Old Is New Again

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Would you pay $8 for a refurbished Sony Cyber-shot camera? That’s what we just did. Actually, we paid $8 to have our old, broken camera shipped to Sony for repair. We were really close to just trashing it (at least I was). We’d used it for a few years and it just quit working about 6 months ago. It’s actually our second camera now anyway. Right before it broke, we had just purchased a new Nikon.

Anyway, Mrs. PT wasn’t about to go down without a fight. She did the research with Sony and determined that we could simply mail the camera to Sony, along with the original receipt, and they would take a shot at repairing it, free of charge. The only problem was, we couldn’t find the receipt. We thought we were done. But I finally stumbled upon a batch of missing receipts, this one included. Most of the print was faded, but you could just make it out.

Long story, short: It worked! They were able to repair it in a couple of days and return it to us. Now it works perfect and we can either sell it, or keep it as a second camera.

Lessons learned by me this week: (1) keep your receipts on major purchases, and (2) don’t give up on stuff that breaks. The old can become new again.

Linkage from last week… Money Hacks Carnival, Festival of Frugality, Carnival of Personal Finance, Carnival of Debt Reduction




Last Edited: October 24, 2012 @ 9:10 pm
About Philip Taylor

Philip Taylor, aka "PT", is a husband and father of two. He created PT Money back in 2007 to share his thoughts on money and to meet others passionate about managing their finances. All the content on this blog is original, and created or edited by PT. Read more about Philip Taylor, and be sure to connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, or view the Philip Taylor+ Google profile.

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Ashley
Ashley

That's great. It made me think of a post Matt Jabs wrote at Debt Free Adventure about paying more for shoes that will last a long time and not getting rid of items as soon as they give you problems.

I know a lot of people that are quick to throw out electrical devices the moment they deliver less than stellar results when really those things could be returned to like new condition. Refurbishment saves resources and money. And thanks for the reminder on keeping receipts!

MK
MK

I would have never thought to ask the camera manufacturer if they provided something like this. Hopfully my camera will last forever, but if it does crap out on me I'll have to call up Kodak and see if they do the same thing. Luckily I keep most receipts for my big purchases too!

Mrs. PT
Mrs. PT

Sorry Charlie - we're not selling the camera! It's the perfect size for the diaper bag :)