camera repair gone bad
 

I sent my tamron 17-50 to a local camera repair shop to do a overhaul and lens cleaning. there was also a lose front plastic ring that holds the filter which they repaired. The total bill came to $200. I felt a little ripped off as the lens is only $450. when I got the lens back, I felt the zoom ring a little stiffer than before. I thought because they over hauled it so things are more tight, but few only a few photoshoots later. The zoom broke and it will not retract.



I took the lens back to the camera shop. They opened it up and called me to go see it. Basicly it looks like the printed circuit board was all chewed up like a screw was rubbing against it all the time, so when I rotate the zoom, it'll grind the circuit board a little. They claim that when they opened up the lens to overhaul and clean they did not even open the back side so it is not their fault that the printed circuit board is all damaged. Now they want $130 for to replace the printed circuit board. I feel like I am being completely ripped off by these guys.



I've e-mailed the store in request for a photograph of the damage so I can get some experts opinions.



Please help me out with some advice. I really don't want to get ripped off by these guys if they are the one who broke my lens in the first place. Your expertise is very appreciated!



ps. I bought the lens second hand so I did not have warrentee.

Another dissatisfied Camtex customer. I'm assuming it's Camtex because horror stories like this is what they're famous for. Of course, it's also entirely possible that the damage in totally unrelated to the first fix.

You'll need proof that they did indeed break your lens, and unfortunately it's almost impossible to do that.

Was the lens dirty on the internal surfaces? Was it not working properly in some way before you dropped it off (stiff focusing, grinding gears, etc)? Was it like that when you bought it from the previous owner?

Tamron does have a repair facility, but it's in Toronto. You can send it to them if you want for proper servicing, but they do tend to be a little slow.

im starting to worry about my tamron 17-50. how long have you had the lens for? i'm currently 2 months in, 150 shots taken so far.

the lens had no stiff focusing, no grinding gears, nothing. It functioned perfectly and had smooth zooming. I've e-mailed tamron and I got this back from them:

Hi Ricky,

It does sound like you were ripped off. We charge only $155 for factory service on that lens. It is possible that they caused severe damage, and you may wish to hold them responsible. We only have three authorized Tamron repair centers in the United States: us in NY, Metro Camera in NY, and California Precision Service in California. If it was not one of these three centers, then they were not authorized to repair that lens, did not receive training on how to properly repair that lens, and do not have the proper equipment to service that product.

Lenses are very precise devices, and so 3rd party service is almost never successful. You may send us the lens for a free estimate if you would like to know if (a) it can be corrected and (b) how much fixing the damage would cost.

If you would like to send it in for repair, please fill out the attached repair form, and include it with your lens. Please be sure to include a detailed description of what's wrong. You do not need to include a warranty card or receipt for out-of-warranty equipment.

Our current turn-around time is approximately 3 weeks to ship from estimate approval, depending on the volume of lenses that we receive at the same time as yours. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to contact me!



Regards,


I e-mailed camtex and I haven't gotten the photo I asked for. including the first repair cost, this lens is already costed me $650. I bought it for 450. There is no way I am giving them $130 again for something I am pretty sure caused by them. If you have seen the damage, you can tell they either tightened a screw too much or left it lose so when you turn the zoom it'll grind the circuit board.
What should I do?

rageguy, you shouldn't worry about your lens, the OP sent it in to get cleaned and that's when it got f'ed up.

I like to follow the old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". I find cleaning or fixing things that are working perfectly fine usually makes things worse! I'll clean the front of my lens and CCD though :).

Boostaholic, If you can wait until January, I can get in touch with the Canadian Tamron rep and see what he says.

Isn't the Tamron like 6 years warranty? How come you didn't send it in? The loose plastic front ring is a very easy fix on youtube. I just got my Tamron 17-50 VC. So far so good.

^^^ I'm guessing no receipt.

o really? damn that just made me feel even more ripped off.

the 6 year warranty isn't transferable from the original owner. I bought the lens used.

omg! camtex charged me $200 to do this! I had the exact same problem!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiOj-7MAO_w

Yeah I was looking for comparisons between your lens and the new VC model and I came across that video about a week or so ago hehe. I woulda posted if you asked in the forum.

I feel like punching that Allen guy from camtex in the face. He was like saying "the front element of the lens is all messed up inside, the treadings were all messed up thats why it's loose. we need to order in a new part for you. and your lens is very dirty inside, you should get it cleaned. Then he charged me $75 for the part and $120 for labour or something to fix that lose front plastic piece and clean the lens.

They better give me back my lens for free or I'm going to post this horror story on every fucking single photography web forum I can find.

Make sure you don't break any libel or slander laws.

?? please explain?

Crack open a dictionary.

ok well theres another thing. first he said he'll call me and let me know the price of the part before ordering. but I never got the call. 2 weeks later. he called me saying the part has arrived and he will install it tomorrow. I asked him how much, he said $130. I thought it was expensive so I said hold it off and don't install it. I will get some advice from some experts. the next day I call to get a photograph of the damaged part, they already installed the new part. so at this point, am I forced to pay for the repair since I never said to go ahead with it in the first place?

No, if you never gave consent to repair, then they have no right to charge you. They're totally being unscrupulous here.

go into the shop and act crazy, cluck like a chicken, shit like that... maybe cover yourself in jam and nutella, hopefully they'll just be afraid and give you your money back. or you'll end up in jail, whichever.

next time make sure they're a manu-authorized repair facility. that's like taking your sony plasma to Billy Bob's Boob Tubes.

Complain to the better Better Business Bureau and if you paid by credit card just cancel it through your bank.

BBB is a joke. They have no real power.

THAT is true. when was the last time you consulted the BBB before purchasing a product or service? answer: never.

but yes, dispute through CC is a good idea. might be a hard sell though, they'll just say you agreed to the service.

Like Senna said, you didn't give them consent to do the work. Which is made even worse by you explicitly telling them NOT to do the work. I would also ask for some sort of proof that they even replaced the part they said they were replacing, and didn't just do what the guy in the youtube video did.

ok here is an update.

I went to the place and talked to that service manager allen.

I asked them to give me my lens back and I don't want to repair it with them. He was like come back tomorrow and I'll undo the repair.
I was like oh..
then I opened my laptop and showed him the youtube video.
first the video was showing how the lens is loose.
I asked him, that was the problem I had when I came in right?
he was like yes. then I was like ok keep watching.
then we watched how the guy fixed it with tightening 3 screws.
so I said "so you guys charged me $200 to tighten 3 screws"
he said "If you don't know how to tighten 3 screws, you deserves to be charged $300"
I said "well if i knew its just 3 screws, I would've done it myself"
then I said that's dishonest business and demanded his name.
he was like "Allan". I said whats your last name? he said "Allen Allen".
This guy is asian, so i asked him "you last name is allen? can I have your business card?" he was like "no"

basicly, the whole thing was a joke. He basically said I deserved to be charged $300 because I didn't know how to tighten 3 screws.

I will file a law suit against these guys. It's not even about the lens anymore. it's the principal behind ripping customers off.

allen? r u talking about bccamera at aberdeen?

get that bastard out of business Ricky..