Another Canon Repair Horror Story

<p>So I FINALLY received my 50 1.4 back from Canon Repair Depot. I had it sent

into the Calgary (Alberta, Canada) location and after more than a month, it was

still not fixed. I called many times and on the last time, when it's been over

a month already, they offered me the option to expedite the repair to which I

said yes. About 4-6 days later, I got a call saying it's been fixed and was on

the way back. To my surprise, the lens was returning from me from Ontario, the

other side of Canada.</p>

 

<p>I got my package today and was all excited to try it out and to my surprise

again, I discovered that NOTHING was fixed! The lens had the same damn problem.

The autofocus couldn't get driven by the camera. It would be super slow like

it's got tons of friction or something. It was the problem I sent it in to fix.</p>

 

<p>If you are curious about the problem, it's cuz I dropped the lens. The

thread about it is here:</p>

 

<p><a

href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Ljct">http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Ljct</a></p>

 

<p>So that totally blows...</p>

<br><br>

 

 

<p>Weiyang</p>

ok it's evident they didn't repair your lens. why? I mean, did you try to have it repaired in warranty thou it fell from your hands and they argued that... or you explained what happened and they simply gave superficially a look instead of opening it?

did you pay for it? if so, send it back and protest energically. if no, send it to a different laboratory.

 

it seems to me the usm motor got damaged or maybe got out of its axis. it shouldn't be more expensive the repair than buying it new. if it's something involving the barrel instead - it shouldn't be as in manual mode you can focus with no friction - it couldn't be convenient to have it repaired if out of warranty.

 

in my country we have always had problems with repair laboratories in general, due to non qualified technicians, but most of the official canon laboratories are demonstrating to work fine - not everyone unfortunately -

Might be time for a "quiet word" in a supervisor's ear?

 

With these kinds of things I tend to keep detailed notes including times, dates, and what was said - and then you follow up on it eg.

 

"Good morning again Mr. Smith - when we last spoke at 10:32am on October 1st you said that this would be ready in 2 weeks - it's now the 16th, and I'm just calling for you to confirm that it's left your facility and is on it's way back to me" etc.

 

Generally works wonders - often these kinds of facilities aren't run as rigidly as one might first expect - difficult jobs can be put in the too hard basket - and the "squeaky wheel" often does get the grease".

 

I've also found that it often doesn't pay to assume (in situations like this) that the other party is completely incompetant - you might find - for example - that they've put the lens through their standard tests and it's worked flawlessly for them - there's usually at least 3 sides to every story :)

 

Cheers,

 

Colin

Colin is right in principle but ... to get the best response there is no need to mis-lead them -

just put this in writing. A telephone call (even to a supervisor) is too easy to ignore.

 

Write to the Top. Find the CEO's name & write to him, outlining the problem & explaining

how dissappointed you are in Canon's service, especially given their marketing & reputation

is all about quality.

 

Canon are a Japanese company &, trust me, the US arm will be using the same procedures.

They will HAVE to respond & do their best to fix your service/quality issue.

Mr. Tamotsu "Ted" Nakamura<br>

President and CEO<br>

Canon Canada Inc.<br>

6390 Dixie Road<br>

Mississauga, Ontario<br>

L5T 1P7<br>

Tel: (905) 795-1111<br>

Fax: (905) 795-2130<br>

That "CEO" of Canon Canada, is realy just a high level manager at Canon Japan. The local national sales offices are kind of like McDonalds franchises. The quality and procedures at corporate are "supposed" to trickle down to the franchises but some are better than others.

 

I think the letter would take to long. Instead, when I get into a situtation like this I just call and demand to talk to the CEO's right hand person, or administative assistant. These are usually very intelligent and highly paid people who actually care. They can direct you to some form of an "elite" customer service department, not the 1-800 department, but a hunt group of quality people right there in the CEO's office. These are the folks that can have a brand new lens fedexed to you the next day.

Mark HOLLOWAY wrote: "Colin is right in principle but ... to get the best response there is no need to mis-lead them"

 

Where did I suggest that he mislead them?

 

"just put this in writing. A telephone call (even to a supervisor) is too easy to ignore."

 

I don't understand how you could reach that conclusion - if you write a letter then he's immediately back into "their system" to be responded to if/when they feel like it. The CEO wouldn't even read a letter like that - it'll be opened by a PA and "redirected" from there. If you're on the end of the phone (or there in person) THAT'S something that can't be ignored (or you keep calling back if "he's busy right now").

 

"& explaining how dissappointed you are in Canon's service, especially given their marketing & reputation is all about quality. "

 

You can - but to be honest, I don't think it helps when you start bringing emotions into it. I'm sure that they are concerned that you're not happy - but I'm not convinced that that makes them do anything differently. I'm sure that nobody is "happy" to have any product in the repair shop.

 

Cheers,

 

Colin

The problem is that your lens was sent to the Ontario repair center. Next time I need a repair, I'll either send my equipment to New Jersey, or to California, or I'll switch to Nikon but I'll never deal with those jackasses again.

 

Repairs are done at a leisurely pace, letters explaining the malfunction seem to be ignored or treated as mere extra packing material, you'll get told nothing but lies and bullshit on the phone when you call, it's impossible to get any kind of a straight answer from anybody about anything, the repair people don't seem to know the equipment they're repairing, if there's more than one problem with your equipment you can count on at least one thing not being fixed when it's sent back, you can tear your hair out trying to work your way up the chain of command over the phone to get satisfaction and end up no further ahead than before you started.

 

Bottom line, they'll do what they want to do, when they feel like doing it and at whatever pace happens to suit them.

 

I don't know how I could possibly be any more disgusted with a business. They should all be fired and then shot. And then shot out of a cannon for good measure!

 

ps. They called your repair "expedited"? Mine was a "Super Rush". Probably not as good as a "Super Duper Rush" though.

Come on Frank - don't hold back ...

 

... tell us how you REALLY feel!

 

Seriously, if they really are that bad (and keeping in mind that I don't know them from a bar of soap), it makes you wonder how they stay in business, and why they wouldn't have come to Canon corporate's attention?

Excellent questions Mark, and believe it or not I did hold back.

 

I didn't mention how the previous to last repair I had requested expedited shipping when it was ready and was willing to pay whatever it took that not only was it shipped via regular shipping they got the address wrong on top of it! Nor during the last repair how I caught them in complete lies once I showed up in person to straighten matters out. Nor how I had to bring in the owners manual to convince them that my 1Ds DID have an autofocus confirmation beep that wasn't functioning and that it hadn't been fixed again for the 2nd time (among other problems) because they kept arguing with me that the 1Ds DOESN'T have an AF confirmation beep.

 

I didn't mention how when I was there I observed 3 or 4 customer service reps (not techs) but only one at a time would actually serve the waiting customers. This in spite of a line-up of increasingly angry people 5 deep who all took a number. Once one rep would serve a customer she'd go back to her desk and sit down, or disappear in the back presumably to take a break or have a nap and then the next one would come out to serve the next customer. In spite of the fact that the counter was long enough to serve 3 or 4 customers at a time.

 

The "expedited" and "super rush" terms are laughable as well designed merely to placate the gullible. Canon Canada has something like a 24 business day turnaround time (and for some reason the first three business days after your gear arrives don't count). After a month of business days, everything automatically becomes "expedited" or a "super rush" because they can't hold off not repairing it any longer and they know the customer is getting fed up by then. Of course once a month has gone by and your repair has become a "super rush", if they then have to order a part that takes a week or two to arrive, then it quickly becomes apparant how meaningless the "expedited" and "super rush" terms really are and all bets are off.

 

I saw another angry customer who had brought his camera back again because he claimed that the problem wasn't repaired at all and the camera was malfunctioning in exactly the same manner as when he originally brought it in. (I believed him.) When he asked if it would take another 4 weeks to get his camera back again I overheard the customer service rep tell him that they would put an "expedited" order on the repair. I actually laughed out loud and told him that maybe he should request a "super rush" instead as it sounded faster. The glare I got from the customer service rep was worth it.

 

These are the same idiots that told me when I asked what my true actual shutter count was while my camera was in for a shutter replacement that 1)I should call 1-800-OK-CANON because "they know everything", 2)it's impossible to determine that information, 3)that information is proprietary and Canon doesn't give it out and 4)too bad, the shutter is already out so it's too late to find out.

 

Anyway, I could go on at much greater length with even more examples but my blood pressure is rising so much just thinking about it that I'm going to stop.

 

As I said, Canon USA will do my repairs from now on if any are needed, or I'll switch to Nikon but I'll NEVER do business with the Canon Ontario repair center again. It boggles my mind that Canon condones this kind of crap but considering that Canon is the company that adds a DirectPrint button instead of the MLU button that users have been requesting for years it becomes obvious that Canon simply doesn't care and they do what they want and that attitude filters down to their repair centers as well. Well, except for in the US where the term customer service still means something.

Sorry, I meant excellent questions Colin. I don't know why I said Mark.

Frank - brilliantly written and conveyed. In a sense, entertaining, though in empathy and

similar experience elsewhere I feel the pain.

weiyang - just fyi, I'm a canadian, living in philadelphia. I send my items to the new jersey factory, and I have never had any problems. turnaround is usually FIVE business days. I highly recommend that route if you can handle the increased shipping fees and customs annoyances.

Wow - they sound about as incompetant as the committee of my local Aero Club (and THAT'S saying something!) (I won't elaborate - it's taken almost 2 years for my blood-pressure to come back down again!)

 

Cheers,

 

Colin

Colin,

 

Sorry I missed the part in your note about taking detailed notes & then following up.

 

I agree these places are never as well run as you'd like to think - they're run by over-

worked humans like you & me, making choices about which things to follow up & which

not every day.

 

My point about letters is precisely because a letter IS in 'the system', it is much harder to

ignore & most corporations take them more seriously than a telephone call logged in some

heldesk somewhere.

 

The CEO will NOT read it but it will be taken seriously internally, simply because it's seen

as FROM the CEO.

 

Agree if you're there in person - that is the best.

 

However, I do believe if you have a legitimate problem, a letter will be taken very seriously

(& only takes a day), PARTICULARLY in a corporation with Japanese operating procedures.

If you REALLY want to guarantee results, then register the letter.

 

Try it.

I'm really shocked that you had trouble. This year I sent in several products for repair. They include a S70 (water damage from a faulty underwater housing), 100-400 (cleaning), 1d mk ii (cleaning), and a HV20 camcorder (stopped working in video mode). Canon greatly exceeded my expectations on all of the work. My only complaint might be that the 100-400 cleaning was a little pricey but I have no idea what it takes to take apart a lens and clean it well and I did not compare quotes on any of this.

 

The 1d mkii cleaning was a bargain. HV20 was repaired under warranty and works great now. In the case of the S70, they went really far out of their way to help me out. In any event, I used the NJ center for most of this and have no complaints. If anything, the experience made me hapier to own their stuff.

 

Hopefully your experience is the exception and not mine.

"Repairs are done at a leisurely pace, letters explaining the malfunction seem to be ignored or treated as mere extra packing material, you'll get told nothing but lies and bullshit on the phone when you call, it's impossible to get any kind of a straight answer from anybody about anything, the repair people don't seem to know the equipment they're repairing, if there's more than one problem with your equipment you can count on at least one thing not being fixed when it's sent back, you can tear your hair out trying to work your way up the chain of command over the phone to get satisfaction and end up no further ahead than before you started.

 

Bottom line, they'll do what they want to do, when they feel like doing it and at whatever pace happens to suit them."

 

This pretty much sums up my experience with Canon Australia.

I have also found the "e-mail bomb" technique works well. First you need to find out the company's e-mail pattern (i.e. john_smith@crap.com. Once you have that, look for any exec level names you can squeeze out of the net. The last time I did this I replied to the person who sent me the "tough luck" message and BLIND copied every name I could find. I received a call on the next business day and the problem was fixed right away...including busting the "supervisor" that claimed to not have a boss (her boss called me). The caller told me that she got the message from the CEO. Don't be rude, just state your case with as much detail as you can and what you expect the results to be. I well written e-mailed placed in the right boxes can get results quickly.

Wow, so many responses and so many high blood pressure stories. I called the repair depot in Calgary and they offered for me to ship the package to them via collect and that they would "expedite" the repair... now I'm laughing at that word too.

 

I'm crossing my fingers hoping they'll actually figure out the problem this time.