Marginally better than the Sony G 70-400 II but Sony cannot service/fix it if it goes wrong

Gary-West Sussex · Aug 3, 2015

Poor rating is due solely to the fact that Sony cannot fix this lens if it goes wrong. I waited several months for an in warranty focus failure to be fixed and eventually (after months of complaining) Sony gave me a full refund. I dread to think what I would have been left with if it had failed a couple of weeks out of warranty. It is only marginally better than the Sony G 70-400 II which offers far better value for money.

BigGG · Aug 3, 2015

What did you mean by "could not fix this lens" ?

GaryG

ILCA77M2user · Aug 3, 2015

Your half star seems to be more about Sony's poor repair service than it does about the lens.

Evildogofdoom · Aug 3, 2015

ILCA77M2user said:
Your half star seems to be more about Sony's poor repair service than it does about the lens.

I adore my copy. Bolted down on a good tripod it gives stunning results. Noticeably better than the 70-400.

What repairs are Sony unable to carry out?

steelhead3 · Aug 3, 2015

My 300 2.8 makes the 70/400 look pedestrian (and the 70/400 is very good)

tbcass · Aug 4, 2015

Gary-West Sussex said:
Poor rating is due solely to the fact that Sony cannot fix this lens if it goes wrong. I waited several months for an in warranty focus failure to be fixed and eventually (after months of complaining) Sony gave me a full refund. I dread to think what I would have been left with if it had failed a couple of weeks out of warranty. It is only marginally better than the Sony G 70-400 II which offers far better value for money.

The 300mm is f2.8 so that alone makes it much more than marginally better. It's a prime so you can't really compare it to the 70-400.

On a different note these reviews you should be rating the lens, not Sony's service which is a different issue entirely. For the vast majority of people who are considering this lens your review is useless. Why couldn't Sony fix it? Who was the repair service?

steelhead3 · Aug 4, 2015

I wish Gary would get back with us with an explanation of what is wrong with his lens and why Sony couldn't fix it. No spare parts puts it the realm of a dead mount.

Gary-West Sussex · Aug 4, 2015

Correct...... but if you pay this kind of price you expect a prefessional service...... not the service I had to go to battle for! ...... I loved the lens which I used a lot with a 1.4 teleconverter...... but I would not buy one again

Gary-West Sussex · Aug 4, 2015

Manual and Auto focus not working correctly.....

Gary-West Sussex · Aug 4, 2015

The Repair Service was Sony EU.

Hats off to Sony Customer Services UK who eventually (2+ months) picked up the fact that there was a serious problem here and suddenly I had a friend who shared my frustration and instigated a full refund ....... because Sony could not fix the problem in a reasonable time.

Gary-West Sussex · Aug 4, 2015

........ I was promised a repair about 4 times with parts coming from Japan (presumably) and each time they failed to turn up on time..... which is where Sony UK Customer Services stepped in and gave me a full refund........ but would I buy another one? ..... no I don't think so..... I have better things to do with my time than chasing down people who fail to deliver when they said they would. With the exception of Sony UK Customer Services who did exactly what they said they would..... but in overall service terms it was regretably too late. All I was thinking by that time was "what if this had happened out of warranty?" ...... I would probably be looking at 3 months plus for a repair and it would have cost a serious amount of money. Sony needs to get their support service sorted out.

Gary-West Sussex · Aug 4, 2015

The 300mm is f2.8 so that alone makes it much more than marginally better. It's a prime so you can't really compare it to the 70-400.

Yes I can..... I use the 70-400 II mostly at the far end and can compare results directly with the 300mm II. It is marginally better than the 70-400 II.

On a different note these reviews you should be rating the lens, not Sony's service which is a different issue entirely. For the vast majority of people who are considering this lens your review is useless. Why couldn't Sony fix it? Who was the repair service?

It was quite clear in my review that my score was about the service. The repair service was Sony UK and the reason they couldn't fix it was they could not get the parts. How would you feel if you were let down 4 times on a promise after several months? All credit to Sony Customer Services UK who eventually got hold of the problem and gave me a full refund. But would I risk buying another 300mm? No.

The reason for my score was to make people aware of the risks they are taking in purchasing this outstanding lens.

tbcass · Aug 4, 2015

Gary-West Sussex said:
Sony needs to get their support service sorted out.

Apparently in the UK they do.

Gary-West Sussex · Aug 4, 2015

..... having said all that...... when the lens was working correctly it was simply stunning!

Douglas F Watt · Aug 4, 2015

Gary-West Sussex said:
The 300mm is f2.8 so that alone makes it much more than marginally better. It's a prime so you can't really compare it to the 70-400.

Yes I can..... I use the 70-400 II mostly at the far end and can compare results directly with the 300mm II. It is marginally better than the 70-400 II.

On a different note these reviews you should be rating the lens, not Sony's service which is a different issue entirely. For the vast majority of people who are considering this lens your review is useless. Why couldn't Sony fix it? Who was the repair service?

It was quite clear in my review that my score was about the service. The repair service was Sony UK and the reason they couldn't fix it was they could not get the parts. How would you feel if you were let down 4 times on a promise after several months? All credit to Sony Customer Services UK who eventually got hold of the problem and gave me a full refund. But would I risk buying another 300mm? No.

The reason for my score was to make people aware of the risks they are taking in purchasing this outstanding lens.

Hi Gary

Let me try to amplify and clarify some of the concerns and questions that have been presented without putting you on some kind of defensive. That last sentence of yours (this outstanding lens) is really the first thing you've said about the lens. I understand that the service experience has soured you on the lens, but it seems to me that you never really reviewed the lens from the standpoint of its optics (or even its reliability where you could have been somewhat harsh at least in your limited sampling) but just its service. No samples either from which to judge your assessment that it is only marginally better than the excellent Sony G2. In my experience with an earlier gen 300 2.8, it is sharper than both the Tamron 150-300 and the Sony 70-400 g2 if stopped down to 4.0 and properly MFAed. If you add a 1.4 TC, then even at 420mm 5.6, it is only modestly to minimally sharper than the two zooms at 400. But that's not a knock on the lens, as all of these expensive tele primes lose a little bit of definition with even the best 1.4TCs.

I own several of these big tele primes, including a 600 f4 that if it was damaged, would likely be unrepairable. In a long Sony A forum review I said that this has to be considered when you purchase one of these beasts, but I also spent a lot of time talking about the lens' superb overall performance, and when you compare it to Canikon's offerings, excellent price/performance ratio. All this type of content is completely missing from your review of the lens, which again is mainly a blast at Sony's service. That's why you are getting some push back. Make sense?

Gary-West Sussex · Aug 4, 2015

Totally understand what you are saying but I feel that my views are justified. You do not buy a lens of this stunning ability and associated cost to be left high and dry if something goes wrong.

Let me try another approach..... if you buy a new (and I mean straight out the factory) run-of-the-mill runabout car and it breaks down after 8 months and then takes a few days, maybe a couple of weeks to fix, you kind of accept this and are pleased to get your transport back when it is fixed and if you are advised of progress along the way and the repairers keep to their promises.

If you buy a top of the range prestiege car and it breaks down after 8 months..... you get a replacement car (no questions asked) which you keep till your car is fixed and returned to you in perfect working order.

In either instance you are reasonably happy........

If when buying the expensive prestiege car the garage had told you "well its going to take a month to fix" and as a good will gesture we will send you a free tyre (but not a replacement car) how would you feel? ....... and then after chasing progress again you are told "mmmm we can't get the parts as quick as we thought and its going to be another 2 weeks".... and you are still without transport.... how would you feel then? If this happens a couple of more times before the problem gets escalated to a sensible person (at last) which happened to be the head of customer services who appologises and says "we will definitely get the parts and fix your car in 10 days..... and then contacts you again to say "oops we need another few days to fix this and if we can't we will give you a full refund".......... you have now been without a car for several months (but you have a nice new tyre that the man kindly sent you as promised) and you are left thinking "as an organisation do these guys really understand my perspective as a consumer?"

If I spend this kind on money on a lens I expect a top notch support service sitting behind it. I would have expected it to be fixed inside 4 weeks and returned to me. Do you think I am being unreasonable?

Ralf B · Aug 4, 2015

Gary-West Sussex said:
If I spend this kind on money on a lens I expect a top notch support service sitting behind it. I would have expected it to be fixed inside 4 weeks and returned to me. Do you think I am being unreasonable?

IMO you are spot on!

What your lousy experience hints at is the risk of buying a brand new top of the range lens which may be obsolete due to lack of parts at the time of buying it. Unacceptable.

Cheers,
Ralf

Jeadm · Aug 4, 2015

After reading everything up to this point, I'm coming down on Gary's side here. This lens is $7500 in the U.S. with the usual Sony 1 yr. warranty. If I ended up with a $7500 doorstop after 366 days with no clear or reasonable window for getting it repaired and no recourse, I would be livid. I think the review is legit; an outstanding lens that (for him) suffered early failure, with unsolvable issues getting it repaired. Seems more than fair.

Lensmate · Aug 4, 2015

Gary-West Sussex said:
Totally understand what you are saying but I feel that my views are justified. You do not buy a lens of this stunning ability and associated cost to be left high and dry if something goes wrong.

Let me try another approach..... if you buy a new (and I mean straight out the factory) run-of-the-mill runabout car and it breaks down after 8 months and then takes a few days, maybe a couple of weeks to fix, you kind of accept this and are pleased to get your transport back when it is fixed and if you are advised of progress along the way and the repairers keep to their promises.

If you buy a top of the range prestiege car and it breaks down after 8 months..... you get a replacement car (no questions asked) which you keep till your car is fixed and returned to you in perfect working order.

In either instance you are reasonably happy........

If when buying the expensive prestiege car the garage had told you "well its going to take a month to fix" and as a good will gesture we will send you a free tyre (but not a replacement car) how would you feel? ....... and then after chasing progress again you are told "mmmm we can't get the parts as quick as we thought and its going to be another 2 weeks".... and you are still without transport.... how would you feel then? If this happens a couple of more times before the problem gets escalated to a sensible person (at last) which happened to be the head of customer services who appologises and says "we will definitely get the parts and fix your car in 10 days..... and then contacts you again to say "oops we need another few days to fix this and if we can't we will give you a full refund".......... you have now been without a car for several months (but you have a nice new tyre that the man kindly sent you as promised) and you are left thinking "as an organisation do these guys really understand my perspective as a consumer?"

If I spend this kind on money on a lens I expect a top notch support service sitting behind it. I would have expected it to be fixed inside 4 weeks and returned to me. Do you think I am being unreasonable?

Feel for ya Gary and I know where you are coming from......shame really!

Go for it again....surely you'll get a better version! Many products can be lemons..especially cars!

Don't get me started on that one....

Good luck.........

-Martin P

Martin Passchier

Explore Martin Passchier’s 973 photos on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

Douglas F Watt · Aug 4, 2015

Gary-West Sussex said:
Totally understand what you are saying but I feel that my views are justified. You do not buy a lens of this stunning ability and associated cost to be left high and dry if something goes wrong.

Let me try another approach..... if you buy a new (and I mean straight out the factory) run-of-the-mill runabout car and it breaks down after 8 months and then takes a few days, maybe a couple of weeks to fix, you kind of accept this and are pleased to get your transport back when it is fixed and if you are advised of progress along the way and the repairers keep to their promises.

If you buy a top of the range prestiege car and it breaks down after 8 months..... you get a replacement car (no questions asked) which you keep till your car is fixed and returned to you in perfect working order.

In either instance you are reasonably happy........

If when buying the expensive prestiege car the garage had told you "well its going to take a month to fix" and as a good will gesture we will send you a free tyre (but not a replacement car) how would you feel? ....... and then after chasing progress again you are told "mmmm we can't get the parts as quick as we thought and its going to be another 2 weeks".... and you are still without transport.... how would you feel then? If this happens a couple of more times before the problem gets escalated to a sensible person (at last) which happened to be the head of customer services who appologises and says "we will definitely get the parts and fix your car in 10 days..... and then contacts you again to say "oops we need another few days to fix this and if we can't we will give you a full refund".......... you have now been without a car for several months (but you have a nice new tyre that the man kindly sent you as promised) and you are left thinking "as an organisation do these guys really understand my perspective as a consumer?"

If I spend this kind on money on a lens I expect a top notch support service sitting behind it. I would have expected it to be fixed inside 4 weeks and returned to me. Do you think I am being unreasonable?

I think that you are completely missing the point. You don't need to justify your upset with Sony and their service - rehashing why you are upset isn't needed. I get it.

You need to place it in a different forum than what is supposed to be an equipment review. Equipment reviews are not the place to comment on a bad service experience. It belongs instead in a thread on lens service, but not an equipment review. This happens on Amazon all the time, when someone reviews a crappy experience with a merchant from the product review page. This is slightly different, but still, it's displaced. Do you understand what I am saying?

Marginally better than the Sony G 70-400 II but Sony cannot service/fix it if it goes wrong

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