| Product: |
Digital Cameras in general |
| Date: |
25/03/02 (151 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Great service from Minolta
Disadvantages: None
We hear of many instances of inadequate service from leading manufacturers and firms, so I'm delighted to hand out some praise for a change.
In late January I acquired a Minolta Dimage E203 digital camera at the bargain price of £199.99, some £150 less than being charged in some other outlets.
It's a 2.1 million pixels camera with a 3x zoom lens, 2x digital zoom, an extensive range of modes including various flash settings, TFT screen, three resolution settings and the use of tiny Secure Digital/MultiMedia Card memory cards enabling the overall size to be kept very compact.
Photographs taken so far have proved to be sharp, bright and with clean, accurate colours.
Initially, because it never seemed to stop raining in February I hardly used it, apart from some indoor test shots, but noticed that the zoom lens sometimes refused to extend or retract when the camera was switched on or off.
Over the next few weeks this problem became worse, so much so that last Tuesday I decided to send it back to Minolta's Milton Keynes repair centre. I rang first and was informed there was a 48-hour turnround on camera repairs.
This morning I rang to check on the repairs progress and was informed that the technician was having difficulty in sorting out the camera. However the lady I spoke to stated she would request that the camera be completed and sent out tonight, so that I would receive it tomorrow.
A few minutes later the phone rang and the same lady spoke to me. She said that since speaking to me she had been informed that Minolta had decided to replace my camera with a brand new one.
However, because it had to come from another department, it could not be sent out today and therefore not reach me until Wednesday. She added that she wanted to ensure that I did not wait in tomorrow unnecessarily.
I expressed my grateful thanks for Minolta's action and for her taking the trouble t
o let me know what was happening.
This is what I call service with a capital "S".
It's something that some other manufacturers and retailers could study and emulate - certainly I will broadcast Minolta's goodwill gesture far and wide, as well as purchase their products again in the future.
Summary:
|
Last comment:
 |
sidneygee - 03.04.02 Good to see you back, Stuart !
Market pricing is, of course not based on taking the cost of development and manufacture and adding a reasonable profit margin.
It generally starts with a marketing concept (with a proposed price and likely demand), and then produce at as low a price as possible. If sales are flat, then discounts are applied.
Another problem is that the later models are normally cheaper to produce(since development costs are 'written off'), so that a new model can be a better deal at 'list price', than an earlier model with a substantial discount.
I bought a Sony Video recorder at 60% discount about 10 years' ago, to find later that for 10% more than I paid I could get one of the latest models with all the same features
{;¬{] |
View all
4
comments
|
