Hi all, what a thread. A few things come to mind with all this.
Firstly. A retailer and manufacturer has the right to send faulty kit away to be assessed. I have worked in retail and people lie. Very few people walk into their dealer and admit the product has been soaked, dropped etc. If a retailer replaces every time, then the kit is water damaged, they loose out, big time. Also they have given a new product away for free....so they have effectively just lost a great deal of money...do you think if this happened and then the retailer calls the customer they would take the lens back????

Second, regarding Canon, Nikon....Yes these are the brands you see at all major events. This is not a market Pentax will even go near....let me paint a picture...London 2012, Olympics.....As a user of Canon, if you wanted any serious glass , 6 months prior to the event, top L series...you could not get it...Why....because it was being stock piled so Canon could let PRO's BORROW it ......not buy it....take it out on a daily basis....supporting about 400 Canon photogs...this is great if you are one of these chosen Pro's not good if you are not!!
Great support for top end Pro but the kit most people use is average, as is the glass.
They do have greater resources because they need better resources due to the huge user base, and to be honest, higher return rates that go with that.

Many people these days have terrible attitude when things "go wrong". Into the shop, shouting, threatening to slag them off on social media, ruin the reputation unless you do what they want.....it goes on every single day.....emailing the manufacturer direct and threatening them too.....keyboard warriors that think THEY have all the legal rights....well they dont....
These people deserve bad service!!!
It's a fact, things sometimes go wrong....NO matter what brand and the money they cost.
My advice.....be polite....tell the truth....ask if they can supply loan kit.....
Never threaten a retailer or manufacturer, this will have a negative effect....

Retail these days is hard.....every customer thinks he/she is the most important.....
I am not saying accept genuine bad service, but maybe if everybody is honest in the first place, respectful, calm and realistic....issues would be sorted sooner..
Demanding a replacement after you have used the kit for 3-4 months is not going to work....
What do you think the retailer will do with that, now second hand lens????
The supplier will not take it back.....

Buy from a respected UK dealer.....NOT MICROGLOBE!!!!! I know that they do not buy UK sourced stock. They have NO relationship with Ricoh Imaging at all!!
Build a relationship with them.
Don't always ask them to match the lowest price....they need to make a margin!!!
Recommend them to others.

This will always get you better service all round.

I like your post George.
I agree with what you say.
I just experienced people asking questions that obviously could not be be answered by the sales team while I was on stand.
These events are so customers can see the range of kit, not so we can try our best to extract obviously confidential information from a staff member (who probably does not know anyway....that is how the Japanese work), so somebody can then go and shout about it on the internet.

I'm sure they will have learned a great deal and I hope if they are there next year, things will be bigger and better.....they will have a new FF DSLR to shout about.

I believe Pentax had a European and Japanese representative for some time at the show. Also they had a number of demonstrators and ALL the UK staff.
Also, a modern Japanese corporate in the technology sector is a different animal to most industries...especially the business you where in.
I am sure they would rather sell the kit themselves, but I believe this is not allowed at the show.

I have to admit, I thought it was brilliant to see Ricoh at the show...
I am however very disappointed with the very negative attitude of forum members...
I was there on Monday, very busy day. I was told the busiest of the show.
The guys on stand never had a minute to spare!
A constant stream of people wanting to play and ask about the 645Z, as well as the other kit.
I spent a long time on the stand and I must say, the staff members handled it all very well. If anything, even I got annoyed with people asking questions that they knew they would not get an answer to!!!! Or asking questions that were overly technical and would not be information I would expect these guys to know.
Lets put it all into perspective, I know for a fact (from talking to the staff), Ricoh Imaging (or Pentax as we like to call them) have 7, full time employees in the UK. 7 !! yes 7!! That includes a guy that joined only two weeks ago....Sorry, cant remember his name.
I have a good friend that owns a successful camera business and I know this to be true.
So, Thanks Ricoh, from me, and I am sure others for being at the Photography Show.
The stand might not have been the biggest, or the most interesting to look at. But I got what I wanted out of it and I hope you are there next year.
I also hope you continue to develop great kit for me to buy....
Oh, and by the way, LCE were selling at the show for Pentax....some great deals on virtually everything.....so for people to moan about no show deals....not true...maybe you should have looked at one of the leaflets on the stand that have all the show specials......I was handed one by a very helpful chap when we were having a chat.....
And yes....I did buy as well.

I have to admit, I thought it was brilliant to see Ricoh at the show...
I am however very disappointed with the very negative attitude of forum members...
I was there on Monday, very busy day. I was told the busiest of the show.
The guys on stand never had a minute to spare!
A constant stream of people wanting to play and ask about the 645Z, as well as the other kit.
I spent a long time on the stand and I must say, the staff members handled it all very well. If anything, even I got annoyed with people asking questions that they knew they would not get an answer to!!!! Or asking questions that were overly technical and would not be information I would expect these guys to know.
Lets put it all into perspective, I know for a fact (from talking to the staff), Ricoh Imaging (or Pentax as we like to call them) have 7, full time employees in the UK. 7 !! yes 7!! That includes a guy that joined only two weeks ago....Sorry, cant remember his name.
I have a good friend that owns a successful camera business and I know this to be true.
So, Thanks Ricoh, from me, and I am sure others for being at the Photography Show.
The stand might not have been the biggest, or the most interesting to look at. But I got what I wanted out of it and I hope you are there next year.
I also hope you continue to develop great kit for me to buy....
Oh, and by the way, LCE were selling at the show for Pentax....some great deals on virtually everything.....so for people to moan about no show deals....not true...maybe you should have looked at one of the leaflets on the stand that have all the show specials......I was handed one by a very helpful chap when we were having a chat.....
And yes....I did buy as well.

I will be keeping my Sigma 70-200mm OS as well, I don't use it enough to warrant buying the Pentax lens. As for your prime, can't see it going up in value, it really depends on the new zoom .. after all it's f5.6 at 400mm and if it's near the quality of the 60-250mm it will be very good indeed.

Strangely enough I got an email from another retailer this morning with a £100 off each lens code.[/quote


Hi....who is offering this please??

Hi All, I bought a KS-1 last week from SRS. O own many Pentax cameras and I will tell you something.....IT IS A GREAT CAMERA!!!!!
Image quality is fantastic and it actually handles well.
It out performs the K50! in terms of image quality.
I also got a FREE FLU card, case, another 32MB card......GREAT DEAL!!

BE WARNED.....I have bought from them and then had an issue.

I bought a lens, 18-135mm. I went faulty and they were difficult with me. I then had a number of issues as it was not EU stock and Pentax UK would not auth a repair.

After a few months I did get a refund and bought another off SRS.

I also checked with Pentax UK and was told that Microglobe are not a customer, and do not by direct or through an authorised distributor.

Never again.......

On my way to SRS.....cash in pocket.....check the website....great offers for today only.....Had a chat with Dan before I set off. items in stock and I know later i will be a very happy man.

Hi all, I have not been on for a while.
Just called SRS......they are having a PENTAX day tomorrow.

DEALS!!!!!