I thought I'd come out of lurk mode to share the following story which greatly concerns me about our old favorite, KEH. I have purchased several thousands of dollars worth of equipment from them over the past few years and until now, was deeply impressed with their integrity and service.
I bought an A* 200mm F4 Macro lens on December 1. It was listed on their "In-Transit" page and I bought it within an hour of it appearing on the site. $959. They have my money. It arrived on December 6, and it didn't work. Specifically, it would not project aperture information to either my ist D nor my MZ-S. I assumed that the contacts were somehow defective, and after conferring with Paul Stenquist, Mark Cassino and Ken Waller, sent it back for repair. I sent an email explaining the problem and got the approval to return it. Several emails ensued, all explaining what the problem was. I received notice from UPS that it had been delivered a few days later. After waiting another two weeks without hearing from them, I emailed them for a status. I was told to write again in a week. I did. They waited another week before replying that it was due to be worked on last Thursday, and that I would have the lens this week. Well today, I came home to an email announcing that they "have received notice from our repair department that the reason your lens will not work in AF mode is because it is not an Auto Focus lens." Duh. I've sent copies of the previous emails to remind them our earlier communications - that the problem was in the aperture contacts. They made what I think to be three errors: 1. They put an item up for sale without first testing it. 2. They didn't recheck the correspondence to confirm the problem. 3. They arrogantly presumed their customer was stupid. I've purchased two expensive lenses and two bodies from them, and this is the first whiff of a problem, so I hope it's just a fluke. But, it demonstrates to me that they may be losing touch with the fundamentals that made their reputation. It's been over a month now, with no lens in sight Bill Sawyer Livonia, MI
