A Slight Disappointment or Two

[xpatUSA]

My new Panasonic m4/3 DMC-G1 arrived today.

On opening the carton, there was no sign of the 14-45mm kit lens. in spite of:



Then there was "MADE IN CHINA" on everything in the box . . . just to add insult to injury.

Caveat Emptor

[rpcrowe]

Ted, what seems strange is that the label is bilingual in what looks like the Cyrillic alphabet:



Here in the USA, we are used to bilingual labels in Spanish and occasionally in French, but the Cyrillic puzzles me. Did you, by any chance, purchase this item on eBay from an Eastern European seller?

I don't know where your Panasonic camera is manufactured. But, I do know that some items distributed by Japanese companies are subcontracted to other nations...

[dem]

It is Russian and Ukrainian btw.

[Manfred M]

Then there was "MADE IN CHINA" on everything in the box . . . just to add insult to injury.

Multi-national companies have manufacturing facilities all over the world. If you buy Nikon, the high end gear is made in Japan, the mid-end to higher mid-end stuff comes out of Thailand and the lower end stuff is made in China.

Chinese plants owned by and managed by foreign companies do turn out high end goods; these companies have reputations to protect and have very good quality management practices in place.

The locally (Chinese) owned / managed ones, that can be a bit more hit and miss. There is some good stuff that comes out of China and we all know of the terrible stuff (a.k.a. "junk") that comes from there too.

I remember when I was quite young, a "Made in Japan" sticker on a product meant poor quality as well. Then the work that J. Edwards Deming (an American engineer / mathematician and physicist) did took hold and the quality culture of Japanese manufacturing began to roll over the world.

I hope you have recourse to get that lens out of the vendor.

[Manfred M]

It is Russian and Ukrainian btw.

Plus English and French.

[Max von MeiselMaus]

Was this from eBay? What did the listing say? Did it explicitly state that the lens would be included? If so, you have recourse via eBay terms to claim back as the item was wrongly described. Unfortunately, you will likely be liable for return shipping.

Also, the box looks a little worn. Was this sold as new? Might just be shelf wear, but you would be able to tell if everything was in its untampered-with packaging when you opened it.

It might be an honest mistake, but you need to pursue the lens, if it was included in the sale.

[xpatUSA]

Thanks to all for the good advice.

I contacted the Seller through the Amazon system and they responded within the hour. Result being that I am returning the camera as we speak, for a full refund.

The problem was in their title line which ended with (black body), not (body only). Since the Seller's picture showed the camera with lens and no statement "lens not included" I assumed that it was provided.

In the end, the problem was quickly resolved to my satisfaction I'm pleased to say.

[IzzieK]

Amazon is a good company to deal with as they have very good customer service. I have only been disappointed with Amazon once and it was my fault really ... Them and B&H have good support... I am glad you are able to resolve your problems.

Thanks to all for the good advice.

I contacted the Seller through the Amazon system and they responded within the hour. Result being that I am returning the camera as we speak, for a full refund.

The problem was in their title line which ended with (black body), not (body only). Since the Seller's picture showed the camera with lens and no statement "lens not included" I assumed that it was provided.

In the end, the problem was quickly resolved to my satisfaction I'm pleased to say.

[Richard Lundberg]

i agree that Amazon is a good company, I buy a lot of stuff from them, BUT, I tried to resolve a technical problem with Kindle and had to be connected to six different people before I got one who even had some concept of what I was talking about. They aren't going to fix it as far as i know from all that.

[Donald]

I don't buy anything from Amazon because of its employment practices.