Maybe you should mail your cameras to Bushnell.
The difference is that those people are sending cameras off to be fixed that have problems. I have two cameras that just need a software update, and I’m being told “If we find something we can fix, even if you don’t think it’s a problem, we’re going to fix it and charge you for it. If you refuse to let us charge you to fix this thing, we are not going to do the update”. Which sounds one fuck of a lot like extortion.
So gaffa, I guess Canon just hates you.
It’s mutual then.
My point is that this is apparently Canon corporate policy:
If you send in anything, even if it is for a free “upgrade” (although in this case, it is making it work as originally promised), if there is anything else wrong with it as determined by Canon the free upgrade will not be performed unless you pay for the other repairs.
What fucking part of this is, in any way, fair?
The “all or nothing” policy makes sense from their perspective, I guess, because then they know that any camera they’ve worked on and shipped back to the customer should be in perfect condition. Thereby avoiding any finger-pointing from customers claiming that the damage occurred as a result of the repair/upgrade. Sucks from your end, of course.
i was just about to make that same comment.
also it might be very difficult to do a partial repair with one aspect fixed and another untouched. if something is intermittent or ‘hanging by a thread’ then physically working on the unit could easily make the problem worse which would be blamed on them.
Sorry to post nothing more than a “ditto” post, but…yeah, me too. I was getting weird color distortions, and, as you said, it was a known manufacturing defect. Canon fixed it for me, and paid postage.
Obviously, one data point is insufficient for generalization…but…based on the data I have…I’m staying with Canon!
Another fast, free repair on an out-of-warranty Canon camera. I intentionally bought a new Canon because of that. I’m sorry Canon hates you, gaffa – maybe tell them you are with us?
I had an old Canon digi-cam that was years old when the CCD died. I did a search on the internet and it turned out that this was a common problem that had been discovered years earlier and they were still fixing the problem for free. I sent it in and it came back a couple of weeks later with a repaired CCD.
But something was fucked up with the lens and it didn’t take clear pictures anymore.
Then I realized that the camera on my phone was better than the Canon so I just threw the Canon in the trash.
The End.
Back in Canon Hell.
The FireWire port on my big Canon XH-A1 camera has flaked out. It is out of warranty, so I’ll just have to suck it up and accept whatever repair costs are involved.
I shipped the camera off to Canon and they received it on April 03. They sent me a PDF that says:
…and a statement of the standard labor charge plus return shipping.
That asterisk covers a LOT. Other than that PDF, I have heard NOTHING from Canon. No e-mail, no phone call, nothing.
So I call them yesterday on the 22nd.
I get an e-mail today…with the exact same content-free PDF! No estimate, no indication of what the costs will be, no estimation of parts or labor, no explanation of the delay, nothing! And the same seven day claim…twenty days on!
I really wish I were one of you people who gets great service from Canon, as my experience has been terrible.
Another free, fast out-of-warranty repair which convinced me to buy another Canon product. So sorry you are in the minority here, gaffa, and I hope you get through to someone who can expedite this repair for you.
add me to the never deal with canon again column. I got one for christmas and immediately had problems with it saying batteries weak or dead even they were new and freshly charged and worked fine in everything else.
not only did I get an incredibly rude people on the phone all three times I called, the “complete warranty” on the brand new camera did not cover this issue ans I would have to pay shipping and return postage plus a repair fee higher than what I paid for the camera.
later a local repair I took it to not only told but showed me it was a design flaw in the series that the battery hatch became weakened and the batteries made poor contact, hence the problem. He could shore it up temporarily but eventually the problem would return, and canons only truely appropriate customer service options would have been to recall and refund or recall and exchange. After hearing that I did some checking around and the guy was right that particular canon camera everyone had same problem, got the same shitty response, got disgusted and vowed not to do business with canon again and bought a different brand. I found these comments on amazon and many other sites, it was one of the powershot cameras that had been so heavily advertised. that year
Canon brand cameras are consistently among the highest rated and best selling consumer cameras in the world. They have had some flaws, but every manufacturer has some problems either due to manufacturing defect or design. Overall, you really won’t find really bad cameras made by any of the major manufacturers.
Because they are so popular you can always find some bad reviews for Canons (or Sonys, or Nikons) but that doesn’t mean much without context. In actual data driven surveys, Canon is still among the tops in quality.
Customer support is always a bit of a crapshoot, it would be great it if weren’t but that is the way of the world these days. There’s no excuse for poor service but it’s impossible to find any manufacturer who doesn’t have some problems in this area. I’ve never had a problem with Canon customer support, but I have found them to be average in the few times I’ve needed them.
I always get great service, but I’m a CPS gold member and so I get expedited repairs, and get to test drive all the new expensive gear. I need to send my 5D mkII in next week, in fact.
I just got an e-mail from Canon that my repaired camera has shipped. Hopefully it will show up and hopefully it is repaired.
Speaking of crapshoots, I received the best customer service ever on my Gerber toilet with a Sloan Powerflush. It failed, I called and left a message Thursday night, got a call back Friday morning, and received a whole replacement unit via FedEx Saturday. That’s some service.
Another weird crapshoot story: a friend of mine has had four (count 'em, four!) Amazon Kindles go bad on him. Various forms of factory defects. The good news was that, every single time, Amazon replaced the reader, free, including shipping.
So, sometimes it’s manufacturing, zero; customer service, a hundred!