Rick Riggins: My girl friend sent Rick a lens over a month ago. Emails are not answered and phone voice mail box is full. I understand he is in the hospital and may be in ICU. Any...

queencitysanta Loc: Charlotte, North Carolina

My girl friend sent Rick a lens over a month ago. Emails are not answered and phone voice mail box is full. I understand he is in the hospital and may be in ICU. Any additional information.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

A search on "Rick Riggins" will bring up several recent threads concerning Rick and Discount Camera. He has apparently been very ill.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

Flyfishn wrote:

My girl friend sent Rick a lens over a month ago. Emails are not answered and phone voice mail box is full. I understand he is in the hospital and may be in ICU. Any additional information.

This is the danger of using a one man shop.
If he ever becomes in capacitated this happens. People's gear is in limbo and they have to start questioning if they will ever see it again.
I'm sure Rick is a really nice guy and I'm sure he does wonderful work, but is saving a few dollars with the risk?

bdo Loc: Colorado

Mac wrote:

This is the danger of using a one man shop.
If he ever becomes in capacitated this happens. People's gear is in limbo and they have to start questioning if they will ever see it again.
I'm sure Rick is a really nice guy and I'm sure he does wonderful work, but is saving a few dollars with the risk?

Petty, petty, petty...

Let me tell you about Denver's largest camera store chain. I believe they have seven stores, plus or minus.

All their repairs are funneled into one store. They have one repairman. He comes in at 10, or whenever he feels like it, and leaves at 4 or maybe earlier. Repairs are backed up at least three months. You may get your item repaired in a day or two, or you may be wondering where it is three months from now. You can phone the store until you are blue in the face, and you will never know if and when your item will be repaired.

Give me an independent store any day, where I can get to know the owner and contact him when I need to.

Rick is in the hospital. To kick a man when he is down is about as low on the human totem pole as you can get.

Jeez...

donnahde Loc: Newark, DE

bdo wrote:

Petty, petty, petty... br br Let me tell you abou... (show quote)

Agreed! I've heard nothing but good about Rick Riggins. Emergencies happen.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

bdo wrote:

Petty, petty, petty... br br Let me tell you abou... (show quote)

I'm not sure what you find petty or what you think that I said that was untrue or incorrect.
I'm not kicking anyone, I am stating an absolute, incontrovertible fact. If you send your gear to a one man shop and that one man goes down your gear is in limbo and there is no way to learn of it's status or to get it back. And that is exactly what has happened.
Jeez...

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

bdo wrote:

Petty, petty, petty... br br Let me tell you abou... (show quote)

In the scheme of things, for those whose equipment is in limbo, it is not petty. This gentleman, who is apparently well respected here, may be desperately ill. While the person you responded to may have seemed a bit insensitive to that, his comments were not inaccurate. On two occasions over the years I've lost non camera equipment being repaired in one man shops. In one case it was due to an unfortunate death, in the other the business just closed down and disappeared. This is not a criticism of the quality of work often performed in one man shops, but a reality check regarding the risks. I don't think you can fault those who are concerned about when, or whether, they will see their gear again. For some of them on a fixed budget, it may not be replaceable.

wtompkins Loc: Northern Michigan

See this topic:

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-327277-1.html

The poor guy is in the hospital!

Have patience.

Rick does great work.

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

bdo wrote:

Petty, petty, petty... br br Let me tell you abou... (show quote)

I agree with what you have to say, but I don't see much kicking going on here. Rick enjoys a stellar reputation on UHH.

On the other hand, how involved is anyone else in Rick's business? If he doesn't make it back to his shop, what happens to all the equipment that is there, sent in by customers for repair? Will it just be sold by the executor to settle the estate?

It isn't a good situation for the customers. I've seen the above scenario play out and lots of folks lost sizable sums of money. Their concern is justified.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

brucewells wrote:

I agree with what you have to say, but I don't see... (show quote)

Absolutely, I wish this gentleman the best, but those whose equipment is sitting on his workbench have real concerns. If he is seriously incapacitated going forward for some unknown period of time there may be no one else available to sort out and return this equipment to its rightful owners. In fact, some of this equipment may even be sitting there disassembled. Its a terrible situation for Rick Riggins, but its also a real mess for his customers.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

wtompkins wrote:

See this topic:

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-327277-1.html

The poor guy is in the hospital!

Have patience.

Rick does great work.

That's a great sentiment, and patience is a virtue, but what if he's incapacitated for a year? Or he never can return to work? There may be no one else to sort it all out. The concerns are real.

bdo Loc: Colorado

Mac wrote:

I'm not sure what you find petty or what you think that I said that was untrue or incorrect.
I'm not kicking anyone, I am stating an absolute, incontrovertible fact. If you send your gear to a one man shop and that one man goes down your gear is in limbo and there is no way to learn of it's status or to get it back. And that is exactly what has happened.
Jeez...

And if you send your gear to a 7-store chain, there is no way to learn its status or when you will get it back.

If you want to live your life in fear of never getting anything back from a repair shop, that's your choice. Me, I'd rather take an chance that I will get it back as promised rather than avoid any shop because of the (infinitesimal) chance that something goes wrong.

I'm always leery of people who are in possession of an "absolute incontrovertible fact". After seven decades on this planet, one thing I have learned is that there is no such thing as an "absolute".

I'm off on a photo shoot.

Have a nice day!

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

bdo wrote:

where I can get to know the owner and contact him when I need to.

Ah! The caveat.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

bdo wrote:

And if you send your gear to a 7-store chain, ther... (show quote)

I wouldn't send my equipment to a chain store. If I ever need repair work I'll send it to Nikon. I may pay more, but I won't have to worry about the health and well being of any one person.
And you still haven't told me what I said that was petty.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

bdo wrote:

Give me an independent store any day, where I can get to know the owner and contact him when I need to.

And what if you can't contact him when you need to? Like the people who have gear at Rick's?