Elinchrom BXri plastic bits loose inside!

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tfboy

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Well, after waiting 3 days due to the snow for the courier to deliver my new set of Elinchrom lights, impatience saw the better of me and I went to pick them up.

I purchased a set of BXri 250 and 500 flash heads from warehouse express, and eagerly opened up the boxes like a kiddie with his Christmas toys.

Apart from Elinchrom forgetting to include a pair of mains leads :nono: I had the dreaded sound of "loose bits" inside the 250 head.

After a bit of shaking around, it fell out from one of the holes.

The head seems to work OK...

Then I take the 500, and guess what, same clinky sound :eek:. So after another few minutes of shaking and tilting, another loose bit comes out, about twice the size. I wonder if the size of the loose bits is proportional to the power of the head :bonk:

Anyway, I'll give Warehouse Express a call tomorrow to see what they suggest. They already have the missing set of power cables on the way to me. Both lights seem to work OK, but I'm pretty worried. You pay extra for that Swiss guarantee of super high quality construction and this is what I get. I know "accidents" happen, but still...

The smaller bit on the left is about 1cm length on the long side and what came out of the 250. You can see on the top left, that looks like where it broke off whatever it was attached to. The other came out of the 500, and the breakage point is in the middle at one edge (bottom in the photo).

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edit: If I was spending £100 for a set of lights off fleabay, these things can happen. But when you spend over £800 on pro gear, this isn't what I expected :(
 
Argh, a third bit is now floating around in one of the heads.

Not impressed at all! On the phone to WE first thing tomorrow :(
 
That's definitely not looking good...

Being headquartered in Switzerland doesn't necessarily mean much these days... I heard from somewhere that Elinchrom is making a lot of their stuff in India now.

I hope WE will sort this out for you. Do keep us posted! :thumbs:
 
Ahh and one more thing: one of the speedrings for the softboxes doesn't really fit. I struggled a bit to get it on, but then it really wouldn't come off. I had to lever it out using the struts, but was terrified they were going to break or I would smash a bulb or something.

I forgot WE were closed weekends so will wait till Monday.
 
Update: phoned WE this morning, and they've offered to take the stuff back and have it replaced. I'm just waiting for them to confirm when a delivery can be arranged, as I understood things to be a bit hectic with all the snow :)

I also phoned the flash centre who distribute Elinchrom gear in the UK. The chap I spoke to did confirm that very rarely, it does happen, and it's part of the modifier attachment interlocking system that breaks. It's not a big problem, and can happen as a result of the heads taking a knock in transit. When I asked about the missing power cables, they confirmed that they make up all the cables themselves, presumably because the ones supplied by Elinchrom are shuko / European plugs.

So I'm now waiting for a phone call to arrange collection and then schedule delivery of a replacement set. :)
 
If this can occasionally happen because of a knock in transit, then the same thing could easily happen if your gear is going to be portable. Something to consider if it's a known design weakness...
 
The missing power leads turned up yesterday from WE, so at least I can use them. Still waiting for them to get back to be regarding picking the whole lot up.

The more I think about it, the more I'm beginning to be put off by the whole thing. the gent I spoke to from the flash centre wasn't as helpful or sympathetic as he could have been, and I'm starting to get that upturned nose feeling...
 
tfboy said:
The missing power leads turned up yesterday from WE, so at least I can use them. Still waiting for them to get back to be regarding picking the whole lot up.

The more I think about it, the more I'm beginning to be put off by the whole thing. the gent I spoke to from the flash centre wasn't as helpful or sympathetic as he could have been, and I'm starting to get that upturned nose feeling...
Click to expand...

Well, you are perfectly within your rights to cancel the purchase completely since it arrived damaged (and you used a credit card I presume). You don't have to accept a replacement if you have lost confidence in the product after what has happened.
 
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