Tamron Warranty/Customer service. WHAT A JOKE

MLeeK · Sep 5, 2012

So, I was shooting with my Tamron 70-200 when the barrel literally split in half and the front dropped to the floor.
Tamron refuses to honor the warranty saying there was impact damage. NO ****! It fell to the floor. The snotty little woman's response to me was "our lenses just don't fall apart like that."
Really? I would hope the hell not, but obviously there was something not quite right in that one because it did.

So, anyone got any suggestions what to do next? Besides pay the damn bill? It's really not all that bad-$225, but I am being so frugal with my equipment budget because I want to upgrade that 5d2 this year. Then, of course, there is the principle of the whole thing. I've dropped a lens before and had to pay the replacement price. My fault, totally. This one? Treated like Gold and used very little especially since I got the new Sigma.

cgipson1 · Sep 5, 2012

Ouch! I guess I won't be buying any Tamrons soon... not with that endorsement!

(Funny too.. that is the one brand of lens, that I have never owned!)

MLeeK · Sep 5, 2012

I have two others. And I really wanted that new 24-70VR. Damn.

It wouldn't be so bad, but I have a full gym full of people who saw it happen.

2WheelPhoto · Sep 5, 2012

Great excuse to splurge on a 70-200 VRII !

pixmedic · Sep 5, 2012

That sucks...we have two tamron lenses and they have been great..its disappointing customer service wasnt able to do anything. But to be fair, under those same conditions, would any other brand have taken your word for it and fixed it under warranty?

MLeeK · Sep 5, 2012

2WheelPhoto said:
Great excuse to splurge on a 70-200 VRII !

I have the Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 OS (canon) and I love it. I also love the tamron because of the macro abilities on it.

After posting this elsewhere I am seeing people say that the exact same thing happened to them.

sm4him · Sep 5, 2012

I'd raise such a ruckus that they can't afford to ignore it. Since a call to Customer Service failed, I'd email them (I'm QUITE good at these letters, and about to write one myself to Marriott Hotels) and detail what happened, the fact that others saw it happen, the customer service response (or lack thereof) and the fact that future purchases of Tamron, as well as future recommendations for Tamron are at great risk here.
If that doesn't get any action, I'd find their FB page and/or their Twitter account. I've found that companies REALLY, REALLY don't like to have negative publicity plastered all over their social media sites and it sometimes gets action when nothing else will.

MLeeK · Sep 5, 2012

pixmedic said:
That sucks...we have two tamron lenses and they have been great..its disappointing customer service wasnt able to do anything. But to be fair, under those same conditions, would any other brand have taken your word for it and fixed it under warranty?

I thought about that a bit.
It really concerns me a bit. What would you expect if the lens fell apart like that? I'd expect it to have damage from the drop and therein lies the problem. They don't have to warranty anything that could possibly be caused any other way than by defect. I also think part of the problem would be that I owned the lens since 2009. Granted it usually sits in it's nice little case, but it's not a "new" lens. I'd guess they assume any defect should have happened before now.

It isn't like there was a whole gymnasium full of people who saw it or anything... LOL!

pixmedic · Sep 5, 2012

MLeeK said:
pixmedic said:

That sucks...we have two tamron lenses and they have been great..its disappointing customer service wasnt able to do anything. But to be fair, under those same conditions, would any other brand have taken your word for it and fixed it under warranty?

Click to expand...

I thought about that a bit.
It really concerns me a bit. What would you expect if the lens fell apart like that? I'd expect it to have damage from the drop and therein lies the problem. They don't have to warranty anything that could possibly be caused any other way than by defect. I also think part of the problem would be that I owned the lens since 2009. Granted it usually sits in it's nice little case, but it's not a "new" lens. I'd guess they assume any defect should have happened before now.

It isn't like there was a whole gymnasium full of people who saw it or anything... LOL!

oh, I would be pissed all right. I would get statements from witnesses and scan/email them to tamron and explain that this lens has been used by a professional, not some kid whose mom lent them her best buy card. Its also possible that you just didn't get the best example of tamrons customer service rep. granted the lens is 3 years old, and I dont know what tamrons warranty is on that lens (we bought both ours used) but it sure wouldn't hurt to get a hold of a customer service manager and find out. I wonder if its an isolated issue they are having with the 70-200..we use the crap our of our tamron 17-50 2.8 and 28-75 2.8 and have never had any problems, and we are the second owners of both. either way, i would raise hell with Tamron and see if they cant do SOMETHING for your trouble.

Derrel · Sep 5, 2012

MLeeK said:
So, I was shooting with my Tamron 70-200 when the barrel literally split in half and the front dropped to the floor.
Tamron refuses to honor the warranty saying there was impact damage. NO ****! It fell to the floor. The snotty little woman's response to me was "our lenses just don't fall apart like that."
Really? I would hope the hell not, but obviously there was something not quite right in that one because it did.

So, anyone got any suggestions what to do next? Besides pay the damn bill? It's really not all that bad-$225, but I am being so frugal with my equipment budget because I want to upgrade that 5d2 this year. Then, of course, there is the principle of the whole thing. I've dropped a lens before and had to pay the replacement price. My fault, totally. This one? Treated like Gold and used very little especially since I got the new Sigma.

They call that "barrel separation". That is the technical term for when a lens splits into two pieces and becomes "double the fun!". Man...I have never experienced barrel separation firsthand...I am jeaaaaaaalllllous........Some day maybe!!!

KenC · Sep 5, 2012

I guess I'll keep buying Canon lenses then! Even the 50/1.8, which many complain is fragile, has given me no trouble in over four years, and it's probably the lens I use most.

cgipson1 · Sep 5, 2012

I think I could use my Nikon 70-200 2.8 VRII as a defensive weapon, and crack a muggers skull with it.. and then use it to take shots of the mugger as they load him in the ambulance!

MLeeK · Sep 5, 2012

Derrel said:
MLeeK said:

So, I was shooting with my Tamron 70-200 when the barrel literally split in half and the front dropped to the floor.
Tamron refuses to honor the warranty saying there was impact damage. NO ****! It fell to the floor. The snotty little woman's response to me was "our lenses just don't fall apart like that."
Really? I would hope the hell not, but obviously there was something not quite right in that one because it did.

So, anyone got any suggestions what to do next? Besides pay the damn bill? It's really not all that bad-$225, but I am being so frugal with my equipment budget because I want to upgrade that 5d2 this year. Then, of course, there is the principle of the whole thing. I've dropped a lens before and had to pay the replacement price. My fault, totally. This one? Treated like Gold and used very little especially since I got the new Sigma.

Click to expand...

They call that "barrel separation". That is the technical term for when a lens splits into two pieces and becomes "double the fun!". Man...I have never experienced barrel separation firsthand...I am jeaaaaaaalllllous........Some day maybe!!!

I'll send you my barrel so you can feel it too. Share the love and all that...

Overread · Sep 5, 2012

Eh I'd avoid the whole "smear their name with a net campaign of hate." I've never seen that actually work and most times it backfires badly on the person doing it.

Instead if its a known issue and others have had it happen here is what I would do:

1) Forget the customer service, find a contact email for a customer service overseer/manager etc... In other words go higher up the chain of command (big companies tend to have base level staff who are only very lightly empowered to follow what the computer screen tells them - if its not on the default replies they've got they can't do much and it seems to be common that they fob off the complaint rather than pass it up to their superiors unless the customer asks).

2) If you've got witnesses who saw it happen get names and written statements from a couple of them.

3) Collect up evidence of previous cases (from the web) of this problem happening to that specific model of lens. If its got an issue with, falling in half, chances are you are not the only one who has experienced it and there will be records of others having the same problem

From there you can hope that the evidence will win over the superior, if that fails consider contacting the trading standards people of the USA (I've no idea what they are called specifically). Tell the superior that you'll be contacting them as well (if all else fails). Generally if the threat doesn't work then having the TS people behind you can add weight to your case.