[alman]

Naas, Steelski and Lowell
Your comments are fare and the advise is good
Just a comment about venting in public ...... I think it is fare to share issues with other consumers because before I purchase anything, I usually like to look for consumer experiences good and BAD and see how the customer care handles them. So my posting is not venting but letting other consumers be in the picture. Interesting, that within a day of posting my problem with the K-7 someone else did the same with the same problem.
Thanks to all

[Wheatfield]

Naas, Steelski and Lowell
Your comments are fare and the advise is good
Just a comment about venting in public ...... I think it is fare to share issues with other consumers because before I purchase anything, I usually like to look for consumer experiences good and BAD and see how the customer care handles them. So my posting is not venting but letting other consumers be in the picture. Interesting, that within a day of posting my problem with the K-7 someone else did the same with the same problem.
Thanks to all

Customer care can only help you if you let them. This means you have to work with them towards a solution.
I've been involved in customer service in one way or another for most of my working life. If I get an arrogant abuser in front of me, I won't go out of my way to help more than the minimum demanded by company policy.
If I get a person who isn't taking their life's misery out on me, and is genuinely interested in working with me towards a resolution, that person will get the maximum allowed for by the policies my employer gives me to work with.

I believe you may be more of the former than the latter. I'm not surprised you are frustrated, but I suspect you leave a certain amount of frustration in your wake as well.

[alman]

Wheatfield
looks like you are on the Pentax payroll and are attacking me without knowing the details of my conversation with Pentax customer service
What is your problem?
You have no right to Assume or attack my character
Customer service are supposed to give a service to customers not judge whether or not they should help or not.
Stop judging me and stop defending when you dont have the details of the conversation

[Lowell Goudge]

Wheatfield
looks like you are on the Pentax payroll and are attacking me without knowing the details of my conversation with Pentax customer service
What is your problem?
You have no right to Assume or attack my character
Customer service are supposed to give a service to customers not judge whether or not they should help or not.
Stop judging me and stop defending when you dont have the details of the conversation

not to pick sides, but the response here might be interpreted as proof of the observation.

I think all wheatfield was pointing out that human nature generally causes, in any communication, one side to adapt the same attitude as the other.

This does not mean that you necessairly started a (lets suppose) more confrontational stance with pentax, but this appears to be where you wound up.

Sometimes no matter how unreasonable, arrogant, or confrontational one side is, the only way forward is to put all of that aside and start over.

[alman]

i do have the communication transcript saved that will show the way it went
my issue with Wheatfield is that he is making personal attacks

[mtroute]

This is why I don't mail order stuff if I can help it.
OTOH, think of the money you saved by not supporting a local business.....

Mail order? it's 2009 man...

[mtroute]

Not harsh just not professional from PENTAX
the K-7 is the flagship camera for Pentax and they are trying to go on to the big league
It does have international warranty, but that is a decoy only. I am not interested in someone in Dubai to open a camera that has not been launched in the middeleast and hence they have never seen one, never been trained to sevice one and dont have parts for it
I told them I will be in Houston Texas in the first week of October but they said they cant help me, I have to ship it to Arizona
I told them my daughter is studying photography and needs the/a camera for her college studies and their response was, we don't understand how that will speed things up

They are cocky, rude and totally small league trying to play in the pro league. I recall a similar thread where the Nikon and Canon folks said that for professional use, PENTAX owners should expect such situations with a company that is yet to support professionals at work. I thought they were stretching it, but from the cocky and rude response from PENTAX support I got, I now know and agree with you that this is a consideration worth making when purchasing.

You probably should have bought a Canon then...

Since you didn't, do you think Pentax is going to suffer if you don't get your camera fixed? You may want to try and work with them since you will be the only one suffering if you don't.

By the way has the problem presented itself again?

[PNTXFTW12]

i love how some people here are giving him shit for where he bought it, instead of seeing the pentax is at fault here for not dealing with with the problem properly.

[Lowell Goudge]

i love how some people here are giving him shit for where he bought it, instead of seeing the pentax is at fault here for not dealing with with the problem properly.

easier said than done when, like me, you live within driving dsistance of Pentax Canada and can, if necessary deal direct with them, and take the camera directly there as opposed to shipping it to them.

Define "dealing properly" when without seeing the camera, pentax can absolutely gaurantee a turn around time for repair, when he cannot even drop it off directly at one of their facilities.

I don't want to take sides here, I can see fault on both sides, but as I said, to get things moving it will require starting over without bias,

[kittykat46]

I would have thought the primary objective was to get the camera fixed ASAP.
You haven't taken the first concrete step to get it fixed, which is to send it back.

A responsible organisation can normally quote you a standard turnaround time but they can't "guarantee" it without taking a look at it.
It is possible to expedite repairs with a large company bureaucracy, you need persistence, but I've done it before. But you can't expedite something they don't have in hand.

By the way, if you are a Pro-shooter who depends on the camera for income, I believe Pentax in the US does have a Pro-support program, but you have to sign up with them. Might be worth contacting them for the details.

[Rondec]

Pentax typically has a turn around time of 10 to 15 business days on their warranty work. I think that this is standard for Canon and Nikon as well. You can (I think) get expedited service by sending in a check for 25 dollars with the camera. The other thing is that they offer quicker turn around for members of their professional service program. I think they have a responsibility to fix the camera, but I do think it's hard for them to give an exact time.

[Wheatfield]

They also have to get the camera in their hands. So far, the OP has indicated a refusal to do that. The repair center is in Arizona, so this is where it has to go, this part in not really negotiable. The OP sounds like he wants them to open a special repair service just for him in Houston Texas, which shows a tremendous disconnect with reality.
He says he has had a recurring problem with the camera (at least three incidents), but he has done nothing about getting the camera fixed.
Odds are, if he had gotten in touch with his original seller after the first incident it would have been an OTC replacement by Best Buy.
Now he's likely left it too long for that, so he's choked up with Pentax because they can't do anything for him until they get the camera in their hands, and won't give him a time frame until they inspect the camera, and don't have a repair facility where he wants them to have one.

Frankly, I've concluded that the OP is a troll.

[alman]

They also have to get the camera in their hands. So far, the OP has indicated a refusal to do that. The repair center is in Arizona, so this is where it has to go, this part in not really negotiable. The OP sounds like he wants them to open a special repair service just for him in Houston Texas, which shows a tremendous disconnect with reality.
He says he has had a recurring problem with the camera (at least three incidents), but he has done nothing about getting the camera fixed.
Odds are, if he had gotten in touch with his original seller after the first incident it would have been an OTC replacement by Best Buy.
Now he's likely left it too long for that, so he's choked up with Pentax because they can't do anything for him until they get the camera in their hands, and won't give him a time frame until they inspect the camera, and don't have a repair facility where he wants them to have one.

Frankly, I've concluded that the OP is a troll.

Wheatfield: There you go judging me again
all the conclusions (statements) you made above are wrong ... and based on your interest to throw the blame on me each and every possible way.
You have this problem of judging so quick and you seem to want to focus on my character instead of the problem with Pentax and the K-7 which others have had also
Stop playing judge.

[volley]

Alman, seriously, what do you expect?
You have a problem with a product you have bought from Best Buy, manufactured by Pentax. Pentax seems to be willing to fix the problem under warranty (which is their obligation) but you have to give them the opportunity to do so by shipping the damaged product to them (this is your obligation). That's how warranty work is done all the time by every company. Why don't you just do your part?

There may be a better service available for those pros participating in Canon's or Nikon's professional service programs (and I'm sure "Pentax pros" get special attention as well). But do you believe these guys got their gear from Best Buy???

Wheatfield's posts are a little direct - but most likely he's right.

[Wheatfield]

Wheatfield's posts are a little direct - but most likely he's right.

I'd make a lousy diplomat