With a nod to the wonderful Harry Shearer, whose weekly radio program, Le Show, includes a “copyrighted feature” called “Tales of Airport Security,” I’m weighing with my own irregular and non-copyrighted feature called “Tales of Customer Service.”

This is where I’ll describe the good, the bad, and the ugly in my enounters with customer service in the photo/audio field, (and maybe beyond)! If you’ve got some of your own experiences you’d like to share (both good and bad), write them up, succinctly and with a minimum of profanity, and email them to me.

I can’t promise that they’ll ever see the light of day, but you’ll feel better just getting them off your chest!

The little things mean a lot. Recently, in the rush of packing up in the dark after a twilight beach portrait for Nikon gig, when the mosquitoes were in a feeding frenzy all over me, I ran off without the case for my Photoflex 42″ MultiDisc. The multidisc is my favorite reflector, and I’ve got them in several sizes, but without a case, they’re difficult to pack and carry.

Of course, you can’t order just the case alone from B&H or other retailers, so I contacted the company with an inquiry about a replacement case. Within hours I got a response, with a part number, and instructions to contact them to order. It was frightfully polite, efficient, and downright pleasant, considering it’s a $6.95 part. Good on ya Photoflex. Proves it can be done. But, not by some companies….

Who’s Zoomin’ who? Two months ago, I packed up my Zoom H2 recorder, my first ever audio recorder, because the whole LCD went blank. It’s not a big deal, because I’ve since upgraded to the far superior Olympus LS-10, but still, having the H2 as a working backup isn’t a bad idea. I got an RMA number and did everything by the book and waited, and waited, and waited.

I finally called about the repair status at the 63-day mark, only to be told that it wasn’t even in the system yet, and (wait for it), this was okay since it was “normal” for this to happen.

Now with all due respect, the rep on the phone was polite, but in what universe is a two-month-plus wait for something just to get into the repair queue “normal?” I’ll keep you posted and let you know when it makes it back, but please, don’t hold your breath!

UPDATE: I received the H2 August 10th, going on 90 days after its reception. The LCD screen was replaced, and the repair came to (wait for it) $3 less than the $100 credit card authorization they require.

When you consider that a new H2 is $200 or less, three months and $100 to replace the little LCD screen seems a little, um, cranked up.

Let’s just say that I’ve bought (and repaired) my last Zoom device!