I really liked the 5050z I had. One day, after about two months of owning it, never any abuse of any kind, I turned it on and the lens did not come out.
I sent it in like the paperwork said to the warranty center in NY and a few days later they sent a card with an estimate of 170 dollars for the repair, and a check box to select if I wanted to pay for the repair to proceed.
I called to tell them it was under warranty, but they said it had been dropped, so I had to pay.
I had never dropped it, never even bumped it, it was treated like a Fabrege Egg since the day I got it.
They said the only way the tiny plastic gear in the lens retract servo can get a broken tooth is by dropping it. I said that's clearly wrong, because this one has not been dropped.
There was no way I knew of over the telephone to convince the phone answering girl that I had not done something..
So I told them I'll just return it to Costco, tell the story of how Olympus of America fails to honor their warranty, and on top of that are lying cowards (the service tech was afraid to speak to me).
Had I done anything at all to harm the camera, I'd have paid, I really liked that camera, and until then, I liked Olympus- I have over 20 olympus cameras.
I have a friend with the 4040 model who twice had to send it back and pay over 120 each time because he unplugged the USB cable in the wrong sequence while connected to his laptop. The 4040 had some little mention in the owners manual about the sequence, so it was the customer's fault- no warranty coverage.
The images from that 5050 seem better than the ones from the canon G5 I bought out of spite to replace it..
I know that warranty service is tough all over, and I'm not the first to encounter the 'shame of olympus' - the New York service center. I'll never buy a new Olympus product of any type again. I read during my ordeal that the sensor failure was a blood letting for owners too, and it took the concerted efforts of many owners to force Olympus to honor their warranty and finally fix the problem. It seems Olympus was originally blaming customers for improper storage conditions, and refusing warranty.
BUT forget all that- If you 5050 is alive now, then all those problems are behind it..
I may even buy one again someday if I find a nice one for cheap..
But I'll never let olympus get a dime from me.
