what happened to Camera-care.com?

jeff laitila

jeff laitila

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I sent the guy a Canon 50mm f0.95 more than 6 month ago to get it modified to M mount. (I paid up front for the work)

After a couple of months I queried him to see what the status was, and he told me it would be done very soon.

Ever since then I have gotten absolutely zero replies to my emails and phone calls, and I STILL don't have my 50mm f0.95 back.

Has anyone else been having trouble with this repair shop? I'm worried I will never get the lens back.

Thanks.
 
I've never heard of him, but Major Ouch!!!! I hope you get it back too. Maybe one of our members could pay him a personal visit on your behalf and threaten to break both his legs (just kidding).
 
I have a similar situation, but only 3 weeks or so gone by so far. All my email correspondence was within the last 4-5 weeks, and was handled very promptly. Sounds bad. The street address is:
104 Steele way
Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006
Hope there is someone out there who lives nearby. HTH
 
Update:

I was just able to talk to Steve (The guy behind Camera-care.com) and he assured me that all the 50/0.95 conversions he has going on (6) will be done by the end of the week. he had a supply problem with the required shims, but it has been solved so things should get back on track now.
 
Shims! They are HARD TO GET! Have to be custom made. And to shim that 50/0.95, you need to get down to probably 0.02mm at least.
 
I also just got an email from Steve Serota saying he expects to ship by Wednesday or Thursday. Let's keep our fingers crossed!
 
Unfortunately, the guy is getting very erratic the last few months. I was a big booster of him, but he's had something of mine for seven months that he refuses to return even after numerous phone promises to do so. I'm at wit's end.
 
Had another email today saying he had been delayed (1) by some sort of stomach bug, and (2) for lack of the 50mm LTM-M adapters, with another forecast now for "middle of next week". Anyone else getting anywhere?
 
F3

F3

Sent him a basket case I got in one of those deals one gets into where you think that selling all the stuff you don't want in the deal might pay for what you do!

Mistake!

The original price was approved and paid via PayPal. A few weeks later not what he thought and needs another $60. OK! Leaves message last week and I return call on Saturday. Needs to order complete gear train from Nikon, another $75. Another F3 is turning out to be no bargan! In for a penny in for a pound. He says it will be "like new & guaranteed".

Would have been better to send it to Nikon in California in the first place. You get what you pay for in most cases.

Keep you posted.
 
This is getting ridiculous. It's been almost 8 months now. I will never sen anything else to him again. Even if the conversion turns out to be top notch (And it better!) the length of time, intermittent communications, and broken promises are just too much to deal with.
 
Maybe we should try to contact his local better business bureau, or whatever it might be called. Does anyone have any idea how to do this?
 
This happens to great artists...I mean, camera repairmen. Parts, shims, stomach - anything happens. Customers can understand this, customers can wait. Though they deserve single email, or phone call. That's all.
 
The guy flat out stole a Contessa from me, after endless mucking about he claimed it had been lost in shipping but it was insured, he never came up with any evidence of shipping nor did he ever file an insurance claim. Other members have contacted me when he was screwing them and one guy who was getting the run around got his camera back only after he contacted the local police. Others say oh no he's great does great work etc, but that's my story and I'm still pissed. Oh yeah, before he stole the camera, he had strung me along for a while with a sad tale about some stomach bug that made it impossible to reply to my inquiries.
 
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One more thing it's not the better business bureau but the police you want to talk to.
a few years ago this was the guy who got one member's camera back.
The man to contact is Detective Carl Molt, here is
his e-mail and other contact info:

cmolt@lower-moreland.org

Det. Carl Molt
Lower Moreland Township Police Department
640 Red Lion Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006
Non-emergency number: (215) 947-3132, Fax: (215)-947-1109

Revision: Jeff I just noticed you are in Japan, dealing with the police may be a bit of a hassle. But here you are anyway.
 
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After a very long time and some assistance from Carl Molt (see previous post) I finally got my lens back converted as requested. I have now been able to test it and find that the focus has changed. Before I sent it in, this lens focused correctly to the rangefinder, but the alignment on the distance scale was off by about 8mm. Now it seems to be about right on the distance scale, but using the rangefinder it is focusing behind the subject by a (variable) distance that corresponds to about the same 8mm on the scale. If anyone can suggest someone who might be able to get it right in both ways I would much appreciate it. Maybe I should start a new thread on this, which is a completely different issue.
 
Frankie,

Many thanks. I was wondering about that possibility. However, assuming I can figure out the thickness of shim needed (likely), and can obtain something suitable of that thickness (maybe), how should one bond the thing to the flange of the lens? Anyone have any idea of the allowance needed for the thickness of the bond?

As you can probably tell, I am groping for a possible DIY solution here.
 
Steve Serota has passed away.
I spoke to Det. Carl Molt today and he suggested I write a letter to his wife if I wanted my Contina back that I sent him back in January.
 
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