Back in April my camera (Pentax *ist DS) made a rather lovely bang noise and decided it wouldn't power back on. I posted here and got some help and sent it off to Christchurch (NZ) for repair.
The first quote (its 2 years old - so no longer under warranty
) was for roughly $300 (NZ$) which I didn't mind. Upon further inspection the quote then increased to $1000 of which I wasn't told about until the day the camera was due back from repair. The main circuit board was apparently fried.
Given that the quote had increased to more than what the body was actually worth I asked them what had caused it. The reasoning I was given was that a screw had some how vibrated loose during use and had hit the main circuit board causing the fry-up.
I was rather confused as to how a screw in a camera could cause so much damage and if the potential was there to cause the damage - then why had something not been done in the design stages to prevent this?
They were convinced this was general wear and tear and therefore not covered by the manufacturer. I was not. I spoke to several engineers and they all said the same thing - for this to happen it must be a design fault.
The Pentax agents here in NZ were not at all open to the idea that it was a design fault. According to them -
Quote:
The fault as described in your camera is most unusual and occurs very rarely, in fact the only other times I have seen this fault have been caused by excessive vibration.
The screw we are referring to was in fact originally lock tighted into position so it is quite difficult to explain how it could have worked loose.
Unfortunately, this type of fault is put down to general wear and tear and is not covered under the manufacturers warranty
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Not quite sure how something that happens very rarely and is excessive and is just general wear and tear, I contacted the Pentax agents in Australia asking for direct contact details for Pentax Japan to take the matter further.
Without hearing back from the Australian agents at all, two days later the NZ agents are back in contact with a "gesture of goodwill" from Pentax Japan. They will provide the replacement main circuit board at no charge but I will still have to pay labour costs of $400. But they are in no way "admitting liability".
Now having been without my camera since April, I agreed to pay the labour charges so I can get my camera back. Has anybody else experienced anything like this?
I would hate to have to change my kit over to a new camera (I'd have to change both film & digital cameras plus all my lenses etc) but if this is going to happen again I can't risk it.
Heidi