14-45mm quality problem

[OlyFlyer]

Well, I find that my own 14-45mm is really touch sensitive compared to my 40-150mm. Any touch to the front element will also bring the subject out-of-focus but usually I don't have any problems as I keep my hand only on the zoom and focusing ring. I suppose that's also why they designed the focusing ring to be damped.

As for 1-to-1 exchanges, the company that I work for practises this at our customer service centers because:
1.) It's more expensive to repair the appliance (man hours of the technicians) than the cost price of a new appliance. I can't comment on the larger and more complicated models though.
2.) We save more money in the long run by TEARING DOWN the supposed faulty unit and pin-pointing the problem so we can roll improvements ASAP into future design revisions than to just repair and return faulty units.
3.) A happy customer experience will usually result in increased sales by generating new customers -those having heard his story and gained confidence of our brand name. An unhappy customer causes exactly the opposite. :nono:

I actually asked if that is normal, she said no, it should not be touch sensitive. Anyway, I don't think the sound it generates during manual focus is normal.

I fully agree with you about why it is better to change things than to rapair, however that goes only to a limit, since tear and wear also causes faults, further, some peolple handle their things very uncarefully, in that case I would guess it is better to rapair, since there may not be anything to learn from those cases.

As for the happy customer, unfortunatly not all the companies apply that rule, I am happy Oly does, at least so far.

 

[OlyFlyer]

I think there is a quality problem with Oly China. When I came to Oly Sweden today, I could have got a new 17,5-45mm in exchange for my 14-45mm. The lady brought that one forward to me by mistake to test and change to. While we had the wrong lens there, we tested that one anyway. We noticed that it is the same as mine regarding the movable front part. Then she brourght forward a 14-45mm, and we felt the same movment with that one also. So, maybe this is normal "Chinese quality", you get what you pay for.

We agreed that I am not getting a new lens now, since I still have 1 year and 10 months warranty left anyway. If I during that time decide that I want to change to a new one, or notice a degradation, she promised she would change that later also.

I did not ask about changing mine with a 14-54, there were just too many people around, so I figured she would say no anyway.

End of the story.