Camera Rental House robbing me blind

[rydog4]

Hello,

I recently rented a Red Camera and lenses from a camera house. I returned the lenses and the camera in with no problems that I can speak of, but the camera house is now saying that two of the lenses have damage from impact. They're charging me thousands of dollars to have the lenses serviced.

My question is what recourse do I have when I feel as though they are lying and perhaps caused the damage on their end by dropping the lenses off their very high shelfs or wether that the lenses are in fact damaged? I have no proof from them. All my footage looks great so I can't see how the lenses could have gotten damaged. After the shoot they were carefully packed back into their protective casings and returned with great care.

Has anyone ever experienced this type of thing? Is there a way to call them on their bluff?

Thank you very much for any advice. I'm a small independent guy that can't afford this type of expense. It feels like they are taking advantage of my inexperience in these matters.

RD

 

[indietalk]

Did you have equipment insurance? Usually you cannot rent high-end equipment without it.

Also, normally you would be there when they check everything in, and get some kind of documentation it was returned with no issues, or they would let you know right there. I've never returned anything and gotten a call later or anything like that.

Do you have any documentation that you returned it in the same condition? Do they have a policy that they check the equipment in on the spot, and alert you of any problems while you are there?

Check the documentation. You may have a leg to stand on if they are not following their own policy.

 

[rydog4]

Insurance

I do have insurance but of course conveniently they are charging just enough to be under the rather large deductible. I didn't personally turn the equipment in I will check on the way that was handled.

Thanks.

 

[directorik]

I hate to say this and you are not going to like it.

You have no recourse. You chose to spend less upfront to have a
high deductible. That, as you see now, wasn’t a good choice. You
chose to rent from a less than honest rental house. You won’t say
which one, but since you are in L.A. and there are very few houses
that rent the RED, I know the six you didn’t go to. Sometimes going
with the least expensive and not checking with DP’s and AC’s can
be a poor choice. The person returning the equipment didn’t have
the entire rental package checked out thoroughly before leaving the
rental house. That, as you see now, wasn’t a good choice.

The only thing I can think of is to do what inditalk said and
check the original copy of the return documents. If this house is
actually trying to rip you off, that is going to be very
difficult. Hopefully the person you trusted to return the
equipment didn’t sign anything. That might help too.

 

[Gonzo_Entertainment]

Yeah, there should have been a sign off at the time of return.

 

[rydog4]

Yeah, I didn't actually realize I could choose my deductible. It is too high. My AC did check the equipment out and there obviously wasn't an issue then. I guess I should have had him sign it back in too. My producer tells me he was given some paper work that acknowledged that they received everything back but that everything wasn't checked to be sure it was okay in his presence.

I had heard this Camera House was a good place started by DPs but apparently they are not the most trust worthy. I would not recommend them to anyone.

Thanks, for your advice I'll have to fight this out another way perhaps small claims court I guess.

 

[directorik]

I've used The Camera House five times. Chad, the
service department manager is a great guy. My DP
followed him over from Clairmont Camera. I've
never had a problem with them.

It seems your mistake may have been not having
the AC go over each piece when returning. Any
problems would have been discovered at that time.
Sometimes it gives the impression that the producer
has something to hide when they just drop off
equipment, take the paperwork and leave. Unfortunately,
that's a tactic used all too often when something is
damaged.

I'm not suggesting you did that - only giving you
one possible example. When the person returning
checks in each piece with the rental manager there
is less room for misunderstanding.

Sorry this happened to you. I hope it works out.

 

[rydog4]

It was really just an issue of our AC not having the time to check it all back in, he had another job that day. The weird thing is the producer was willing to sit there and wait but they just gave us paper work saying they received the equipment. They didn't call us telling us anything was wrong until a full day later. Is that standard procedure?