Warranty On Camera

[Neeranam]

My wife reported to me an hour ago that my second digital camera had been put in the washing machine and beeen through a full spin! How the ***k it got in there, well no point getting upset as it is done now.

Does anyone think I will get it fixed under the warranty. I bought it from Panthip Plaza on the top floor and have the reciept. I bought it 10 months ago.

I am not sure if I am happy that it lasted less than a year or not. maybe it will be ok - it is out in the sun drying out now.

My last one was dropped, by guess who, 10 months ago as she was cleaning the house. It was 1 year and 2 weeks old. The warranty was 1 year from the same shop. It had a broken lens, and wasn't worth fixing. I took it back and tried to get them to lie about the purchase date but they wouldn't so I bought the same model - a waste of 18,000 baht. I hope i don't have to do the same again, althought the price has come down to under 10,000. Be thankful for small mercies as my grunnie says. At least I managed to download the photos/videos from kid's day yesterday onto the comp. I would have been more miffed if I had lost the videos of my little one dancing on the big stage.

Edited January 9, 2005 by Neeranam

[ZOVOX]

My wife reported to me an hour ago that my second digital camera had been put in the washing machine and beeen through a full spin! How the ***k it got in there, well no point getting upset as it is done now.

Does anyone think I will get it fixed under the warranty. I bought it from Panthip Plaza on the top floor and have the reciept. I bought it 10 months ago.

I am not sure if I am happy that it lasted less than a year or not. maybe it will be ok - it is out in the sun drying out now.

My last one was dropped, by guess who, 10 months ago as she was cleaning the house.  It was 1 year and 2 weeks old. The warranty was 1 year from the same shop. It had a broken lens, and wasn't worth fixing. I took it back and tried to get them to lie about the purchase date but they wouldn't so I bought the same model - a waste of 18,000 baht. I hope i don't have to do the same again, althought the price has come down to under 10,000. Be thankful for small mercies as my grunnie says. At least I managed to download the photos/videos from kid's day yesterday onto the comp. I would have been more miffed if I had lost the videos of my little one dancing on the big stage.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you tell them your wife put it in the washing machine, they will not fix it under the warranty - NO warranty covers damaged you caused. If it was me, i'd just clean it up, teake it back and not tell them what happened.

[maitembot]

What, so bored, so you bring some nonsense question here? If you don't know the answer to such a newbie question....

Report back to your wife. Quickly!

[Ken]

I had two Canon Power Shot A70 cameras. Both bought in the USA, both still under warranty. The first one, I "fell" in a pool of water in Thailand, went back to the US and sent it in for warranty repair. They sent it back saying "not covered, water damage" and "not repairable" for any price, "buy a new one". The second one I got "caught" in a rain storm in Thailand and neglected to protect the camera. Sent it to Bangkok for repair. They sent it back and said "buy a new one". Hope this eases your mind.

[Neeranam]

If you tell them your wife put it in the washing machine, they will not fix it under the warranty - NO warranty covers damaged you caused. If it was me, i'd just clean it up, teake it back and not tell them what happened.

I think that is what I'll do. Cheers Zovox

I had two Canon Power Shot A70 cameras. Both bought in the USA, both still under warranty. The first one, I "fell" in a pool of water in Thailand, went back to the US and sent it in for warranty repair. They sent it back saying "not covered, water damage" and "not repairable" for any price, "buy a new one". The second one I got "caught" in a rain storm in Thailand and neglected to protect the camera. Sent it to Bangkok for repair. They sent it back and said "buy a new one". Hope this eases your mind.

Then again maybe it is not worth it

Edited January 9, 2005 by Neeranam

[udon]

Neeranam

Sorry to read of yr bad luck.

I hope the dipper got a spanking

Did you use a hair drier to dry the camera?

What is the make and model of the camera?

Does the mem card still work?

Just curious!

[autonomous_unit]

Perhaps you should be looking for a camera that has available one of those ruggedized diving cases for use underwater? Keep it attached at all times, and tell your wife it is a much more expensive camera so she will still treat it as well as the last ones, in spite of its tougher appearance...

[maerim]

From my experiences with after sales service here you might as well forget it, it seems that as soon as they have your money thats when the after sales service stops.

I bought an Olympus C50 zoom from a franchise in a supermarket here in Chiang Mai, 28,000 baht it was a brand new model.

After 6 months it packed up so I took it back to where I bought it, thats when the fun and games started they said they would have to send it to the Olympus repair depot in Bangkok.

After a month it was still there so they said they would "chase it up" as I was going back to the UK very soon I asked them to be as quick as possible,yeah i'm sure.

They then phoned my wife to tell them that I would have to pay to get it fixed I went and asked them why I should pay it was not damaged it just didn't work.

About a week before I left for the UK I told them to get it back this they did, 2 days before I went back to the UK.

It was returned from the "Olympus"depot wrapped in bubble wrap and taped up with Nikon tape.

On my return to the UK I phoned Olympus in London they asked if I had the guarantee, I did and the original reciept I sent it to them and within 10 days it was returned mended free of charge.

It seems a bit drastic to me that I have to go to a country where it was not purchsed from to get the thing repaired under guarantee but this is what you find here.

[Neeranam]

Buy a new one... and I 'highly recommend' the Panasonic DMC FZ20. Fantastic digital camera. See the reveiw HERE

Ravisher

It looks good Ravisher, thanks for the tip.

Did you use a hair drier to dry the camera?

What is the make and model of the camera?

Does the mem card still work?

Just curious!

No I put it out in the sun. I found that more effecctive for mobile phones that get a soaking. Strangely enough the memory card still works and it still flashes when clicked, but there is no display on the monitor thing, which would suggest a broken lens to me. I can still play vidoes that are on the memory card. The Kodak 6330 is now only 7000 baht so probably best just buying a new one.

[spog]

Two comments:

Water damage is never covered under electrical warranties. Some products have little 'telltales' built in that indicate whether it has had a dunking - even if you dry them perfectly (I know mobile phones definitely do and I am sure that cameras). Accidental damage is also not covered. You might be covered under your home insurance policy.

Thai warranties are terrible. I always buy my high ticket stuff from HK.

Panasonic are lovely cameras. Also check out Canon - a lot of people have a lot of love for them

[Thetyim]

I think you should also consider getting your wife repaired .

[marquess]

It seems that with most warranties here, it doesn't matter what is covered. For very little ever seems to be done when something goes wrong

[astral]

The memory cards are reputed to be washing machine proof.

[udon]

Does anyone have good or bad tales of warranty claims for electical goods and cameras bought in Singapore?, it seems to be the closest port for buying cameras etc with good (?) after sales service.

[Ajarn]

I've had good luck with Fujifilm cameras. I just recently bought an S5500 online from tohome.com I was inspired chiefly by the beautiful Kanchanaburi photos Kan Win posted here a few months ago. He(?) inspired me to upgrade from my reliable Fujifilm 1.3 meg.

This is 4 megapixels. It ain't the biggest (think it's 8 megs now?) but the the quality is still superb and the price is a very reasonable 15,900. It is basically a 3/4 size SLR zoom (Optical 10x is great). Lots of bells and whistles like Digital video with sound (Excellent quality 7.7 minutes on my 512meg card) and up to a max of 3969 images @ 300kb, or at the 'sharpest'.. 229 images @ about 1.9 megs each on this card.

A friend recently showed me his older Canon S30. Very nice camera with interesting software built in for editing in-camera. Beautiful night photos with the White Balance control, which basically allows you to balance for various light sources. His camera excelled in this aspect over mine. The newer S50 might be a good buy, it seems.

By the way, this is the second large ticket item I've bought from tohome.com online. Both times the process went quite smoothly. I always called to do a stock check and get verbal confirmation of a delivery date from time of order before I paid (CC). Pretty strict on the CC verfication- they said because of a high rate of CC fraud in/out of Thailand. Good personal attention, in my case. I'm pretty sure some of would have different experiences

Edited January 10, 2005 by Ajarn

[lingling]

A friend recently showed me his older Canon S30. Vey nice camera with interesting software built in for editing in-camera. Beautiful night photos with the White Balance control, which basically allows you to balance for various light sources. His camera excelled in this aspect over mine. The newer S50 might be a good buy, it seems.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Canon S70 is now available in TH. I paid B26590 for one with a 128Mb and a 32Mb card included + tripod and 2 camera bags. The S70 is packed with the same features as the S30 but considerably faster, 7.1 megapixels, new optics (faster and wider lens for better low-light photos). There are some new software features but most of it is the same as the S30.