Pentax does not honor warranty

[rmoorez]

I purchased a Pentax A40 last December. In November the screen just went blank. I sent it in to Pentax Service right away. Just got a call that it would cost $94 to repair. They said that the LCD screen had leaked and was due to rough handling. My wife and I are senior adults with no childern around. We kept the camera in a semi-hard foam lined case and it did not have one scratch. I called Pentax only to be told too bad. So...unless you want a disposable camera...do not buy Pentax.

I have done some research on Pentax and found that there are lot of complaints similar. Pentax customer service tells customers that they dropped the camera or it got wet. Pretty slick way of getting out providing service under the warranty. Plus, if you don’t want to spend the $$$ to repair, they charge $12 to return.

This was my 3rd and last Pentax. Before you buy check out the reviews. I learned my lesson the hard way.

Rod

[David Metsky]

I have done some research on Pentax and found that there are lot of complaints similar. Pentax customer service tells customers that they dropped the camera or it got wet. Pretty slick way of getting out providing service under the warranty. Plus, if you don’t want to spend the $$$ to repair, they charge $12 to return.
I"m sorry that you had this experience.

If you extend your web search you will find that every manufacturer does the same thing and has the same complaints online. The reason is that customers really do drop their cameras and get them wet. Not all, but it's hard to tell after the fact. And cameras are a lot more fragile than most people think.

It's not a perfect world, and I'm not trying to defend Pentax. But you will see this type of response from all camera manufacturers unless you push the issue significantly harder, and even then you may not get satisfaction. Compact digital cameras are, for the most part, disposable.