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My frustration with Sony service

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photonut2008

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I just got off the phone this morning with a polite customer service representative regarding my CZ 24-70/2.8 lens which is at Laredo. She said Sony would resolve my issues to my satisfaction; that's reassuring, but since my camera and lens has been there the entire month of January (minus the one week I had it back and the lens hadn't been fixed), well it's too late for the issue to be resolved satisfactorily for me.

What do you think? Is more than a month too long for a problem to be resolved? If not, then how long before you would be dissatisfied with your service experience?
--
Anthony Beach
 
Glenn said:
They should be replacing the lens for you at this point I would think.
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That's what I think too.
Glenn said:
whats the issue?
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Smeared detail at the corners wider than 30mm, which is uncorrectable at any aperture and apparent at all focus distances. Basically, I have a 30-70/2.8, at least as far as I'm concerned.
--
Anthony Beach
 
Sounds odd to me. I sent my 24-70 to Loredo earlier in the year to fix a problem in the zoom ring. They replaced the linkage and had it back to me in a week.
 
If what I've read is true,, then the optical module is made by zeiss, whereas the mechanics of the lens (gearing, housing, etc) are from Sony.

Assuming this, then your problem wouldn't seem to take as long. Supposedly on optical problems, though, Sony has to acquire a new optical component from Zeiss, and the assembly has to be done in Japan.

I have no idea how true this is, but I've read it somewhere (maybe here?) before.
headofdestiny said:
Sounds odd to me. I sent my 24-70 to Loredo earlier in the year to fix a problem in the zoom ring. They replaced the linkage and had it back to me in a week.
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--
JL Smith
http://jl-smith.smugmug.com
Gear listed in profile!
 
akjos said:
Sorry to hear that, makes me think twice about Sony FX route....
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To be fair, I've had a couple of problems with Nikon service too. My PC-E lenses went in for modification in December 2008 and sat there for nearly a month with poor communication from Nikon about the status of the requested service. Nikon finally sent them back to me unmodified, and I ended up modifying the 24mm lens myself and had to send the 45mm lens back in to have it modified. I also have had issues with dust behind the rear glass LCD cover of my D300, a problem that has been twice dealt with by El Segundo, and I still have dust intrusion back there.

As for my Sony 35FF experience. If I had it to do over again, I think I would consider the Tamron 28-75/2.8 and the CZ 16-35/2.8 as my first options, and skip the 24-70/2.8. I would hate to end up dumping my Sony gear over something like this because I simply love the image quality I get from my A850.
--
Anthony Beach
 
I sent my 70-300G for repair in December before the warranty ran out. I had a frustrating time trying to talk to a repair technician (I was told by the customer rep that technicians don't have access to call customers directly. I wanted to talk to a tech because earlier in the year, I had sent that lens for repair and it was not repaired correctly. Anyway, I was told there are parts on back-order.

I called again in a week and parts were still on order. This time, I spoke with a much more helpful rep (Hugo), who told me in detail which parts were on back-order.

Less than a week later, I received a call saying that since parts are still on back order, I would be receiving a brand new lens. That was what I hoped for in the first place. All in all, the outcome was very good. I took a total of a month plus shipping time for the new lens (it was all around the holidays). But, front-line cusotmer service needs improvement, especially when dealing with pro caliber lenses, like yours.

Try calling Laredo again with your service ticket and you should be able to get a call back. They seem to do a good job if you get to speak to the right person. I received a card from the service manager the first time around (packed with my lens). The card had a number to call in case of a problem.

--
FEM2008
 
headofdestiny said:
Sounds odd to me. I sent my 24-70 to Loredo earlier in the year to fix a problem in the zoom ring. They replaced the linkage and had it back to me in a week.
Click to expand...
It's a little complicated because the lens originally went in with my A850 (which had a different problem), and the lens just seemed to get lost in the mix the first time it was there. The technician that contacted me by email on Friday afternoon wrote that he didn't see the problem, which might explain why they didn't fix it the first time.

I will say that once the camera was received, Sony fixed the problem and sent it back within a week. On the negative side of the camera experience though, it took a full week for the camera to arrive at my door after it left Laredo (I live in California). OTOH, Sony sent me a 3 day UPS shipping label when they finally got back to me to respond to my complaints about the lens not being fixed after its first trip to Laredo. Still, it took Sony from Monday until Friday to respond to me when I complained, which has contributed to the problem persisting for over a month now.
--
Anthony Beach
 
jl_smith said:
If what I've read is true,, then the optical module is made by zeiss, whereas the mechanics of the lens (gearing, housing, etc) are from Sony.

Assuming this, then your problem wouldn't seem to take as long. Supposedly on optical problems, though, Sony has to acquire a new optical component from Zeiss, and the assembly has to be done in Japan.

I have no idea how true this is, but I've read it somewhere (maybe here?) before.
Click to expand...
It seems reasonable to me since the lens has two separate serial numbers.
--
Anthony Beach
 
FEM2008 said:
I sent my 70-300G for repair in December before the warranty ran out. I had a frustrating time trying to talk to a repair technician (I was told by the customer rep that technicians don't have access to call customers directly. I wanted to talk to a tech because earlier in the year, I had sent that lens for repair and it was not repaired correctly. Anyway, I was told there are parts on back-order.
Click to expand...
As I noted in a reply above, this is not exclusively a Sony issue. Indeed, Nikon will not let you communicate directly with their technicians either.
--
Anthony Beach
 
photonut2008 said:
jl_smith said:
If what I've read is true,, then the optical module is made by zeiss, whereas the mechanics of the lens (gearing, housing, etc) are from Sony.

Assuming this, then your problem wouldn't seem to take as long. Supposedly on optical problems, though, Sony has to acquire a new optical component from Zeiss, and the assembly has to be done in Japan.

I have no idea how true this is, but I've read it somewhere (maybe here?) before.
Click to expand...
It seems reasonable to me since the lens has two separate serial numbers.
--
Anthony Beach
Click to expand...
Makes sense to me, too.
 
akjos said:
I thought that 24-70 zeiss is one the THE main reasons to go with sony FF .... as one of the best zooms ever.
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It might be. I was certainly impressed with the reviews. FWIW, from 35-50mm (the heart of its range) this lens is exceptional. Also, Sony does offer IS on it, which is something you can't get in this range with either Nikon or Canon.
akjos said:
Sucks that you have issues with yours.
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Yeah, I think so too. There are also some disconcerting reports of issues with the zoom sticking (a little) on some copies of this lens. I'm not the only one who has had optical issues with this lens either, it's just that I feel let down by Sony's service right now -- hopefully that will all change and I'll follow-up here with better news.
--
Anthony Beach
 
I have been in camera retail business for 22 years and when dealing with most repairs it normally takes about a month but I will give credit to Sony they are usually a lot faster in most cases. The parts needed for your lens are most likely on back order that is why it is taking this long. From my own personal cameras that I sent to Sony for repair a Minolta Dimage A1 it was having the ccd replaced it took about 10 days from time they received to the time I got it back and it was repaired free and with a prepaid shipping and with 2 Minolta 7d's I sent in one had the black frame issue that was fixed for free with free shipping but on the second body the AS went out and I was told the parts were on back order and it would take a about a month to receive

them well after about 5 days later I get a call from Sony telling me they could no longer get the parts to fix my 7d well to my shock I am offered a check for 1600.00 so I could buy another camera that I liked! At the time all Sony had to offer me was the A100 but I explain to them I felt it was a step down from the 7d ( no vertical grip, no pc socket) so they sent me a check for 1600.00. It blew my mind Nikon or Canon as long as I have been in the business have never done anything like that to my knowledge. So I used the Minolta 7d I still had until Sony released the A700 and I bought one instead of buying Nikon or Canon because I felt I got super service from Sony for 3 camera's they didn't even make I will give them first shot at my business. Sony will make it right.
 
linzdoctor7d said:
At the time all Sony had to offer me was the A100 but I explain to them I felt it was a step down from the 7d ( no vertical grip, no pc socket) so they sent me a check for 1600.00. It blew my mind Nikon or Canon as long as I have been in the business have never done anything like that to my knowledge. So I used the Minolta 7d I still had until Sony released the A700 and I bought one instead of buying Nikon or Canon because I felt I got super service from Sony for 3 camera's they didn't even make I will give them first shot at my business. Sony will make it right.
Click to expand...
I too have received great service from Laredo (Precision Camera in CT is a different story).

I have used Laredo 3 times on two camera bodies and one lens. On the two bodies Laredo had the problems fixed and returned to me in a week. The lens was a SAL70300G. Originally I had two problems with it, focusing and FOV (Field of View). The focus issue was fixed on the first try but they didn't fix the FOV problem (couldn't duplicate it, according to the technician). I was not happy that they didn't contact me before sending the lens back so I complained to the technician and I received a 3-day UPS label in e-mail 2 hours after we got off the phone. I sent the lens in and asked them to have a technician check out the FOV by comparing to another copy of the SAL70300G, not just running through the computer-based tests, before sending it back to me.

Surprisingly the day after they received the lens on its second trip to Laredo, I received an e-mail from the technician, with a video clip attached. What's in the video was the technician doing a manual test, using two copies of the SAL70300G (one of them being mine, as shown by a close-up shot on the serial number). The images of the test shots of test charts from both cameras are also attached to the e-mail, and they seem to be identical.

And of course the lens came back two days later with the problem fixed. I was quite impressed to say the least. :)
 
... I dropped my A900 on concrete earlier this year. Yikes. The body cracked, the sensor got shifted, and the Imagestabilizer broke.

Although I also had to wait for some 3 weeks due to parts on back-order, they actually fixed the camera at a very customer-friendly rate: I only had to pay for the cracked body. Any internal damage was covered by manufacturers warranty.
WOW. This was super nice from Sony.

--
Sony Alpha 900 user...

Zeiss 2.8/24-70 SSM, Minolta 2.8/100 macro, Sony 1.4/50, Sony 2.8/70-200 SSM, Sony 1.4x TC, Minolta 4.5/400 HS, Sigma 12-24, Metz 54 MZ-4, Vivitar 285HV, Canon S90

see some of my images at
http://christianriedel.com
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_search.php?action=file&userID=953875

 
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