Inbox - Canon Repair Shipped

[sygyzy]

I rarely put any value on warranties because I really am careful with my stuff and I don't really have much bad luck. Then it finally happened.

At a dinner party a few weeks ago, there was a little incident with my 4 month old SD400. The liquid in the LCD screen broke. The camera was completely functional still. I finished the night taking pictures through the viewfinder.

I filed a claim online to Canon, shipped the camera and battery to Illinois. The received it January 31, 2006.

Today I get an email that they shipped the camera back to me YESTERDAY. Total turnaround time is 2 days. Total repair cost: $0.00. They didn't even call me to ask me to explain or anything.

My previous camera was a S45, which I used at last night's dinner. Can you guess what brand my next camera will be?

Kudos to Canon!

 

[JMWarren]

This is a very common problem with this camera....similar to the iPod Nano's initial issues. Just a case of Canon using sub standard parts, either intentionally or unintentionally, we'll never know.

Up in Canada Canon service is pretty decent. Even a water damaged cam if properly dried will usually go through at 0.00. Just be prepared to wait up here.

 

[sygyzy]

Is this really true? I know it's true with the iPod Nano's. Apple admitted it, but has there been anything regarding Canon using subpar parts or is it just speculation? Maybe this explains why they didn't give me a hard time about it? Either way, I am very happy they just fixed it, no questions asked. JMWarren, what have you had fixed from them that was "surprising"?

 

[JMWarren]

I've heard this a rumor at Canon Mississauga. A friend of mine (former canon employee) said they commonly use cheaper parts as its less expensive to fix a few broken ones than to use more expensive higher quality parts in the first place. This is just one reason that I do not like Canon. Add to this the fact that those special big box models (AKA Black A-Series in Canada) use sub-standard parts (CCD's have far more hot pixels, dead pixels on LCD). Still a better company than most out there tho.

Along the same tangent Nikon has recently recalled a batch of D70/D50 (EN-EL3) batteries. Canon uses cells from the same factory in their batteries but have had no recall to date.

The Nikon recall was spread over quite a few months of production, it's hard to imagine that Canon didn't get any faulty cells....

 

[sygyzy]

That's actually a pretty smart business tactic. They probably don't get that many warrant repairs. So they do make more money.

 

[jiwq]

on top of that, they have an anemic 1 year warranty on most of their stuff. oh well, i haven't had a problem on my 2 year old s400 with 35k+ actuations yet......