Fuji finepix S7000

Four years ago i paid about £599 for my S7000 and have taken some wonderfull pictures, However recently it has let me down, the pictures are blurred and green and purple.I have seen images the same on the internet and they say it is caused by a CCD Sensor fault, a lot of customers have had their cameras repaired free even when out of warranty.
So it was worth me contacting Fuji with my problem.
Their answer to me was " there is no known faults on the S7000 regarding CCD failure, however they would repair mine for £97-86 or offer me £32 part exchange on another Fuji camera.
I think I will buy another camera (not a Fuji £600 for 4 years).
Graham.

I would say that, they are being pretty fair if after 4 years they are still offering to give you part exchange and the repair price sounds quite good too. If it takes them an hour that would account for £100. If you took a 4 year old car to most car dealerships because it had developed a fault, they wouldn't do it for free either.

Thanks for the reply Jasebabe,glad you think that Fuji are reasonable about my camera and they have admitted it has a CCD sensor fault at the same time stating that no camera supplied in UK has that fault.I must be a Chinaman. If I bought it in China it would have been repaired as part of overseas service.
By the way what has a camera got to do with a new car. or would you say a new house.
My camera was low mileage,
Will the next new Fuji last 4 years ,if so I will buy it in another country and have it recalled free,
IT WAS A CCD SENSOR FAILURE.

It was a CCD failure after 4 years. If it had failed after 4 weeks, or 4 months I would have agreed with you. As it worked fine for this long I doubt that the sensor in yours could have had a manufacturing defect.

How long do you think they should warrant the fault free functioning of your camera, 4 years, 40 years, 400 years, or have you just been trying to convince yourself that somehow they should give you a new camera?

They have offered to fix it for £97 which may or may not be the going rate although it sounds reasonable for the amount of work that I suspect to be involved, they have also offered you £32 pound as a gesture of good faith, which they didn't need to do.

It's not what it has to do with cars, it's what it has to do with warranties. My car has done 50,000 miles in the 7 years it has been , which is nothing for a relatively modern car, If I took it to Ford and said it has a very low mileage for the year so perhaps they'd fix it for free or give me a new one, they'd laugh at me.

What has warranty got to do with it ,if you admit a ccd fault after 4 years in Canada how can it be different in England, I have complained to Fuji technical centre in Bedford and the repair is now £51 only.. Maybe because i am a carefull driver.
A reported ccd fault (sensor by Sony) is also fitted in Minolta cameras and recognised as a faulty component.

It does not sound like there was a CCD fault with your camera because it worked well for 4 years. This is called wear and tear, worn out or just broken. The key here is worked well, if it had a fault at time of manufacture or shortly after then you would have a fair point.

Cameras sold in different countries may well be manufactured from different component batches, not all cameras made from a batch of components with a high failure rate will definitely fail.

Sorry I dont want to enter into an argument but the CCD made by Sony was made in a metal package, it has since been manufactured in a plastic package, this is known as a deaign failure
We in the UK do manufacture in plastic packages for those reasons.
We also age our components in an oven in the electronics industry. This gives our overseas cutomers a much greater realiability.
Some of our Telecoms equipment has been underground for many years and we ensure better realiability.

I have had the same problem as you. I bought my s7000 about 3-4 years ago but unlike yours it has only had light use. About a month ago I got it out to take some photo's and the shots all had the same type of negative like appearance. I contacted Fuji straight away and am still waiting for a reply. On a pro rata basis each photo taken must have cost about £2 and each worthwhile one, about £10. This doesn't bode well with digital camera technology especially when a Cannon Ixus that I have had for a similar time developed a CCD sensor fault also (Black screen with interference lines on it). I had been alerted to this through an item in a magazine, checked my own camera, and ditto. I am still sulking and don't think I will be buying another expensive digital camera again.

Colsie,sorry to hear about your Fuji S7000,I hope you get better service than I did, the faulty component is replaced free in other countries i beleive, Some people think its ok to buy a digital camera and hope it lasts for 4 years-but I dont, I have replaced mine and bought a cheaper one A sony W270. It fits in the pocket and is 12.1 mpxls.