R-D1 servicing - let's coordinate! #2 Practical discussion

[jlw]

At the end of the day, if all we manage to do is persuade Epson to stockpile parts for as long as possible, and allow one outside business (e.g. DAG in the USA) access to these parts and to service literature, that'd be enough for me.

I believe that US law, at least, requires a manufacturer to sell service parts to independents anyway.

The real hurdle is likely to be the test equipment, software, and documentation.

If all that material is in Japanese only, as I suspect is the case, it might make more sense to seek out a Japan-based independent service contract.

 

[jlw]

Coming from 25 years in R&D and manufacturing, this is the wrong approach. Asking or expecting Epson to lift a finger toward a low-volume discontinued item is a waste of time and effort, as is making the basically wrong assumption that they care about anything other than their bottom-line.

Coming from 20 years in corporate marketing, I find that if a company has a choice between its brand image getting a pat on the back or a poke in the eye, and they cost the same, it usually will choose getting the pat on the back.

 

[Ben Z]

Coming from 20 years in corporate marketing, I find that if a company has a choice between its brand image getting a pat on the back or a poke in the eye, and they cost the same, it usually will choose getting the pat on the back.

Exactly! And since Epson's participation including warehousing, inventorying and distributing parts would cost them money, they would be inclined to reject any plan that involved expenditure where there is an alternate plan--sell the parts and service equipment as a lot--that not only costs them nothing but puts money in their pocket. I'm glad to see you agree with me.

 

[Ben Z]

I believe that US law, at least, requires a manufacturer to sell service parts to independents anyway.

The real hurdle is likely to be the test equipment, software, and documentation.

If all that material is in Japanese only, as I suspect is the case, it might make more sense to seek out a Japan-based independent service contract.

Getting everything translated shouldn't be that big a deal. Something tells me there is no shortage of technical translators Japanese-English 😀

However, selling the parts and test equipment as a lot to a local Japanese repair shop would save quite a bit, no international shipping expense or worry about customs duty. But they would need someone who can read at least English, to communicate with customers 😀

 

[Joe Mondello]

Hmmm . . . suitable polls eh? I'll take a stab at it. Gonna take a little thought of course to do well.

Of the top of my head I'm thinking that the poll function of the Forum won't work as folks will have multiple cameras with different issues for each, so perhaps it needs to be it's own thread.

I think that the answers to questions should be tied to an actual camera s/n (even if it is just 0046xx)

Since I have owned my R-D1 for less than a week, I am not familiar with all the issues that folks have had, but I would guess that we'd want to correlate the issues to their resolution ie did Epson repair it? Was it satisfactory? How long did it take? was turnaround time satisfactory?

Perhaps a scale of from 1-5 to indicate degree of satisfaction/dissatisfaction rather than yes/no answers?

So sure, I'll definitely take a stab at drafting the poll but I need owners here to suggest questions above these obvious ones:

• Camera s/n (leave last 2 digits off for the web)
• When was it purchased?
• Purchased new or used? Re-furbished?
• What country do you live in?
• Did your camera need repair or adjustment when you first received it?

• ISSUES
- RF alignment
- Focusing (back, front, infinity)
- Shutter
- Needle guages
- Tight lens mount
- Dead/hot pixels
- Wind lever
- LCD display
- Software

I need everyone's help to flesh this out!

• RESOLUTION
- Who repaired
- Satisfaction with repair
- help with more questions!

• OWNER CONCERNS
- feeling orphaned
- concern about scarcity of parts
- concerns about lack of qualified repair personnel
- HELP!

Plus THIS IS NOT THE POLL! Don't answer here! A seperate thread will be started later in the week once we iron out the poll.

OK . . . so please add things we need to add to this poll!

Hey folks, please jump in and help complete this poll.

These are the things I could think of off the top of my head, but I;ve had the R-D1 for 10 days, so I really need to know what YOUR issues are so I can flesh out this poll!

Thanks!

 

[mwooten]

" • Camera s/n (leave last 2 digits off for the web)
• When was it purchased?
• Purchased new or used? Re-furbished?
• What country do you live in?
• Did your camera need repair or adjustment when you first received it?"

Add "Where, or what country, did you purchase your RD?"
A good number of those of us in the USA have purchased our cameras from outside North America. There have been some issues of Epson USA not recognizing the warranty of cameras sold by non-US dealers.

 

[espressogeek]

You know what is interesting to me? Epson, a corporate behemoth, chose to manufacturer a high end camera in limited quantity. They chose to manufacturer a range finder , a camera who in recent times has catered to the tiniest percentile of discerning photographer and a group of photographers that doesn't take quality of the gear lightly. Whoever had the passion to give the R-D1 project the green light either has moved on or should have the passion to leave a mark on the camera world by doing something positive. I would gladly buy an R-D1s for 3k if I knew I could get support for it. I waited for the M8, it was a let down with its silly IR filters, and I sent it back. Now I wait for something else to happen so I can dip my toe into the RF waters.

 

[RichC]

Just letting you all know I'm still keeping an eye on this thread, and will check back in the New Year ...

So, please post your (practical) suggestions for what Epson could do to help us R-D1 owners.

Have a good Xmas!

 

[espressogeek]

I went ahead and bought a refurb epson for 1400 or so shipped from Epson. I would just like them to support the camera in the most basic ways and sell the repair rights to someone if they are officially ditching it.

 

[espressogeek]

Any progress? Are our cameras effectively disposable?

 

[RichC]

Any progress? Are our cameras effectively disposable?

Been very busy at work for the past few months - but have been keeping an eye on this thread I started. Was hoping for everyone to pitch in with ideas and suggestions so we could do a bit of communal brainstorming, but that doesn't seem to have happened...

Since starting this thread, I've become aware of the following:

• Epson will service/repair the R-D1/R-D1s even if out of warranty (for a set fee)

• Epson now seem to be able to repair/service cameras to a high standard (usually), with fast turnarounds

• Each continent appears to have one dedicated R-D1 repair facility (I know of the Paris and Indiana ones - presumably there are ones for Asia and the Antipodes)

• Many Epson support staff know nothing about the camera and want you to send the camera to their usual facilities that deal with printers etc. Don't do that: insist on sending the camera to one of the aforementioned repair facilities that do have necessary knowledge to evaluate the camera

*IF* I can get enough owners involved, I still think it's worth us writing to Epson, requesting the following:

• Better internal communication, so that all support centre staff know that the R-D1 should be sent to specified Epson repair centres where there are technicians trained to repair/service the R-D1

• A more flexible repair/service fee (even two-tier would be an improvement)

• Warehouse parts for as long as possible (years!) so that cameras can be repaired/serviced long term (R-D1 images still look exceptional at A3 size and larger, so despite advancements in digital technology, there's no reason why the R-D1 can't be used for many more years).

Therre's more info about servicing/repairing the R-D1 - by both Epson and third parties - on my R-D1 website (see my signature).

 

[bchoiniere]

• Warehouse parts for as long as possible (years!) so that cameras can be repaired/serviced long term (R-D1 images still look exceptional at A3 size and larger, so despite advancements in digital technology, there's no reason why the R-D1 can't be used for many more years).


That is the big one for me...