mpb.com

I bought a pentax da*60-250 auto focus lens in March.
I was very pleased with it, good price etc. After using it 3/4 times and being very happy with the results. The next time I went to use it the auto focus would not work.
On inspection at home I noticed that one of the rear sdm contacts was missing .
As the lens has 6 months warranty on it from purchase date I contacted mpb to ask for a repair. (the sdm contact shouldn,t fall out).
They will NOT repair it and say that it is my fault that it has fallen out.
SO MUCH FOR THEIR WARRANTY. IF YOU ARE THINKING OF BUYING ANYTHING FROM THEM READ THE LEGAL PART AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SITE. DON'T GET CAUGHT OUT LIKE ME!!!

Just had a look at their T&Cs, I guess they are referring to 11.6.3 (ii) (copied below), so what cause have they got to say it's accidental damage or misuse?

Can you challange their decision? I'm no legal expert perhaps Citizens Advice etc. could tell you what you rights are.
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11.6 General exclusions (What's NOT covered):

11.6.3 Accidental damage;

(ii) Faults relating to damage to components such as connector pins deemed by us to be the result of accidental damage or misuse;
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Good luck

Regards
Mike

You could challenge them as to why they deem it to be the result of accidental damage or misuse. If they cannot give a good reason and are simply hiding behind the exclusion in the T&Cs, then it is at least aguable that the exclusion is legally an unfair contract term and therefore not enforcable. Office of Fair Trading guidance (link) makes it quite clear that exclusion terms cannot be used by a company to wriggle out of their legal obligations re sale of goods and services. I've won one or two battles with companies and other organisations (including when an item failed and the vendor tried to blame it on me) after I pointed out their legal obligations and challenged them to explain how they were complying. Your local Trading Standards or Citizens Advice should be able to advise.

Good luck.

Steve

Also Which? I used them once and there advice worked for me.

The true test of a retail company comes with how they deal with customer complaints.

Just to let you know, we've passed on the link to this topic to our contact at MPB, hopefully they can look into your situation and either help or provide some more clarity.

As nice as this is, it shouldn't be necessary - the retailer has obligations and it's their responsibility to prove misuse. One would have to work hard to get a pin to come out without any other signs of damage.

I've spent in excess of £5k on camera equipment in the past year, none with MPB. On reading this tale, I won't consider buying from them in the future.

Good luck with this, Reso.

Insist on opening a complaint so it goes to their complaints department. When it becomes clear that it's less bother for them to just fix or replace it than deal with the complaint they should change their tune.

Hi reso,

I'm really sorry to see there's been an issue with your Pentax and I can appreciate how frustrating it would be. I'd be happy to pass the details over to our customer experience team to take a look at. Would you be able to send me a private message with the transaction reference number? I can then ask the team to get in touch with you once they've investigated.

Many thanks,

Jamil - Senior Social Manager

Hi Jamil, good to see you're reaching out on here. Thanks!

pm sent to mpb

60-250 update
as i needed to use this lens last weekend i fixed it myself by taking the sdm contact of my screwdrive 50-135
mbp still say it was my fault and offered me a £25 discount of furture lens bought over £250
offer declined as i wont buy from them again
thanks for all the help and advice

That's a disgraceful response - How have they determined it was your fault and not a loose contact that has fallen off after a handful of uses? Did they collect the lens from you and examine it forensically to show you have been abusing it? A £25 discount if you spend £250 - Wow, that would really dent their profits!

Speaking of future profits, they'll lose a LOT more than £25 from missed sales on here. All it takes is one or two of us choosing to buy from SRS or Wex.

When the immediate bottom line is all companies think about, they make mistakes that hurt their future bottom lines.

I've never bought from MPB (so I have no experience of them) as the service I've had from SRS is always so great, why would I? I have a similar deal with my bike shop. They aren't the cheapest around but they go out of their way to be helpful and provide good service, and I trust them. Trust (especially when riding a motorcycle!) is worth more than a couple of quid saved.