DAG Camera Repair - incommunicado?

David Murphy

Veteran
Local time
2:09 PM
Joined
Oct 13, 2005
Messages
2,831
Has anyone else had any problems lately getting through to DAG Camera repair on the phone or email? They've had my DR Summicron for two months now and there's no response to email and they don't answer the telephone.
 
Hmmm. I was in a very brief email conversation with him yesterday, asking about an item that he has on sale on his web site. I think he is very selective on what he responds to.

And I know that he is swamped with work (he is always swamped).


Vick
 
I just had a 21/3.4 repaired in less than a week. Give him a phone call and let him know what you need. The man is extremely accommodating.
 
David,

Don is very responsive to emails until you send off the stuff. Then he gets all quiet until the work is done. My M2 repair took about 2 months although his estimate was a month. Don't get me wrong I'm very happy with his work, and I knew his communication problem beforehand. I still went ahead because he was the logical choice for the type of repair I needed.

I've heard for some easy CLA/repair stuff, he's fairly quick. If the work needs more efforts, the work gets delayed beyond the estimate quite often. The real problem is that when that happens, he doesn't respond to your inquiries promptly.

Email and call many many times. He'll eventually get back to you. Yes it's annoying. Yes maybe some people would say leave him alone and let him do his work. I say you have right to bug him if he doesn't get back to you or get the work done in reasonable time that he's given you.

I'll still send him my stuff if his expertise is required, and only when I have no plan of using the gear for at least +1 month ahead of the turnaround estimate he's given me.
 
Last edited:
David,

Can't answer about immediate past, but Dag has done two items for me, one of them held for a significant time -- I had the same experience you are reporting. In fact, sometimes, when I did get him, he was unclear about who I was and where my camera was.

Despite that, camera came back in buttery shape. We get threads like this every once in a while -- same theme: excellent work, slow to no communications.

Good luck.

Giorgio

PS Have you shot much w. the 28mm 3.5 you bought from BuzzardKid, nee CLE-RF?
 
Seems to me like Don prefers short, to-the-point phone conversations, and same thing with emails. Most of the time my work has moved through his shop in a reasonable time. I've always been pleased with the quality, and when something did not need to be done, he has advised against it.

I just sent my Summicron C up to be milled to show the 35mm frames, and for him to have a look-see if it needed any cleaning or adjustment. He did the trimming, but told me not to bother spending the money on the CLA, that it was fine like it is. ;)
 
OK I got him on the phone today. The repair is taking longer than usual, which is fine, I just worry when repair shops go silent with expensive gear! He's done good work for me in the past which is why I use him.
 
He does great work, but his response is very sporadic. I've had times where he is very accommodating, and other times where he is a wall of silence. There was a period of time where I become very frustrated with his communication and stopped using him. Then, I decided to try him again was pleasantly surprised at his response time. Then suddenly, very difficult to contact him again.

I have a current lens waiting for a focus adjustment, but it has been so long (several months) that I have given up waiting and have asked him to just send it back to me without the work being done. Unfortunately, he has yet to respond, and I can't seem to get my lens back :(

Once I can extract my lens back from him, I think it is time for another DAG hiatus. I wonder if he realizes that most people are reasonable and patient, and do not mind a long wait as long as they know what is going on. I'm guessing that the number of emails and phone calls that he receives would be reduced significantly if would just send a very brief response now and again...
 
Don recently did repair work on my 35 Lux...
quite reasonably Priced
with a three week turnaround Time inlcuding to & fro shipping

I found it best to phone in the mId to late afternoon ...thats when He would answer the Phone

All in All I had no problems...
Best of Luck- helen
 
Back
Top Bottom