Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to share some thoughts:
Sony's always been a bit of an oddball company, at least in my perception, always sort of pushing against the flow, Minidisc, the long winded persistence of the "memory stick", to name a few, but always seemingly reached for that extra bit of market share without really owning it.
Then came the Nex - and they struck full chord.
Despite this, I still continued seeing them as a sort of "specialty" electronics brand, especially the still camera branch. It was never really tied down to a specific heritage like Leica, Nikon, or Fuji.
In regards to your friend's camera, the damage was done, that dent is physically small, but pressing in about 1mm of machined aluminum on a structurally rigid corner takes force, and more than a little.
As it is on the focusing ring, and focus by wire mechanisms are sensitive, precision electronic setups, it's not surprising that it went bust.
I handled one of these cameras, and although very nicely finished and executed, it felt like a "specialty" camera, not necessarily one I'd bang around. Full frame with a PASM wheel, what's the target market?
A company must stand by its customers if it wants to keep them. This can mean many things, like offering quality and durability from the get-go, or speedy turnaround. It can also mean, reasonable service costs in cases such as this.
I'd like to share a couple of experiences:
Apple has replaced a motherboard on a macbook pro well out of warranty for free.
Fuji UK has kindly sent me a replacement for that pesky x100 charger adaptor piece - free.
Leica has replaced a burnt out M8 charger - free
Ray-Ban replaced a broken lens on a high-end pair of sunglasses for less than 1/10th of its cost.
Epson has provided comprehensive service and parts replacement at a very reasonable cost.
These are but a few "little" things that keep me coming back to the very companies, because
a: it makes me feel confident that they stand by their products and services.
b: it makes me feel like my brand experience matters to them, and it probably does - we've already contributed to their plump profit margins by making the purchase afterall.
Considering the likelyhood of the damage having been caused by an accident, I'm surprised Sony has decided to penalize the customer with a 1/3 levy on the price of the camera.
$950 for specialty Sony service....I wonder how much the parts they are replacing really cost, and if they do indeed cost that much, why does such an expensive camera suffer such a catastrophic damage from run-of-the-mill impact on an exposed surface? It's unfortunate to hear this about your buddy. He's hearing Sony say - "You can either pocket a 2.5k bum camera, or give us another 1k to make it better". Eek.
Maybe, just maybe, as a customer, I will consider these points when opting where to spend my disposable income.
