No warranty Voigtlander Nokton 1.1 from Adorama/Amazon

[eyejockey]

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Beware!! I bought a Voigtlander 50mm Nokton thru' Amazon USA, August 23rd of 2010. I am writing as of December 2010. Amazon acted as agent for Adorama NYC. The lens has hardly been used and has never been damaged but has mysteriously gone out of calibration (severe back focus wide open) while I was working in severe cold in Poland and needs warrant repair/service. Adorama NYC, contacted thru' Amazon, will not take the lens back for service and advise return to distributor in the USA for repair. The distributor for Voigtlander in the USA (CameraQuest of Los Angeles), take the position that unless the lens was purchased from them, they will not handle it. Amazon so far are only able to say "sorry". So I have spent $1,000.00 for a lens that cannot receive warranty svc from anybody. Adorama won't take responsibility and, as yet, neither will Amazon. The only website available is Voigtlander's in Germany who advise contacting CameraQuest. And round and round. I have purchased from CameraQuest previously and they have always been very helpful but not this time as I didn't buy from them. I suppose I can use the lens as a paperweight because it is useless wide open without calibration or pay for an independent repair which angers me after only 4 months of ownership. The moral of this story is don't buy Voigtlander lenses from Amazon or Adorama. Shame on both companies.

[Ecaton]

I made a similar experience a few years back with a Voigtlander lens bought from B&H.

Very annoying. The only remaining option seems to be to contact the manufacturer directly.

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[jaapv]

It will cost you some money, but why don't you send the lens to a private camera repair shop? It is better than having a paperweight.I would say the legalposition of Adorama is weak,to say the least.

[jaques]

Surely someone has to take responsibility? It is not good enough to point you to CameraQuest if they are only going to say they will not help. In Australia the conduct of Adorama would be illegal- regardless of what they may say about their liability- they have an obligation as a vendor to sell goods of a merchantable quality...

 

I would kick up a serious stink.

 

failing that i would sent contact Sherry Krauter and see what she says. Her cost for servicing lenses is very reasonable.

 

I bought a Nokton 35mm 1.4 and it had back focus new out of the box. I got mine from a seller on ebay. Being that the seller was based in Thailand I didn't even try to do anything. Currently the lens is with a local repairman and I am hoping he will be able to repair/callibrate it for me.

[thompsonkirk]

Aren't there consumer protection laws that apply to this?

 

Kirk

[thrice]

My experience with Adorama has unfortunately been that unless everything goes perfectly, they absolutely drop the ball at resolving any issues.

[zlatkob]

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In the US, a retail seller is not required to warranty an item it sells. For example, if you buy a Honda, the warranty is from Honda, not the dealer. Honda may handle warranty service through its dealers, but it's not the dealer's responsibility directly.

 

Adorama's responsiblity ends after their stated return period, which is probably 14 days or so. Amazon's return period is 30 days, I believe, but that probably doesn't apply to sales by 3rd parties. Presumably there is a manufacturer's warranty of 1-year or something like that. If so, Cosina/Voigtlander should honor their warranty directly.

 

Perhaps I missed it, but Cosina's English pages don't seem to have anything about warranty service:

LENSES

 

There is a page in Japanese titled Service Room:

http://www.cosina.co.jp/gallery/serviceroom/index.html

... but I can't tell whether that is their service center or another distributor. There is a phone # at the bottom of the page.

 

Cosina's web site lists 2 distributors in the US -

http://www.cosina.co.jp/kaigai/index.html

Either of them should at least be able to direct you to the proper company office/phone number/web site for obtaining warranty service.

Edited December 19, 2010 by zlatkob

[jaques]

It may be that it is the supplier not the wholesaler who is responsible for warranty issues. In which case CameraQuest should handle it.

 

I think it is poor form to supply goods and then take no responsibility for warranty issues. If CameraQuest supplies Adorama but says that supply comes with no guarantee or back up service then Adorama should not purchase from CameraQuest. If it is true that CameraQuest supplies all the US retailers then it seems to me that Cosina has a real problem in how its US sales are managed. It is simply not good enough to supply lenses that cost 1000 dollars with no back up or warranty. Does nothing for the reputation of Cosina either...

 

What does Adoram's website say about warranty?

[eyejockey]

Thanks everybody for your advice and concern. I will try to get an independent repair made for this lens.The time and expense of taking legal action is not worth it to me and I'll take great pleasure, when I buy my Leica S2, in not buying it from either Adorama or Amazon,

Best,

Stephen Goldblatt

[Dougg]

There are two official Voigtlander importer/distributors for the US market. CameraQuest in LA is one, and Photo Village in NYC is the other. If Adorama obtains their stock through one of these importers, then that importer should handle warranty issues.

 

Since Adorama is in NYC, it's very possible their distributor is Photo Village. It's surprising that Adorama did not refer you to the appropriate warranty service. Due to that lapse, it occurs to me that Adorama may have obtained the product through some other source, and then there's only the Cosina world-wide warranty...

 

After checking with Photo Village, and no luck there, I'd send the lens off to DAG or another expert service for adjustment.

[ArtZ]

Write them.

 

http://www.voigtlaender.de/

 

 

You can use this formular:

 

http://www.voigtlaender.de/cms/voigtlaender/voigtlaender_cms.nsf/formular?OpenForm&formular=ekontakt_e&lang=e

 

Regards

[Photon42]

Some explanation is written here. This is one of the reasons why those things are more expensive in Europe. People tend to forget about this. Some goods however carry worldwide warranty my the manufacturer, such as, for example, Nikon lenses.

 

Rgds

Ivo

[Dannybuoy]

Rule of thumb: Don't buy Voigtlander. Stick to Leica. :-) I was going to buy a Nokton 50mm but then found a Summilux 50mm 1.4 Pre-ASPH on ebay and that is awesome. My rule is 'Buy cheap, buy twice'

[eyejockey]

I'm happy to report that after harassing Amazon for a week they have agreed to guarantee my complaint against Adorama NYC and failing a suitable resolution with Adorama they will reimburse the purchase price of the lens. Which is good news. Amazon do take their customer complaints seriously although at this Xmas time of the year it did take a fair while to get a satisfactory response,

Best,

SG

[HelenOster]

Beware!! I bought a Voigtlander 50mm Nokton thru' Amazon USA, August 23rd of 2010. I am writing as of December 2010. Amazon acted as agent for Adorama NYC....

 

At this point I can only apologize; I don't know who you spoke to, but there is no question but that this is covered by a warranty

 

Please email me with your order number: HelenO@adorama.com and I will give it my immediate attention.

 

Once again my apologies, and I do look forward to hearing from you.

 

Helen Oster

Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador

Edited December 20, 2010 by HelenOster

[andybarton]

I'm happy to report that after harassing Amazon for a week they have agreed to guarantee my complaint against Adorama NYC and failing a suitable resolution with Adorama they will reimburse the purchase price of the lens. Which is good news. Amazon do take their customer complaints seriously although at this Xmas time of the year it did take a fair while to get a satisfactory response,

Best,

SG

 

Amazon in the UK are refusing to even answer emails from me relating to a lost book I ordered and paid for over two weeks ago. They have no proper phone lines to which a complaint can be made.

 

I'm prepared to write off a £5 book purchase as a lost cause, but if this were a £5,000 camera I'd be mightily pissed off.

 

There is no way on earth that I would spend any more money with an outfit like Amazon and to even consider spending £5,000 with them, as an agent for someone else, is just madness.

 

Charlatans.

[holmes]

Well I'm glad that the problem is getting settled. In US when you buy a item (new) from a third party, things can get cloudy very quickly. Since the store is outside the network of authorized Cosina dealers, many would take a hike. Read the warranty section, in Japanese if you can. Rule of thumb, if you as the consumer purchase an item not imported through official dealers, you can be left out to dry. Reason, the manufacturer has built up a distribution network who are "authorized dealers". Problem is that people like to chisel for the best price. They will be told the official dealer is not responsible, the third party is. Perfectly valid in any court. When you go around the authorized dealers, they loose money and eventually stop carrying the manufacture's goods. Rolex and Cartier are great examples for their no nonsense policy on service if not purchase through an authorized dealer. That little two year warranty card on Swiss watches is nice to have when you are buying expensive items.

[hoppyman]

I have no connection whatsoever to Amazon or Adorama or Cameraquest. No-one with a problem surfacing within the warranty period wants to hear this but to be fair to the sellers, from your description it is not certain that you have a lens fault that is covered by warranty at this time. It may well be, I don't know, but examination by whoever repairs it will determine what the cause was. A sudden severe back focus problem while working in severe cold is something new obviously, not a pre-existing condition when you took delivery.

 

Of course I have no special knowledge on what is going on in your lens and in any event it may very well be some failure that has developed through manufacturing defect. But be fair and objective if you can.

 

Should there be some damage not within warranty conditions you may still receive a 'goodwill' response anyway since you have chosen to make a public complaint on the internet.

 

Good luck having this resolved speedily in any event.

[HelenOster]

Well I'm glad that the problem is getting settled. In US when you buy a item (new) from a third party, things can get cloudy very quickly. Since the store is outside the network of authorized Cosina dealers, many would take a hike.....

 

You've actually clarified the issue very well; it is a more complex situation than with most other manufacturers that we represent. Once I've heard from the OP I'll be arranging to bring it back, and we will sort out the repair via an authorized repair center.

 

BTW I hope you will understand that this is a probable explanation rather than an excuse, but my hunch is that the OP spoke to one of our seasonal staff on the 'phones; he or she wouldn't have been aware that our usual 30-day returns period doesn't apply in this case. It is a training issue that we need to address.

 

Helen Oster

Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador

 

HelenO@adorama.com

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[Johnny_Johnson]

There is no way on earth that I would spend any more money with an outfit like Amazon and to even consider spending £5,000 with them, as an agent for someone else, is just madness.

 

Charlatans.

 

Amazon USA is wonderful to work with. My wife ordered a Kindle as a Christmas gift for her sister. When she started to wrap it she realized that she had mistakenly ordered the WiFi version instead of the 3G one. She contacted an Amazon customer rep (by phone) and explained to him what had happened. He credited her CC for the WiFi unit and placed an order for the 3G unit to be shipped without delay. He also gave her a Web address that allowed her to print a prepaid mailing label to return the old unit. I can't think of a way that the situation could have been handled any better.

 

Cya,

Johnny