Peter, the advantage that you have is that with relatively minor extra
payment, you can still ship your gear that needs service or repairs to
one of the service centers inside USA. If I were to do so in a direct
manner (not asking my friend living in Chicago to pass FA 77 to Bob
Sullivan and then asking Stan to bring it back once it was repaired,
'cause Stan was traveling to Israel at the time), the price of repairs
would be probably twice as high. Imagine then, that the item wasn't
fully repaired and would have to be sent in again...
The fact that local official dealership is no longer pushing new gear,
means that in 1-2 years (if not sooner) they'll stop providing service
for Pentax. This is absolute show stopper for me. Granted, I am using
Zeiss M-mount lenses on Ricoh GXR-M bodies and I've no clue who can
service them for me in case it is necessary, but my mainstream gear must
be serviceable with good service and meaningful pricing...
So, it is probably beginning of the end and my next camera will be of
another brand, service of which is local to me and known to be good.
Boris
On 1/19/2016 21:19, P.J. Alling wrote:
It's that way most places Boris, the only way I can really get Pentax
Gear is Internet mail order, which is true for most of the U.S. After
Japan the U.S. is probably the biggest market for Photo Equipment, yet
Pentax has less of a presence than Panasonic a relative newcomer. I
suppose that we Pentax users can take comfort that at least we didn't
buy into Samsung.
On 1/19/2016 1:59 PM, Boris Liberman wrote:
Hello there :-).
Recently, I bought a cheap DA* 16-50/2.8 with broken SDM that was
converted to screw-driven AF. Unfortunately, it would seem that the
lens got damaged during postal transfer. So, I had to take it to the
local service center today.
This is only minor trouble, really.
The major trouble is that the company that was official Pentax dealer
all these years has stopped selling Pentax cameras and lenses in
Israel. They are still providing service (such as they've taken my
lens for examination and in few days I'll know what would be its
fate), and their technicians are participating in Pentax gear
workshops, however e.g. I couldn't find K-3ii offered anywhere... The
person who took my lens even mentioned that nowadays everyone is
buying their cameras abroad, so...
There is a number of gray-market dealers, that offer Pentax gear. The
problem is that their service is such that I wouldn't touch them even
with the very long stick.
It seems that I am being forced out of Pentax gear... A year or two
more and then I will have to look for replacement for my really old
gear. The replacement will probably be of a different brand all
together...
Sad news...
Boris
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