Dead DR500gw-hd? Support?

[Evil Attorney]

Two questions. The first is: is my camera dead? I've had my DR500-HD for about 6 months and recently it started making loud static sounds when shutting down. Finally, it would only boot up to the green LED light and would not record. Tried re-formating the SD card, tried other SD cards, and finally tried resetting the device. Nothing worked. Is there anything more I can try?

Second, does anyone know how to get support for this camera in the US? I purchased it off of Amazon and recently submitted an online support submission via the blackvue.com website. However, someone wrote me back saying, "please contact your official distributor to repair your blackVue." Who would that be? Thanks!

 

[Hillbilly]

The seller you bought it off as the genuine distributors wont want to know you. Have a problem with a 400 that came from Ebay and no one wants to know.

 

[Evil Attorney]

I bought mine from Amazon and it stated that the selling company was "Blackvue". They shouldn't offer a 1 year warranty if they don't plan on supporting it.

 

[Hillbilly]

I bought mine from Amazon and it stated that the selling company was "Blackvue". They shouldn't offer a 1 year warranty if they don't plan on supporting it.

Lots of places are RESELLERS and not official distributors therefore the distributor didn't import it and wont want to know.

Just because you bought it THROUGH Amazon doesn't mean you bought it FROM Amazon Third party sellers list on Amazon and when you buy it tells you who it is you have actually bought off.

Blackvue where????? They are a Korean company and the parent company is Pittasoft

As said the official distributor didn't want to know when I rang them about mine as it was effectively a "Grey Import" They wanted $85 to replace or supply a battery worth about $2 because it didn't go through them

 

[Evil Attorney]

According to the manual, Pittasoft is the company offering the warranty, so they should support it. If they don't, they are in violation of the law. I guess it's time to contact my state's attorney general to report this.

From the manual: "The term of this product warranty is 1 year from the purchase date. (Accessories
such as Battery/microSD Card : 6 Months)
 We, Pittasoft Co., Ltd., provide the product warranty according to Consumer Dispute
Settlement Regulations (drawn up by the Fair Trade Commission). Pittasoft or designated
partners will provide the service upon request.
 If standard product is used for commercial purpose, the warranty term is reduced by half"

 

[Hillbilly]

Read it again Designated partners means Pittasoft distributors and they are famous for denying warranty for products bought outside of the official distribution system.

Same as Sony I have a video camera which I actually bought off an official sanctioned seller in USA Problem is I live in Australia. Therefore I would have had to send it back to seller for the fix with incidentally was a well know fault through a range of Sony cameras.
They would fix it for free in the USA when I was there but then charge me $200 for Registered Post to AU.

I brought it home and got it fixed here by Sony service centre for $180.

My Blackvue cameras came from Ebay or a Korean seller and I get no help from Pittasoft at all.

Personally I think if its good enough to buy the product from whoever they could at least offer some advice to simple questions.

They wouldn't even tell me the mAh of the battery I was trying to buy.

Best of luck.

 

[hackztor]

Who was the seller on amazon? In the USA, only one distributor Scansys (http://www.blackvue.com/en/contents/sub5_1.asp). Their residential arm on amazon is HD Video Depot. If it was fulfilled by amazon but sold by that company then you could get warranty. Any other company and good luck. Yes it is stupid how they do it, but it supposed to protect the consumer. Reason you pay more from an authorized source is so you can get the warranty and do not have to worry about counterfit products. TV's are the same way, you can save 1000 dollars with a gray market, but if need warranty work its hard to get it. Pay more for piece of mind if the product is above a certain amount. Also, you can get square trade for gray market items.

 

[Evil Attorney]

Looking at the receipt and the Amazon page, it says shipped and sold by Amazon. Either Scansys or Pittasoft must legally honor this warranty. Actually, I think I used my AmEx card for this purchase, which has an automatic warranty extension for anything I buy. That may be the easiest option to pursue.

 

[vbx]

If it was shipped and sold by Amazon. Contact Amazon. They are pretty good in customer satisfaction. You can even live chat with their support.

 

[hackztor]

Pittasoft would not warranty it due to it being sold and shipped by amazon. Would have to be that other supplier. But Amazon will probably take care of you, but if you read their facts on their website they say not all items sold by them will be covered under warranty when it requires authorized reseller. AmEx would only cover the 2nd year not the 1st year, so you would have to wait until you had the product for atleast a year.
2. When is my purchase covered?
When your covered product's manufacturer's warranty expires, Extended Warranty takes effect
http://www.americanexpress.com/us/content/card-benefits/extended-warranty/faq.html

Looking at the receipt and the Amazon page, it says shipped and sold by Amazon. Either Scansys or Pittasoft must legally honor this warranty. Actually, I think I used my AmEx card for this purchase, which has an automatic warranty extension for anything I buy. That may be the easiest option to pursue.

 

[Evil Attorney]

Yes, AmEx ended up denying my coverage. ScanSys's online RMA page gives a database error when you try to submit a claim. I emailed their main email about the RMA, but haven't heard back. I faxed in their RMA sheet, but still no response. Also haven't been able to get anyone on the phone at ScanSys. I guess I will see what Amazon can do for me. Next time, I will be buying a camera from a reputable manufacturer. It looks like Garmin is releasing a new dashcam soon with similar specs as the DR500GW-HD.

 

[Evil Attorney]

Finally heard back from ScanSys and they said that they will only honor the warranty of items purchased directly through them, as expected.

 

[mollydog]

sad to hear you spent all that money and getting no help (but no surprise), what I can't understand is Pittasoft make this camera so wherever/whoever you got hold of it from they Pittasoft are still making the profit off it so why aren't they standing behind their product? I can see why the importer (if not a Pittasoft subsidiary) won't want to know unless Pittasoft pays up on the repair

 

[Evil Attorney]

Ok, an update. I was finally able to get ScanSys to RMA and replace the unit (but it wasn't easy). After being denied, I showed ScanSys emails from Pittasoft that said that, based on my serial number, Scansys was the entity responsible for warranty support. They continued to maintain that they were not responsible, but decided that they would "do me a favor" and RMA/replace the camera (which they did, I received the replacement this weekend). So, it took dozens of emails, but I did get a replacement.

It's possible that ScanSys does have an agreement with Pittasoft to provide warranty support, but tries hard to avoid doing it, for some reason. It's also possible that Pittasoft doesn't have a clue how warranty support works in the US. In either case, I still recommend NOT purchasing anymore Pittasoft/Blackvue products.