To send, or not to send. The conundrum of the Factory Service Repair.
As some of you know, I've been without my big digital camera for most of this past month. It had a simple, but important part fail, and the warranty expires in a month so I had to send it in. It's back now and fixed; but two more things were messed-up in the process.
This has generally been my experience with warranty repair work on 'gadgets.' In the 1990's, I used to own a Compaq Armada laptop covered by an extended 3yr warranty. The hinges to the screen started to stick and it would take some force to open or adjust the screen. Creeeeek-stick-stick-stick. Being the 'warranty service' novice that i was, I sent it in. Compaq's solution was to replace the whole screen with (imho) a referb unit. The replacement's hinges didn't squeak - for awhile - but the new screen was viewable from a much narrower range of angles. In short, it was a lower-end screen. I complained and sent it back. They replaced the screen. The 2nd one had a couple of bad pixels. When that one started creaking, sent it again. This one had a funky horizontal pinstriped look. Every other pixel row was slightly darker. And so forth. The Armada was never as good as it was with the first screen.
Another example: My current Macintosh; a 12" aluminum PowerBook, also has a 3yr Applecare extended warranty. I've sent it in for a burned out pc-board (one that controls battery charging), screen hinge stickiness, and a failed hard drive. For each of my repairs, something was always damaged or 'worse' when I got it back! After the 1st repair, the computer would make faint buzzing noises that correlated with display activity (i.e. - when I was moving the mouse, typing, or refreshing a web-page). I think something was done to the screen's inverter. This mystery noise disappeared after getting the unit back for an unrelated repair. The aluminum case is held together by tiny screws. The tech's almost always over-tighten these and cause the aluminum case to dimple at the screw-points. Grrrr. And their over tightening has caused a small segment of grey plastic trim to fall out. I'd glue it back if it hadn't disappeared AT THE REPAIR FACILITY. And on and on...
My Canon camera got shipped away 3 weeks ago to have a metal tab that the camera strap attaches to, tightened. I needed the work done. If it gave out, the cam could drop to the ground. I couldn't reach the internal screws and it was a major disassembly to reach them. Even requiring some data cables (ribbons) to be desoldered! I've finally got my cam back with the strap mount fixed. I also have a huge speck of something visible in the viewfinder eye-piece. They allowed dust or a paint-chip to get in and adhere to one of the lenses. This won't affect my shots, but will be there whenever I'm composing a photo. On a lesser note, the rubber handgrip was not glued down well.
Thing is, I knew it would be something, even before I sent the camera off! But what choice did I have. Did I complain? Sure! To Compaq, Apple, and Canon. The bottom line is the complaint is met with a virtual shrug. I'm sure that these corporations are trying to eek by with the fewest technicians they can. These tech's are probably over-burdened with orders on a timeline. That doesn't make me feel better.
This has generally been my experience with warranty repair work on 'gadgets.' In the 1990's, I used to own a Compaq Armada laptop covered by an extended 3yr warranty. The hinges to the screen started to stick and it would take some force to open or adjust the screen. Creeeeek-stick-stick-stick. Being the 'warranty service' novice that i was, I sent it in. Compaq's solution was to replace the whole screen with (imho) a referb unit. The replacement's hinges didn't squeak - for awhile - but the new screen was viewable from a much narrower range of angles. In short, it was a lower-end screen. I complained and sent it back. They replaced the screen. The 2nd one had a couple of bad pixels. When that one started creaking, sent it again. This one had a funky horizontal pinstriped look. Every other pixel row was slightly darker. And so forth. The Armada was never as good as it was with the first screen.
Another example: My current Macintosh; a 12" aluminum PowerBook, also has a 3yr Applecare extended warranty. I've sent it in for a burned out pc-board (one that controls battery charging), screen hinge stickiness, and a failed hard drive. For each of my repairs, something was always damaged or 'worse' when I got it back! After the 1st repair, the computer would make faint buzzing noises that correlated with display activity (i.e. - when I was moving the mouse, typing, or refreshing a web-page). I think something was done to the screen's inverter. This mystery noise disappeared after getting the unit back for an unrelated repair. The aluminum case is held together by tiny screws. The tech's almost always over-tighten these and cause the aluminum case to dimple at the screw-points. Grrrr. And their over tightening has caused a small segment of grey plastic trim to fall out. I'd glue it back if it hadn't disappeared AT THE REPAIR FACILITY. And on and on...
My Canon camera got shipped away 3 weeks ago to have a metal tab that the camera strap attaches to, tightened. I needed the work done. If it gave out, the cam could drop to the ground. I couldn't reach the internal screws and it was a major disassembly to reach them. Even requiring some data cables (ribbons) to be desoldered! I've finally got my cam back with the strap mount fixed. I also have a huge speck of something visible in the viewfinder eye-piece. They allowed dust or a paint-chip to get in and adhere to one of the lenses. This won't affect my shots, but will be there whenever I'm composing a photo. On a lesser note, the rubber handgrip was not glued down well.
Thing is, I knew it would be something, even before I sent the camera off! But what choice did I have. Did I complain? Sure! To Compaq, Apple, and Canon. The bottom line is the complaint is met with a virtual shrug. I'm sure that these corporations are trying to eek by with the fewest technicians they can. These tech's are probably over-burdened with orders on a timeline. That doesn't make me feel better.
posted by Eyak Woman at 1:54 PM
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