Pentax is having a sale on lenses. There are a few on sale but these two seem pretty good. The 35mm is $150 and the 50mm is half off at $120.

PentaxWebstore.com:smc PENTAX DA 35mm F2.4AL smc PENTAX DA 35mm F2.4AL
PentaxWebstore.com:smc PENTAX DA 50mm f/1.8 smc PENTAX DA 50mm f/1.8

[monochrome]

Hell, it still shows up, on the 50, for $120 on sale.
No camera buy needed etc.

Ricoh has a plan..................

Well since my SigTag is now being used for well deserved snark,
and since I've been trying for about 18 months to convince people to give Pentax a chance to get its act together,
and since I've written about Ned and John outsourcing the entire company and moving the last 50 prople to Denver (that includes secretaries, Parts Department shippers, phone-answerers, and all of two Marketing Reps (one for each side of a rather large river just down the street that divides this little continent),
and how awful their outsourced companies have been representing the Brand,
and how decent their few remaining direct employees are like the (one person) Parts Department,
and how generous Jim Malcolm and Amber R. and Claudia G. were with their time to the Q Users Group last April
- since that's been my experience with Pentax in the modern era,

I guess I'll just have to send another email representing the 20 or so members of this Forum who on a daily basis make positive statements, preach patience and forgiveness, keep saying this will work out well - send another email and ask

I don't even know what, but this is really stupid.

How hard would it have been to just stop accepting orders, send an email explaining the error, BUY SOME LENSES FROM JAPAN AND HONOR THE DEAL AT NO PROFIT AS A GESTURE OF GOODWILL? EVEN IF THEY HAD TO BACKORDER THE LENSES BECAUSE THEY OVERSOLD THEIR INVENTORY?

Welcome to Pentax, Mr. McIntosh. How ironic that on your first day a web commerce error causes a S***storm.

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Last edited by monochrome; 08-16-2013 at 06:31 PM.

[JinDesu]

I really have to say, I haven't been a downer on Pentax until this event. It's touchy because I recently got two friends to buy Pentax. One bought a k-5 and does event shooting for MMA - and has been complimented for his results. Another bought a k-30 because she saw what I did with my k-x. She also bought the DA 50 F1.8 and the DA 35 F2.4 (both!) due to this event. How discouraging would it be for her to find out that this stupid deal was a mistake - even though the normal price for the lens right now are stupid.

The prices that they set for these two lenses during this "sale" is damn reasonable as a sale, imo. I bought my DA 35 F2.4 for $170 two years ago. I saw Pentax throw out sales that put their lenses at pre-MAP prices over the last year or so. Why would they lose money at these sale prices then? Why not just honor them? It seems so tremendously backwards.

[ryan s]

The one thing I will agree with is the "sale" prices should be the "normal" prices for these lenses.

We also have to remember that Pentax themselves do not run this storefront, so who is on the hook to honor the prices? Does RIAC say to SureSource "soooo, guys, you owe us $x per lens times y sold because of your screwup"? Does Pentax take the hit? Or would they take the PR hit, roll with it, and dish out refunds/apologies?

Life's too short...

[fuent104]

We also have to remember that Pentax themselves do not run this storefront, so who is on the hook to honor the prices? Does RIAC say to SureSource "soooo, guys, you owe us $x per lens times y sold because of your screwup"? Does Pentax take the hit? Or would they take the PR hit, roll with it, and dish out refunds/apologies?

Honestly, it's immaterial who ultimately foots the bill for the lenses, as long as it isn't the customer. Companies who care about giving the appearance of having it together just solve problems, without bothering the client in regards to the internal details.

[fuent104]

We also have to remember that Pentax themselves do not run this storefront, so who is on the hook to honor the prices? Does RIAC say to SureSource "soooo, guys, you owe us $x per lens times y sold because of your screwup"? Does Pentax take the hit? Or would they take the PR hit, roll with it, and dish out refunds/apologies?

One more thing...I would think there would be some sort of language in the contract between Pentax and the online dealer that would dictate what is to happen in the event that prices are misrepresented. I can tell you one thing...maybe it was there and I see it, but I absolutely did not read anything on that website that said "this is not really Pentax or Ricoh selling you gear, it is a company licensing our name and selling on our behalf."

[fuent104]

In fact, the e-mail from them is signed "Pentax Web Store," not "Sure Source," or anything else.

[ruggiex]

This is exactly correct. The vast majority of my Pentax-branded lenses were right place, right time/miscategorized/roll the dice on ebay types of deals. I don't really remember too many "that got away." It's unfortunate that it happened with Pentax's official storefront, but what if it was B&H or Amazon? They usually honor mistakes if it's reasonable, but what if they didn't? How many people would swear off those stores or the entire brand of product?

I don't remember the specifics but I've had Amazon, what used to be buy.com, Newegg canceling order due to price mistakes before. They just say sorry for the inconvenience here's $10 gift card for your next purchase. I don't really understand where all these entitlements from some posters are coming from.

Personally my only issue with this fiasco is that Pentax's inability to get the website fixed as soon as the error was noticed.

[robtcorl]

Well since my SigTag is now being used for well deserved snark, .

I haven't been hanging out here much lately, knew I saw that line someplace.
If I use it again, then I'll be sure to give credit to my fellow St Louisan.
Go Cardinals!

[meeverett]

This is exactly correct. The vast majority of my Pentax-branded lenses were right place, right time/miscategorized/roll the dice on ebay types of deals. I don't really remember too many "that got away." It's unfortunate that it happened with Pentax's official storefront, but what if it was B&H or Amazon? They usually honor mistakes if it's reasonable, but what if they didn't? How many people would swear off those stores or the entire brand of product?

Personally my only issue with this fiasco is that Pentax's inability to get the website fixed as soon as the error was noticed.

Ruggiex is dead on here. To me It's not the original mistake or whether they actually send out any $120 lenses. I'm really not going to be hugely impacted by not receiving a lens for $120. The fact is, cancelling all the orders is a perfectly applicable response. The problem is that SureSource apparently knew about the mistake and did nothing for two days, but continue to take orders, and are now continuing to handle the matter in a fairly amateur way that no one at B&H or Amazon should ever consider reasonable. Ricoh and any Pentax Web Store customers should question their trust in a company who can't do something as simple as change the price an item is selling for when they notice a problem.

[Tee21]

I don't remember the specifics but I've had Amazon, what used to be buy.com, Newegg canceling order due to price mistakes before. They just say sorry for the inconvenience here's $10 gift card for your next purchase. I don't really understand where all these entitlements from some posters are coming from.

Personally my only issue with this fiasco is that Pentax's inability to get the website fixed as soon as the error was noticed.

This is exactly right. All the storefront had to say was it was a mix up and the order is being canceled. But thats not how they handled it. They still have almost $500 of mine pending with no response on if its canceled or that the ordered is going to be fulfilled. When I called today I was told by a customer service rep that "there have been way to many of you complaining about this" then the line was disconnected. The only words out of my mouth were is my order canceled or is it going to be fulfilled.

The other point about this store front not being connected to Pentax is false. Pentax is in agreement with them to sell products and represent the company to the customer base here in the U.S. How they handle the pricing mistake directly reflects Pentax as a company. I would have been completely fine with an email stating we made a mistake and we cannot fulfill the order at the price that was listed we apologize for the mix up. I don't need a gift certificate or $20 off, just a professional explanation.

A lot of you are invested in this company into the thousands of dollars which will have many excepting this type of unprofessionalism and talking down to customers. I just purchased the K-01 with kit lenses and was waiting for their new flagship models to come out. After the phone call I had today and being hung up on I have to say this is not a company that I would buy into and have to deal with again. SureSource is the face of customer service for Pentax therefore they reflect on the company. It's that simple and life is to short to have a company treat you like the idiot for their mistake.

[K57XR]

There have been quite a few unhappy posts on Pentax Facebook page regarding this so-called unfortunate web-error. As many people know SureSource LLC is running the Pentax webstore and conceivably the one to blame for causing this – melee. They do have a Facebook page that is rather quiet. Anyone thought about expressing their disappointment on their page? https://www.facebook.com/pages/SureSource/271793492730

[prime.partisan]

I don't think anyone here would be hurt by not getting these lenses. But being upset with the unprofessional way this has been carrying on is IMO entirely justified. Especially for a store that is, for all practical purposes, the official store of a brand. Mistake or not, you can't show the price for $120 then turn around and put a pending charge for $250. Amazon don't get that big by telling customers there're way too many of you complaining. B&H don't get that trusted being unable to fix a simple pricing mistake for days.
No real harm has been done, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have a high bar for professional retail business.

[PlumRT]

I don't think anyone here would be hurt by not getting these lenses. But being upset with the unprofessional way this has been carrying on is IMO entirely justified. Especially for a store that is, for all practical purposes, the official store of a brand. Mistake or not, you can't show the price for $120 then turn around and put a pending charge for $250. Amazon don't get that big by telling customers there're way too many of you complaining. B&H don't get that trusted being unable to fix a simple pricing mistake for days.
No real harm has been done, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have a high bar for professional retail business.

Hurt?
Inconveniences YES

I am holding lenses I sold, not sending them out. Because, the ones I bought replace the ones I have packed to send. There is no obvious mistake - it is just as likely they don't have enough to send out ALL of the orders. So, now after they have been looking for excuses, which one is going to make top of the list?

[reeftool]

I'm having difficulty with the "mistake" excuse. With a big on sale banner and the original price crossed out, it was hardly a mistake. Somebody higher up the chain saw it and said no way. The end result now is that they will loose far more in the long run than the little they will loose by honoring the sales.

[TheCaptCool]

Well one good thing did come out of it for me. I found an 18-135 WR lens on the marketplace here for a really good price, i wouldn't have bought it had the sale gone through from them.