On Fri, 25 Jan 2002, Nitin Garg wrote: > hmmm... i was thinking of sending it to keh repair center. > Would sending to pentax itself be better ? How much more > expensive (cheaper?) would that be
Nitin, Here's my experience. Some time ago I completely destroyed the shutter curtain of one of my ZX bodies. I'm in Atlanta, so first I took it to Keh. Assuming it was only the curtain and "related parts" (not sure what means)... they offered to fix it for about $110. They would also warranty the repaired part for 3 months (I THINK). In the end, I sent it to pentax instead. Now, pentax generally wont give you an estimate over the phone, but I told them what I THOUGHT the problem was, and they said "about $100". With shipping, it likely costed me about the same as Keh. But here's the advantages... Pentax: 1. replaced my entire shutter system (curtains, timing gear, etc) and bounce prevention assemblies. 2. Aligned and calibrated curtain tensions and exposure to factory specifications. 3. assessed that my camera had suffered "impact damage" (maybe it was the horse back riding)... and replaced my entire outter casing, which made a big difference to a scuffed up 3 year old camera. 4. and (most importantly) they gave me an additional one year warranty on (not just the repaired parts, but) the entire camera [which is their general policy after repairs]. So I damn near got a brand new camera back. I also like that you can track your repair status via the internet, and the people in that dept. on the phone are especially nice and helpful. Once the camera arrived there, it took about 10-14 days to get back to me. Not bad (in my opinion). If you DO send it to Pentax, my advice is to call when you think it has gotten there and get the ball rolling on the repairs. Once they assess the problem, you can either wait for a letter in the mail, and mail them back (ie, add about 7-10 days to the process), or be more proactive and get your gear back quicker. They also recalibrated everything (metering system...), which Keh will also do... but my opinion is that I rather have the manufacturer do this than a 3rd party. Here's another caveat to the story: Once I got it back, the built-in-flash didnt work. Some may say AH HA! HORRIBLE SERVICE! ... but I just say, hey, stuff happens. So I called, and explained the problem. They were quite apologetic and told me that this of course was covered in the new warranty they had just given me. Once I returned it, it was given priority status, and the total turn around time (from when I sent it to when I got it back) was about 7 days total (they returned it via overnight mail). If it sounds like I'm pushing pentax service dept, I AM! I think that people are more inclined to share their bad storys (ie complain) than their good ones... so I wanted to be sure to get this one in while I could. In Short, my suggestion is: SEND IT TO PENTAX INSTEAD. But hey, there are likely some good Keh stories out there too. .jerome. - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
