Lemon Law wont protect as well as you may think, story of X100s purchase from SLRR

[jules77]

just a warning to all those interested in buying an X100s, you should spend a few dollars more and get it from a retailer that offers 1 to 1 exchange.

I bought it last night from SLR at the aforementioned price, which is pretty much the same everywhere in Funan but I decided to buy from them because them and John 3.16 usually serve me the best, and i just happened to go into SLR first.

What a mistake.

The camera locked up after taking a few pics when i brought it home, and until now after charging the battery it wont power up. Could be a battery or camera problem. So went to bed and thought just ring them in the morning, I am a regular there and have spent thousands of dollars there and they are reputable, surely they will do something.

WRONG!

Ignoring the Lemon Law - the guy on the phone said he knows who I am etc and regardless they don't do 1-to-1 exchange as specified by Fuji. Firmly told me to go to service centre, (which is not open today). Then I asked what if it's a battery problem? Got an even better reply, even that need to go down to service centre. And yes, the guy said he was the manager. He didn't even seem the least bit sympathetic or apologetic that his store sold me faulty goods. He went on to say that when I tested it in-store, it was ok, and that even if I came back after an hour upon leaving the shop after purchasing it would still be a service centre matter.

So now I could probably go down and invoke the Lemon Law, and that would result in either two things - they would probably angrily send it off to the service centre on my behalf, or just flat out ask me to take legal matters.

So instead of wasting time and hot air, will just go down to Fuji service centre on Monday since I have to make a trip down somewhere to sort it out anyway. Will never step into SLR ever again, they might have good service when selling you stuff, but when something goes wrong they are no better than a dodgy Sim Lim camera store.

Really wished I walked on the other side and gone into John 3.16 first -.-"

Also please note, the Lemon Law has proven to be rather useless (ironic right ...) in this particular instance, so it is important for camera buyers to make sure they can get a 1-for-1 exchange if anything goes wrong with the equipment within a certain time frame.

 

[donut88]

From the way I see it, the shop is not doing anything wrong. Fuji has the service centre for you to go to. The shop could be following Fuji's instruction for faulty products.

U can go down to service centre and clarify with them about retail shops exchange first.

 

[jules77]

Updated the status of the case at the fuji forum http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/fujifilm/1208762-fujifilm-x100s-18.html#post8380732

^also, what the shop did by originally telling me to go to the service centre is now against the law. If you read the terms of the Lemon Law, the contract is between myself and the shop, not the manufacturer. maybe the "manager" was not aware of this, but when i popped in to speak to someone they apologised and promised to fast track my camera case to fuji. they also said it was their own company policy not to offer 1-to-1 exchange in case it is user error that led to the gear not working.

 

[ricohflex]

I bought some cheap stuff from a shop in an upper storey of Peninsula Shopping Centre. (don't confuse with Peninsula Plaza opposite)

After paying for it, the shop rep (maybe the owner but not sure) showed me a receipt with a lot of small words.
Then he politely explained that this is because of the lemon law.
He asked me to sign on the receipt (he kept his copy) with a long paragraph that customer has inspected the goods...blah..blah....
I guess it is just so that in case they sold me a lemon, then after signing the receipt, I would have no case under the lemon law.

Since the purchase value in this case is a small sum, I got no problem with it.

The shop also made a special effort to display 3 or 4 yellow small sticky note pads with the words "Legal Notes"...or something like that on the sales service counter, near to the cash register. Probably this is to "impress" the customers that what they are doing has been vetted by a law firm. The very fact that they need to do this, hints that something is not right.

One of these days, if I can be bothered, I may refer their receipt wording and request that customers sign, to the Law Ministry.
What they are doing may or may not be against the law.
If it is against the law, then let Law Ministry go after the shop.

By the way, if you refuse to sign, the shop cannot insist. Bu I think they will always request this AFTER you have paid. So you cannot change your mind and decide not to buy.

The shop may not realise:
• they are turning off their customers.
• if what they are doing is against the law, then there is trouble down the road.
• once people realise this is how they operate, then few want to buy high value items from them. Their reputation will be ruined.

I presume high quality shops like Cathay, trusted by pros and high value customers, do not have such shady practices.

 

[jules77]

^I think i went into the store you are talking about today to look for spare batteries, if not mistaken since those stores on the "upper floors" mainly sell cheap china knock offs, they are heavily affected by the lemon law that states they need to provide at least 6 months of coverage. for instance, some of those really cheap flash triggers have only a week or a month warranty before the lemon law was brought in. sort of shows you the confidence they place in the products though ...

 

[ricohflex]

A law cannot be struck out even if the shop gets customer to sign.

If the intention of the shop is to deny customers the protection they are supposed to have under the lemon law, then it is probably illegal.

 

[sjackal]

SLRR is same as the infamous Bally right?

So I never buy from them.

Anyway the reputable shops had been practicing good customer service even before lemon law, I remember MS color did one to one exchange for my lens within a week or so due to barrel problems, Cathay changed my spyderpro calibrator.

 

[Tiredofallthese]

SLRR is same as the infamous Bally right?

So I never buy from them.

Anyway the reputable shops had been practicing good customer service even before lemon law, I remember MS color did one to one exchange for my lens within a week or so due to barrel problems, Cathay changed my spyderpro calibrator.

But i got very good experience with slrr so far. Just to mention recently that i thought my tripod got some problem after using a few years that my pics 70% always blur. When i went to the the shop and sort for new tripod they did recommend me some 500 to 1k good stuff and explained how it works. While we are chit chatting telling them why i need to buy, the sales personnel just help me took out my tripod and check the problem. He given me some pointer and ask me not to buy 1st and try out see its still take blur pics or not. After few days i went back and thanks them cos its all ok now no problem at all. To appreciate them i bought some accessories from them. I really so happy that i saved at least few hundreds of dollars from their help. To be honest my 1st set of dslr i bought from ms color service is so so and after that all the way till now i buying from slrr. This is one of the incident they helped me and actually there are few more too not to mention. The item they hv is not import from them but take from agent locally. So i guess its not wrong for them to ask u call the local svc ctr. So far i know their company policy is once checked bought any problem go to svc ctr. I guess its right cos item is locally warranty but not by the shop. Jus my 2 cts.