Garry Edwards
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Thanks for that.I think this is a bit of a landmark move, putting Godox/Lencarta on a par with the big established brands. Pretty vital for many users, as quite apart from any unknown reliability issues, location flash is by its nature very prone to accident damage.
How many of the other 'new-age Chinese' manufacturers have proper UK-based service and support? I can only think of Phottix via importers Intro2020. Edit: correction, not Intro2020 now, but Mac Group.
To be clear though, this is a Lencarta initiative, to provide customer support for Lencarta customers, it doesn't cover products sold by others.
It started over 5 years ago and has improved over time. Getting the repairs done at a separate location wasn't ideal so when it became possible to bring the service in house, this was done. It's really about growth, taking on extra staff, which made it possible to reorganise the warehouse and make much more efficient use of the space, and also now having an additional Chinese speaking staff member who can talk to the factory engineers in their own language to buy the parts from the factories (which of course means proficiency not only in the Chinese language but also on the technical front) - not an easy job in itself, but it's all come together now.
It's all about treating customers fairly, both within the warranty period and beyond it, because without a repair department the customers would be totally on their own once the warranty had expired and, where accidental damage occurs (which as you rightly point out is a real problem especially with location flash) there would be no support even within the warranty period.
It all comes down to treating people the way we all expect to be treated ourselves - nobody would buy a car that they can't get repaired, so why should they have problems if they buy lighting equipment?