A Question For Waterproof Camera Owners...

[SteveM]

Just wondering where y'all take your waterproof cameras for service. Both Pentax & Olympus require that you have your

camera's seals replaced at an approved repair shop to maintain the warranty. My bro' took his Pentax to one of the listed

Pentax repair shops to get his seals replaced for the first time; they sent it to Pentax in Montreal! WTF is up with that?

A Pentax-approved repair shop can't replace a coupla simple seals? His camera was gone for a month and a half!

To top it off,the shop charged him a handling fee for sending it to Montreal- besides the charge from Pentax for changing

the frickin' seals.

What kind of service have you guys gotten on your cameras? Is there a shop in town that can replace the seals?

Same questions for any Olympus owners... I have an Olympus that's due for a seal change in August; would sure

like to see a quicker turnaround than a month and a half!

Signed,

Concerned in Cowtown

[maxwell]

how the hell do u know u need a seal change in august??? if u dotn mind me askin rev. ive bin lucky.. had more for a few years now and she has bin holding up strong!!!!!!!!!

[SteveM]

how the hell do u know u need a seal change in august??? if u dotn mind me askin rev. ive bin lucky.. had more for a few years now and she has bin holding up strong!!!!!!!!!

 

I was told the seals have to be changed every year, or the warranty is void; besides, it would probably be a little

too late iffen ya wait 'til they fail to change 'em...

[ÜberFly]

Your warranty is longer then one year?! Wow! Usually you get 30, 60 or 90 days max!!

 

 

I was told the seals have to be changed every year, or the warranty is void; besides, it would probably be a little

too late iffen ya wait 'til they fail to change 'em...

[SteveM]

Your warranty is longer then one year?! Wow! Usually you get 30, 60 or 90 days max!!

 

For a few extra dinero, I got a 4year Instant Product Replacement Plan.

 

[ÜberFly]

Plus all the extra $ to replace those seals or your warrantee is void!! Hmmm!!

 

For a few extra dinero, I got a 4year Instant Product Replacement Plan.

 

[SteveM]

Plus all the extra $ to replace those seals or your warrantee is void!! Hmmm!!

 

Yeah, unfortunately, those are the choices you hafta make when you purchase electronic equipment

that you plan to shove underwater on a regular basis...Sighhh!!

[bigalcal]

I have a friend that works in the repair/warranty dept at "The Camera Store" in Calgary. I'll find out.

[PeteZahut]

Bob,

 

Two years ago I took my Pentax W10 to Costa Rica and fried it somehow. Was really dissappointing as I was getting really cool pictures and video while snorkeling. Then it crapped out. Anyways, I took it to Alta Camera Service Centre on 10th ave SW and got the the main PC board replaced in about a week. This was done under the manufacturer's warranty. My wife has also taken a camera there to get fixed and was happy with the service. Without knowing any other camera repair shops, I was really satisfied with their work and would recommend them.

 

Good luck.

[bigalcal]

I talked to my friend at "The Camera Store" in Calgary and all the repairs are sent off site. Olympus seems to be a bit fussy about warranty issues specifically misuse. The turn around is usually 3 weeks.

[SteveM]

I talked to my friend at "The Camera Store" in Calgary and all the repairs are sent off site. Olympus seems to be a bit fussy about warranty issues specifically misuse. The turn around is usually 3 weeks.

 

Thanks for checking on that.

Kinda sucks to hafta give up my camera for 3 weeks... :$*%&:

Later,

Steve

 

 

[reevesr1]

Steve,

I did some work on reliability issues at one of our product centers, ie, how and why products fail and how to design/test to limit those failures. One thing I learned is extended warranties are a bad buy. Failure curves for electronics follow the "bathtub" curve. High failure rates initially, say in the first year (called infant mortality, which is typically covered by the initial warranty period), followed by a long period of essentially flat, and low, failure rate. Then failure rates go up significantly as the product reaches end of life (this curve was developed by studying human mortality. Works on most things!).

 

Lots of people will tell you stories about how extended warranties saved them x amount of money. Undoubtedly true. People win the lottery too, both are bad gambles. You are better off to never buy an extended warranty on any electronic item. You will almost assuredly save money in the long run. Almost.

 

 

[bhurt]

Steve,

I did some work on reliability issues at one of our product centers, ie, how and why products fail and how to design/test to limit those failures. One thing I learned is extended warranties are a bad buy. Failure curves for electronics follow the "bathtub" curve. High failure rates initially, say in the first year (called infant mortality, which is typically covered by the initial warranty period), followed by a long period of essentially flat, and low, failure rate. Then failure rates go up significantly as the product reaches end of life (this curve was developed by studying human mortality. Works on most things!).

 

Lots of people will tell you stories about how extended warranties saved them x amount of money. Undoubtedly true. People win the lottery too, both are bad gambles. You are better off to never buy an extended warranty on any electronic item. You will almost assuredly save money in the long run. Almost.

 

I tend to disagree with you on this Rick.

 

So what you are telling me if you buy a computer and the power supplie dies on you because of a electrical surge, or the ball bearing (made out of nylon) wears down on your hard drive, which generally happens roughly two to three years, and dies on you then having a exented serivce plan would be a waste of money?

 

Howabout on printers, you buy a printer that is worth about 200 and has a LIMITED MANUFACTURE warrenty of 1 year (note most manufactures that I have delt with only warrenty defective parts and not wear and tear) and dies on you on the second year then you have to spend another 200 dollers?

 

At my work we have something called a replacement plan, anything that is 200 or less we cover for two years (1 year manufacture, which we handle and 1 year additional) and what we do is we replace the unit, we do not send it out to be fixed. Some people like myself can not afford to be replacing machines every two or three years and most MANUFACTURE WARRENTIES generally are the life of the machine.

[Weedy1]

Howabout on printers, you buy a printer that is worth about 200 and has a LIMITED MANUFACTURE warrenty of 1 year (note most manufactures that I have delt with only warrenty defective parts and not wear and tear) and dies on you on the second year then you have to spend another 200 dollers?

 

 

I have an HP540, a HP Deskjet F4180, an HP1020, a Brother Fax Machine, a couple of Lexmark printers floating around the crawl space somewhere and an Epson 1400 Photo Printer. I have never had an issue with any of them.

 

I have never, nor will I ever, get bullied into buying an extended warranty on anything from a store such as Future Shop, Best Buy, Staples, etc.

 

I’m an electronic junkie and have never had to have anything warranted including all major appliances that I have purchased. If I had purchased the extended warranties that the stores offer on these items I would have been out thousands of dollars.

 

If you really need an extended warranty don't buy the store warranties but purchase the extended warranty directly from the manufacturer. They are typically cheaper.

 

Extended warranties offered by stores only exist so that overbearing salesmen can bully single moms and little old ladies into buying them. Refusal to buy the warranty is usually accompanied by threats to the customer’s family.

 

Your up Brad.

 

[SanJuanWorm]

I never purchase those extended warranties. I play the law of averages.

[H2O]

Extended warranties are for suckers especially for computer's. If a computer component is gonna fail it's usually within the first 6 months. If your power supply fails on a computer after 3 years then buy another power supply, they're pretty cheap compared to the cost of an extended warranty.

[reevesr1]

I tend to disagree with you on this Rick.

 

So what you are telling me if you buy a computer and the power supplie dies on you because of a electrical surge, or the ball bearing (made out of nylon) wears down on your hard drive, which generally happens roughly two to three years, and dies on you then having a exented serivce plan would be a waste of money?

 

Howabout on printers, you buy a printer that is worth about 200 and has a LIMITED MANUFACTURE warrenty of 1 year (note most manufactures that I have delt with only warrenty defective parts and not wear and tear) and dies on you on the second year then you have to spend another 200 dollers?

 

At my work we have something called a replacement plan, anything that is 200 or less we cover for two years (1 year manufacture, which we handle and 1 year additional) and what we do is we replace the unit, we do not send it out to be fixed. Some people like myself can not afford to be replacing machines every two or three years and most MANUFACTURE WARRENTIES generally are the life of the machine.

 

Brad,

Extended warranties are a money maker for the company selling the warranty. That's all I really need to know. Of course things can fail that are covered by an extended. But you will come out ahaed in the end, overall, if you never buy one.

 

 

 

[Weedy1]

Howabout on printers, you buy a printer that is worth about 200 and has a LIMITED MANUFACTURE warrenty of 1 year (note most manufactures that I have delt with only warrenty defective parts and not wear and tear) and dies on you on the second year then you have to spend another 200 dollers?

 

No you don't have to spend 200 dollars because a year later you can buy the same or equivalent printer for a third of the orignal price. So you get a new printer for the price you would have paid for the "Sucker Warranty".

 

[headscan]

The reason they push the extended warranty so hard is that's where salesmen make the bulk of their commission. Even at a place like Future Shop where they don't make commission they still get some sort of incentive for each one they sell. My parents made the mistake of buying one once. The product failed outside of mfr's warranty period but within the extended warranty but they had to fight the company to get them to honour it. It took threats of legal action to get them to do the repairs.

 

One thing I learned is extended warranties are a bad buy. Failure curves for electronics follow the "bathtub" curve. High failure rates initially, say in the first year (called infant mortality, which is typically covered by the initial warranty period), followed by a long period of essentially flat, and low, failure rate. Then failure rates go up significantly as the product reaches end of life (this curve was developed by studying human mortality. Works on most things!).

 

Lots of people will tell you stories about how extended warranties saved them x amount of money. Undoubtedly true. People win the lottery too, both are bad gambles. You are better off to never buy an extended warranty on any electronic item. You will almost assuredly save money in the long run. Almost.

Rick, this is bang on with my experience as well. They figure out those curves then get a bean counter to tell them the point of diminishing returns or whatever it's called. Usually the point just before that curve starts to climb again is where they cut off the extended warranty period. There will always be outliers in any statistics based on the real world (as opposed to academia) and those are the people you hear about that actually benefited from an extended warranty.

[bhurt]

The reason they push the extended warranty so hard is that's where salesmen make the bulk of their commission. Even at a place like Future Shop where they don't make commission they still get some sort of incentive for each one they sell. My parents made the mistake of buying one once. The product failed outside of mfr's warranty period but within the extended warranty but they had to fight the company to get them to honour it. It took threats of legal action to get them to do the repairs.

 

 

Rick, this is bang on with my experience as well. They figure out those curves then get a bean counter to tell them the point of diminishing returns or whatever it's called. Usually the point just before that curve starts to climb again is where they cut off the extended warranty period. There will always be outliers in any statistics based on the real world (as opposed to academia) and those are the people you hear about that actually benefited from an extended warranty.

 

Hey Mark,

 

I have been selling electronics for the last 4 years and I will tel you this, I get absoultly NOTHING for selling an extended warrenty.

 

Some places they do get a commission for it or something else but not my work.

 

You would be surprised at how many people come back in after a year wanting it replaced and I have to shrug my shoulders and say sorry nothing I can do for you.

 

Also to weedy, if you come back in and buy the same printer from someone 2 years later I wouldn't be buying from them as it is old technology and I know at my work, most things are replaced within 6moths of it hitting our shelfs, and if we don;t have it we give you your money (what you paied for it at the time with absoultly no deprication value on it) so you can get new technology and a new printer for less then the printer is worth at that time and not two years later.

 

I do agree that some places are scams, without a doubt but know who you are buying from and what you are getting. Its up to you to get it or not, but I know when I am dealing with customer I go to the length even helping out with the manufacters warrenty. Does it make the company money sure, but why doi you think a company is started, to make money, duh.

 

Across canada I can see it beeing a bit of a profit but on single units it is almost a diffent lost. For example, a laptop over heats due to poor ventalation and blows out the Montherboard, you take it in, and even if you have to wait two weeks for it to be replaced a motherboard cost around 300 and then labour in putting it in which is around another 200 so you are sitting at 500 and you only paied 145 for the extended service plan the company is still taking a loss.

 

Also if you think we are replacing parts on computers and laptops with OEM parts you are sadly mistaken as we order parts straight from the manufacture and replacing it with the exact same part.

 

Do what you want but remeber not everyone is out to get you so choose wisely and make your descisions based off facts and experinces and not what others have to say.

 

[Weedy1]

Studies show that the extended warranty will/may be useful on some items. (Plasma TV's that blow up and yes laptops in some cases.)

 

The real problem (in my opinion) with these warranties is when sale people try to sell you an extended warranty for an item that has virtually no chance of ever having a problem. This is where the stores make the big time money, not on the items that it may make sense to have an extended on.

 

Now here's another take on the whole thing. I was recently moving around all the equipment on our entertainment centre when I accidently dropped my daughter's Nintendo Wii on the fireplace tile. Poof! Toasted!

Next day I call Nintendo, tell them it's off warranty and ask what it will cost? The lady tells me it will be a flat rate of $75.00 including shipping, no questions asked, as long as it hasn't been modified. I would hazard a guess that $75 would have been about the price of an extended warranty.

 

I wonder how many extended warranties were sold on Nintendo Wii's?

 

There are companies out there that stand behind their products. You just have to do your research.

[bhurt]

Studies show that the extended warranty will/may be useful on some items. (Plasma TV's that blow up and yes laptops in some cases.)

 

The real problem (in my opinion) with these warranties is when sale people try to sell you an extended warranty for an item that has virtually no chance of ever having a problem. This is where the stores make the big time money, not on the items that it may make sense to have an extended on.

 

Now here's another take on the whole thing. I was recently moving around all the equipment on our entertainment centre when I accidently dropped my daughter's Nintendo Wii on the fireplace tile. Poof! Toasted!

Next day I call Nintendo, tell them it's off warranty and ask what it will cost? The lady tells me it will be a flat rate of $75.00 including shipping, no questions asked, as long as it hasn't been modified. I would hazard a guess that $75 would have been about the price of an extended warranty.

 

I wonder how many extended warranties were sold on Nintendo Wii's?

 

There are companies out there that stand behind their products. You just have to do your research.

 

Well lets put it this way, I think there is something wrong with the wii's as I usally ship back 2 to 3 a week.

 

Also I know with our laptops we have a 1 time no fault replacement warrenty, what this means is that within three years (First year beeing manufactures warrenty and two additional years through the store) you can litterlly take the laptop throw it down the stairs and we will replace it and that only cost 150, pretty good eh.

 

Also on our laptops with the basic three year coverage at 150 you also get a one time battery replacement, I am pretty sure you will kill your battery in that time span and for genuine batteries from the manufacture 150 is a steal of a deal espically if it is a 12 cell battery. Here is the kicker though, to stop fraulent claims we have to send it to our depo center here in the city and they have to test out the battery and the system to make sure the battery needs to be replaced.

 

All in all there is some money savings on it, but like you said you have to do some reserch on the iitem, and to label all compaines the same is just unfair and unbasis. As beening in the industry for sometime now I can totally understand where people are coming from, what service come and see me and I will always lok after my customers, cause without the Extended Service Plan there is nothing I can do for you after 14 days (laptop and desktops) and 30 days on anything else, and dealing with manufacters are the biggest headach I have ever had.