What would you do?

Peeb · Oct 7, 2016

Purchased a used lens for my major online camera retailer (name withheld for now).

It was a third-party brand marketed to be compatible with Nikon, but they had mis-identified the lens and it was actually a Pentax mount lens. Mistakes happen, and they quickly owned it the problem and agreed to pay return shipping and gave me a nice discount on the replacement lens which actually fits Nikon. They promised that they would have a tech go over the replacement lens to be sure that it met my needs. Nice!

The replacement lens has now arrived, and it is defective. It has intermittent auto focus failure. I don't mean that it fails to capture focus, I mean that it it fails to engage at all. If you toggle the mf/af switch repeatedly ( sometimes it takes 15 or 20 tries) the auto focus eventually start to work again . The vendor has offered to take another stab at sending me a working lens.

Packaging and returning these lenses is a massive hassle for me, and causes me to miss work.

What would you suggest I demand of the vendor? Is the time and frustration I've spent worth anything? I've actually had much better luck with strangers on eBay then I've had with this well known vendor.

Or should I just give up ask my money back and move on? I lose the opportunity for them to compensate me with a nice discount, but I also get rid of the frustration of another possible failure. I am conflicted.

tirediron · Oct 7, 2016

What I would do is likely cut my losses, return the lens make sure I was refunded for all my shipping, etc, and go to another vendor. If you don't want to do that, my suggestion would be to call them on the telephone and explain the situation (and not to the first person that answers; people who can really make decisions are NOT the ones who answer the telephones) and ask them what they're willing to do for you!

robbins.photo · Oct 7, 2016

Agree with TI on this one, they obviously haven't put forth the effort of properly testing or even identifying these lenses thus far. That either means they really don't know what they are doing or they really don't care. Insist on a refund and find a better vendor.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk

Peeb · Oct 7, 2016

tirediron said:
What I would do is likely cut my losses, return the lens make sure I was refunded for all my shipping, etc, and go to another vendor. If you don't want to do that, my suggestion would be to call them on the telephone and explain the situation (and not to the first person that answers; people who can really make decisions are NOT the ones who answer the telephones) and ask them what they're willing to do for you!

Yeah, I actually escalated the first problem and got them to give me 25% off which saved me a bundle. Unfortunately, the replacement lens is probably only worth 75% of the asking price because of the focus problem!

DarkShadow · Oct 7, 2016

Thats one thing I am always hesitant about buying used gear because you never know how it';s been handled or even tested. Factory refurbished is a different story.I would probably just return and get a refund at this point.

Peeb · Oct 7, 2016

robbins.photo said:
Agree with TI on this one, they obviously haven't put forth the effort of properly testing or even identifying these lenses thus far. That either means they really don't know what they are doing or they really don't care. Insist on a refund and find a better vendor.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk

This dealer actually has a sterling reputation but I've noticed that sometimes if you get off on the wrong foot on a transaction, the jinx is in and things just never seem to get better. I hate the fact that I will abandon any opportunity to recover something for all my trouble, which I could realize if I got a discount on the final transaction.

Still, you guys are probably right – I should probably just cut my losses and get the refund and move on down the road. "Should". Will see what I finally come up with.

spiralout462 · Oct 7, 2016

I would let them make it right. 25%off is worth a 2nd boxing and mailing for me. I really try to avoid eBay, personally.

Peeb · Oct 8, 2016

spiralout462 said:
I would let them make it right. 25%off is worth a 2nd boxing and mailing for me. I really try to avoid eBay, personally.

I know, right? I was just so discouraged when the customer service manager made a big fuss over getting it right the second time and then getting a crap-burger in the mail! :apologetic:

Again, these guys are nationally known with a good reputation, so .... I dunno. Paying extra for a brand-new lens is still being debated in my mind.

The manager did say that he would personally inspect lens #3 instead of delegating to his minion...

vintagesnaps · Oct 8, 2016

Sounds like the problem isn't so much the customer service if the manager offered to inspect the next lens instead of handing it off to an employee. Third party lens sounds like it might not be the best quality and buying it used is problematic - maybe the quality just isn't there. I think I'd probably return it and do some more looking.

Peeb · Oct 8, 2016

vintagesnaps said:
Sounds like the problem isn't so much the customer service if the manager offered to inspect the next lens instead of handing it off to an employee. Third party lens sounds like it might not be the best quality and buying it used is problematic - maybe the quality just isn't there. I think I'd probably return it and do some more looking.

Agree. Looking now at Nikon 85 1.8d or 1.8g. The experience with the Tamron 90 2.8 just left me cold. Not opposed to ALL third party lenses tho.