[Dragoness]

On the 14th (2 freaking days ago) my brand new Pentax K100D arrived from BH Photo. I have taken approx. 540 phtos with is, some just simple test shot, some with flash, some without. Today the flash quit on me. My husband and I tried everything to troubleshoot, no luck. So it looks like a warranty thing.

Does anyone know how that works? Are they going to make me mail them my brand new 550.00 camera and WAIT weeks for it to be fixed? Will they just send me a new one and I can mail them this one back? What do I do? I need the camera NOW (for classes I am enrolled in) not weeks after I bought it! Help!

[Ole]

Check their return policy:

B&H Photo Video Return & Exchange

[Dragoness]

I did and it doesnt say anything about defective items, only that the shutter count must be under 200, its over 500. Yes I took 500 photos in 2 days, its my new toy, lol!

[Dragoness]

I take it back, it says "defective items may be repaired or replaced at our discretion" so maybe they will, maybe they won't. How depressing.

[davemdsn]

I used to work in a camera shop and Pentax were the best company to work with on warranty issues. They even sometimes fix stuff that was user error caused just to be nice. Just send the camera to them at their Colorado address in the manual. They should have it back to you fairly quickly.

However, just being a couple days old returning it would be in order as well.

I actually still buy all camera bodies locally at the shop I used to work at because if the camera needs warranty repair the store will ship it to Pentax for me free of charge. It also makes returns a lot easier.

[Dragoness]

In that case I might try and warranty/exchange through the place I bought it. I am glad to hear they are good with warranty though. I would have bought locally, but no one locally sells SLR's. In Carson (next city/state over) they have a Gordon's Photo Service, but the same kit there was 164.00 more, so I opted to go online, shipping only cost me 8.00

A few minutes before this happened the batteries popped out (the cover popped open). I put them back in (correctly) and resumed shooting, a few frames later is when I noticed the problem. Do you think the battery thing could have caused it? I would hope a battery door opening could not fry a flash... but sometimes I wonder.

[barondla]

Doubt batts falling out caused the problem. Just the luck of the draw. Last Pentax K100D I sent in for a friend was returned in about 2.5 weeks. They knew it would take time to fix so they just replaced it with a new one! Considering the shipping is about 1 week each way they did it really fast. Friend was so impressed he put a K10D in layaway. Pentax seems to be doing more replacing to speed up warranty repair.
I would try exchanging it first (you can reset the number counter to 0. They wouldn't know unless they can get into the camera trouble shooting menus). If that doesn't work send to Pentax.
thanks
barondla

[SpecialK]

Pentax seems to be doing more replacing to speed up warranty repair.
I would try exchanging it first (you can reset the number counter to 0. They wouldn't know unless they can get into the camera trouble shooting menus). If that doesn't work send to Pentax.
thanks
barondla

You can also not commit fraud by reseting the count, in the same way you reset car mileage.

Manufacturers have the right to repair an item, not just exchange it. It sucks but nobody said photo life was easy.

Although we (the company I am the CS manager of) occasionally replace items with new, and do the occasional "favor" we would much, much, much rather fix it than replace it.

[Pheo]

You can also not commit fraud by reseting the count, in the same way you reset car mileage.

Manufacturers have the right to repair an item, not just exchange it. It sucks but nobody said photo life was easy.

Although we (the company I am the CS manager of) occasionally replace items with new, and do the occasional "favor" we would much, much, much rather fix it than replace it.

In the UK we have something called the Sales of Good Act. Given its so soon after she bought it, this legislation says her contract would be with where she bought it, and as its not fit for purpose, they need to sort it. Does the US not have an equivalent (If not, that sucks for you guys!)

Given its so new, don't you think B&H Photo should be the ones going to Pentax to sort it out? And why should the customer wait a month for their *brand new* camera to come back just because you want to fix rather than replace? I think its laudable that Pentax are replacing to speed this thing up (surely they can build up a stock of pre-repaired cameras anyway, AKA HDD style refurbs, and send those out, at some point in the future).

My opinion on the matter anyway

[roy]

have you called B&H?? seems like the first thing i'd do.. dahh
and explain..
resetting the cam is not an option as somewhere in the OS it records actual shutter releases not available to us.

[Pants]

I had the very same thing happen to my K100D, but it was after three months and 1600 photos. I sent it to Pentax in Westminster, CO, and I was pleased with the work they did.

Although it took almost two weeks for them to enter my camera in their repair database, they finished the repair quickly and I had my camera back in three weeks total. Plus they did a CLA, which removed some stubborn dust on the focusing screen and mirror.

Compare that with my experience with Panasonic's warranty repairs, and Pentax comes out looking even better. I sent my wife's DMC-TZ1 in when the flash malfunctioned, and it took two and half months to get it back. Then, the night we got it back the flash died completely. It took a week of playing phone tag with customer service and their authorized service company to get a new camera shipped to me instead of a repair. Then I had to wait another two weeks, because they first had to receive my defective camera before they would ship me a new one.

Good luck. I hope B&H takes your return, but if they don't, just be glad you're dealing with Pentax.

[borno]

same thing happened to my k10 after 3 weeks (about 12 flashes),too late to return to cameta, but only a couple of days I would think b&h would exchange it. If not pentax would probably give you another body as they did for me. They were really busy in jan. and it took 4 weeks (I've heard of people paying for express service probably be 28 days instead). I reread the manual,played with software and looked at lenses on eeby to keep me calm.
good luck
tb

[NaClH2O]

On the 14th (2 freaking days ago) my brand new Pentax K100D arrived from BH Photo. I have taken approx. 540 phtos with is, some just simple test shot, some with flash, some without. Today the flash quit on me. My husband and I tried everything to troubleshoot, no luck. So it looks like a warranty thing.

Does anyone know how that works? Are they going to make me mail them my brand new 550.00 camera and WAIT weeks for it to be fixed? Will they just send me a new one and I can mail them this one back? What do I do? I need the camera NOW (for classes I am enrolled in) not weeks after I bought it! Help!

B&H is well known for it's ability to keep it's web customers happy (wish I could say the same for the brick and mortar store but that's a different story) I'd give them a call, tell them the whole story (500 clicks and all) also mention that you need your camera for your classes. I sure that some sort of mutually agreeable situation can be worked out.

NaCl(and let us know how you make out)H2O

[xfraser]

I agree with Roy & Salty, give B&H a call. They have a reputation for very good customer service.

[Dragoness]

B&H is telling me they wont take it back because I sent the rebate in! I am waiting for a supervisior now, I am pissed!!!! I will NOT wait over a month for my brand new camera!