Customer Service Rant!

[zooki]

I know I am relative newcomer to this board, and haven't posted much, but I feel that I should give warning. This is just a heads up if you're thinking of buying from a company called Focus Camera in New York. Don't! I bought a Maxxum 7D from them in February and have had it a total of 4 days since then. Actually I have had TWO 7D's. The first one's flash quit working after 1 day. I called the customer support line at Focus Camera and they agreed to replace the camera since I had only had it one day. So I shipped it back(paying for the shipping) and called them the day after it arrived to see when my new camera would be shipped to me. They then informed me that they shipped it off to Konica Minolta to be fixed. All attempts to get them to follow the original agreement of sending me a new camera were unsuccessful. So I resigned myself to waiting. After a month, I called them to see when I could expect my camera back. I was told "call back tomorrow and I'll know something" This went on for a week (calling every day)until I finally got ahold of a supervisor. She couldn't give me an answer either, didn't know why it was taking so long to get an answer, then decided to send me a new camera! This is what I wanted a month ago! Anyway, I recieved the new camera, used it 2 days this time, then it quit working also. The camera would vibrate, the "anti-shake" light and scale in the viewfinder would max out, and the camera would not take pictures. Sometimes it wouldn't cut off, and I had to physically remove the battery to get it to cut off. So I called Focus Camera again. They again agreed to replace it. I made it very clear that with all the trouble I had previously I wanted to be sure there would be no problems returning this camera. I made sure that they had one in stock to replace the broken one. I shipped it back again(again paying for shipping). I called them today to see when I would receive my new camera, and they informed me that since I registered the warranty online with Minolta that they couldn't help me. They were going to ship my broken camera back to me and I would have to send it to Minolta directly. They informed me that this was what Minolta told them, that they contacted Minolta and was instructed to do this. I immediately called Minolta myself, and they don't know what Focus Camera is talking about! In fact, the gentleman at Minolta wanted the name of the company I dealt with so he could check on it, he said he's never heard anything like that before.
So, if you feel the need to suffer through poor to nonexistent customer service, be stonewalled, put on hold for long periods of time, and be repeatedly lied to, by all means order from Focus Camera. I will never order anything from them, and hope this will warn others away from the poor customer service, and outright deception that they practice.
Joe Smiga

The fact that I have had TWO Maxxum 7D's quit on me almost as soon as I got them also makes me mad, but that's a rant for another day!

[Coltess]

Sounds like you are due for some good luck for a change.
Not that this will make you feel better, but you are apparently not the only one who has had a poor customer support experience from Focus Camera.

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1927.html

[cdifoto]

They have a good enough lifetime rating (just shy of the high average) but they seems to have gone downhill in the past 6 months, but still are average. They aren't showing to be a scam store though. Those are usually rated at about 3 or below.