In November time, one of my trusty A900 bodies (I have two) stopped working. More precisely, the mirror fell off. So I set about sending it off to the official Sony repair centre in Wales. Given I was paying for the courier service, I thought I'd include a lens that also needed looking at. Not a major issue, but I had noticed my Carl Zeiss 85 1.4 wouldn't focus to infinity a while before and thought I'd kill two birds with one stone. Inifinity focus isn't so crucial since it's mainly for portraits at 2-5 metres but worth getting done. So I packaged them up and sent them in.
Shortly after, I recieved a call from the repair centre with the estimate and request for payment and promptly paid the 108gbp for the A900 and 147gbp for the lens. It's not cheap, but equally not so bad for a flat rate service.
A few days later, I recieved a phone call asking for proof that the lens was less than 5 years old. I stressed I had paid and was not trying to claim on any warranty but they insisted. Apparently the part can't be sourced and so a replacement would be offered, but only if I can prove it's less than five years old. Unfortunately I can't find the reciept anywhere, though I do know it to be less than five years old based on the date I bought my A900 (I know it was after that purchase). Sony claim they can't identify when it was sold and don't trust me that it is less than five years old. So apparently my only option was to recieve the 147gbp back as refund along with the uncorrected lens. I've asked them to escalate it and provide information of how/who I can complain to, but 4 weeks later and still no word.
What can I do? Why can't a current lens be repaired - at cost - and how else can I prove I bought it when I did? Very very disappointed with the service. While the value of the item shouldn't make a difference this is a very expensive lens which is still currently for sale, yet Sony can't repair it. Doesn't bode well for anyone considering investing in Sony alpha lenses and certainly has made me think about my future with the system. Having invested as much as I have (16-35CZ, 16fish, 24-70CZ, 85CZ, 135CZ, 70-200G, 70-400G II, 2 x A900, 1 x A77, 2 x HVL58...) it's expensive to leave, but perhaps further investing is dead money?
Also, I'd like to add as an unrelates issue, I was very shocked that when the A900 repair was going to take longer than the 5 day turnaround, that the 'guarenteed' loan body offered was an A37. I presumed the loan body guarentee was to help professionals who may rely on their camera for work. Fortunately I had my spare A900 but to be offered an entry level APSC body as a temporary replacement for a semi-pro level (and previously flagship) full frame body is really shocking.
