Thinking of an HD camera.. Dont buy an ATC9K

[Heff]

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I thought long and hard about this purchase, before I took the plunge and bought an Oregon Scientific ATC9K full HD action camera

The spec's are good with full HD recording at 1080p, fully waterproof, able to operate easily with gloves, good battery life, able to switch between video and stills, can be recharged on the bike, 1.5 inch LCD rear view screen, various bike and helmet mounts etc.

It seemed to tick all the boxes for what I wanted and video recordings I seen on YouTube were good so I took the plunge and bought one through an on line retailer a few months back.

I registered the purchase with Oregon online and got software updates etc.... All good so far.

So somehow, I recently noticed that the front plastic screen had cracked, making it no longer waterproof, so a few weeks before Christmas I contacted Oregon customer services via email to let them know of my warranty claim............No reply

Several emails later along with numerous phone calls to an answerphone, etc etc I have not received even one response.

Having Googled the problem it would appear that this is a common issue with this HD Camera, and it would appear from what I've read that in the warranty small print the front lens is NOT covered under the warranty

So an expensive learning curve for me so if you're thinking of one of these .....don't bother buy a GoPro instead

[Boggs]

Sorry to hear about that,but thanks for taking the time to post this and warn the rest of us.

[sledgegreen]

Is the seller a UK company?

If so, you have protection from the sale of goods act. Somebody on the Diversion club forum recently had a problem with a bike that they bought, so rather than type all the same information again I will just pop over there and copy the post I put there and paste it here.

Back in a mo.

[sledgegreen]

OK then, from this thread ... http://diversionclub.proboards.com/inde ... read=19247, I wrote this ...


As Gordy says, the Sale of Goods Act is your friend and some time spent swotting up on it will pay dividends. I note that you refer to a three month warranty, but few warranties actually give any additional benefits over SOGA and very few give anywhere near the length of protection of SOGA. In many cases, a warranty is little more than an excuse for the trader to say "that isn't covered by the warranty", "sorry, the warranty has expired" or "the warranty doesn't cover new parts, only repairs".

The main points of SOGA are that the goods must fulfil the following requirements:

1. Must be fit for any purpose which might reasonably be anticipated.
2. Must be fit for any purpose which is made known to the seller.
3. Must be of acceptable quality.
4. Must comply with any description which has been provided.

SOGA says that for the goods fail any of these requirements is a breach of contract, and that is important. Most contracts are normally enforceable for six years, which easily outstrips most warranties. And contract law specifies some remedies which warranties do not.

SOGA also has some minor requirements, of which the one which I have found most useful is that repairs etc should be carried out at no cost or inconvenience to the customer. So, if they say "bring it round and we will have a look" you are entitled to tell them to come and pick it up (and to return it when fixed). If you are having to get buses or taxis to work, tell them that you expect them to pay the excess cost, or provide a loan vehicle. If running a loan vehicle is more expensive to run than the faulty vehicle, tell them to pay the excess costs.

Be very wary of accepting a repair under warranty. Many warranties are a form of insurance, so if the repair is done as a warranty claim, the cost is borne by the insurance provider. If there is a better way of doing the repair which is not covered by the warranty, the cost of that repair would be borne by the seller. In your case, the warranty might cover replacement seals (free to the dealer) but not replacement forks (which would cost the dealer £xxx).

[sledgegreen]

You say that you have gone to the manufacturer to make a warranty claim. SOGA works by specifying some terms which are automatically included in any sales contract, and your contract was with the seller not the manufacturer so your rights under SOGA are with the seller.

In your situation, I would probably argue that a waterproof camera which loses its waterproofness in a relatively short period was not of acceptable quality.

Did you pay by credit card? If so, the credit card company is probably also liable. So if you can't get a refund/repair/replacement from the seller, try the credit card company.

[Heff]

Thanks for the response folks.

Just tried the customer service helpline today (again)



Guess what




Answer phone



Why did I bother



Heff

[Heff]

Wayhay

A response from Oregon Customer Service today via email 35 calender days from I sent my first email, which reads



Hello,



Unfortunately we do not sell spare parts and also do not have local repair shops in UK.

The warranty is only applicable if the product is broken not from a human error.

Sorry for the inconvenience.



Best Regards

Oregon Scientific UK

Customer Service

Tel - 0871 222 1966

@ - technical@oregonuk.com





Not from human error................WTF's that.

UK company with no repair shops in the UK....A first I'm sure



DO not buy one of these as its more hassle that it's worth




Heff

[corbine]

shouldnt be allowed to sell it in the uk if they can NOT offer the warranty which i would think is possibly required by law. what are you supposed to do? post it back to the states? at whos cost?. why do they have an 0871 number if nothing can be done from the uk? hmmm. dodgy practices comes to mind- you do have rights heff.
:-)

[corbine]

maybe visiting each of the web sites that sell it, amazon, ebay, any shops with feedback on line- have a prescripted story of the facts and post it up. oregon wont like it one bit. at least youve warned others of what to expect.

[Em-J]

Thanks for your post, Heff

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. We're currently compiling a helmet-cam test for the forthcoming issue of ABR. I did some research on this model, and as you say, on the surface it looks a good buy. However, after struggling to get hold of ANYONE at Oregon who might be able to point me in the direction of a sample camera for testing (what kind of company doesn't have a head office phone number on its website!?)I put it to the bottom of my priority list.

If anyone has any suggestions for cams we should try to get our hands on for testing, let me know!

Cheers, Em