No repair today

Today I was working near Stoke on Trent. So needing a repair to my Pentax lens. Thought it best to call in on JP Photopia. The authorised Pentax dealership. Obviously Pentax don't get many returns. As the staff on Pentax repairs was in total, 1. Unfortunately he happened to be having a day off today. So I, to my disappointment had to leave my lens behind. Maybe this is an industry standard. As when I contacted Sigma some time ago. They also had a repair staff of 1.

The garage I take my car to has one person trained in auto gearboxes. As things don't often fail I guess it could be the norm. Nobody employs more people than they absolutely need.

There are some lenses where the final finishing is also done by just one person. I presume these are the special order only mega lenses that we can't afford to even think about.

I had to send my Canon mount 50-500mm OS back to Sigma last week as the focus was way off, got a email the other day to say they had sent it to Japan ... 6 to 8 week turnaround. It was fine with +10 correction on the camera but I wanted it sorted before the warranty was up ... wish I had just left it alone now

I had the same problem with Sigma, Mike. When I got the lens (10-20) back, it lasted less than 100 shots and the same fault came back. Of course, they had to send it back to Japan again. Having said that, I asked for a lens replacement given that the same fault had reappeared, and they obliged. No problems since.

Hopefully though John he wont be responsible for the whole of the UK....