Annoying customer service from Sigma Imaging.

Last year I bought a Sigma 500 DG ST flash and, whilst I wish I’d paid more attention to the marketing material and bought the more advanced product, the unit has generally been a good purchase.

Until, it went the way of all things slightly outside warranty - and failed.

So, trying to be a little green / penny saving, I thought I would get it repaired. This is where my first problem occurred - I found out that, if I send my flash in, I can expect to pay £10 - even if Sigma can’t fix it; or if they quote and it makes financial sense to replace rather than repair. Also they quote a figure to repair my flash at a little over 50% of the original cost of the unit (not excessively expensive, but enough to consider the repair/replace conundrum)

This being the case I dropped them an email; asking if my fault ’sounded like’ other faults they had. To which I got an email stating they couldn’t tell me anything by email and to send the lens in to a listed address.

This is what bugged me. 

If you are going to reply to a customer, wouldn’t it be a good idea to actually talk to them in a way that re-assures them that you are a person with some level of understanding of the situation (or avoid any specifics at all).

I will probably still send my flash in to be repaired; but I now think somewhat less of Sigma than I did prior to the failure; and will think longer before buying equipment from them.