Panasonic lens repairs?

myotis

myotis

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I've just been reading in another forum that in the US and Canada, that once outside the 1 year warranty, Panasonic won't repair faulty lenses. Instead, they only offer, with minimal discount from the new price, to sell you a refurbished replacement. The lenses specifically mentioned were the 200mm f2.8 and 100-400 zoom, so not exactly the budget end of their range. This seemed to the experience of a few contributors.

Has anyone got experience of repairs with Panasonic in the UK, is this a worldwide approach, or something peculiar to North America.
 
That seems very strange. Panasonic UK have a repair centre.
https://panasonic.dkavs.co.uk/

EDIT: And looking at the Panasonic North America site, they seem to have an online facility for booking repairs.

EDIT 2: If you were reading the long thread on DP Review, perhaps you missed this post from one of the DP Review admin team:
Panasonic US became aware of this thread and contacted us about it. This is their statement:

-Begins-

The 100-400mm lens is not discontinued. The Leica lens can only be repaired in Japan due to the alignment equipment and expertise that is only available at the factory in Japan. For this reason, no parts were made available to anyone to eliminate the possibility of third party servicers attempting a repair only to make the situation worse.

To expedite the service, during the warranty, Panasonic replaces the customer’s lens with a factory recertified lens – likely much better than having the lens repaired locally. In an out of warranty situation the cost is that of a recertified lens. The disassembly – reassembly – alignment process takes many hours so it is not an inexpensive repair.

Panasonic’s facility in McAllen TX is capable of repairing most of our lenses. Anyone in the US or Canada needing their lens serviced should contact Panasonic directly at (800) 561-5505. All of Panasonic’s North American support is handled from the call center in Chesapeake, VA.

-Ends-

I hope this clarifies the situation.
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https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/61151080
 
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StewartR said:
That seems very strange. Panasonic UK have a repair centre.
https://panasonic.dkavs.co.uk/
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Yes, I know there is a repair centre, but the post you linked to helps to address my concerns. I specifically mentioned the more exotic lenses, but included the 200mm f2.8 as well as the 100-400mm, and from what I had read there seemed some uncertainty over what lenses were treated this way. But useful that this statements emphasises its "only" the 100-400 and not all lenses or all "exotic" lenses.

I think the issue is mainly the costs, as it seems to mean that even simple repairs still end up with costs based on you effectively trading in your broken lens against a refurbished lens. Making even simple repairs expensive, and more complex repairs the full cost of buying a refurbished lens. Costs quoted ranged from $500 to $1800 for a refurbished replacement.

Having said that, I'm not overly concerned if its a specific approach to a specific lens, and if it speeds up replacement turn around, and ensures you get a replacement lens where "everything" has been checked, and not just things related to the repair, it doesn't seem too bad a policy. But useful to be aware of it.

But, there is a lot of anti-panasonic feeling across multiple threads in multiple forums over this.

e.g . https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4286025 and https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4137916
 
realspeed said:
I had my Panasonic camcorder repaired by "https://www.dkavs.co.uk" . Don't know if they do lenses or try "http://www.camserve.co.uk" who did an excellent job on my Nikon lens
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Thanks, but I'm not actually needing a lens repaired, just trying to clarify Panasonics policy on lens repair.

The confusion seems to be around the Panasonic - Leica (PL) lenses repairs. Apparently at the end of last year the technicians at DKAVS, started to get training for some external repairs of PL lenses such as replacing a broken lens mount, but for other repairs they need to go back to Japan, where they aren't actually repaired but replaced with a refurbished copy. Early last year DKAVS told a customer, that a repair to a 100-400 was a simple task, but Panasonic wouldn't provide any spare parts for this lens.

But there are lots of varying comments across the Forums, apparently reporting direct correspondence with Panasonic. e.g.

  • It only applies to the PL 100-400 lens and the cost of a refurbished replacement varies with the level of repair needed to your broken lens
  • It only applies to the PL 100-400 lens and the cost of a refurbished replacement is a fixed $1700, regardless of how badly damaged your lens is
  • It applies to all PL lenses, and only refurbished replacements are available
  • It applies to all PL lenses, and neither repairs or refurbished replacements are available outside the warranty period (which almost certainly isn't correct)
  • It only applies to all PL lenses and simple external repairs (e.g broken lens mounts) can be repaired locally, other damage needs lens returned to Japan and replaced with a refurbished lens (which may well be the correct situation)
  • As with last option, but only applies to the PL 100-400 lens (which might also be correct)
  • Any other combination of the above you can think of.
It was the varying views on Panasonics repair policy (all apparently based on interaction with Panasonic) that caused my question. Some seem perfectly reasonable, and others like no repairs being available beyond warranty, (with a list of unrepairable lenses published on their web site, which includes all PL lenses, but not there anymore) seems unreasonable.
 
This has cropped up several times with different lenses, when push comes to shove it looks like Panasonic put out statements to muddy the waters, no i can't show any as when i read these things on forums i don't have a photographic memory for times and places.
I would say to potential purchasers do your own research, i did but while not happy with the lack of back up i still bought into the gear
 
mikew said:
I would say to potential purchasers do your own research, i did but while not happy with the lack of back up i still bought into the gear
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Yes, I have found lots of forum references going back many years, but it's also obvious that things are improving.

"old reports" even as recent as last year, may no longer be relevant. It seems for example, the recently introduced Panasonic pro services, which seems to be available to everyone, is aimed at improving the support to photographers and now that I know, I'm not too unhappy at the idea of swapping out a faulty "exotic" lens for a refurbished copy, especially as it looks as if simple repairs can now be done locally.
 
Why not just ask the repair company?
 
tijuana taxi said:
Why not just ask the repair company?
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Do you mean DKAVS or Panasonic? I suppose it doesn't really matter and I may yet do that, but I was hoping to get some personal experiences of people from the UK, rather than an official line, which certainly in N America, seems to be inconsistent.

However, since my original post I have found more info from the UK, and more info from elsewhere, so I'm more confident that I think I know what the situation is, and find it much less concerning than others seem to have found it.
 
myotis said:
The confusion seems to be around the Panasonic - Leica (PL) lenses repairs. Apparently at the end of last year the technicians at DKAVS, started to get training for some external repairs of PL lenses such as replacing a broken lens mount, but for other repairs they need to go back to Japan
Click to expand...
This is due to the agreements made with Leica... even if Leica doesn't manufacture the lens, they are involved in the design and set the technical/quality standards that must be met. They also design/manufacture/supply proprietary test equipment that is required.

This article is about the Sony/Zeiss lenses/partnership specifically... but you can bet the arrangement with Panasonic is the same (or even more restrictive).
https://lenspire.zeiss.com/photo/en...tographers-should-know-about-the-partnership/
 
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sk66 said:
This is due to the agreements made with Leica... even if Leica doesn't manufacture the lens, they are involved in the design and set the technical/quality standards that must be met. They also design/manufacture/supply proprietary test equipment that is required.
Click to expand...

Thanks, this is perfectly understandable and I had already made this assumption about the PL lenses, but the stories being bandied about the various forums have gone well beyond this, e.g the no replacement and no repair outside the warranty (with a list of lenses this applied to on the Panasonic web site), and examples of people also including non-PL lenses, so it was difficult to tie down what the story really was. Of course we all know to take what is said in forums with caution.

Having said that, I'm a little surprised that Panasonic haven't got a big enough market in N America to provide a full service facility, even allowing for the cost of duplicating specialist skills and equipment. But I have to assume Panasonic know more about how to run their business than I do :)
 
myotis said:
Having said that, I'm a little surprised that Panasonic haven't got a big enough market in N America to provide a full service facility, even allowing for the cost of duplicating specialist skills and equipment. But I have to assume Panasonic know more about how to run their business than I do :)
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Just out of interest, it seems that the Pansonic service centre (or maybe I should write center) in Texas, has had the equipment installed to repair this lens with repairs in US and Canada now going to Texas rather than Japan.

I'm glad that Panasonic read this forum and took on board my comments :)
 
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