p.1 #2 · Elinchrom BXRI-500 modeling light cutting out
sent this in to CRIS, the USA repair center for elinchrom/manfrotto and was told that it is on parts hold awaiting parts from europe which will be an approximate 4 week wait time. With shipping, total time without my 3 month old flash unit is 1.5 months!
p.1 #5 · Elinchrom BXRI-500 modeling light cutting out
Now I'm being told that it could be 7-8 weeks before I get it back. I have emailed the customer service manager to see if there is some alternative to such a long turnaround time which seems to be excessive, particularly on such a "young" piece of gear of this caliber.
p.1 #6 · Elinchrom BXRI-500 modeling light cutting out
That's a kinda scary thought. I realize that some will argue against certain mfr's stuff being made better or worse than others. Meanwhile some will cite great customer service.
I had one unit quit working on me earlier this year. The unit was nearly two years old, so it was still under warranty. Of course, it could have just as easily been out of warranty had it developed a problem a few months later.
But, despite the problem ... the customer service department "cross-shipped" a loaner to me. I could have had it overnighted, but I wasn't pressed for it, so it was two days to get me a loaner from the time I called. The repair took about two weeks turnaround ... but with a loaner, no biggie.
That being said, my preference of course would be that the unit didn't have a problem, but 7-8 weeks turnaround makes me take notice of the value @ "cross-ship" loaner. I guess it pretty much falls into the category of you get what you pay for, i.e. entry level price = entry level components ... regardless of which continent it is made on.
p.1 #7 · Elinchrom BXRI-500 modeling light cutting out
yeah, but at $565 for this unit, it hardly qualifies as entry level. I have heard that buff has a 48 hour turnaround on repairs so that's something to take into consideration.
p.1 #10 · Elinchrom BXRI-500 modeling light cutting out
i had einsteins for 2 days. I got 2 of them in along with a cyber commander, 2 CSXCV and several CSR+ units (the latter of which to use with my AB lights)
I found the cybersync useless outdoors in the sun and the CSR+ wouldn't work with one of my AB lights so I returned the 2 einsteins and the accessories.
If I bought them again, I'd seriously consider using pocketwizard. Still not sure it's worth selling the elinchroms and switching to AB but 6-8 weeks for a repair is pretty bad and is making me give it some thought.
p.1 #11 · Elinchrom BXRI-500 modeling light cutting out
cordellwillis wrote:
Whaaaa Regardless of the price of a product, if a part is not currently available AND it's in a different part of the world there is a wait. I don't see the difficulty in understanding that.
Instant gratification is a funny and sad thing. A 7-8 week wait is what it is. I'm sure Elinchrom or whomever would have things done faster if they could. I'm sure no one is sitting at their desk playing with themselves just to put people on hold.
Nobody said otherwise. The point is just that. A DATA POINT. Whether 7-8 weeks inhibits your particular workflow is subjective. Fortunately, I have backup lights. However, from a pragmatic standpoint the data point that stands out is:
Buff: 1 week turnaround time
Elinchrom: 6-8 week turnaround time
Whether that's something important to you is another point.
There are good and bad things about buff and there are good and bad things about elinchrom. I'm not willing to spend $1k / light to go profoto so at this point I'm glad I have backups but I don't see anything wrong with discussing pros and cons of the gear. That *IS* the purpose of this forum, eh?!?
p.1 #12 · Elinchrom BXRI-500 modeling light cutting out
jzucker wrote:
Now I'm being told that it could be 7-8 weeks before I get it back
Now you know why there are stories about Manfrotto's crappy service
There are some good ones too, but in general, it's not great. I've had emails ignored from them as well (griping about their crap tripod fliplocks that gouged off a piece of flesh)-:
FYI, Hensel has slow service as well...really nice gear (like their Porty Lithium and light beauty/ring light combo modifier) though...
p.1 #13 · Elinchrom BXRI-500 modeling light cutting out
kenyee wrote:
Now you know why there are stories about Manfrotto's crappy service
There are some good ones too, but in general, it's not great. I've had emails ignored from them as well (griping about their crap tripod fliplocks that gouged off a piece of flesh)-:
FYI, Hensel has slow service as well...really nice gear (like their Porty Lithium and light beauty/ring light combo modifier) though...
yeah, I had some bad experiences with manfrotto customer service when I had a gitzo tripod that kept falling apart. Unfortunately, parts for that were prohibitively expensive and several times, calls and emails went unanswered. However, they seem to have farmed out their repair to CRIS Photo in AZ. This may be part of the reason the service is now so slow...
p.1 #14 · Elinchrom BXRI-500 modeling light cutting out
+1 @ data point ... adding that it is only ONE data point, but I was caught off guard by the magnitude of the deviation, and wondering if your experience is an outlier or the norm for them.
p.1 #15 · Elinchrom BXRI-500 modeling light cutting out
RustyBug wrote:
+1 @ data point ... adding that it is only ONE data point, but I was caught off guard by the magnitude of the deviation, and wondering if your experience is an outlier or the norm for them.
+1 @ backup lights
What CRIS told me is that if the parts are in stock the item can usually be repaired in 2 weeks but in my case, parts were needed from europe.
I agree that it's just *ONE* data point but it's an important one. I had posted in an earlier thread what I thought the pros and cons of elinchrom and einstein were. If I were to do it all over again, I'd probably buy einstein but there's not a clear winner because I like certain features of both. The biggest disadvantage of the buff line IMO is that the cybercommander is so horribly designed from an ergonomic point of view. Very hard to see the screen outside and it's just a UI disaster. I've said many times that buff should make a cheaper "lite" version of the commander that just supports 4 groups and utilizes push buttons and slider switches like elinchrom does. Something like that could sway me to buff.
I like the pocketwizard transmitter for buff but it's pretty expensive.
Regardless of the price of a product, if a part is not currently available AND it's in a different part of the world there is a wait. I don't see the difficulty in understanding that.
