Considering using Olympus USA repair? 🙁

JaKing wrote:

That stinks to heaven, Jim.

At least here in Oz, Olympus service is excellent and reasonably priced.

Are you folks accepting immigrants with cameras?

Jim Pilcher
Summit County, Colorado, USA
Living above life in the Rocky Mountains

James Pilcher wrote:

I post this as a public service to all Olympus owners in the USA...

I sent my Pen F in for repair some days ago. On Thursday I received a quote of $77 via email from the repair facility. I called and authorized the repair, gave my credit card info, and was told all is good and to expect my camera to be returned in 7-10 business days.

TODAY, Friday, I received another email from Olympus. The cost of repair is quoted at $173. There is no mention of yesterday’s quote and $77 payment. I’m now told the repair is on hold until I authorize the $173. ?????????

EVERY encounter I’ve had with Olympus USA repair since 2011 progresses like this one is shaping up. After several trips to the repair facility in 2011, they could not fix my E-5 and ended up refunding my money for that camera just to shut me up on this forum. I then dealt with dial problems on two Pen E-P5 bodies few years ago. One body went in twice for dial issues, and came back twice with no fix. Olympus replaced that body and it went sour within six months.

You buy Olympus and you take great risk.

Jim Pilcher
Summit County, Colorado, USA
Living above life in the Rocky Mountains

That sucks, Jim!!

What did they say when you told them you had already paid for the repair?

The Pen-F is such a well-crafted piece of technology, it's a shame to have bureaucracy mess it up so badly.

1. Walt Palmer wrote:

That sucks, Jim!!

What did they say when you told them you had already paid for the repair?

The Pen-F is such a well-crafted piece of technology, it's a shame to have bureaucracy mess it up so badly.

I tried calling Olympus about this today. The web site and emails to me indicate 9:00 am to 9:00 pm hours, Eastern Time. I called at 5:00 PM Mountain today (7:00 pm Eastern) and I got a message that I have called outside of Olympus business hours of 9:00 am to 5:30 pm.

So I’m left with another 2-1/2 days before I can even begin to address this. Kudos to Olympus.

Jim Pilcher
Summit County, Colorado, USA
Living above life in the Rocky Mountains

I had the opposite experience when I sent in an EM-1.1 a year or so ago for the not-uncommon rear dial problem.  I got an initial quote for repairs and authorized it, but in the end (about a week later) the camera showed up with a fixed rear dial and no charge.  I could not have asked for more.  (This was the NJ repair facility, in case there's more than one.)

wrangler5 wrote:

I had the opposite experience when I sent in an EM-1.1 a year or so ago for the not-uncommon rear dial problem. I got an initial quote for repairs and authorized it, but in the end (about a week later) the camera showed up with a fixed rear dial and no charge. I could not have asked for more. (This was the NJ repair facility, in case there's more than one.)

I’m glad your experience was a good one. 👍🏻

I’m having a bad Olympus day at the moment. We’ll see what next week brings.

Jim Pilcher
Summit County, Colorado, USA
Living above life in the Rocky Mountains

jeffpix wrote:

Hi all,

I sent in the Olympus 12-40 mm f/2.8 lens for repair to Olympus USA in 2018. The lens mount was damaged from a fall of about 3 feet, which occurred while the camera and lens were both inside a case. The lens was significantly tilted with respect to the correct axis perpendicular to the sensor plane, and it was a sad sight indeed.

I was pleasantly surprised by the very expeditious service from Olympus and by the fact that the lens came back in very good working order. It was a while ago, but I seem to remember that there was some confusion on whether I had actually authorized the repair at the specified cost. But this was quickly dealt with -- I was paying some attention to their web site, where you can track what is going on, and I also called a service number, where I got very prompt attention. So, all in all, it was quite a good experience.

Best regards,

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for your comment.

Yes, I'm monitoring my Olympus service order # also. Yesterday it said $76.69. I called, authorized the repair, and paid. My MasterCard shows the $76.69 charged to it yesterday. Today my Olympus service order # says $173.24, waiting for authorization, and there is no sign of the $76.69 that I already paid.

I sent a nasty note to Olympus, told them to get their act together, and that I'm not paying anything more than I already have.

Jim Pilcher
Summit County, Colorado, USA
Living above life in the Rocky Mountains

James Pilcher wrote:

I post this as a public service to all Olympus owners in the USA...

I sent my Pen F in for repair some days ago. On Thursday I received a quote of $77 via email from the repair facility. I called and authorized the repair, gave my credit card info, and was told all is good and to expect my camera to be returned in 7-10 business days.

TODAY, Friday, I received another email from Olympus. The cost of repair is quoted at $173. There is no mention of yesterday’s quote and $77 payment. I’m now told the repair is on hold until I authorize the $173. ?????????

EVERY encounter I’ve had with Olympus USA repair since 2011 progresses like this one is shaping up. After several trips to the repair facility in 2011, they could not fix my E-5 and ended up refunding my money for that camera just to shut me up on this forum. I then dealt with dial problems on two Pen E-P5 bodies few years ago. One body went in twice for dial issues, and came back twice with no fix. Olympus replaced that body and it went sour within six months.

You buy Olympus and you take great risk.

Jim Pilcher
Summit County, Colorado, USA
Living above life in the Rocky Mountains

My experience has been different:

I go to the website and fill out the quote information. It gives me an estimate at that time based on the description of the problem, along with a case # and mailing label and packing slip/work order to fill out.

I ship the item off.

The work is completed in less than a week for the amount quoted on the website.

Item is returned promptly.

Perhaps doing that instead of just shipping an item off and seeing what happens might be better?

Andersonm wrote:

To play devil's advocate here:

It's possible for a problem to appear simple to fix at first glance, but then to later find out it requires more extensive repairs.

Doesn't the communication say something about what the problem is?

The devil has enough advocates at the moment.

drj3 wrote:

Fortunately my E-M1.1 was still under the extended warranty, but my flat rate (quoted by Olympus USA by phone and the repair facility) for the 50-200 was the same at $252.00. Have they changed their model?

Well, obviously it is about progress payment now, what seems a little more consumer-friendly, compared to the old model:

1.) price down from $ 252 to $ 249.93

2.) you pay via two installments now ($ 76.69 + $ 173.24).

Liewenberger

James Pilcher wrote:

I post this as a public service to all Olympus owners in the USA...

I sent my Pen F in for repair some days ago. On Thursday I received a quote of $77 via email from the repair facility. I called and authorized the repair, gave my credit card info, and was told all is good and to expect my camera to be returned in 7-10 business days.

TODAY, Friday, I received another email from Olympus. The cost of repair is quoted at $173. There is no mention of yesterday’s quote and $77 payment. I’m now told the repair is on hold until I authorize the $173. ?????????

EVERY encounter I’ve had with Olympus USA repair since 2011 progresses like this one is shaping up. After several trips to the repair facility in 2011, they could not fix my E-5 and ended up refunding my money for that camera just to shut me up on this forum. I then dealt with dial problems on two Pen E-P5 bodies few years ago. One body went in twice for dial issues, and came back twice with no fix. Olympus replaced that body and it went sour within six months.

You buy Olympus and you take great risk.

Jim Pilcher
Summit County, Colorado, USA
Living above life in the Rocky Mountains

Just guessing (keep busy until Monday), where did you send it? to one of the facilities on the Olympus list?

https://www.service-center-locator.com/olympus/olympus-service-center.htm

if so, they generally send things on to Precision (but might have called you with their estimate first).

www.PrecisionCamera.com

and that may be where the second figure is from.

It's an idea. two days with your baby in the babysitters care is a l-o-n-g time to wonder. If that is what happened, push the original caller to honor their price. They should - it is Generally Accepted Practice to honor the lower price you gave the customer.

And then buy stock in Precision Camera.

drj3 wrote:

Which Olympus repair facility (Precision Camera in CT or US Imaging Systems, Inc in NJ)?

I thought Olympus was still using the flat rate repair after they outsourced their repair, this was in the $160-$200 range depending on the camera.

That is what the NJ drop-off location told me a couple of years ago when they repaired my E-M1.1 and my 50-200 SWD. Fortunately my E-M1.1 was still under the extended warranty, but my flat rate (quoted by Olympus USA by phone and the repair facility) for the 50-200 was the same at $252.00. Have they changed their model?

The service was excellent from the NJ location. I told them I wanted to pickup the camera/lens and they both emailed and called me for each when they were ready for pickup.

Jim Pilcher
Summit County, Colorado, USA
Living above life in the Rocky Mountains