hope you bought the optional insurance from AT&T.


Steve

[stevebrot]

Yeah, but warranty repairs should be fast and easy.

What planet have you been living on? Sorry for sounding snarky, but it has been many years since I have had good warranty service.* I had warranty work done on my (Nissan) car this last Spring and the whole adventure took two month despite the parts being only 2 days away via motor freight. While I was having the work done they bunged up another part of the car. The parts only took five days this time, but they set them on the shelf and forgot there was a pending work order. That finally got taken care of over a month later.

No, they did not offer a rental car in the interim.


Steve

* In contrast, I tried to track down parts for my Giottos ball head and they sent me a new head for free despite being well out of warranty.

[stevebrot]

The latest person at Precision was either truly concerned about the problem of paying employees to do nothing, or she was very good at acting that way. Sadly, prior customer service reps at Precision did not even hide the fact that they did not give a damn.

Sorry, not my experience. The customer service reps might be ineffective, but they have always been courteous, helpful, and informative when I spoke with them.


Steve

[stevebrot]

This was even an issue with CRIS when they were the warranty for Pentax.

And not just for Pentax. I have a friend who used CRIS for a Canon repair and the wait for parts was several months to have them shipped from Japan. Sound familiar?


Steve

[mee]

Sorry, not my experience. The customer service reps might be ineffective, but they have always been courteous, helpful, and informative when I spoke with them.

The issue is getting them to respond to email.. it is like pulling teeth. Actually it is worse.. because they rarely bother responding. I've sent a ton of email their and Ricoh corporate's way asking for help in getting some questions answered before sending in a Pentax lens in for repair.. and I still don't have answers.

The first request, Precision responded vaguely and didn't answer my questions (price estimate, do they have the parts, etc). So I replied back.. and silence.. so I sent another email (webform) request in... silence. So I contact Ricoh directly.. nothing. so I sent Precision another webform request.. nothing back. This over the course of a month earlier this year.

They seem to be hit or miss if you're getting great service and many of us are not..

[stevebrot]

I agree with you Michael. If Pentax wants to survive in this dog eat dog world of cameras, they better get serious and do it fast.

I long for the days I shot Canons. I do not miss the cameras but their CPS service center in Irvine, California is world class. Or at least it used to be when I visited on multiple occasions back in mid to late 2000s.

I owned mid range cameras and a few Canon lenses. I always had problems with the focusing on my cameras. So one time they asked me to bring everything I owned for tuneup and diagnosis. So I brought in my two camera bodies and the 3 lense I owned. Mind you all my lenses were used gear with long expired warranties. They did what they said they were going to do. They cleaned and calibrated all my lenses and the two bodies. What shocked me and amazes me to this day is what they did to my almost 10 year old 70-200mm f2.8 IS lens. When I bought then lens (used of course), it had a hairline crack on the plastic window that shows the distance scale. When I got the lens back, they had replaced the glass window. According to the printed report they gave me, they had replaced the Image Stablizer module and cleaned and recalibrated the lens along with the other items I brought in. Cost for all of this work... ZERO, NADA. Now is that service or what. Now you know why people buy their cameras.

Ok cameras plus fantastic service will always win over great camera and sucky service.

Just my two cents.

Cool

In case anyone is interested, CPS is short for Canon Professional Services. It is not quite free and is not open to just anybody, but from what I understand is well worth becoming a member if you qualify.

Canon Professional Services - About CPS


Steve

[mee]

btw you've posted 10 times in less than an hour to this thread.. this must be a hot button topic for you!

[UncleVanya]

Steve - my dad has a Nissan truck. 3rd party warranty. This past week a part in his steering system failed. He took it to the dealer and they gave him a loaner and he went home. They tested it, determined what they though the problem was and ordered it for overnight delivery from CA. (He is in TN BTW.) The part arrived it was for the wrong model year. Despite being "compatible" there was a concern that it might not calibrate exactly the same. So an hour later they had the factory in Nashville pack up an entire subassembly off the line - and DRIVE IT TO KNOXVILLE. Later that day his truck was working again. And they did not ask for his copayment required by his third party warranty - they ate it.

They likely have a customer for life.

[gazelle01]

Thanks for the comments, friends. Yep, I wasn't intending to be passive aggressive or give up, I was just venting in the immediate aftermath of my disappointment. I did get some good ideas from this thread, particularly that I will be contacting Joe Virgil directly. Not sure if that will get me anywhere because he's already aware of the problem. The guy I spoke with today (Dale) told me he was updated on my situation by Joe V, so I'm not sure pleading to him directly will get me anywhere, but I will certainly try.

I don't know much about the internal workings of lenses, but I too find it hard to believe that Precision couldn't have diagnosed the bent rail issue prior to ordering the other part and waiting months to find out it couldn't be installed due to the bent rail. Seems like sloppy work to me, but perhaps it's really impossible to tell I don't know. As I see it, both companies are at fault here.

Meanwhile, I'm eyeing the Sigma 10-20 f/3.5 as a possible replacement. Thanks again, everybody.

[stevebrot]

I would expect them to replace it at this point.

With what?

Actually, I agree with you and feel that two failed warranty repair attempts should be the tipping point for replacement. At this point, it is highly unlikely that a NIB K-30 would be available, though I am sure they might have a couple of K-50s in the back room.


Steve

[UncleVanya]

With what?

Actually, I agree with you and feel that two failed warranty repair attempts should be the tipping point for replacement. At this point, it is highly unlikely that a NIB K-30 would be available, though I am sure they might have a couple of K-50s in the back room.


Steve

My Dad - the king of warranty work apparently - had an HP printer that needed service when they still were worth that. The printer support line was so messed up you couldn't get anywhere - it looped in the automated phone system - there was literally no way to get where you needed. He called and got in touch with a senior level VP at the company and told him it didnt work. He suggested that they use an outside line to test it. They did, they called him back and got his address and shipped a new printer free of charge to him. Again - customer for life.

If I were Pentax I would have offered a K50 or KS2 as a way of saying sorry for the crappy service.

[derekkite]

Remember, it isn't warranty and it is damaged.

In my service business a piece of equipment under $2k replacement cost gets a 10 minute diagnostic to decide whether it gets thrown out or it needs a minor repair. 'Why can't you fix it?' ' because you won't want to pay me for it.'

Get used to it. Throw it out and get another one.

Service employees hate to tell people that because people get angry and don't go away. It is just a small part! No it isn't. If I fix it cheap you will hate me because it wont work, if I fix it right you won't pay for it.

I've had great service from the Canadian subcontractor probably because I haven't asked them to conjure out of thin air something that doesn't exist. And I haven't complained about the price. I know how expensive it is to staff and run a technical service firm. I want a healthy service organization to exist, and that means I have to do my part to pay for it.