DAE get customers who insist their lens just needs 'a quick clean' when the focus motor is clearly shot?

Had a guy bring in a 70-200mm f/2.8 last week, said the images were soft and it 'just needed the glass wiped'. The autofocus was grinding, and a bench test showed the motor assembly was completely seized. He argued with me for 10 minutes about the $280 repair quote. How do you guys explain the difference between cleaning and a mechanical repair without sounding like you're upselling?

3 comments

3 Comments

xena_brown501mo agoTop Commenter

My old 24-70 taught me the hard way that a grinding sound is never just dust.

laura_black311mo ago

Ugh, that's so true for car noises too... always a bad sign.

tarar271mo ago

Yeah, it's like they hear a noise but only process half of it. A lens grinding is a metal on metal sound, dust is a soft whisper. I've started keeping a dead motor assembly behind the counter to show people the little plastic gears that strip out. Once they see the broken parts, it clicks that a cloth won't fix snapped teeth. The hard part is getting them past the hope that it's a five dollar fix before they'll even look at the evidence.