Visit MPB Visit MPB Visit MPB

Ricoh Pentax awful customer service

johnriley
Posted 17/01/2016 - 09:38 Link
Quote:
I feel a bit sorry for John Riley with his comment:

Quote:
Well, it wouldn't influence my buying decisions, which are based on my own experiences. In any event, whatever this grumble may be, it doesn't seem to have fully played out yet, nor do we have the response to it from the the other parties involved. So how can we judge?

Like always he has to be neutral and not offend Rico/Pentax in any way and therefore has to write totally meaningless comments.
It probably would be better not to say anything.

Clearly the point has been missed. The point is pretty much what Gwyn wrote, but as I see it we don't have all the facts so getting upset on someone else's behalf isn't very constructive. We should leave SRS to sort out whatever they can, and for the OP to communicate with them as best he can. Splashing it all over the internet doesn't really help.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with either upsetting or not upsetting Pentax, with whom I don't have any axe to grind one way or another. What it means is I wouldn't take any notice of it all in my own buying decisions, which are guided by my own experiences.
Best regards, John
Horst
Posted 17/01/2016 - 09:41 Link
There wasn't any mudslinging on my part.

however if as a customer who forked out a stack of money to get a product,,
one expects a service , not after 6 weeks a message: its all your fault.

if it was the customers fault, let him know as soon as possible so he can at least decide to have his camera repaired or buy something else in a reasonable time.

Regards, Horst
Edited by Horst: 17/01/2016 - 09:44
stigg
Posted 17/01/2016 - 10:09 Link
So John if you were happily using a company for your purchases and then found out that they were getting very bad reveiws and letting their customers down you would take no notice and still carry on using the same company!!!!!! So what are the point of all the reviews on retailers and products?
All the best
Brian

And come him slow or come him fast it is but death who comes at last.
johnriley
Posted 17/01/2016 - 10:42 Link
Brian, that's a bit extreme. If I were using a company and found them to be excellent in every respect, rather like SRS, then I wouldn't be seeking reviews of them. If I saw a bad review I would leave the parties concerned to sort it out between themselves. I wouldn't see a whole mass of bad reviews when a company is good.

Now, if I saw another company that regularly received negative comments, then I would approach them with caution. I have dealt with another company where this is so, and found that provided purchases were clear cut and in stock there was no problem. I wouldn't buy a camera body from this other company, but I would buy a lens which is far less likely top pose a problem. In this instance the risk would be low if the price was substantially lower.

In other words, it's a matter of common sense.
Best regards, John
stigg
Posted 17/01/2016 - 11:25 Link
John, companies change from time to time and just because they have been good in the past it doesn't follow that this will always be the case so reviews are helpful so we can make informed decisions at the time of our purchases. Obviously it's up to us to make that decision but to just say they have always been good so they must be good now could be a bit short sighted. It takes a long time in business to build up trust and respect but is very quickly lost as a lot of them have found out! I have my favourite retailers, SRS being one of them, but I still keep my eye on other peoples opinions just in case!
All the best
Brian

And come him slow or come him fast it is but death who comes at last.
Gwyn
Posted 17/01/2016 - 11:54 Link
It really isn't unusual for companies to take six weeks or longer to arrive at a conclusion about an object sent for repair under guarantee. Lenovo took all of the six weeks maximum they said it would take to assess my computer and inform me that the screen was irrepairable, something I knew the day I sent it off.
Canon took 10 weeks to inform His Nibs that his camera was beyond repair, and then refused to replace it, but offered a voucher for a new one. We eventually got our money back from them but it took some doing. The retailer in question was less than helpful. His Nibs got a Pentax after that.

It will get sorted, one way or another, and in the meantime I think we should butt out and let the parties involved get on with sorting it as best they can.
Hopefully Neil will come back a update this thread when a conclusion has been reached.
Horst
Posted 17/01/2016 - 12:46 Link
Gwyn wrote:

Quote:
t really isn't unusual for companies to take six weeks or longer to arrive at a conclusion about an object sent for repair under guarantee. Lenovo took all of the six weeks maximum they said it would take to assess my computer and inform me that the screen was irrepairable, something I knew the day I sent it off.
Canon took 10 weeks to inform His Nibs that his camera was beyond repair, and then refused to replace it, but offered a voucher for a new one.

Just because it isn't unusual doesn't mean it has or should be like this. The Arrogance of this companies should be quite unacceptable. Companies like Canon and maybe Nikon probably can afford to be like this. They are on top of the selling chain and are supported by many publications.
However for Pentax to be like this and to be unapproachable is pure stupidity.
Pentax is right on the bottom of the food chain and I believe is just lucky that people like us are around who know and appreciate the quality product Pentax makes. Why they don't learn and push theire products by giving exploratory customer service escapes me.

Gwen further wrote:

Quote:
It will get sorted, one way or another, and in the meantime I think we should butt out and let the parties involved get on with sorting it as best they can.

Of course like everything it will get sorted one way or the other, But how long will it take and how happy will the customer be?
This is not the way to go, by saying: "well you just have to wait something may happen sooner or later"
I personally would not want to be without my camera for 6 weeks or more.

Regards, Horst


Regards, Horst
Gwyn
Posted 17/01/2016 - 13:19 Link
Horst, I didn't say it was acceptable that companies do this, but there is very lttle you can do about it. Screaming blue murder on the internet will make no difference to it at all, and indeed could delay things further if anyone involved reads it.

I have said all I am going to say on this. Continuing the thread isn't going to make Pentax do anything any different, but it could damage SRS, which is what I meant about cutting off one's nose.

If Neil feels he needs to take more action he should get in touch with the Citizens aAdvice Bureau, (or whatever they are called nowadays, the Consumer association, a major newspaper's consumer affairs department or even a solicitor.
He has not come back to this thread so he is possibly regretting going public with all this. Let's leave it as it is shall we?
dcweather
Posted 17/01/2016 - 18:52 Link
SRS give about the best customer service I have ever got from anyone and not only do they care but they exist as a contactable real shop which you can't say for many these days. I also know that because I have had both Sigma and Pentax stuff go wrong (and no doubt Nikon and Canon as well if I'd had any!) that it is the manufacturers who are the problem. When Sigma were taking an age to fix my 150-500, SRS gave me a brand new one as they considered Sigma's delay unacceptable (and it was over a year old).
Dave
stigg
Posted 17/01/2016 - 20:11 Link
Dave, I agree with you about SRS but Neil has his contract with them not the manufacturer as stated in the consumer act which protect the customer. If for arguments sake the item in question was not fit for purpose then Neil would have to take legal action against SRS to get his money back or a new item not Pentax or Sigma ect.
All the best
Brian

And come him slow or come him fast it is but death who comes at last.
NeilP
Posted 18/01/2016 - 23:01 Link
Sorry been away for the weekend and just seen all this.

For the record, I cant fault SRS on trying to sort this issue. Reading back my original post I can't see anyone could have come to that conclusion. I emailed SRS before I went away after posting on here say as much and if this issue is not satisfactorily resolved I will be changing camera manufacturer, but not the shop I buy my camera equipment from. SRS having been working to sort this, please stop .

Perhaps I shouldn't have sounded off on a public forum but having waited 6 weeks for Pentax to respond to one of their Pro Dealers and having been without my camera for some winter projects I had planned, having defended and gained Pentax a number of customers waited patiently I then got the response I did. And that was the evening after I posted on twitter asking Ricoh to contact SRS (perhaps a coincidence I don't know). So who knows perhaps Pentax Ricoh UK will take notice of this thread. On the other hand they are yet to respond to my email forwarded on to them by SRS on Thursday evening....

Talking to a Olympus using friend about this and he told me he had a fault develop in his camera and it went off to be repaired. During in repairing the messed up something which caused a delay in them returning his camera. So they replaced it with the up to date model as compensation. What a contrast in attitudes to their customers...
Horst
Posted 19/01/2016 - 00:28 Link
NeilP wrote:

Quote:
Perhaps I shouldn't have sounded off on a public forum but having waited 6 weeks for Pentax to respond to one of their Pro Dealers and having been without my camera for some winter projects I had planned,

I can not see anything wrong with what you did. As you can see, you got a reaction.

The only way sometimes is to sound off in public. It often helps

Better than sitting at home and sulking quietly and let others take advantage of you.

I do the same thing, with the difference, that I have "Foot in Mouth disease". This often gets me in to some trouble.
Especially with the Pentax User management.

Regards, Horst
giofi
Posted 19/01/2016 - 06:28 Link
Gwyn wrote:
It really isn't unusual for companies to take six weeks or longer to arrive at a conclusion about an object sent for repair under guarantee. Lenovo took all of the six weeks maximum they said it would take to assess my computer and inform me that the screen was irrepairable, something I knew the day I sent it off.
Canon took 10 weeks to inform His Nibs that his camera was beyond repair, and then refused to replace it, but offered a voucher for a new one. We eventually got our money back from them but it took some doing. The retailer in question was less than helpful. His Nibs got a Pentax after that.

It will get sorted, one way or another, and in the meantime I think we should butt out and let the parties involved get on with sorting it as best they can.
Hopefully Neil will come back a update this thread when a conclusion has been reached.

Gwyn, I think it isn't unusual for some companies to provide this type of customer service. That is why it is very useful for people to post their experience. There are other computer manufacturers who would repair you laptop in a matter of days, and when you select your laptop you might want to be able to compare what is the actual customer experience by reading what real users have to say.

Leading consumer goods companies spend a significant amount of money in monitoring social sentiment and what people say on social media. This is because most buyers will do a web search when deciding to buy something and they will rely on reviews and comments more than to most other sources of information. Leading companies would even react to posts like this, as they know this will cost them much more in lost sales than the repair cost.

So I believe the OP was absolutely right to share his experience, everyone can then reach their own conclusions.

My two cents...
stigg
Posted 19/01/2016 - 07:27 Link
Neil I still believe that your contract is with SRS and as such they should have maybe lent you a camera while they were sorting this out with their supplier, and your original post was fine by the way.
All the best
Brian

And come him slow or come him fast it is but death who comes at last.
Cliff-P
Posted 19/01/2016 - 19:38 Link
NeilP wrote:

In fact there may be some nice gear on sale here soon, and a Nikon D500 is suddenly and option.

One incredibly disappointed now ex-loyal Pentaxian

Go for it Neil you wont regret it....trust me
Cliff.




My Flickr link
Nikon D750, D7000 , Nikkor 80-400, 70-300 and 18-200 lenses

Add Comment

To leave a comment - Log in to Pentax User or create a new account.