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Author Topic: DEAD IQ160  (Read 25802 times)

eronald

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Re: DEAD IQ160
« Reply #60 on: June 18, 2012, 06:11:35 am »



What eventually happened is that when I sent in th deliverables the editorial clients didn't see a difference between the MF and FF frames, which made me question why I was using a slow $20k back that ate batteries and had issues talking to the camera when the Canons worked flawlessly.

If the buyer can't tell the difference in the file quality, and the photographer can't tell the difference in service, well that's the end of Phase's business model with the high product prices and good dealer margins.

As a sidenote, I suspect that not only does any working photographer transport enough 35mm equipment to finish a job, but also there is probably enough Canon or Nikon hanging off the assistant's neck to do same.

Edmund
« Last Edit: June 18, 2012, 06:14:11 am by eronald »
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LKaven

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Re: DEAD IQ160
« Reply #61 on: June 18, 2012, 07:45:05 am »

The way I read the problem is as follows;
Customer buys $40,000 Mercedes in California through a tertiary sales channel (Not a local Mercedes Dealership)
Car dies on California Highway (over the weekend) shortly after purchase leaving customer stranded.
Customer is upset with Mercedes as a whole for not sending a new car within 24 hours. (Mercedes being based in Germany, with local sales offices throughout the world)


Again I don't mean to offend and I apologize if I am missing the nuances of the issue and oversimplifying...

I should note that if you pay Mercedes a premium, they will agree to give you as much on-the-spot service as you require.  But really, if your Mercedes breaks down, then any car could successfully transport you to your destination.  By contrast, the professional depends upon the use of his/her specific investment for day-to-day revenue.

In the case of the IQ-180, there is an implied mutual understanding that Phase One is undertaking advanced R&D to produce a competitive product suitable for professional use.  It is understood that the price will reflect significant R&D costs, and small quantity prices for rare components (eg, an 80MP sensor).  The professional photographer, as a practical necessity, can only afford to pay the premium price if the camera delivers a competitive edge, and, most importantly, is fully supported for /mission critical/ use. 

If the market pressures were different, the terms might be different.  But Phase One doesn't sell enough equipment to amateurs to keep their business afloat.  The only people who can afford to pay that premium for specialized technology are those for whom the use of that technology is paid for by third party interests.  Phase One wants a share of what those third party interests are willing to pay.  In order to get it, they have to ensure the equipment is up and running on a day when $70,000 is being spent on a major campaign shoot.

BTW, I am not complaining about Phase One here myself.

david.westphal

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Re: DEAD IQ160
« Reply #62 on: June 18, 2012, 12:18:34 pm »



2. Brent is in LA, and gets the message at 10:43 on Monday. So why doesn't he call David at 10:44 - or even 40 minutes later? Why doesn't he drive down to David's shoot with a replacement back and FW400 cable?

Yes, Phase One honored the letter of the VA warranty. They didn't provide great customer service.

Kumar

This has been my point, for the most part, all alone. 

Thank you.

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david.westphal

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Re: DEAD IQ160
« Reply #63 on: June 22, 2012, 10:23:06 am »

Just found out yesterday that as a result of this thread, Phase One has indicated that they are going to start to import some backs to be used as temporary replacements when IQ series backs go down.

Hey Jeff Schewe.  Found out that you are a PODAS teacher.  What little credibility you had with me is completely gone.  No wonder you attempted to blame me for Phase One's customer service failure.  But I'm still left with one question, why would Phase One hire you to be a PODAS teacher?  Not sure what you have to offer to any PODAS students.  I guess that's the value of those types of programs.
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mediumcool

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Re: DEAD IQ160
« Reply #64 on: June 22, 2012, 10:57:43 am »

I can guarantee David's client wouldn’t give a rats ass what camera he used.

Simon

Rats have donkeys?
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phaseoneus

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Re: DEAD IQ160
« Reply #65 on: June 26, 2012, 10:04:06 am »

Hi Kumar,

You wanted me to reply at the forum so I will, and after reading further into our internal support case I have found procedures that definitively needs to change.

We did fulfill the part of the warranty, but we did not provide excellent service in this matter.

Phase One could and should have done better, if anything then I learned an important lesson from this unfortunate mishap, and things are already changing within my organization.

I already talked to David and explained him that Phase One is to blame for not having IQ units available to replace the unit that "died" on Sunday. - Nobody is to blame but Phase One, it was our product and it was our service level that failed from providing David with a new IQ unit.

As previously mentioned I will do my very best to provide our tech support with several IQ units moving forward, and also I will assure that local Phase One employees are easier reached in case of emergencies like the one we all read about here at this forum. This to help and assist both our customers and our valued partners.

I will continue to read this forum, and I will do my best to provide the service and level of support that we all know is required dealing with professional shooters, weekends or not.

Hope this answers the questions that was asked earlier, and clarifies that we at Phase One take comments in regards to our service and support very seriously.

Best
Claus Pedersen
President - Phase One

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Kumar

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Re: DEAD IQ160
« Reply #66 on: June 26, 2012, 10:55:12 am »

Hi Claus,

I'm glad our conversation has resulted in this quick and positive action and that you, as head of Phase One USA, have taken this responsibility personally. All of us have learnt from this episode, and hopefully, such situations will become easier to deal with in future.

Best,
Kumar
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amsp

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Re: DEAD IQ160
« Reply #67 on: June 26, 2012, 11:44:36 am »

Kudos to Claus for not spouting corporate BS but actually owning up to the problem and addressing it. This is the kind of behavior I'd like to see from the companies I choose to give my hard earned cash to. Well done.
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Schewe

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Re: DEAD IQ160
« Reply #68 on: June 26, 2012, 12:25:40 pm »

No wonder you attempted to blame me for Phase One's customer service failure.

No, I didn't "blame" you...I said your expectations were unreasonable. I also indicated that the replacement of an IQ back with a P back was a Phase One problem (one and Phase One is addressing).

Quote
But I'm still left with one question, why would Phase One hire you to be a PODAS teacher?

Maybe because I know a lot of stuff...
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mr purdy

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Re: added value
« Reply #69 on: June 26, 2012, 03:20:15 pm »

"bypassing the dealer who wanted an extra 50,000 to 100,000 yen for acting as postman."

I was in NYC at one of the dealers a couple years ago looking at PhaseOne and Hasselblad backs for our midtown commercial studios, and when I asked what the added value was, the above quote is exactly what he said. He said if it went down, I could bring the back to the dealer, and they would mail it for me!?!
I was expected to pay thousands per year to have them mail something for me if it went down. Wow.

And they may have also offered a free loaner in the mean time, but since the salesman could not even keep the backs connected while I was there testing the cameras (!), I doubt that they would have delivered a working replacement solution. He literally did not know how to keep the cameras connected for 1/2 hour at a time. (they had either software issues, firewire issues, or whatnot). Then he had dead batteries in the test bodies...

Needless to say...I did not purchase from them.

p.s. this was one of the top three MFDB dealers in NY.

So, I have a question.

On average, what are people paying these days for the 5 year "added value"?

P.S. I know shooters at the top of their field - such as http://gregkadelstudios.com/ who regularly shoot mixing backs and Canons ON THE SAME SHOOT, for the same client and never get any complaints about IQ. And looking at the prints, you would never know which camera shot what.
« Last Edit: June 26, 2012, 03:23:47 pm by mr purdy »
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Paul2660

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Re: DEAD IQ160
« Reply #70 on: June 26, 2012, 03:42:23 pm »

Actually having them mail for you is a big deal, at least for me.  I have no "Local Dealer" in Arkansas.  Thus if the
back fails, which my P45+ for various reasons did 2 times, each time you have to ship it to Phase at your cost.  My
insurance policy on the back did and still won't cover shipment to a repair facility.  To ship it with insurance to NYC
is around $500.00.  Fed Exp will only ship an item of this value overnight.  Yes Phase ships your replacement to you
at no extra cost but getting your down back to them is not cheap.  Sure you can ship it without insurance, but that
is a roll of the dice I am not willing to take. 

Insurance policies vary on shipment/coverage, however I was not able to get one that covered "loss or damage during
shipment".  And if you look closely you may find yours doesn't cover it either as many Ins companies see this as outside
of normal coverage issues/and your shipper has insurance.

Paul
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lance_schad

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Re: DEAD IQ160
« Reply #71 on: June 26, 2012, 04:08:45 pm »

I have been watching this thread with great interest as reality is that yes things do break, and murphy's law is that they will break at the worst time! Over a weekend and especially on a Sunday is probably a worst case scenario.

Phase One has the best service policies out of any of the Medium Format manufacturers. They offer the loaner provision as part of the VA warranty. It is clearly stated that is next business day replacement, which is M-F.

We at here at DT since we are in largest photo market go one step further for our clients. We have a large number of demo and rental digital backs that we can put into action as loaners if Phase One cannot accommodate it, and the situation calls for it and of course you are customer of ours. If you do not have a VA warranty we will work with you on a rental to keep your production going.

There have been many times when someone has had an issue on set ,wether it is a cable or a hardware failure where we have had the client back up and running in as little as 30 minutes.

I can honestly say that all of the clients of who I work with have all of my contact information which is at the bottom of my all my posts and emails to use whenever they are having an issue. I understand that photographers do not take pictures only during normal business hours. There have been many of them (some probably reading this post now ) that can attest to this.

My motto is if I can reach the phone I'll answer it, if not I will call you or email back as soon as I can. This is my personal promise to the people that I work with and is in addition to the service policies that we at Digital Transitions offer our customers. I cannot guarantee that I can fix the problem right then and there, but I'll make my best effort to.

Also in response to Mr Purdy, we as dealers do more than just mail the digital back to Phase One. We do first line troubleshooting which in many cases alliveiate the need for the back to mailed in, and also provide technical assistance on the hardware and software. That is just some of the value that a Value Added Reseller is supposed to bring to the table.

I am not saying that all VAR's are created equal, some have their Medium Format offerings along with hundreds, if not thousands of other products in catalog or on a website, or there are ones like us who focus on just Medium Format solutions (i.e. Phase One, Mamiya Leaf, Arca, etc)

I am also happy to hear that Claus took notice of the issue and is adding more IQ units to the loaner pool here in the US.

Lance
« Last Edit: June 26, 2012, 07:38:11 pm by lance_schad »
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mr purdy

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Re: DEAD IQ160
« Reply #72 on: June 26, 2012, 04:18:20 pm »

Also in response to Mr Purdy, we as dealers do more than just mail the digital back to Phase One. We do first line troubleshooting which in many cases alliveiate the need for the back to mailed in, and also provide technical assistance on the hardware and software. That is just some of the value that a Value Added Reseller is supposed to bring to the table.

Lance

As I said earlier, these guys I was dealing with (who just dealt with Backs - no Canons, printers, or whatnot) could not even keep the cameras in their own studio running, so I doubt that they could have done us any good as digital techs in a breakdown situation.

So how much does the 5 year "value added" cost??
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lance_schad

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Re: DEAD IQ160
« Reply #73 on: June 26, 2012, 04:33:15 pm »

VA Warranty on IQ systems is an additional $4,000 for 5 years and includes extra accessories,Capture One Pro and Rolling case
on a P+ series it is $3,000 for 3 years and includes extra accessories,Capture One Pro and Rolling case.

Here is a knowledge base article on what are the differences between VA and Classic warranties for those interested.

http://www.phaseone.com/Search/Article.aspx?articleid=1898&languageid=1

Lance
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Kumar

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Re: DEAD IQ160
« Reply #74 on: June 26, 2012, 11:38:36 pm »

Actually having them mail for you is a big deal, at least for me.  I have no "Local Dealer" in Arkansas.  Thus if the
back fails, which my P45+ for various reasons did 2 times, each time you have to ship it to Phase at your cost.  My
insurance policy on the back did and still won't cover shipment to a repair facility.  To ship it with insurance to NYC
is around $500.00.  Fed Exp will only ship an item of this value overnight.  Yes Phase ships your replacement to you
at no extra cost but getting your down back to them is not cheap.  Sure you can ship it without insurance, but that
is a roll of the dice I am not willing to take. 

Insurance policies vary on shipment/coverage, however I was not able to get one that covered "loss or damage during
shipment".  And if you look closely you may find yours doesn't cover it either as many Ins companies see this as outside
of normal coverage issues/and your shipper has insurance.

Paul

In my case, shipping the 132C from Japan to Denmark cost only ~10,000 JPY, with insurance for 750,000 JPY through JapanPost. I spent half an hour at the Customs Office in Kobe for the paperwork to ensure that I would not be charged duty when it was returned to me. For the H20, I sent it to the dealer in Tokyo, insured for 500,000 JPY, again through JapanPost for ~1,000 JPY. Amex picked up the tab on that one - I had to pay only 10%. In both cases, I didn't have to pay for return shipping.

I think Americans are getting ripped off on shipping!

Kumar
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Pingang

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Re: DEAD IQ160
« Reply #75 on: June 27, 2012, 02:14:55 am »

A high officer responsible at such personal level makes me feel even happier as a long time Phase backs owner!
Nothing is perfect, but my almost 10 years experience using Phase backs is as perfect as perfect can be.  Hardware, never an issue.  Software, could be better than already very good!

Pingang

Hi Kumar,

You wanted me to reply at the forum so I will, and after reading further into our internal support case I have found procedures that definitively needs to change.

We did fulfill the part of the warranty, but we did not provide excellent service in this matter.

Phase One could and should have done better, if anything then I learned an important lesson from this unfortunate mishap, and things are already changing within my organization.

I already talked to David and explained him that Phase One is to blame for not having IQ units available to replace the unit that "died" on Sunday. - Nobody is to blame but Phase One, it was our product and it was our service level that failed from providing David with a new IQ unit.

As previously mentioned I will do my very best to provide our tech support with several IQ units moving forward, and also I will assure that local Phase One employees are easier reached in case of emergencies like the one we all read about here at this forum. This to help and assist both our customers and our valued partners.

I will continue to read this forum, and I will do my best to provide the service and level of support that we all know is required dealing with professional shooters, weekends or not.

Hope this answers the questions that was asked earlier, and clarifies that we at Phase One take comments in regards to our service and support very seriously.

Best
Claus Pedersen
President - Phase One


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Ben Rubinstein

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Re: DEAD IQ160
« Reply #76 on: June 28, 2012, 02:00:38 pm »

A high officer responsible at such personal level makes me feel even happier as a long time Phase backs owner!
Nothing is perfect, but my almost 10 years experience using Phase backs is as perfect as perfect can be.  Hardware, never an issue.  Software, could be better than already very good!

Pingang


Also puts into perspective a certain apologist on this threads responses.
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