Help! - The bulk head connecter for my OLY UW PT-020 oly broke on my last dive trip. I have used this UW housing TWO times. It is a simple plastic piece that fits into a hole on top of the camera-where the TTL connects. We would like to purchase the piece from OLY but, they refuse to sell it. They want to charge 100.00! We could fix it our selves - simply replace the part - but, they will not sell it. I received a reply from customer service - see below. In view of this - I should not have purchased this product - for those of you considering a purchase - I would look to another alternative. Here is OLY's response to my inquiry
We value you as an Olympus customer and appreciate the opportunity to
assist you. Parts for our underwater housing units are not generally
available to the public because if they are not correctly installed, the
loss of the camera on the next dive could result.
It is our feeling that having all repairs made by one of our trained
technicians will eliminate this possibility.
Olympus Imaging America Inc. understands that the cost of electronic
repairs today can be high. There is a "time & materials" rate we could
use to determine the cost of repair, where the unit is disassembled,
evaluated and then reassembled, to determine the exact cause of the trouble
and amount of parts and labor needed to make the repair.
But this is very labor intensive. We would be required to charge for
this type of estimate, which would be close to actual cost of repair,
only without any actual repair work or parts being replaced.
To keep the costs of repair down, as well as reduce the amount of time
needed for the entire repair process, we use a set price or "flat fee".
The flat rate cost is based on the typical time and parts required to
service the product back to full operating condition. Once we commit to
servicing the unit, the price is set. It will not be increased, even if
the repair requires more parts and labor than we expected. We also
clean and make any minor adjusts needed even if they are not related to
the actual problem. This allows us to provide a six month warranty on the
entire product, not just the work that was done.
I trust you will agree that Olympus Imaging America is sensitive to the
cost of repairs while also providing quality service and support.
Thank you for your inquiry.
I thought this should be posted - I am looking into other housings.
Janice
We value you as an Olympus customer and appreciate the opportunity to
assist you. Parts for our underwater housing units are not generally
available to the public because if they are not correctly installed, the
loss of the camera on the next dive could result.
It is our feeling that having all repairs made by one of our trained
technicians will eliminate this possibility.
Olympus Imaging America Inc. understands that the cost of electronic
repairs today can be high. There is a "time & materials" rate we could
use to determine the cost of repair, where the unit is disassembled,
evaluated and then reassembled, to determine the exact cause of the trouble
and amount of parts and labor needed to make the repair.
But this is very labor intensive. We would be required to charge for
this type of estimate, which would be close to actual cost of repair,
only without any actual repair work or parts being replaced.
To keep the costs of repair down, as well as reduce the amount of time
needed for the entire repair process, we use a set price or "flat fee".
The flat rate cost is based on the typical time and parts required to
service the product back to full operating condition. Once we commit to
servicing the unit, the price is set. It will not be increased, even if
the repair requires more parts and labor than we expected. We also
clean and make any minor adjusts needed even if they are not related to
the actual problem. This allows us to provide a six month warranty on the
entire product, not just the work that was done.
I trust you will agree that Olympus Imaging America is sensitive to the
cost of repairs while also providing quality service and support.
Thank you for your inquiry.
I thought this should be posted - I am looking into other housings.
Janice
