Guys
I just sent my X100 and X-Pro 1 in for routine servicing/ cleaning.
Fuji charge a lot more than Canon for routine servicing/ cleaning (approx $85 per camera compared, I think, to approx $60 for Canon).
Also quite unlike Canon where, depending on the time of day you show up with your camera, you can almost expect to have it cleaned and returned to you within a couple of hours, Fuji tell you up front that the process may take up to 2-3 weeks. They make no promises (this is apparently the protocol). This can be quite a nightmare if you don’t live in the Upper Paya Lebar area because the service center is quite out of the way, and they don’t open on weekends.
There is one lady manning the counter and the paperwork is meticulous, so you can expect to wait quite a while if there are others ahead of you in the queue. She is not permitted to handle requests; she can only convey your requests to the technicians in writing (and you will be provided a copy of the request in your acknowledgment form). She told me that she has, over the years, faced the wrath of many a frustrated camera owner, one of whom had so many buttons pressed that he wound up throwing his camera at her.
There is a number you can call to follow-up on the progress of your service request. It is frequently not manned. It took me a while to get through and to impress upon the guy on the other end that I only require routine servicing/ cleaning to be done and would like, if possible, to have my cameras back in my hands sooner rather than later. The cameras were sent in on Monday morning and, by the time I got through to them, it was Tuesday evening and they had not yet progressed to my cameras. The man made no promises but said that they would give me a call once the cameras were ready for collection.
They called me today (Thursday afternoon) to tell me that my cameras were ready for collection. I asked about the state of dust that was in the cameras and was told that they were pretty dirty and needed some seriously cleaning. I asked how I should check for state of dust in the cameras especially the X-100, and the guy says that they’ll get the technician to speak with me when I come collect my cameras (provided they were not too busy).
I showed up at 10 New Industrial Road to collect my cameras, and told the lady at the counter that I had asked to speak to a technician about my camera. This very kind and engaging man shows up and proceeds to chat with me for almost 15 minutes – explaining to me how they check for dirt and dust, how they would strip the cameras apart as part of their servicing/ cleaning procedure, how often I should send my cameras in for routine servicing/ cleaning, what I can do to minimise exposure to dust (including the recommendation that I change X-Pro1 lenses with the lens/ sensor facing downwards). He told me that the firmware on my X-Pro 1 was not the latest and that they upgraded it for me. I inadvertently left a finger print on the viewfinder of my X-100, and he sent it in for cleaning before handing the camera back to me (I would ordinarily have just wiped it with the inside of my T-shirt…
. We then had a great conversation about the different X-mount lenses (he tells me that most of their customers swear by the 60mm for portraits although he can’t understand why). I felt a little bad for the guys who were next in the queue after me – because they were not going to be served until I had finished my conversation at the counter.
This much I will say for the Fujifilm Service Center – they may be in the middle of nowhere, very likely thinly staffed, and hamstrung by inflexible protocols, but they sure are have some seriously knowledgeable and passionate technicians on their payroll. This more than makes the difference as far as I’m concerned.
