I've just got an Ikelite housing with eTTL for my Canon 350D (digital rebel xt) and I am having problems with the eTTL control for the strobe (ds-125).

I've already had a replacment back sent from Ikelite but this also has the problem.

Am I being unlucky or is this a design flaw ?

Carefull application of a pair of pliers has seemed to make the shoe pins work better but is this a permenant fix ?

You failed to mention what the problem is so it is ipossible to give you any suggestions.

I don't know what your problem is, but many of us are using this housing/camera combination with good results so either 1) it's something we haven't noticed, or 2) it could be something to do with your specific camera/strobes.

I've had no problems thus far with an Ikelite 350D housing and dual DS-125 strobes.

Re "Carefull application of a pair of pliers has seemed to make the shoe pins work better but is this a permenant fix ?"

Where are you applying pliers to get it to work?

Also, FYI there was a problem with some Nikon cameras but not Canon.

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/rexdshoe.html

Usual problem is connector not being fully seated in the hot shoe, or coming out slightly as housing is closed. This is especially true with some Olympus cameras as indicated at bottom of URL Peter recommended.