I've broken my K10d

doh!

I've had this camera only for a few weeks and following an incident when I had to move rapidly to attempt to stop my 7 month old daughter falling from a couch, I ended up dropping the camera. I also failed to catch my daughter. She faired better in the collision with the floor and apart from a small bump she is ok.

The camera though is not well. It has sustained significant impact damage to the LCD screen. i.e. it's all cracked and doesn't work. Obviously this is not at all ideal. It does seem to take pictures ok though, which is good.

Does anyone know the best way of getting it repaired? How much will this cost? How long will it take?

I sent an email to Pentax on Wednesday evening and so far have not had a reply.

Thanks

As this is accidental damage and not a manufacturing fault, it won't be covered by warranty.

It might be covered by household insurance if you have an All Risks section to your policy. Iy might also be covered by some extended warranties. For example, the Jessops scheme covers accidental damage and maybe others do too.

Sorry to hear about the mishap - at least your daughter is OK and the camera can be repaired or replaced.

Hope that helps!

I must admit I'm not that bothered about claiming on Insurance as even a new K10D isn't a great deal of money. I did see a kind of price list thing for repairs on the pentax site but it didn't seem to have K10d on it.

I remember reading this somewhere but i can't seem to re-locate the site. But if my memory serves me correctly you need to determine if the screen still lights up or glows when powered on. This tells you if the back light is broken. If it is the the whole LCD screen needs to be replaced and i think it was around US$250. If it still lights up then only the outer screen needs replacing and that was about US$80. If you are mechanically inclined you may be able to fix it yourself if its only the outer screen, but it requires some soldering if the whole screen needs to be replaced and is considerably more difficult.
Just give pentax a call and get a price. They will almost certainly tell you it has to be sent in for them to repair and the labour cost will be a killer i'm sure.
Good luck with it and let us know how it turns out.

I'd like to be earning what you must be earning, then!

Some credit cards give you 90 days or so accidental damage insurance for purchases made on the card - worth checking out if you bought by CC.

Robin

I believe the chemicals used in LCD screens are quite toxic, I'd not handle it, just in case.

Well I'm not at all impressed with Pentax. I telephoned to see if the repair could be carried out in time for Christmas, as the camera works apart from the screen. I was told if I marked it as urgent it would be sorted out.

I posted it Special Delivery 10 Dec. They received it 11 Dec. booked onto their system 12 Dec. Letter written to me 13 Dec, (I also provided email and telephone numbers for contact) Letter dated 13 Dec actually postmaked 17 Dec! I finally received it 20 Dec.

In the meantime I phoned up to get the quote and pay. I did this last Tuesday so thats 18 Dec. Phoned up again Friday 21 Dec and i was informed it would be dispatched to me that day. I was told they would phone me back with a tracking number. Well I phoned up this morning to find out that the repair has not been carried out and I will not now receive my camera until the new year.

Shame really as it is my daughters first Christmas!

"Pentax - for your precious moments"

Not at all impressed, why didn't they phone or email? Why did it take 4 days to post a letter? Why could they not sort out this simple repair in time?

Just out of interest, what was the quote?

With the Pentax user discount it was £105. including return postage and VAT.

Well, must say I had a very similar experience - well, showewhat.
I took my camera to a local shop a while back. In the end it was six weeks and they did not yet send it for repair. (not a Pentax issue, but the service people at this shop)

Anyway, they did finally send it off to Pentax on Dec 1 and expected return date was well into January. Lets say I was less than pleased as well!!

But somehow the camera was back on the 18. Don't know how it got back that quickly. Should have been a two to three day ride to the Pentax repair facility alone!
But Pentax did a great job and replaced almost all of the internal components.


Face it, some people suck. I wouldn't blame the whole company for what is likely a localized issue.
I haven't heard enough stories one way or the other to say how good or bad Pentax is in general.


Anyway, is it possible to rent a replacement at this point?

What a shame it isn't back for Christmas. I hope you have a reserve camera to capture your daughters first Chritmas.

Pentax still seem faster than Canon, and they communicated with you. When my OH sent his Canon back for repair he was without it for nearly 5 months. It took them a month just to log it into their system, then silence until it arrived out of the blue one day, with the UPS man demanding cash to pay for it, which of course I din't have - don't tend to have a couple of hundred Euro's lying around the house on the off chance. So it went away again and came back a day later when I did have the money.

And the real bummer of it all is that the thing is still not right

To some degree it's a matter of expectations as well. A professional user might expect per return service, loan cameras, whatever, and an amateur may be in a long line of others waiting. Not all parts may be in stock, postal delays may occur and all sorts of things can and do happen.

Some repairs may be easy and quick, even extensive ones might just be a matter of replacing a module or two; some may be complex and require more adjustment and calibration.

When I have sent cameras away for repair, rarely it must be said, the fastest have been the independent ones such as Asahi Photo (per return of post), complex vintage repairs have taken 6 months (Voigtlander Bessamatic) and Pentax themselves around 2-3 weeks for MX/ME Super repairs.

I think the only sure answer is to have a back up. Fortunately we have that, but if it's the only camera then that's more of a problem. Not everyone can afford, or want to afford, the luxury of a spare.

I remember when I telephoned about this repair after not having a response to my email, still haven't had one by the way, I was told repairs took 10-15 days but that if I marked it as urgent it would be done by Christmas as it was quite a simple repair.

Oh well you live and learn. I will be sending Pentax a letter of complaint sometime over the festive period.

Well I finally got my camera back 18 January!

Only slightly after Christmas that.

I didn't get chance to use it for a couple of days so it was Monday before I got too set it up. It was then I found that they have butchered it. Just above the SD card slot someone has used a screwdriver to prise open the camera casing and it has broken a piece. It isn't totally off but it is broken and is definately not impact damage form the post.

I have written to Pentax complaining profusely. I will let you know the outcome.