warranty on r-d1s?

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ramosa

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hello all,

i'm new on the forum, having become quite interested in RFs. i'm interested in the r-d1 and r-d1s--and plan to see what comes up on this site and on ebay in weeks/months to come. my first choice would be to get one used, but if that doesn't work, i may ponder matsuiyastore.

in another thread, i read that some people have purchased the r-d1s from matsuiyastore and been quite happy with the purchases. i note that matsuiyastore states there is a manufacturer warranty. but the cameras are the japanese version, r-d1s. thus, i'm wondering if that warranty would be useable in usa, where i live. (i doubt it.) if not, can a person send a camera back to epson/japan to get warranty service?

thanks for any help ...
 
all,

thanks for your comments. last night, i emailed matsuiyastore and received the following response: "The owners must send R-D1 to me of Japan and i will send it to Epson Japan." i'd be more than a bit uncomfortable with such an arrangement!

but, as has been suggested, i could probably send it directly back to espon japan for warranty repairs.

i think i'll keep "trawling" this forum's classifieds and ebay ... and forget about the overseas purchase for the time being.

thanks again for your input!
 
Just in case you wanted to know, I have had to deal with Epson repair services in the USA (Indiana), and for repairs under warranty the turnaround time was decent (ranging from 1 to 6 weeks). However, the most recent time I sent the R-D1 in, it took a couple calls to find out what was going on and have the camera returned in a timely manner. I was surprised to actually be connected to someone at the Indiana facility to track the status of the repair (though it wasn't the actual repairman).

Of the 3 times I sent it in, the body was replaced twice. (The second body would have been perfect but I think the firmware was loaded incorrectly.) I am more confident in the new body because the original one had problems with the rangefinder staying aligned after adjustment, and hot pixels. The new body has been solid (though the rangefinder could use a slight adjustment but is still accurate when focusing fast lenses).

Yes, it was a hassle to go through all this and quite painful to be without the camera for so long. But I'm sure that R-D1 and M8 users alike would agree that once you do get your camera back with the problems all sorted out, it is an absolute joy to use.

In the future, since my warranty has now expired, unless there is some major problem like shutter or electronic failure, I would probably send the camera to a third party repair service for rangefinder alignment because turnaround will likely be faster and quality of repair much higher since they are more experienced specialists. Although some people have adjusted their rangefinders by themselves, I'm going to leave it to the experts from now on because that's when the problem got really bad.

It's also comforting know that you live a couple miles away from Steve's Camera Repair. 🙂
 
For anyone considering buying an R-D1S from Japan, the only reasonably option is to purchase from matsuiyastore. Epson Japan is VERY difficult to get in touch with. They have no e-mail address, and there is no one at the office who speaks English. It is possible to send them your camera from outside Japan, but they will ONLY ship it back to an address in Japan. Having a go-between like matsuiyastore is really the only option, unless you friends over there.

I don't think Epson USA will touch the R-D1S, even for the $500 flat out of warranty repair fee. I asked them whether they could forward my R-D1S to Epson Japan for me, since I know they have to send cameras back to Japan for major repairs. Nobody I spoke to could even give me a phone number to get in touch with the Japanese division, let alone forward the camera or set up a repair.
 
It's not an orphan, just the end of that line. It has a parent that will continue, for a period of time, to provide warranty service and then spare parts. Some time in the next six or eight years that will all sunset, and that will then be the end. Frankly, by that time I expect the camera to be likely obsolete, and I'm willing to live with that. I'll get a lot more than $1440 of value out of it between now and then.
 
I will add my 2 cents supporting matsuiyastore. I have bought a number of items from them, including an R-D1, and they have never failed to be prompt in their communications and fair in their dealings. Their shipments from Japan usually arrive faster than domestic shipments from the US - usually in just 3 days. I give them my vote of confidence. I wouldn't hesitate to do business with them.

/T
 
i bought mine from Robert White they adjusted the rangefinder for me at my request prior to delivery,about 8 months later my rangefinder went out of adjustment i contacted robert white and they once again adjusted the rangefinder and all is still well with the RD1. I would not hesitate to use robert white again especially for an epson rd1 purchase
I have also dealt with Matsuistore and they are a quality outfit but i have not used any warranty service from them
 
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