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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

VAN DIEMEN is ignoring request to return our lens

Bump - I received a PM from another reduser who is also in a similar position. Their lenses are in Van Diemen's possession for 18 months.

Furthermore, there has been no communication from Van Diemen in over a month! We have limited options, and either will cost money:

1. One of us have to fly to UK to confront Van Diemen.
2. Hire an attorney.

We have lost 2 seasons of filming revenues because of this!!!
 
Bump - There is no response from Van Diemen in 2 months now! Interestingly, another Reduser who was considering Van Diemen for servicing contacted me and said Christopher has promptly been responding to his/her emails.

Van Diemen is costing us heavy losses by refusing to return our lens. Our lens set is useless without the 35mm. But it seems Van Diemen does not care!
 
I'm not entirely certain, but it would appear a recently rehoused set of K35s have shipped to the US recently from them. But that took two years to complete.
 
Sometimes the threat of legal action is sufficiently effective. Personally I would get an attorney to write a demand letter. No way would I wait 2 years unless the lenses are of nominal value. Just my 2 cents.
 
It seems it is Van Diemen's practice to provide misleading information to get clients. If Christopher was honest about the timeline, we would have never sent the lenses, but I guess that must be their tactic....quite unprofessional and unethical to take someone's money and (more importantly) their source of income and hold it hostage like this.

Sadly, we have been informed that Christopher at Van Diemen is promptly replying to others who wish to service their lenses from them. They just refuse to answer us, I guess in retaliation.

We paid them 50% upfront as Van Diemen stipulated. What was odd that a reputable company like Van Diemen would demand we pay them Paypal fees! Credit card and Paypal fees are part of doing business. I think it is against credit card company's policy to accept credit card payment but make the client pay for the fees.

In the past, we have sent lenses to East Europe for servicing, which seems risky. But we always had a positive experience. This time, we decided to use Van Diemen due to their 'friendly' location. Little did we know.....

We are moving forward with litigation and we will continue our online efforts to bring this to people's attention.

Shame on Van Diemen for this. I find this to be very cruel of them to hold our property hostage and using the distance as leverage.
 
Update: Van Diemen states the lens is ready but REFUSES TO accept Paypal or credit card!!! They accepted Paypal for deposit but now are adamant on wire transfer only!!

After 2 years of lies and excuses, Van Diemen has lost its creditability!

Furthermore, they want to charge for a lens they NEVER serviced (see before and after pictures attached).

These pictures were sent to them the same day the lens was received after so-called full servicing. They REFUSE to accept that the lens was NOT serviced, and still want to charge for it!!!

This is the worst customer service experience!!
 

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Update: 2 more months and no response from Van Diemen. They are refusing to return our lens and trying to charge for service they did not perform. Another Reduser has PM me about the same HELL Van Diemen is putting them through.
 
Bump. It's almost 3 years and Van Diemen will not send my lens back!* It seems I have to travel to UK to retrieve the lens.* This is unbelievable!!!
 
Tommaso Alvisi said:
The saddest thing is that there is no official reply from Van Diemen here on this thread...did you send them the link Tom?
Click to expand...

They are aware.

Van Diemen has an apparent advantage of the distance, and they are acting like gangsters.

Today, when my business partner informed Van Diemen about his intention to fly to UK to collect the lens and settle payment, Christopher stated, "We do not allow personal visits during the period of the Pandemic."

So Van Diemen is prohibiting "anyone" from collecting their own property, even though people can carry on daily activities! UK is not under a complete shutdown.

And, why is an attempt to settle a business transaction considered "personal visits"?!!!


UNBELIEVALBE!!!
 
31 months later....

We have now entered 2021 (3rd year) and Van Diemen is still sticking to the lies

Christopher from Van Diemen in a December 2020 email states that "There have been no unreasonable delays in completing the work you requested".

I have people on multiple forums contact me about the same scenario with Van Diemen. However, they seemed to be afraid to speak up in fear of retaliation by Van Diemen, as is so obvious in my case.

Van Diemen has caused irreversible damage to our business. We are unable to travel to UK due to the pandemic, but we have now developed a website to make the public aware of our horrible experience with Van Diemen. Website will be launched next week.
 
Hi Tom, sorry to hear about the experience. I had terrible experiences with UK companies ignoring invoices once they knew my business was no longer in the UK. Some companies take advantage of the difficult and expensive process to deal with claims across borders. Not sure what value we are talking but I would look into setting up a simple UK address company and start legal proceedings. You can buy a UK address limited company for very little money and the claims process is hugely simplified. Everything can be done online.
 
I image these alleged incidents might also affect the re-sale price of Van Diemen lenses?
 
This came up on a due diligence background check. They just lost quite a bit of business.
 
Update: We are now 2 months shy of 3 years of this hellish journey.

It took a while but the webpage and intro youtube video are ready.

It will be followed by more videos.**

https://vandiemenlenseshorribleservice.com/

While my partner and I are at a major loss, I hope this webpage and videos will help others make an informed decision before they ship off their lenses to Van Diemen lenses.**
 
Update:

It is now June 2021 and we are 3 years into this.* The latest update from Van Diemen is "We reserve the right to start charging storage and interest if this is not resolved promptly and has to be taken further."

Van Diemen accepted Paypal to reel me in and now want cash and are threatening me with storage and interest charges.*

When I showed concern about sending a wire transfer and about retrieval of my lens, Van Diemen says "The guarantee that you will receive the lens is my word"

LOL
 
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