Sekonic warranty repairs US?

BrianShaw · Feb 18, 2020

Steph, let’s be clear. I understand and sympathize with you. I’ve walked in your shoes with several companies who find it real easy to take our money, provide some good or service, continue to take our money, but then it’s impossible to talk to them to resolve a problem.

All I’m saying is that this situation is becoming very common these days. Especially when dealing with consolidation or distribution companies rather than the manufacturer... and sometimes even then. Automation and personnel cuts seem a trend that reduces the East availability of contact or service for us consumers.

That’s all I’m saying.

If you’ve not previously encountered this then you are incredibly fortunate. But this won’t be the last time you’ll be frustrated in this way.

it’s not like your dealing with a small, unknown, or questionable organization, though. And it’s not fair at all to brand them as crooked or criminals just because their business practices aren’t 100%. You certainly tried! Maybe one more call and ask for the person named above????

If you’d be willing to throw the meter away, why not put it in a box and mail it to them? A paltry $7 investment if you use a small USPS FIXED RATE box. I’ll bet the won’t bother with a repair but just send you a replacement if it is indeed defective.

and if they fail to do you right then... you’d have evidence that they may be crooked or criminal.

removedacct3 · Feb 18, 2020

StepheKoontz said:
L-208 I bought this to have a small meter to use with my Leica IIIa.

When I first read your starting post my initial thought was ... he has bought a L-208 Twinmate. It is consistently inconsistent with other meters. I sent it in for calibration along with a fairly detailed summary of my findings. I do not think they (Sekonic) took my complaint serious. When I got it back it included a note stating that they.were unable to reproduce the problem (excuse me?) and they ended their note with a remark about how the tiny light dome is supposed to be used.

It does not in any way resolve your issues with Sekonic and/or the MAC group, but you and me are the owners of a piece of junk.

BrianShaw · Feb 18, 2020

MrclSchprs said:
and they ended their note with a remark about how the tiny light dome is supposed to be used.

That doesn’t surprise me. I almost asked in this thread but though better of such a query. I sure know I’ve made that error before!

StepheKoontz · Feb 29, 2020

BrianShaw said:
If you’ve not previously encountered this then you are incredibly fortunate. But this won’t be the last time you’ll be frustrated in this way.

My whole reason for posting was to point out: THIS company has very bad customer service and consumers should be aware the products they are buying don't have a reliable way of getting customer service if needed.

Yes, I have had this type of service before (ATT and Fuji camera come to mind) and I not longer buy products from those companies either. As I pointed out Nikon, LEXAR and many other companies do provide reasonable customer service, so this isn't an across the board -Everyone has extremely bad service today- as you are trying to excuse them for having. People should be aware if they buy a defective product from Sekonic, they likely will have the same luck as I have had. It also sounds like the meter has some sort of design or QC issue and might be why they ignore complaints?

BrianShaw · Feb 29, 2020

So... what have you done in the past 10 days to get satisfaction?

Chan Tran · Feb 29, 2020

BrianShaw said:
Steph, let’s be clear. I understand and sympathize with you. I’ve walked in your shoes with several companies who find it real easy to take our money, provide some good or service, continue to take our money, but then it’s impossible to talk to them to resolve a problem.

All I’m saying is that this situation is becoming very common these days. Especially when dealing with consolidation or distribution companies rather than the manufacturer... and sometimes even then. Automation and personnel cuts seem a trend that reduces the East availability of contact or service for us consumers.

That’s all I’m saying.

If you’ve not previously encountered this then you are incredibly fortunate. But this won’t be the last time you’ll be frustrated in this way.

it’s not like your dealing with a small, unknown, or questionable organization, though. And it’s not fair at all to brand them as crooked or criminals just because their business practices aren’t 100%. You certainly tried! Maybe one more call and ask for the person named above????

If you’d be willing to throw the meter away, why not put it in a box and mail it to them? A paltry $7 investment if you use a small USPS FIXED RATE box. I’ll bet the won’t bother with a repair but just send you a replacement if it is indeed defective.

and if they fail to do you right then... you’d have evidence that they may be crooked or criminal.

If you consider this situation the norm then from now on I only buy gray market products. If they run business like that their warranty and support isn't worth anything.

BrianShaw · Feb 29, 2020

Chan Tran said:
If you consider this situation the norm then from now on I only buy gray market products. If they run business like that their warranty and support isn't worth anything.

Have I missed something? Have they failed to provide service? So far, they have only failed to return an email and have a human available to answer the phone. Both are clearly less than ideal, but they are what they are. All the rest is extensions of the actual facts. And, yes... I’d be frustrated too.

StepheKoontz · Feb 29, 2020

BrianShaw said:
Have I missed something? Have they failed to provide service? So far, they have only failed to return an email and have a human available to answer the phone. Both are clearly less than ideal, but they are what they are. All the rest is extensions of the actual facts. And, yes... I’d be frustrated too.

How is being totally unresponsive = providing service/support? They failed to return a half dozen emails, they have someone to answer the phone for orders (I talked to them), but if there is a problem they send you to a voice mailbox no one responds to. You seriously think it's "normal" to have no one responding to problems? What if I simply have a question about one of their products I bought? I should have to snail mail them a letter or send the product back to get an answer?

And maybe I'm missing something here: Why are you defending this company who clearly has no intention of servicing their customers. You solution is for me to blindly mail a product back to them, in hopes they even have listed the correct address for repairs, and they will for some reason become all "Pro service" when a package arrives? And it's possible I'm not doing something right and this could be resolved via some sort of communication. If this level of non-service is acceptable to you, by all means continue doing business with folks like this. I'll spend my money elsewhere or buy used.

MattKing · Feb 29, 2020

Like many warranty repair services, they probably don't have the infrastructure to deal with customer contacts. See if the dealer you bought from can reach them, or can assist.

StepheKoontz · Feb 29, 2020

MrclSchprs said:
When I first read your starting post my initial thought was ... he has bought a L-208 Twinmate. It is consistently inconsistent with other meters. I sent it in for calibration along with a fairly detailed summary of my findings. I do not think they (Sekonic) took my complaint serious. When I got it back it included a note stating that they.were unable to reproduce the problem (excuse me?) and they ended their note with a remark about how the tiny light dome is supposed to be used.

This reminds me of a decentered APS-c digital lens I got from Fuji. I sent it back twice, with sample images/tests clearly showing the lens is badly decentered and IMHO unusable. Both times it was returned with a "It's within factory specifications". I wasn't going to sell this defective lens to anyone else so I threw it in the trash and sold the camera. I will never buy another camera product from Fuji after that experience.

BrianShaw · Feb 29, 2020

Good luck, Steph. I really hope you get satisfaction and, eventually, peace of mind.

And if you’re interested... I’d ship it to them with delivery confirmation. About $7 in a USPS small flat rate box.

Bye.

StepheKoontz · Feb 29, 2020

BrianShaw said:
So... what have you done in the past 10 days to get satisfaction?

Attempted to contact Sekonic on social media, reached out to the people I purchased it from, who also have been unable to get any response from them.

I love how you are making this my fault... Like I'm not doing enough so far to warrant any response from them and should be trying harder. I guess in your opinion a customer should have to FIGHT and jump through a bunch of hoops, then take a leap of faith the company will all of a sudden "do what's right" (after reading dozens of people online saying they just return defective items saying "could not duplicate complaint") to get the service they were promised and they paid for? Unbelievable...

BrianShaw · Feb 29, 2020

StepheKoontz said:
I love how you are making this my fault...

The reason I’ve abandon any concern I may have had about you or your plight is exactly this... read and comprehend please... I never found you at fault. Stop making up lies.

UNBELIEVABLE, as you put it.

I sympathize with your situation but contend, from similar experience, that you may not get the exact response you want in the way you want. But they haven’t totally failed you yet since you haven’t given them the chance.

good luck.
Bye.

logan2z · Feb 29, 2020

I own a Sekonic meter and I can't say I'm thrilled to hear about how difficult it is to get a response from the company for a warranty claim. But if I were in your shoes I'd probably follow the directions on the Sekonic web site and send the meter in for repair to the listed service address - either directly or via your dealer. They may surprise you. The meter sounds useless to you in it's current state anyway.

4season · Feb 29, 2020

I agree that it's terrible that the OP isn't getting any sort of response out of MAC. But having said that, Amazon has posted this advisory:

"ONLY SEKONIC METERS THAT ARE SHIPPED BY AND SOLD BY AMAZON.COM OR OTHER AUTHORIZED SEKONIC DEALERS CAN ENSURE THAT YOU ARE RECEIVING GOODS THAT HAVE PROPER FCC COMMUNICATION AND ARE COVERED BY A USA WARRANTY. THE AMAZON OFFER MAY BE SEEN TO THE RIGHT. GREY MARKET SEKONIC METERS WILL NOT APPLICABLE FOR A US WARRANTY."

Even if it came with USA warranty card, if it didn't come from an authorized source, it's likely considered used and without warranty.

Perhaps non-warranty service can be had via Sekonic Japan:
https://www.sekonic.co.jp/english/support/form_meter.html

Ariston · Feb 29, 2020

StepheKoontz said:
Attempted to contact Sekonic on social media, reached out to the people I purchased it from, who also have been unable to get any response from them.

I love how you are making this my fault... Like I'm not doing enough so far to warrant any response from them and should be trying harder. I guess in your opinion a customer should have to FIGHT and jump through a bunch of hoops, then take a leap of faith the company will all of a sudden "do what's right" (after reading dozens of people online saying they just return defective items saying "could not duplicate complaint") to get the service they were promised and they paid for? Unbelievable...

It is not your fault.

What you definitely should not do is: Buy the same meter again from Amazon, put the defective one in the new box, and send it back to Amazon for a refund.

I mean, there is no way I would do that if a company were trying to screw me over. I'm just sayin'.

StepheKoontz · Mar 1, 2020

4season said:
I agree that it's terrible that the OP isn't getting any sort of response out of MAC. But having said that, Amazon has posted this advisory:

"ONLY SEKONIC METERS THAT ARE SHIPPED BY AND SOLD BY AMAZON.COM OR OTHER AUTHORIZED SEKONIC DEALERS CAN ENSURE THAT YOU ARE RECEIVING GOODS THAT HAVE PROPER FCC COMMUNICATION AND ARE COVERED BY A USA WARRANTY. THE AMAZON OFFER MAY BE SEEN TO THE RIGHT. GREY MARKET SEKONIC METERS WILL NOT APPLICABLE FOR A US WARRANTY."

Even if it came with USA warranty card, if it didn't come from an authorized source, it's likely considered used and without warranty.

Perhaps non-warranty service can be had via Sekonic Japan:
https://www.sekonic.co.jp/english/support/form_meter.html

I did buy this "SHIPPED BY AND SOLD BY AMAZON.COM" but even if I hadn't, I can't get anyone from MAC to even return an email or a phone call to inform me of this if that was the case.

Chan Tran · Mar 1, 2020

Ariston said:
It is not your fault.

What you definitely should not do is: Buy the same meter again from Amazon, put the defective one in the new box, and send it back to Amazon for a refund.

I mean, there is no way I would do that if a company were trying to screw me over. I'm just sayin'.

They may know that the one you ship back isn't the same one they shipped to you because the meters do have serial number.

AgX · Mar 1, 2020

4season said:
Even if it came with USA warranty card, if it didn't come from an authorized source, it's likely considered used and without warranty.

Is that legal in the USA?
If a manufacturer gives a voluntary warranty, that should hold its right even after resale.
More so with a legal warranty.

MattKing · Mar 1, 2020

AgX said:
Is that legal in the USA?
If a manufacturer gives a voluntary warranty, that should hold its right even after resale.
More so with a legal warranty.

Most warranty protection around here comes from the distributors, rather than directly from the manufacturer's themselves.
The manufacturer/distributor relationships are set up that way.

Chan Tran · Mar 1, 2020

AgX said:
Is that legal in the USA?
If a manufacturer gives a voluntary warranty, that should hold its right even after resale.
More so with a legal warranty.

I don't know about the law but Nikon wouldn't honor the warranty if you buy the camera brand new and sell to someone else the next day. The new owner won't have the warranty.

Chan Tran · Mar 1, 2020

To the OP. I don't know if you already posted it but which model of the Sekonic do you have? How much did you pay for it? Perhaps take a lost and just send it to the address. I don't think you will have a response from them if you don't get any response for 2 weeks already.

rastern · Mar 1, 2020

MattKing said:
There is a very good chance that there is no "receptionist". There is a reasonably large chance that that first person is an answering service.
MAC group is a marketing entity, and may or may not have a single physical location. Centralized business premises mean overhead costs, including staff costs. The world isn't trending that way.
I would be glad to learn that the MAC group does things old school - a real office, where people actually work and work together - but I would also be surprised.

MAC group does in fact have offices, in White Plains, New York. They have people working there; it is not an answering service (at least not external to that building). I got some OEM Toyo parts from them less than 60 days ago. They may not carry a lot of spares, and I don't know if they have separate service departments for different brands that they service. I think they do, based on my experience, but that's speculation. I spoke to two people there, one receptionist and one service tech. And while they wouldn't give me any support over the phone (wanted me to mail my camera in for quote, regardless it was just some knob replacements), I was able to request parts and have them mailed out without issue. The tech I spoke to even emailed me the exploded design view docs to make sure we were talking about the right parts. If you require service, chances are you're going to be mailing it to their White Plains service center.

John Koehrer · Mar 1, 2020

I suspect you've thought about returning it Amazon and calling it a day?

***I have no idea what their policy may be please don't be upset.

rastern · Mar 1, 2020

John Koehrer said:
I suspect you've thought about returning it Amazon and calling it a day?

***I have no idea what their policy may be please don't be upset.

This seems most sensible. Amazon should permit this, even to a merchant, if it was in the last 30 days.

Regardless, looking at MAC group, they don't list Sekonic on their warranty page, so I'm not sure how the OP determined they were the warranty servicer. They may be the distributor, but that doesn't automatically make them responsible for warranty issues. Probably a large reason why you haven't gotten a response. What has Sekonic Japan said?

Sekonic warranty repairs US?

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