Canon Repair Service Center

[charleskaufman]

<p>There is a posting on this site critical of Canon's repair facilities. I wanted to offer up a different point of reference. While I'm not a professional photographer, I shoot many family events for a broad group of friends.<br>

As it happened, I was recently shooting one family event on a Sunday, when one of my children offered to hold my camera for me, and sadly dropped the camera.<br>

The camera a 5D, survived. However the Canon 24-105 L IS took some serious damage to the chassis. This complicated plans to shoot an engagement party for some other friends a week later.<br>

I called Canon and they were very responsive. I dropped off the broken lens and another that had been having erratic AF performance to the Canon Irvine, CA service center.<br>

The Canon reps were very knowledgeable and I paid a charge of $158.00 per lens -- both lenses were out of warranty.<br>

Using the internet I was able to track the progress of each lens through Canon's repair facility. When both lenses were complete, I called Canon to determine what the shipping options were -- in the end I elected to have Canon ship them as it's a long haul for me down to Irvine and I felt sure that they'd have them back to me before Sunday <strong>Less than one week after the lenses we're given to Canon, they were back in my hands working as good or better than new</strong> .<br>

In the case of the 24-105 L IS, Canon had to replace the entire chassis, no increase in the bill was assessed and to top it all off they didn't even charge extra to ship them back.<br>

<strong>Canon User for Life</strong> ,<br>

Charlie Kaufman</p>

<p> </p>

[angel_bocanegra]

<p>I drive 45min to the same Irvine facility because I have similar stories. They are great.</p>

[quinny]

<p>Good to hear that some companies still care for their customers! I, fortunately have never needed the services of a Canon service center...</p>

<p>I've got a nice horror-story of how things can also be done nowadays:<br>

An acquaintance of mine who is a collector of very expensive watches sent a brand new watch that had cost him well over €40.000 back to the factory because the date window wasn't aligned correctly. The factory estimates he'll have it back in 11 months.</p>

[scott_ferris]

<p>I broke my 16-35 they repaired it for $125 or something, it only zoomed to 18mm but I didn't have the time to resend it in. When I did get round to sending it back it was not considered their fault so they charged me another $125 to fix their mistake. I had a 24-70, the front hood mount ring fell off, it went back to Canon under the early recall (this happened to many early lenses) when it came back it happened again.</p>

<p>I have a pair of Costa Del Mar sunglasses, I would never buy them again even though they have the best lenses of any sunglasses I have had and I have had many. I broke a lens in a new pair, I sent them back to have them repaired, the "nominal" charge ended up being over $100 and took six months and lots of emails. The glasses only cost $150 from a profit making dealer. So they just sold me another pair for their regular profit.</p>

<p>Generally company service stinks and is just a way for the companies to make more money, sad but true.</p>

[mneace]

<p>I live very close to the New Jersey facility and have dropped my 40D off twice for warranty work. Both times I had excellent turn around time and I too used the web for status checks. Of course, I just drove over and picked up the camera when it was finished.<br>

I'll stay a Canon user for this reason alone. It's very convenient being less than 10 miles away.</p>

[abdul smith]

<p>I'll add my own experience as well. I dropped my 5D off at the Canon repair center in NJ on Wednesday 1/13. I managed to somehow break the tethering/USB connection, so the computer would no longer recognize my camera, which is a big deal for me as far as tethering is concerned since I shoot fashion and usually have a full team at my shoots all interested in immediate results.<br>

First, the rep asked how many L lenses and camera bodies I owned, and once I disclosed he suggested I become a Silver member of the Canon Professional Services network which qualifies you for 20% off any and all service. He then applied the discount prior to me even joining up, since I had to go home and do it online. I was told the repair would take 3-5 business days, and that I could possibly pick up my unit on Friday 1/15, but more likely Tuesday 1/19 (due to the MLK holiday on Monday). Unfortunately I didn't get a call on Friday that my unit was ready, but today I received a phone call first thing this morning that my unit was set for pickup. They turned it around in essentially 2 days since I dropped it off Wednesday afternoon. I have nothing but great things to say about their service. The best customer service experience I have a had in a long time.<br>

On a separate note, I also received my membership card for CPS today via FedEx too, which I highly recommend to everyone.</p>