UKC

So my 4 month old Olympus OMD E-M10 decided to break on the fist day of a two week holiday, fine one minute, not the next, turns on, displays a menu for a few seconds with live view, then turns off, wont release the shutter or focus, basically does nothing, the IS-Auto flashes red when the menu does display so I suspect that the IS has gone pop, tried different lens, different battery to no avail.

So I take it back to the shop and the best they can do is sent it to Olympus for repair or possibly replacement, I was naively thinking it would just be a straight replacement, am I unreasonable in thinking that, reading a bit about consumer rights its a bit wooly and states that I can accept repair OR replacement but guess that's up to the retailer ?

If I am 100% honest I didn't really feel like having an Olympus now as I feel let down by the brand, my decision to go OMD instead of GX7 is looking like a bad one !!

In reply to Dark-Cloud:

olympus do a 2 year warrenty on all cameras, send it back and you'll get it repaired for cost of postage.

In reply to Matt Schwarz:

Yeah, its gone back to them via the retailer, just wondered if a repair was acceptable after 4 months of very light use....

In reply to Dark-Cloud:

Camera develops a fault, manufacturer says they'll either repair or replace under warranty. Exactly what they should do. Shop isn't doing the wrong thing.
Get it off to Olympus then sell it to fund the GX7.

Amazon had the GX7 plus lens for £299 on one of their hourly deals a couple of months ago. Sadly I was in one of my sensible moments where I (quite rightly) put 2x road tax and a M.O.T. as my priority.

In reply to nathan79:

Agreed, the shop has done the right thing, I just wondered if I had leaned on them they may have replaced, a repaired camera after 4 months of use isn't really what I signed up for...........

In reply to Dark-Cloud:

depends on the shop thinking that miss use "might" have been the cause (I'm not suggesting it was btw)

with anything you buy that is a complex machine at a reasonable price, it's reasonable to expect that occasionally things go wrong and that the retailer should be given the opportunity to fix it... but remember your contract and warranty are with the retailer not the OEM. If Olympus don't help doesn't mean you can't still lean on the retailer a bit

In reply to Dark-Cloud:

I think you have just had bad luck. A repaired 4 month camera will be fine. Olympus cameras are solid bits of kit used by a lot of adventure photographers including, at times, the legendary Jimmy Chin. Don't worry and stick with it.

In reply to Dark-Cloud:

Well to add to this I have had a reply from Olympus, they have quoted impact damage, they have provided photos of what looks like a bump on one corner and want £170 to repair it, its so minuscule neither myself or the camera shop could see it with the naked eye.

Now that fine, apart from the fact I haven't dropped it or knocked it to my knowledge, it may well have been in normal handling and gone unnoticed, seems they have scoured the camera to find any mark and just used that as an excuse....

I can't believe a camera can be inadvertent killed by what appears to be a minor bump

Looks like its going to have to be a household insurance, awesome.

In reply to Dark-Cloud:

Sounds like terrible service from Oly.

I think your retailer needs to be a bit stronger with them, sounds an unacceptably weak camera.

Also have a look at this as its less than six months old:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/common-problems-with-products/wh...

In reply to ChrisJD:
Actually terrible service by the camera shop as it turn out, i was going on what they told me about the photos.

Just been to the shop to look at the photos, the casing is caved in and cracked in one corner, that is 100% not how it left my hands, they handled it, inspected it and filled the return form in with all boxes marked as "perfect condition" there is no way they would have even accepted it as warranty if it looked like it did, so its either been damaged by them or in transit, kicking myself I didn't take photos of it, nightmare........

In reply to Dark-Cloud:

What shop was that? Sounds bloody awful.

For the record I've always found Oly service to be good, I never use the retailer, I just use the Oly repair service. It's much faster and very easy to do. For little things I get a quote from Luton Cameras as well, they're an
authorised Oly repairer, they can be cheaper.

In reply to JDal:

I'm not naming names at the moment but they are a proper independent high street camera shop, not a box shifter.

I couldn't quite believe what i was looking at on the photos, its pushed the case in and cracked it right next to the serial number sticker, it really is unmissable and there is no way on this earth I or him would have sent it off for a warranty claim, i am not that stupid !!

I pointed out the form he left me a copy of and his answer was he may have missed it as its a small mark, like hell it is, its cracked and deformed.

He's going to contest it with Olympus but as I see it it's the shops issue, they accepted the return and inspected it and sent it off for a warranty claim.

In reply to Dark-Cloud:

If that's the case what have the Shop to say about it?

It's time to make your self the loudest and most awkward customer I suggest (unless of course they immediately say oh that must have happened in postage we'll get it sorted).

I wouldn't worry about not taking photos.... the shop accepted it and marked it as "perfect Condition"

In reply to balmybaldwin:

They were kind of erring on the side of that's what Olympus have said so what can we do!!

I needed to leave and calm down and reason my argument before barging back in, I will be returning tomorrow with copy of form in had, I think it even goes to their head office before sending off to Olympus so there is no way it would have got out of their hands for a "repair under guarantee" and in "perfect condition" if it looked like it did !!

In reply to Dark-Cloud:

Sorry to hear all this - not great.

In reply to ChrisJD:

I think they just need to man up and admit its transit damage and replace it, that's what I will be asking for anyway.

In reply to Dark-Cloud:

If they refuse to sort it, you'll have a small claims court case against them - they marked it as perfect condition, now it's their problem. No way could they win that!

In reply to Dark-Cloud:
How you getting on with the repair/replacement?

In reply to ChrisJD:

Its been a bizarre couple of days conversation with the camera shop, they didn't seem to comprehend that they had validated my claim for warranty by accepting the return and documenting as such and from that point it was their responsibility.

I ended up speaking to the area manager as I was just not getting through to the guy in the shop or the answers i thought he ought to be giving me.

End result is that they finally came to their senses and have told me that tomorrow I will have a new camera in my hand either provided by Olympus or the Shop, thats all I wanted the first time I went in there, in hindsight I should have pushed for a replacement as soon as it failed.

Still not 100% happy that I will be using an Olympus as it failed in the first place before somebody dropped it from a great height, just bad luck I suppose.

In reply to Dark-Cloud:

Sigh, so they are giving me a new camera but haven't got one in stock so its getting sent from another branch on their internal delivery................be here next Friday, just for reference that other shop is 40 miles away.

I am tired of it all to the point where I couldn't be bothered to complain any more, so that's fine.