Atleast in Woodbury, estimating is not done by technicians. That would
be a huge waste of their time. Often, what an estimator finds in the
film compartment is a good indication of what is likely to be found in
the rest of the camera.
John
William Sommerwerck wrote:
>
> "They may be taking you, but then again, $35 to $40 an hour is the going rate
> for a competent electro-mechanical technician at commercial operations in my
> area. Labor alone would be about four hours for $150."
>
> The problem is that the technician doesn't make anywhere _near_ that much
> money.
> If the tech sees more than $40 from a $150 repair, I'd be surprised. Most
> companies run their repair departments as a source of Le Bigge Profittes,
> rather
> than than on a break-even basis. It doesn't bother them that they are
> profiting
> twice, and the second profit is the result of the owner's bad fortune. And at
> the risk of sounding nasty, I don't believe Olympus's techs are "competent."
>
> I don't believe it takes four hours to "overhaul" an IS-10. The woman I spoke
> with reminded me (in the context of explaining why they hadn't dismantled the
> camera) that _many_ cameras come in each day for service. A technician can't
> spend half a day on a single camera. The repair and overhaul processes for
> specific camera models are well-defined, and technicians know what they're
> doing. If it takes two hours (which is actually a long time) to overhaul an
> IS-10, I'd be surprised.
>
> "This past January 1 was faced with a OM1 problem in Ft. Myers, FL, a flopping
> mirror after a two-foot fall to a wooden floor. An independent operation (Mark
> Vonder @ King's Pawn, phone 941.277.9199) repaired my camera for $85 on a
> 24-hour turn around."
>
> I think you got a good deal. And at least Mr. Vonder -- not a corporation --
> pocketed the money.
>
> "At my work, my team is haggling with Sony over a digital camera (uses a
> 3.5-inch floppy disk) that has an erratic shutter button. It's still in
> warranty, but they're balking at fixing this intermittent problem free, they
> want $99. They also are balking at providing a swap for a new unit."
>
> Typical Sony. Some years ago a Sony CD player failed two days after their
> 90-day
> "warranty" expired, and they would _not_ accommodate me. When the same player
> later failed a second time due to a generically faulty component, I had to
> (literally) blackmail them to replace it with a new unit. I didn't like doing
> it, but the law was on my side, and I had no other choice (other than getting
> a
> lawyer).
>
> I _will_ say that when Olympus failed to fix my OM-4T after three tries, Eric
> agreed to replace the body. And I didn't have to beat him over the head to get
> him to do it. (Eric is no longer with Olympus. <sigh> I suspect someone else
> might not have been so accommodating.)
>
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