Fragile K10D SR Switch Levers

Two different K10D users from China recently have reported that the SR switch levers of their new K10D were broken just after a few times of use and within short period after their purchases:-

1. http://article.xitek.com/showarticle.php?id=5401 (includes photos that show the broken parts; Texts are in Simplified Chinese, use BableFish if needed.)

2. http://forum.xitek.com/showthread.php?threadid=455440 (Texts in Simplified Chinese)

Whilst the cases can again be considered as isolated ones or there actually exists a certain batch of defective and affected products from the K10D production line(s) in the Pentax factory, the victim Pentax users are once again disappointed about both the after-sales services and "support" from Pentax and their China sole agent, the Jebsen & Co. Ltd. and the quality of the Pentax products as well. In fact, both users reported that the agent simply denied warranty liability from start and they only agreed to repair or to replace the problematic units for free after prolonged fightings with the users and it seems that the agent has little or even no support from their principal, i.e., Pentax, for many cases as reported. On the other hand, the common problem about that agent (or even Pentax their own) is that they are always reluctant to admit problems (and not even to mention that they would report/feedback and review the found problems internally), so fightings with some of those more insistent victim users would be unavoidable and Pentax would probably never know about the occured problems as such.

Indeed, their unfortunate experiences resemble much of my own various experiences with the sole agency company but unfortunately also with Pentax Japan as well, which is very sad for we Pentax users and customers afterall. In fact, it is also rather sad for Pentax themselves indeed. (For details of my own unfortunate true story, see my previous letter to the ex-CEO of the Pentax Corporation.)

Last but not least, as the Pentax products that are shipped to and marketed in China are with special labels which are intentionally printed with the omissions of most of the markings for the complied standards and the place of origin of the products as well, this makes the consumers in China would really wonder if the quality of the Pentax products they can get in China (and Hong Kong as well) could be inferior in quality than those that sold/bought outside China, just owing to the mentioned strange difference. At least the consumers would have not-so-good or even bad feelings for seeing those omissions which are just tailor made and customised for those Pentax products sold in the China region.

All in all, as we all know, no QC of any factory in this planet is perfect. And for today's vigorous price competition of products as well as the very short product life cycles, this does deteriorate the situation even more. However, the necessary and only remedial for those QC loopholes or even design faults is to admit problems and to rectify those as soon as possible so that inconvenience caused to the end-users can be minimised as far as possible (and as such the customer dis-satifactions and the number of adverse reports by them could be minimised). This should be the correct attitude to deal with those problems and the act will be beneficial to both the customers and the company. Without such a positive and correct attitude and intention to admit and resolve problem, a company will have no chance to succeed. Even the company can save the repair and replacement costs in short term, in long run they have to pay for it.