Argh!!!!!!!! Minolta 7i recall?

[Atheana]

Hello yet again... I posted a message earlier regarding the Dimage 7i and an err message appearing on start up, asking if anyone else heard of or had this problem. I since did some searching on this forum and have seen that one other person posted the same sort of message a few months back. I have spoken with Minolta about this and they immediately suggested the camera had a fault. I have SINCE then spoken with yet another camera manufacturer who upon hearing my woes with the Minolta, asked if Minolta hadn't done a recall on these 7i's. So in other words, it appears there was either a defective batch of these things going around (and Minolta darn well knows it) or there has been a recall which meant I shouldn't have been sold this camera in the first place. My question is this. The camera is 9 mos old, still under warrantee. However, I don't want the camera to keep going back and forth for repairs like what happened with this other chappy who had the same problem. Who is my recourse with? Seeing as how I bought it over 6 mos ago, I don't think the retailer will credit me for that amount, and the best Minolta will do is 'repair' it..again...and again...and again - if going by other peoples' experiences is anything to compare. I paid £630 for this thing, and feel utterly ripped off. Any suggestions please?

Cheers

Atheana

 

[dugbot]

I own a 7i and haven't had the problem, but a friend got one and experiences something similar to what you describe. I think he's decided to just live with it as turning it off and on again seems to clear the error.

There was a limited recall of 7i's early on for certain serial numbers http://www.dpreview.com/news/0209/02090301dimage7irecall.asp and mine falls within that range as I got one of the first ones out, but I never bothered to send it in as I wasn't experiencing any problems.

Hope this helps. Probably best to get it fixed under warranty.

Doug

Hello yet again... I posted a message earlier regarding the Dimage
7i and an err message appearing on start up, asking if anyone else
heard of or had this problem. I since did some searching on this
forum and have seen that one other person posted the same sort of
message a few months back. I have spoken with Minolta about this
and they immediately suggested the camera had a fault. I have
SINCE then spoken with yet another camera manufacturer who upon
hearing my woes with the Minolta, asked if Minolta hadn't done a
recall on these 7i's. So in other words, it appears there was
either a defective batch of these things going around (and Minolta
darn well knows it) or there has been a recall which meant I
shouldn't have been sold this camera in the first place. My
question is this. The camera is 9 mos old, still under warrantee.
However, I don't want the camera to keep going back and forth for
repairs like what happened with this other chappy who had the same
problem. Who is my recourse with? Seeing as how I bought it over
6 mos ago, I don't think the retailer will credit me for that
amount, and the best Minolta will do is 'repair' it..again...and
again...and again - if going by other peoples' experiences is
anything to compare. I paid £630 for this thing, and feel utterly
ripped off. Any suggestions please?

Cheers

Atheana

 

[Jim Rickards]

Hello yet again... I posted a message earlier regarding the Dimage
7i and an err message appearing on start up, asking if anyone else
heard of or had this problem. I since did some searching on this
forum and have seen that one other person posted the same sort of
message a few months back. I have spoken with Minolta about this
and they immediately suggested the camera had a fault.

So what did they ask you to do - inquire with "another camera manufacturer?" If you are going to post this - in two separate threads - you might as well tell us what they said and maybe even take their advice.

I have
SINCE then spoken with yet another camera manufacturer who upon
hearing my woes with the Minolta, asked if Minolta hadn't done a
recall on these 7i's. So in other words, it appears there was
either a defective batch of these things going around (and Minolta
darn well knows it)

usually the defective ones are the ones to call back for repair, unless the defect isn't easily noticed. If a camera isn't getting "err" messages, why recall it?

or there has been a recall which meant I
shouldn't have been sold this camera in the first place.

If you take advice on Minolta cameras from a different camera company, you can't expect unbiased or accurate data.

My
question is this. The camera is 9 mos old, still under warrantee.
However, I don't want the camera to keep going back and forth for
repairs like what happened with this other chappy who had the same
problem. Who is my recourse with?

Normally you deal with Minolta for warranty. If you dealer will handle it, even better. But what did Minolta say when you asked them? That's the part you left out, and the answer to your question.

Seeing as how I bought it over
6 mos ago, I don't think the retailer will credit me for that
amount,

I agree with you. It would be a rare dealer indeed who would credit you, then sell you a new model (since D7i's are not sold any longer). He would take an unreasonable loss. You can't expect that.

and the best Minolta will do is 'repair' it..again...and
again...and again - if going by other peoples' experiences is
anything to compare.

You found one other post with the same problem. I've been reading these posts for 22 months and have read very little wrt repair of D7i's, let alone doing it over and over again. Why assume it will be an over and over again situation? You are torturing yourself with what might happen!

I paid £630 for this thing, and feel utterly
ripped off. Any suggestions please?

Cheers

Atheana

--I don't see anything that far out of the ordinary here. Sometimes cameras have problems, and when they do, they should be repaired. Nobody wants it to happen to their camera, but when it does, go for the repair and you will be back in action once it's done.

Jim Rickards



Photo critiques are always welcome.

 

[Ferenc MOGOR]

Hi Atheana,

Before returning you cam for repair try to "reboot" it.

Here's the know-how:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/message?forumid=151930&messageid=1050879577

Some say this process does nothing to the camera, while others have said "Heureka", all problems solved!

See this:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1024&message=8253680

One thing is for sure: it won't hurt, eh?

If you do this reboot, please let us know your result through this thread.

Good luck!

Cheers, Feri

'I can look at a fine photograph and sometimes I can hear music. Ansel Adams.'

 

[ken White]

I was the source of some of the repair message(s) posted in this forum in recent months. I believe my somewhat negative experience was an exception to the excellent record of service and support of the 7x series cameras by Minolta. If you think that your unit is defective then send it in for service. In my experience Minolta is very liberal in interpreting the warrantee terms in favor of the customer.

Hello yet again... I posted a message earlier regarding the Dimage
7i and an err message appearing on start up, asking if anyone else
heard of or had this problem. I since did some searching on this
forum and have seen that one other person posted the same sort of
message a few months back. I have spoken with Minolta about this
and they immediately suggested the camera had a fault. I have
SINCE then spoken with yet another camera manufacturer who upon
hearing my woes with the Minolta, asked if Minolta hadn't done a
recall on these 7i's. So in other words, it appears there was
either a defective batch of these things going around (and Minolta
darn well knows it) or there has been a recall which meant I
shouldn't have been sold this camera in the first place. My
question is this. The camera is 9 mos old, still under warrantee.
However, I don't want the camera to keep going back and forth for
repairs like what happened with this other chappy who had the same
problem. Who is my recourse with? Seeing as how I bought it over
6 mos ago, I don't think the retailer will credit me for that
amount, and the best Minolta will do is 'repair' it..again...and
again...and again - if going by other peoples' experiences is
anything to compare. I paid £630 for this thing, and feel utterly
ripped off. Any suggestions please?

Cheers

Atheana

--
kw

http://www.pbase.com/kwhite
pbase supporter

 

[ftsoft]

There is a serial number range given, its not all of the 7i's. It seems from the number s that they are fairly early ones since I bought a used 7i and my number is way higher than the range. You can get the range on the website.

Frank

Hello yet again... I posted a message earlier regarding the Dimage
7i and an err message appearing on start up, asking if anyone else
heard of or had this problem. I since did some searching on this
forum and have seen that one other person posted the same sort of
message a few months back. I have spoken with Minolta about this
and they immediately suggested the camera had a fault. I have
SINCE then spoken with yet another camera manufacturer who upon
hearing my woes with the Minolta, asked if Minolta hadn't done a
recall on these 7i's. So in other words, it appears there was
either a defective batch of these things going around (and Minolta
darn well knows it) or there has been a recall which meant I
shouldn't have been sold this camera in the first place. My
question is this. The camera is 9 mos old, still under warrantee.
However, I don't want the camera to keep going back and forth for
repairs like what happened with this other chappy who had the same
problem. Who is my recourse with? Seeing as how I bought it over
6 mos ago, I don't think the retailer will credit me for that
amount, and the best Minolta will do is 'repair' it..again...and
again...and again - if going by other peoples' experiences is
anything to compare. I paid £630 for this thing, and feel utterly
ripped off. Any suggestions please?

Cheers

Atheana

 

[Iam3D]

Yeah, trust them, thats it...... My experience (working with General Motors in their "Performance Parts" division) is this...... alot of stuff gets thrown out there by individuals & companies, much is not true...... we were told of a "Problem" with our part # 12486968 (350 cid / 330 hp engine http://www.gmgoodwrench.com/perfparts/images/parts/pdf/12496968.pdf )..... west coast guys kept calling in asking if the "problem with complete engine failure" was fixed..... we never heard of such a thing, nor were we having problems...... come to find out it was a west coast customer who knew nothing about Nitrous Oxide injection, blew a rod out the block & twisted some rods...... and was mad because we didn't warranty the motor.... he hit all the forums & websites saying how bad this motor was when in reality, there were very few problems & none (except his) with complete failure..... but, a lie told often enough becomes the truth to some people..... to make a short story long, why would I call General Motors to ask about problems on a Ford? why call RCA and ask about Magnavox? of course the competitor will "lead" you to their brand....... Minolta service (according to the posts in this forum) rates "better" more often than not...... and think about this, people will ALWAYS write about a bad experience, but rarely do they write about a good experience.

I have
SINCE then spoken with yet another camera manufacturer who upon
hearing my woes with the Minolta, asked if Minolta hadn't done a
recall on these 7i's.

--
I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message.
The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.
If Some Is Good, More Is Better, And Too Much Is Just Right.
I live in my own little world. But it's OK ... they know me here

 

[SherlockBonz]

Atheana-

My 7Hi will err every time if I have the sensor that switches between the LCD and the EVF blocked when I turn it on. If I turn it on and hold it away so that I do not block the sensor, it works great (the reboot procedure described in one of the replies also cured my focusing issues!).

 

[Atheana]

Thank you to all who 'helpfully' replied to my post. As for the individual who saw fit to be sarcastic about my conversation with another manufacturer, very helpful indeed, thank you for that. The subject of my faulty Minolta came up when discussing the merits of another camera, I did not call another manufacturer for advice on Minolta. As it turns out, they were correct, there WAS a recall which I hadn't been aware of, unfortunately the s/n on my camera does not fall within the range of those identified for recall. It may interest the sceptics to know that I have since spoken with both the retailer AND Minolta, and interestingly enough, they have had numerous cameras back with the same fault. Apparantly this is not a unique issue, albeit the 'err' message will appear for different reasons, depending on what the fault is. Meanwhile, I am waiting to see if the retailer will do either a full value exchange for another camera or alternatively, I will have to have the camera repaired. I'm sure it will in the end work out.

Many thanks again.

Cheers

Atheana

 

[kidziti]

Perhaps a carefully worded letter to Minolta about your lost consumer confidence along with sending in the camera for warranty repairs could net you an exchange for a new 7hi/A1. I think I remember reading a post or two where that has happened. My strategy would be this: send in the camera immediately. If it's fixed, that's great - issue resolved. If not, I'd send it right back and let corporate KM know about it, with a suggestion that perhaps the 7hi or A series do not have these issues and would they consider working something out with me along those lines?

Within every problem lie the seeds of a greater opportunity.

Lee

--
http://www.pbase.com/kidziti

 

[ken White]

Minolta service replaced my defective 7i with a new 7hi a couple of months ago. At the time they told me that replacement 7i units were no longer available.

--
kw

http://www.pbase.com/kwhite
pbase supporter

 

[Sandy]

Atheana wrote:
As it turns out, they were correct, there WAS a recall

which I hadn't been aware of, unfortunately the s/n on my camera
does not fall within the range of those identified for recall. It
may interest the sceptics to know that I have since spoken with
both the retailer AND Minolta, and interestingly enough, they have
had numerous cameras back with the same fault. Apparantly this is
not a unique issue, albeit the 'err' message will appear for
different reasons, depending on what the fault is. Meanwhile, I am
waiting to see if the retailer will do either a full value exchange
for another camera or alternatively, I will have to have the camera
repaired. I'm sure it will in the end work out.

Many thanks again.

Cheers

Atheana

It seems you are reaching a satisfactory conclusion - but for information, in the UK you go to the retailer under the Sale of Goods and Services Act. It's the retailer's responsibility to sort things out if the camera was manufactured with a fault. They should refund/replace/repair (to some degree at your discretion) but you are expected to have identified and complained within a reasonable time. Check the DTI at http://www.consumer.gov.uk/consumer_web/index_v4.htm

for fuller information. If you bypass the retailer and send your camera direct to the manufacturer/supplier you are in danger of losing your rights.

Hope matters get resolved speedily and to your satisfaction.

--
Sandy

 

[ralph Schubert]

Well, after some doing and trying, I am able to boot up in all modes EXCEPT shoot mode. I reset to default approx 30 times while experimenting. All to no avail. Will boot just fine (even shot a movie) except when either booting up in shoot mode, or switching to shootmode from another menu......

rog