Help regarding Zone VI warranty

Am an original owner of a Zone VI 4x5, purchased late 1980s from Zone VI ... recall distinctly that Zone VI had best warranty on the market which was why I bought their camera after considering others... my recollection was that the lifetime warranty included repairs for accidents ... and may have even stated they would replace camera if it fell off a mountain. Am traveling and had strong gust of wind blow over tripod shattering several of the

wooden standards which I have currently held together with glue ... to make a long story short Calumet, who bought Zone VI states that no such warranty ever existed and that Fred Picker's warranty was purely for defects in workmanship.... Are there any other original owners out there who have a copy of their original warranty or who could point me in the right direction for finding out what exactly Zone VI used to advertise ..... I once before had

a similar accident with the camera early 90s and Zone VI had the camera fixed and sent out to me on location within a week so I know I'm not just fantasizing about what I would like the warranty to be ... Thanks for any help anyone can lend -- Rich

I knew there was a reason I saved all my Zone VI catalogues! On pg.

three of the '92 edition appears a paragraph entitled "The best

guarantee in the world" .....we guarantee to repair or replace it if

it gets broken during the time you own it - no matter how it was

broken. If you drop it off your truck or your tripod blows over or you

fall on it... the offer is the same. In later issues, I recall seeing

some exclusionary statement about gratuitous abuse or dunking. If you

ask me, it appears you have a case. Good luck!

Richard,

 

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Robert's quote is absolutely correct. I also have a bunch of the old

Zone VI catalogues, and I even have my original paperwork/warranty,

dating back to the early to mid-eighties. Fred Picker promised to

repair these cameras, for the lifetime of the original owner, no

matter how the damage was done.

 

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I also recall the "dunking" disclaimer thing. Old Fred always wrote

an informative, yet amusing and entertaining catalogue. He was also

given to...how shall we put this?...over-hyping his stuff. I remember

his "best damned tripod in the world"; one would have thought he

painstakingly handcrafted these monsters, one by one, in his quaint

little Vermont workshop. Fred must have also been selling these

tripods to surveyors all over the world. Every time I pass a

construction site I see one of these "best damned tripods in the

world", only it's painted bright orange.

 

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If Calumet will honor Picker's warranty is another matter. They

immediately limited their warranty, when they bought Zone VI several

years back. I guess only an attorney could give you a definite

answer.

 

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Good luck, Sergio.

I had a similair problem with my Zone VI enlarger. I have type I head

and it head design defect that made it print with too mcu blue light.

I found out that Zone VI had redesigned the head but did not notify

its customer of the defect. It took me about 1 and half years to

figure it out.Calumet also stonewalled me foe a very long time, about

4-5 months until I threatened to contact the Illinois Attorney

Generals office for fraud.If have you reciept and a copy of that

original guarantee I would think that it would worth it to contact

the Attorney General's office. Good luck.

Wanted to extend a very greatful thankyou to all who responded, armed

with the quotes Robert and JC (from AOL forum) sent I again spoke to

Calumet this morning and they agreed to repair the camera as per the

original warranty. Thanks guys!!!

Way to go, Richard. When I bought my Zone VI, Fred sent me a

personally signed warranty, ON BEHALF OF ZONE VI IN HIS CAPACITY AS

PRESIDENT!

Zone VI was later sold to Calumet, who is responsible for honoring

those warranties. I do note they have reduced the coverage of the

warranty on the current cameras.

On another note, has anyone noticed the ZoneVI.com address has been

offered for sale? I don't guess Calumet will resurect that page in

the future. I suppose they'll eventually phase out the name if they

figure there's no more value in the name. They'll still be

responsible for those warranties, however, and I, for one, will

readily sue them to force compliance!

I must say that Calumet has proven themselves to be a top notch

dealer by honoring the original warranty. This tells you that Calumet

deserves all the business people can send their way. It is quite

refreshing to see a company stand behind a product, even though a bit

or proding may have been necessary.

I wouldn't agree that Calumet proved itself to be a "top notch

dealer." After all, they initially tried to deny that the repair

warranty even existed and only agreed to honor it after the customer

proved that it did. I suppose it's possible that they didn't know

about it, but it doesn't seem likely.

I find it unfortunate that two companies, i.e. Calumet and Zone VI,

which independantly were renowned for customer satisfaction and

service, when joined, can completely ignore, botch up and destroy

that reputation, for both of them. I also have had nightmare

experiences with Calumet trying to deal with repairs on Zone VI

products after the merger. It seems nobody at Calumet bothered to

take the time to figure out what Zone VI was all about and become

conversant with their products and services. Too bad. I will no

longer order any Zone VI products from Calumet for this very reason -

too much risk and down time involved if something goes wrong.

As for the Zone VI website, I think Calumet originally wanted to give

Zone VI some independence to market their products themselves, but

this was quashed by Calumet's parent company (Ciba-Geigy I believe,

the parent company of Ilford as well!).

Bigger is hardly ever better when it comes to personal service!

Regards

 

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;^D)

Watch out for Calumet! I returned an item to Calumet 7 weeks ago, and

I have yet to receive a credit. Calumet is unable to find my package

and cannot confirm or deny that they have received it. They say that

their new software system has "screwed up returns real bad." So much

for their "world-class" customer service.

 

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I was thinking of sending my Pentax meter in for Zone VI

modification. Now I am afraid to let them "modify" it. Who knows what

they will do to it.

<p>I just stumbled on this old thread and thought about what has become of the U.S. economy as of late. If everybody thought that companies should be held to warranties that were born out of a hellish rush to the bottom line in competition in the free market, we will surely see an end to the individualist spirit that made the U.S. the greatest industrial force in the world, much sooner than we all expect. Just how long it will take our friends in China, producing cameras that might've been built here, no one can say, but I bet you won't be suing them for your mistakes.</p>