Hasselblad Service

[Roffe]

Hi,

I'm looking for advice. I have an H6D-100C which shows error 121. According to my dealer and Hasselblad, this is a known fault and the sensor must be replaced. I contacted Hasselblad and it took a week to get a proper response. They are telling me that repair will take 3-4 months which sounds crazy! Has anyone else encountered this issue and does anyone have a contact for the CEO or maybe the service manager? I have used Hasselblad for almost 30 years and never seen this kind of awful support.
My dealer says that they no longer have a "good relationship" with Hasselblad and are pushing me to buy a Fuji, rather than helping me fix this problem. I simply cannot believe that 3-4 months is a normal service time!

[cavaphoto]

I had the same repair done. They didn't say it would take 3-4 months but it did end up taking 3 months and only because I kept asking for updates. It may have taken even longer if I hadn't, who knows.
They are very friendly here but their policies are the worst. and any repair takes weeks, even if you are professional who depends on the gear to make a living, they don't care.
Canon and Nikon will send you a loaner right away if it will take over 1 day to repair. Even Leica sent me a loaner but I've sent stuff to hasselblad and never, even after asking many times, ever got a loaner...

[Roffe]

I had a response from a "team leader" saying they can send me a loan camera (but they can't guarantee it will be the same model). Does anyone have a contact for someone in management? I was given a number from my dealer, but they no longer worked at Hasselblad and were very rude.

[ramarren]

I always deal with Hasselblad USA directly for service, not through a dealer.

  "Hasselblad Service Center, USA" <support.us@hasselblad.com>

Some things take more time than others, for sure, but my interactions with the Hasselblad USA Service Center have been nothing but delightful. The latest interaction was obtaining new caps for my 907x system (body front and back, back front caps) to replace the ones I've misplaced ... Ordered on Friday, in my hands yesterday. Prior to that, they did a 907x overhaul last year when a mis-made pin retainer launched one of the back connection pins out of the camera ... they did the complete overhaul in four weeks for no cost, with both-ways shipping paid, on a camera that I ordered in July 2019 and received in Feb 2020—well past warranty date.

Drop them a note directly. It's the best way.

G

[Roffe]

So they took a month to fix a known fault and then sent you some plastic caps for free and you think that's good service? I'd rather they repair my camera that cost thousands of euro in a few days and not a few months! Last time I sent my camera to Sweden was 2009 and they fixed and returned it in less than a week.

[sortvitt]

Mine is in for a sensor replacement as well. No expected date as they are waiting for more sensors to become available. Quite disappointing given the model was just discontinued. Best camera I have ever used and will enjoy whatever remaining mileage I can get out if once it's repaired.

Hi,

I'm looking for advice. I have an H6D-100C which shows error 121. According to my dealer and Hasselblad, this is a known fault and the sensor must be replaced. I contacted Hasselblad and it took a week to get a proper response. They are telling me that repair will take 3-4 months which sounds crazy! Has anyone else encountered this issue and does anyone have a contact for the CEO or maybe the service manager? I have used Hasselblad for almost 30 years and never seen this kind of awful support.
My dealer says that they no longer have a "good relationship" with Hasselblad and are pushing me to buy a Fuji, rather than helping me fix this problem. I simply cannot believe that 3-4 months is a normal service time!

[ramarren]

So they took a month to fix a known fault and then sent you some plastic caps for free and you think that's good service? I'd rather they repair my camera that cost thousands of euro in a few days and not a few months! Last time I sent my camera to Sweden was 2009 and they fixed and returned it in less than a week.

My gosh, what an attitude. You clearly have entitlement and expectation issues.

Sorry, four weeks turnaround to have an expensive camera returned to Sweden for a complete overhaul, on warranty gratis more than two years after the warranty is over, when having a dinky little 1954 Retina IIc overhauled costs $200 and takes 12 to 15 weeks, is damn good service in my book.

Personal service on a simple purchase (Customer rep called me when I had a question to be sure that I would get the answer since it was 3:30 pm on Good Friday...!) was outstanding.

I don't live in your world of thinking i'm entitled to special service simply because I bought something expensive.

G

[Roffe]

I'm really struggling to understand how a four week repair for a known fault or a four month repair (in my case) can ever be considered good service. I didn't buy a Hasselblad because it was expensive, I bought it to use professionally. It sounds like your camera was repaired out of warranty, for free because there was an inherent design flaw. Again, that isn't great service, but a legal necessity.

[SylvainB]

I had a sensor replacement a few years ago, which was done in less than 2 weeks, managed by the French importer.
Maybe the delay you were announced is linked to a shortage of some sort (the sensor has been removed from Sony's catalogue for some years now), or linked to the discontinuation of the camera ? Anyway, this is not good news, and not very reassuring.
After replacement, the problem was solved and never came back, so I trust it will be reliable for decades (one can dream...). I hope you will find a satisfying solution by calling Hasselblad directly and get back a camera that will last forever.

[docholliday]

I'm really struggling to understand how a four week repair for a known fault or a four month repair (in my case) can ever be considered good service. I didn't buy a Hasselblad because it was expensive, I bought it to use professionally. It sounds like your camera was repaired out of warranty, for free because there was an inherent design flaw. Again, that isn't great service, but a legal necessity.

Four weeks to 4 months is actually pretty good in the industry. Sony is routinely 6-8 months turnaround on some repairs and Leica can take 10-12 months. They're some of the worst in the industry. And that's dealer-to-manufacturer interaction, not a consumer sending their gear in. Canon is usually fast, around 2-3 weeks if parts are available, and immediate loner on pro cameras if you're CPS.

[ramarren]

I'm really struggling to understand how a four week repair for a known fault or a four month repair (in my case) can ever be considered good service. I didn't buy a Hasselblad because it was expensive, I bought it to use professionally. It sounds like your camera was repaired out of warranty, for free because there was an inherent design flaw. Again, that isn't great service, but a legal necessity.

A: The problem was not a "known fault".

B: It was certainly not a "design flaw".

C: A piece of the surround plastic that the electronic leads which connect the back to the body poke through had a tiny bubble in one of the lead holes that, after three/four years of use, broke through and allowed the lead to come away.

D: Shipping the camera to Hasselblad USA, then from Hasselblad USA to Sweden, then back to  Hasselblad USA, then back to me, probably accounts for 1-2 weeks of the total repair time.

E: You speak as if you have never had a camera serviced before in your life. Camera repair services, unless you are part of a manufacturer's paid "priority pro services" group, are generally known to turn around a repair in six to twelve weeks on average. Having an unusual problem like this turned around in four weeks is nothing short of excellent service.

Your sense of entitlement is outrageous. When I was a working pro, in order to protect myself from having critical equipment become unavailable due to unforeseen damage, I would always have two of said critical equipment available even if I paid for the pro services package, which normally includes automatic loaner equipment if something goes down and has to be sent in for repairs. I never assumed that because I paid a lot for a piece of equipment, I was entitled for rush repair turnaround. That would be a foolish expectation.

(Just as an aside: I have never seen Leica repair or service take more than 7 to 10 weeks, in over forty years of dealing with Leica USA service. And, like with Hasselblad USA, I have often sent in something that needed a repair and been given free service.)

G

[sortvitt]

I would take four weeks turnaround any day, that's very good for MF gear. Repairs of Leica S gear is notoriously slow as well. Another of my S lenses have a broken AF (known problem) and is looking at 6 months to repair.

[Roffe]

Yes 4 weeks wouldn't be a big shock. In the past they've handled all my H repairs within 2-3 weeks. However, 4 months for a known fault is really terrible service.

[docholliday]

I would take four weeks turnaround any day, that's very good for MF gear. Repairs of Leica S gear is notoriously slow as well. Another of my S lenses have a broken AF (known problem) and is looking at 6 months to repair.

Wow, 6 months to repair an S lens is really good. I've worked for quite a few dealers who sent customer S gear and a year later, it finally came back. No communications, no loaner, nothing. Just appeared one day a year later.

[sortvitt]

Got my H6D-100 back today with a replaced sensor unit. Faith restored!