Olympus Service in Europe

[stevedo]

I thought I'd share my recent experience of the Olympus service centre in Europe.

Firstly a little background. I am a full-time motorcycle traveller but am currently visiting friends and family in the UK. My gear has been well used, and occasionally abused, for the past 18 months or so and was in need of a good clean and service. With that in mind I paid for the annual PRO service for £119.00 which entitled me to send in one qualifying body and three qualifying lenses for service. Note, my gear was already registered with Olympus.

Here's my experience:
I purchased the annual PRO service from the Olympus website and registered the product online. So far so good.
The next step in order to send the gear off for service is to contact Olympus either via an online chat module or a phone number to arrange a pickup by DHL. The chat module did not function at all and the phone number just rang and rang. I called multiple times. I had to resort to using email to request service and received a response the following day.
I packaged up my E-M1 mark ii, 12-40 PRO, 40-150 PRO and 75 1.8 and it was collected by DHL on the morning of Tuesday 6th August and sent to the service centre in Portugal.
On Thursday 8th August I received notification that my gear would be returned on Monday 12th August. Pretty impressive. I then received a further notification stating that my gear would actually be delivered on Friday 9th August. I received it at about 11:45. So a three working day turnaround from collection to delivery. VERY impressive.
For the E-M1 they replaced rubber grips, updated firmware from 3.0 to 3.1 (all of my settings were maintained), cleaned the sensor, cleaned the camera and "repaired and calibrated" the IBIS. Not sure why it was listed as "repaired", I'd had no discernible issues with it.
The 12-40 was listed as having been cleaned and the hood repaired. I didn't know it was broken.
The 40-150 came back with updated firmware and a fully repaired lens hood. It fell apart a while ago and I sent it in with as many parts as I could find at the time it fell apart.
The 75 was cleaned.

Overall , with the exception of the phone number just ringing and the online chat not working, I was mightily impressed with both the speed of service and the work carried out. I feel I got value for money and now have the confidence that my gear will function well on the next two year stage of my motorcycle travels.

Hopefully my experience will give others the confidence to send their gear in to Olympus for service.

Cheers
Steve

 

[keith1200rs]

Unfortunately my experience was a lot worse. Sent my 6 month old EM5 mk 2 for warranty repair because hundreds of bright spots were on the images. Came back without the problem fixed. It took a while to get it finally sorted out with the sensor replaced. Also, while I packed the body well to send it to them, on both ocassions it came back in very inadequate repackaging, with little protection.

 

[Growltiger]

I have twice sent equipment for major repairs and the service from Portugal has been excellent.

 

[comment23]

I’ve used the service centre in Portugal (via UK) three or four times and the service has always been excellent for me too.

 

[alex g]

Just had a very good though slightly curious experience with Olympus Europe. My 12-100 had three issues: MF seemed to have become rather jerkier than before; the pseudo-parfocal behaviour (where the lens frantically adjusts focus in the background according to a pre-defined schedule in order to maintain focus while you zoom) was failing at the wide end; the frame was jumping between 12 and 13mm with an audible 'click'. Unusually, it was still under warranty. I filled in the service request form online, printed out the prepaid mailing label, packed it all up well and sent it off.

After a few days I checked the online progress page and saw no signs of life, so I sent an email asking if the package had arrived. Had a prompt and friendly reply assuring me that it had. It subsequently appeared on the progress page as being under repair.
A few days later was informed that it was being shipped back by DHL and received it a couple of days later — today. Was mildly surprised to discover that it had gone to Lisbon — didn't know that that's where the Olympus European service centre is located.

It turns out that they decided to send me an entirely new lens. As it transpires, there is no noticeable difference with respect to the first two issues I reported, so evidently such behaviour is normal for this lens. I can only presume that the third issue (the click and frame bounce) would have cost more to fix than the value of a replacement lens.

I'd agree with @keith1200rs about the packaging though — the lens box was packed inside a cardboard box no bigger than itself, which in turn was inside a DHL sealed plastic mailer, and consequently the lens box was very slightly crushed. Only very slightly, and the contents seem to be fine, but another layer of air might have been better.

But on balance, the process was very quick and efficient; there are people who respond to your emails; and I have a new lens, so I'm very happy.

Five thumbs up!

 

[ph.]

My Pen Fs card slot bacame unusable. Relying on the brilliant Norwegian consumer protection laws, the 3 year old camera was supposed to be usable up to 5 years after purchase, so, my preferred shop took it in, had it rapidly fixed at no cost while i got a replacement in the meantime.

Excellent Olympus service. Now I am just waiting for the factory to make a firmware change option fixing the focus spot in the middle.

p.

 

[stevedo]

With one exception above mentioned by keith1200rs (maybe it was late on a Friday afternoon), it seems like the Olympus service centre in Portugal is doing a great job

 

[keith1200rs]

With one exception above mentioned by keith1200rs (maybe it was late on a Friday afternoon), it seems like the Olympus service centre in Portugal is doing a great job

... except they don't package things well for return either

 

[comment23]

... except they don't package things well for return either

I’m sorry to hear they didn’t for you but on each occasion I have used them the packaging has been fine. Sometimes we just draw a short straw.

 

[keith1200rs]

I’m sorry to hear they didn’t for you but on each occasion I have used them the packaging has been fine. Sometimes we just draw a short straw.

@alex g also mentioned poor packaging. For me, I had the same poor packaging twice.

 

[comment23]

@alex g also mentioned poor packaging. For me, I had the same poor packaging twice.

Fair enough. Did you give them feedback on it?

 

[Growltiger]

The packaging they sent mine back in was better than how I sent it. They had used an original case for the product.

 

[keith1200rs]

Fair enough. Did you give them feedback on it?

Yes. When the camera came back unfixed I also mentioned how badly packed it was. It didn't make any difference - it was exactly the same the second time.

One of my concerns is how often Olympus gear seems to need a repair. I have had a 14-42EZ repaired twice under warranty as well as my EM10.2 and EM5.2, both under warranty. Reliability doesn't seem a strong point.

 

[Growltiger]

Yes. When the camera came back unfixed I also mentioned how badly packed it was. It didn't make any difference - it was exactly the same the second time.

One of my concerns is how often Olympus gear seems to need a repair. I have had a 14-42EZ repaired twice under warranty as well as my EM10.2 and EM5.2, both under warranty. Reliability doesn't seem a strong point.

They are improving. The Pen-F and E-M1 II have had very few reports of problems.