My Olympus Lens Saga; The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Let's start with the ugly first and get that out of the way...

The Ugly 

When on our recent Lancaster County, Pennsylvania road trip, my most used lens, the one that pretty much stays glued to the front of my camera, the 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens, became damaged.  At some point in time, about the third day of the trip, I noticed that the front element had acquired a small (about 3mm) scuff mark located about 20mm in from the left edge.  To say I was surprised is an understatement.  I thought it was a piece of lint.  When it wouldn't come off, I knew it was trouble.  I always keep a lens hood on my lenses and I'm still not entirely sure how it happened but it did.  No need to dwell upon things, I decided to just kept moving forward and deal with it after we returned home.

Instead of replacing the lens with the 12-40mm f/4 PRO (which I also had with me), I continued to use the 12-100 for the remainder of the day.  I needed to know if the small scuff negatively impacted my images.  Often times, small defects, debris, dust, smudges on the front element really don't make a visible difference.  However that evening, upon looking at my images on my laptop, I noticed in several of them when taken in just the right circumstances, I could easily see a small place in the left center of the image that was blurry and flared.  At that point I knew that I needed to get the front element re-polished or replaced.  But I still used the lens for the rest of the trip.  It is that good and that versatile that I thought I could "fix" any visible flare and blur if necessary and, in fact, I did.  You never noticed when looking at those images, I bet.

The Bad  

After returning home, I went online to Olympus America's repair site, filled in the form describing what piece of kit I would be sending and why.  Olympus requires you to give them your credit card number before they give you a "Customer Number" which is designated for an individual repair job.  

I sent the well-packaged lens via UPS on July 1st with delivery to their facility in South Hackensack, New Jersey slated for Friday, July 3rd.  On July 3rd, I received a "Delivery Exception" email from UPS saying that they couldn't deliver the lens as Olympus was closed for the July 4th holiday.  Okay, I understand that.  The lens was then delivered on Monday morning, July 6th.

Earlier this year, when I sent my E-M1 Mark II in for a replacement shutter, I received an email from Olympus the day after they received it acknowledging receipt and giving me the URL for a website where I can track the progress of my repair.  I did not receive anything from Olympus that week so on Friday, July 10th, I decided to call.  When I reached someone, I was told their internet-based system was down and it would be a few more days before I received an acknowledgment.  So, I waited.

On July 13, I finally received an email acknowledging receipt of my lens and the cost for what is now being called a "major" repair.  The cost quoted to me was $510 US.  I don't know the cost of a lens element and labor, but I thought that was a tad bit high for simple replacement of a lens element.  But, I had no choice as a new lens is about $1300 US.  Immediately I called to authorize the repair and apply the payment to the credit card that I had already given them.  But I had already done so when I filled out the form.  Okay, I'll authorize it a second time.  The woman who answered the phone told me that they would need my card number again and at the time of our conversation there was no one available to take the number.  What?  Something didn't sound quite right.  Also, everyone I spoke with at "Olympus" had a foreign accent.  Nothing wrong with that but no one sounded as they were a native English speaker.  Hold that thought.  I'll return to it.

The very nice lady with whom I was speaking asked for my telephone number (which they already had on the initial form I filled out) and said when someone was available, they would call me back.  A couple of hours later, I received another email telling me that they tried to call but my number would not accept telephone calls from "anonymous" callers.  What?  I get crap anonymous telephone calls every day.  So I knew that was not true.  Or was it?  Hold that thought as well.  What the heck is going on here?

I called back and got another heavily accented non-native English speaking person who now took my credit card number and I authorized the repair.  Finally, it seems I'm making some progress.

For two weeks I tried to track the progress of my repair but, again, the system did not work.  Another red flag.  How can a huge company like Olympus America function with their internet-based customer service systems not working and for so long?  Finally, after two weeks, I receive an email charging the $510 US to my credit card.  I thought, great!  I expected a follow-up email telling me my lens was fixed and on the way back to me.  Nope, nothing.  After two days of no email and having my card charged, I called again.  Another heavily accented non-native English speaking and really nice woman who said her name was Jessica took my call.  Really nice lady.  Really helpful.

Jessica checked on my lens repair and told me that they are waiting for parts and the decision was made to send me a refurbished lens.  I wonder if I hadn't called if they were going to tell me or just let me sit at home wondering when my lens would be repaired and returned?  Remember, the internet based tracking system was inoperable.  They had, indeed, already charged my card for the repair and that was my impetus for calling.  I thought some progress was being made but I was mistaken.  

I politely refused the offer for a refurbished lens and counter-offered that I bought that lens new and I would accept another new lens but not a refurbished lens.  I told Jessica that if I wanted refurbished Olympus gear I would have bought it, but I bought new, which means I have the box, papers, etc. which have the same serial number as my lens.  That has additional value when selling a piece of gear in the future.  She didn’t have an answer for my counter offer so she took my phone number and email, (which I had already given them—twice) and said she would check and either call me or email me.  I thanked her.  Pleasant and helpful lady.  However...

Before we ended the call, I asked her if she minded me asking her a question.  She didn’t mind and I asked her if she worked for Olympus or a company that handles the Olympus account.  She said she worked in a call center.  I suspected as much as none of the five or six individuals I spoke with at "Olympus" seemed to be a native English speaker, which is fine.  They were all professional and nice.  I then asked her where she was located and she told me Columbia.  Now I understand the accents of the people to whom I spoke.  I told her that was the first time I had knowingly spoken with someone in Columbia and she had been very helpful and pleasant with which to deal and, once again thanked her for her time.  That was on Friday, July 24th late in the day.

At that time I still didn’t know anymore about when I’d get my lens back.  They now had my money.  It had been three weeks since they received my lens and I had no lens and didn't know when it might be repaired.  Thinking about this, a couple more red flags reared their heads.  First, evidently, it seems the main Olympus repair facility in the U.S. doesn’t stock a great number of parts in their center since they are waiting for a part from somewhere.  I would think replacing front lens elements would be a fairly common repair and especially on one of their most popular lenses.  Also there seems that there is no way to talk to someone who actually works for Olympus.  I was not encouraged by this.  Something tells me this does not bode well for the future for Olympus customers in the U.S.  The saga continues......

The Good!  

On the Monday following Friday's conversation with Jessica, I received an email from her.  She wrote that she contacted Olympus management and, since I had been such a "loyal customer," they were going to send me a brand new lens!  WOW!  With capital letters!  You could have knocked me over with a feather upon reading that.  Olympus really did step up to the plate and hit a home run with me.  Very unexpected and I am very thankful and very grateful.  They didn't have to do that and I told them I was willing to wait patiently for as long as it would have taken for my original lens to be repaired.  Thank you Olympus America!  

I replied to Jessica (she had followed up and was the one who actually sent the email) and thanked her in several ways.

That said, I still worry that all is not well with the company.  With two of their major customer service systems down for many days and waiting for parts that probably should be routinely stocked, that sounds as though things are not good.  I hope I'm wrong.  

What started out as negative experience all around turned out okay in the end.  Throughout the entire back and forth with the people who answered the telephone, I always was police, never demanding, thanked them and practiced patience.  Maybe if I acted the way we see many people today act in public, I would still be waiting unknowingly for my lens to be returned.

Thank you again Olympus!

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Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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