Date: 2012-05-26
From: Crabtree Campground

To: Waynesboro, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Finally settled into the hotel. Dania made it to Charlottsville only after the plane was delayed about 4 hours. The owners of the Crabtree Campground were super. They let me be a vagrant all day. Dania picked me up from the hotel around 730 pm. I officially lost my battle with pentax camera. Derrick, the supervisor with customer service left me a message saying that they would not be able to mail me a camera to Waynesboro, VA. I have been without a camera since April 22 when their Adventure proof WG-1 broke while sitting in my pocket with the strap attached to my belt. What really upset me with this entire ordeal was the lack of care that everyone at Pentax had. Kathy with marketing spoke with me and assured me that she would talk with a manager and see about getting something done. She gave me her extention and insisted if I did not hear back from her by the next day to call her back. After not hearing from her, I attempted to call her for two days, leaving several messages and not once did she return my calls. Then recently, I spoke with Paul in customer service. Paul's initial attitude was like Kathy's, he sounded very concerned and said he understood and he too would want the camera back quickly. Paul said he would talk with someone at corporate and call me back either that afternoon or the next day. After not hearing from Paul, I called customer service and asked to speak with him. He was off and that left me with Matt. Matt was just absolutely no help at all and transferred me back to ole Derrick. I asked to speak with Derrick's supervisor. Apparently he has none. He never would give me his boss's name, go figure. After insisting on a corporate number he placed me on extended hold, then gave me a number. I called that number which just routed me back to his service department. Now, that made me mad!!! As far as I am concerned, Pentax could care less for a regular customer. I explained what type of trip this was and that I was raising money for "Grant A Wish" which helped terminally ill children see dreams come true. They didn't care that I had a blog that had 50,000 hits, they didn't care that I needed the camera to upload more pictures, they really just didn't care!! Other reputable companies replace thruhikers equipment ASAP and most of the time either replace through an outfitter on the trail or they will ship a new piece of equipment to an address along the trail.. Pentax will not stand by there equipment. I would understand if the camera was not marketed as Adventure Proof, shockproof, waterproof, etc. I could understand if I had done something unusual that harmed the camera. I even said I would take a refurbished camera just to get one ASAP. Nothing mattered to Pentax. My original plan was to buy a new camera, NOT PENTAX, and video myself crushing their camera and posting it on YOUTUBE. I will not do that but I am placing this information on this blog for those individuals that follow my journey. Use the information as you see fit. I personally will never purchase Pentax equipment again. I am also removing their equipment from my equipment list. I will be writing Pentax after I find out who i should write to. For now, I am going to purchase another camera, take a deep breath, and enjoy the rest of my adventure without the added stress from Pentax. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I hope I didn't offend anyone by venting my frustration. I have almost completed half of my journey and the second half should be as interesting as the first.Swamprat