Thank You, Vivitar

A warm and heartfelt THANK YOU to Vivitar Corporation, the maker of the Vivitar digital camera.

Well over a year ago, I purchased a model 5MP-Q93 Vivicam with 5.1 megapixels at my then-local Wal-Mart.

It was a good camera, took good pictures (and I took a LOT of pictures) and served well.  I took it on vacation and took LOTS of pictures there, too.

Then without warning, and well after the one-year warranty had expired, the thing stopped working.  It would turn on, but not take pictures.  Looking at the LCD display on the back, it was dark.

Despite the thing being out of warranty, I called Vivitar at their toll-free number and asked them how much it would cost to fix it.  They said they'd actually have to examine it in order to give an estimate.  Frankly, although it's not what I wanted to hear it makes perfect sense.

I sent the camera to them along with a note about what happened and what I'd been doing when it stopped working (taking pictures, of course.)

So imagine my surprise when I got the mail.  There was a box from Vivitar.  Inside the box was a new (for me anyway) camera.  It is a model 6300 ViviCam.  It was refurbished, but that's not the point.  The point is that I'm thrilled the Vivitar did this.

Under the terms of the warranty, if it HAD malfunctioned within the warranty period, I would have been entitled to having it fixed, or a refurbished camera sent.

As it was out of warranty, however, my option would have been to pay for them to fix it, or pay for a replacement.

Instead, they sent me a new camera ... free of charge.

Thank you, Vivitar.  Thank you VERY much.

I purchased my original Vivitar camera due to their reputation and quality.  And although I'm sure there are some people out there who had really bad experiences with Vivitar, I am not one of them.  As far as I'm concerned, based on my experience, they've earned their good reputation.

If in the future I need to purchase a new digital camera, I can safely say it'll be a Vivitar.

Thank you again.