K5 Problem - Am I Unreasonable?

I am glad your experience was positive - but I can't quite see the relevance to my original post.

Are you saying that you think I am being unreasonable? I'm unsure for how long I should resign myself to being without my K5.

To address my question, how long would you have considered reasonable without communication or have been willing to wait?

To me, if Warehouse Express have stock, anything other than next day is unreasonable.

You are clearly upset about the way things have gone, as is evidenced both here and elsewhere, but the solution was there at the beginning. Replace the camera or refund the money. The dealer was the one to do this. The general evidence is that, stocks permitting, most people are getting just that and very quickly.

I would simply ask for that refund now as they have not dealt with your situation within a reasonable time. You could then but a K-5 off the shelf from elsewhere, probably cheaper now, if you decide that you still want one. If you paid by credit card you will have additional consumer protection in that you can ask the credit card company to refund you if the shop will not.

Asking for the refund in writing might be helpful if you get any problem on the phone.

Hope that helps!

Condemning Pentax because WHE messed you about is a bit harsh in my eyes.
Obviously WHE has got the K-5 in stock and should have send you a replacement from their stock, that's your rights.
You have give them more then reasonable time to have your complaint sorted out by WHE and I would now ask for a refund and buy the K-5 somewhere else (plus it probably is cheaper by now as well).
SRS dealt with my one spot on. I called them and logged the complained. I was instructed to keep the camera till they had stock that was checked. I then got a call that MY replacement was with them. Pick up from SRS was the next day and I got my new K-5 within less then 48h after pick up.
That's the way WHE should have dealt with it. If they got K-5 in stock anything more then 3-5 working days for a replacement is unreasonable and you can ask, by UK Law, for a full refund.
Always get a confirmation in writing of anything that has been agreed up on over the phone and if you ask for you money back do this in writing first, before you call them.
I truly hope that you get it sorted soon and believe me when I say that the K-5 is one of the best cameras on the market so don't let your bad experience with WHE put you off the k-5 as the camera is just a gem.

No I do not think you are being unreasonable.

I think there are two issues here, firstly the responsibility of the retailer which is to replace a defective item, secondly the backup provided by the maunfacturer.

You ask how I would consider it reasonable to go without communication or have been willing to wait.

I would expect to have an email requesting information on progress to be responded to promptly ie within 24 hours. I also found that it was helpful to speak to a named person who knew about my problem on the phone.

As regards how long I would be willing to wait - obviously the shortest possible time. In the rather special circumstances in which Pentax had to replace a large number of cameras (we do not know how many) I think they did their best.

The purpose of my intervention was not to criticise, indeed I sympathise as I was in a very similar position, but to be fair to Pentax UK and to Johnsons Photopia by recounting my different experience of their communication.

WHE contacted Pentax who told them to have the camera picked up directly from me and delivered to them, whence they would send the replacement directly to me, so I don't really think it is WHE who are messing me about.

Either way, this is obviously getting boring with me harping on now.

If I don't get a new camera this week, I shall ask for a refund. I loved the K5 but given my personal experience of Pentax service I'll get a D7000 with the money since Nikon UK's HQ is a 15 minute bike ride away from me and I got excellent service from them in my pro days.

If I do this, I have some quite tasty Pentax lenses that I will want to unload smartish - maybe a bargain or two available!

John, thanks for your helpful comments in particular but to everyone else too. I feel confident now that I am not unreasonable.

Loverley

Sorry to disappoint

Seriously, since I sounded off about it I should report the happy ending. On Monday I emailed Pentax saying that unless they supplied my replacement by Friday I would take small claims court action over it. I got an email back saying they would look into it. Duh!!

I emailed a copy of the email to Warehouse Express who got on the phone to me and sent a replacement straight away and thanked me for being so reasonable. I can't imagine why Pentax said that WHE should send the camera from me to them for replacement but I heard it said and they did.

I received the camera this morning and have just spent an hour setting it all up with user mode settings and all the other stuff.

Having been without the camera for as long as I had it, I had forgotten why I'd bought it. It's a lovely little device and it's nice to have it back.

Very interesting. It looks as if Warehouse Express have woken up the their statutory duties. Pity they did not respond before you started threatening the small claims court. I think some of the big internet sellers are only too keen to push the responsibility on to the manufacturer neglecting their duty as retailer.

Anyway I am pleased to hear that you have got a replacement camera at last. I was so glad to get my replacement K-5 on my return from holiday. It really is a lovely camera.

Doh!!!!

At last a successful outcome...

enjoy your new camera

Good to hear that you were given a new camera (eventually)

There seems to be a couple of important lessons to be learnt here.

If you buy any item, your contract is with the retailer. You should deal with them only. If you have any problems with the retailer then the UK consumer laws protect you. NEVER be fobbed off by any retailer sending you to the door of the manufacturer.

Also, yet again in this brave new digital world, the early adopters get stung, both financially and otherwise.

You make good points but in fairness to WHE, the person I spoke to didn't have personal knowledge of the recall and rang Pentax to check what to do. They told him (and I overheard) to have it picked up by Fedex and sent direct to them and they would replace it.

When I complained, the replies were interesting, in that Pentax said 'they would look into it', ie no sense of urgency at all whereas WHE took my complaint on board and sent me a new camera by return.

Early adopters, yes and usually I never do buy at the beginning, waiting for prices to drop, revised firmware etc. But I had such a good offer on my GX20 that I couldn't turn it down.

What I have found is that there is not that much that my little Panasonic GF1 with 20mm f1.7 and 14-140 mm lenses can not do. As these camera types are further developed, I think the DSLR will have a bit of a fight on its hands for sales to keen amateurs and hobbyists.

I wonder if it is a field that Pentax will enter?

Anyway, I have my K5 back and am happy now - all's well that ends well!

Approx two months ago my favourite Tammy failed. It was 8 months old, so I took it back to the dealer for a warranty repair. 4 weeks later the dealer called me and informed that the lens is still under repair (at Tamron Europe, Germany) and offered me a similar Sigma lens free for the remaining period the Tammy is not available. It was approx. a month ago, Tammy is still under repair, but I am very happy playing with a Sigma lens I have never had before. I think this would be the normal process in a situation like that. (And of course, the warranty period will be extended with the full length the Tammy is not in my hand.)

Glad you got it sorted Lemmy...