Canon Canada: very disapointing customer service

[Scoril0]

One day out of the blue my 40D stopped working. It would not power on no matter what. Totally dead.

I checked the battery and the micro switches but it didn't make any difference so I took it to Canon Canada Customer Service Center in Mississauga.

It took them 28 days to complete the repair. This I find unacceptable long by any standards. This is how long the camera was in the Canon shop, I didn't include the shipping time.

Their terms of service list a 15 to 20 working days turn around time which is ridiculously long but they weren't able to perform even by this extremely low standard. The actual turn around time was 23 working days.

For an equipment which costs in excess of 1000$ this level of commitment disrespectful to the customers from Canon part.

To add insult to injury one Canon customer representative told me it takes him 24 to 28 hours to find out what is the status with my camera and when can I expect to have it back. That was in response to my query when the term was already overdue.

Furthermore I was refused when I asked to speak with a manager or with someone in charge. I was promised someone will get back to me within 24 hours but I'm still waiting, a week later.

All in all it was a very disappointing experience and I wanted to vent out in public, may be someone from Canon will hear.

Thank you for reading,
Radu

[aam1234]

Radu, count your blessings. It took Canon here close to two months just to give my friend a quote of the cost.

But to be fair:
- It spent more than two weeks with the local Canon to see if it can be fixed locally
- They couldn't do it, so they sent it to a service centre in another country
- The cam was literally/physically broken, so they have to fix both the inside and the body
- Cost was reasonable compared to the damage that has been done to the camera

Best of luck with your cam

[aam1234]

In addition, and hope I don't sound like a Canon fanboy, was impressed with what Canon did regarding the 1DIII fiasco. A rep from another country (UK perhaps) came and collected all 1DIII sold locally so they can send it to another country (Japan maybe, but that's a guess) for repair. For free, of course.

[Scoril0]

Originally Posted by aam1234

Radu, count your blessings. It took Canon here close to two months just to give my friend a quote of the cost.

well it seems Canon doesn't care too much about his customers.

Originally Posted by aam1234

But to be fair:

I can't see what's to be fair about. I worked in customer support and sustaining engineering for more than 15 years now so I claim to know how these things should work. I even run a service department in another life and another country.

For about six years I work for a company in Canada which manufactures handheld computers in the engineering sustaining and support department. I have seen about all that can go wrong with electronic equipment. I have seen recalls, bad factory runs, design glitches that went undiscovered until the equipment was delivered to the field and more.

What I cannot understand is bad customer service. At the company I work for the service depot has a 10 working days turn around time for non contract customers. That is the target. The average is eight days.

If for some reason the repair cannot be completed in the posted time a customer service rep pro actively contacts the customer to inform him about the cause of delay and expected ETA.

None of this has happened with Canon. I couldn't even speak with someone in charge, just a customer rep who gave me a pile of crap. Pardon my French, please.

All the best,
Radu

[swampler]

I've had to send stuff in to the service center twice for minor repairs. Both went UPS ground (3 days there) and were returned overnight. I had both back within 1 week from my ship date. Both of mine were probably just adjustments where no parts had to be ordered, so maybe they had to wait for parts for yours, but I'm thrilled with Canon's service so far.

And no, I'm not a member of CPS nor do I work for Canon.

[aam1234]

Radu, what kind of equipment do you sell/maintain. It makes a difference, I would think.

You can't compare a$300,000 Caterpillar machine to a mass-produced camera.

I think

[Scoril0]

Originally Posted by aam1234

Radu, what kind of equipment do you sell/maintain. It makes a difference, I would think.

You can't compare a$300,000 Caterpillar machine to a mass-produced camera.

I think

We manufacture handheld computers used mostly in the warehouse and logistic industry. Price range is 1000-3000$ per unit. We are not talking about extremely pricey with huge mark-up items.

Our equipment see a lot of abuse so you can imagine our service center is quite busy as well.

[Spork]

I too have been having lots of problems with the Canon service depot. Here are a few of my dealings with them.

The are very short staffed for tech people, all of the repairs that are non CPS from the westren depot in Calgary are sent to thier Ontario service depot (this is where all my stuff gets sent).

My 70-200 lens is back for service for the 3rd time. Since I bought it in April I think Canon has had it longer than I have.

Their service can very widly, I had my 17-55 IS lens fixed, they did a good job (they fixed the issue it went in for) took them a week, but had dust in it when I got it back. I have not taken it back because the reason my 70-200 is in for the 3rd time is each time they "fix" it, it comes back worse than when they started and I don't want my 17-55 to end up like my 70-200. My 40D had the main circuit board replaced took about 3 weeks, so far the camera seems to be working OK. I don't expect to have to take a new $2000 lens or a $1300 body into the depot to get it working properly. I think Canon's quality control has gone into the crapper. I would switch over to Nikon and get a D300 but I would lose too much $$$ selling off my Canon gear. At the rate I am going I do not think the Canon 1 year waranty will be long enough (Nikon has 2 year on bodys 5 years on lens), I have alreay used up about 3 months on my 70-200 while it has been in the shop. At least the girl working the desk at the Calgary depot is helpful and nice, she can always tell me the status on my gear real quick, unlike the previous condesending troll they had there. I have also had problems with the phone people, I tell them not to ship the stuff back to me because of the Craptastic experience I have had with Purolator, they say OK no problem, they ship it to me via Purolator anyway, twice. Anyway enough of my late night rant, to simplify: Canon's quality control and service in Canada are non-existant (except for the desk girl at the Calgary depot).

Kinda wish I bought that D70s instead of the Rebel XT a few years back.....

[cyclohexane]

well it seems Canon doesn't care too much about his customers.

Exactly, they just don't care.

At the rate I am going I do not think the Canon 1 year waranty will be long enough (Nikon has 2 year on bodys 5 years on lens)

It is only 1 year on the body, but 5 on the lens is correct.

Kinda wish I bought that D70s instead of the Rebel XT a few years back...

Nikon service is just as bad, if not worse.

[Spork]

Originally Posted by cyclohexane

It is only 1 year on the body, but 5 on the lens is correct.

In Canada Nikon offers 2 years, I thought it would be the same in the US, its weird Canada would get the better deal as we almost always get the short end of the stick.

[loraksus]

Originally Posted by Scoril0

It took them 28 days to complete the repair. This I find unacceptable long by any standards. This is how long the camera was in the Canon shop, I didn't include the shipping time.

Their terms of service list a 15 to 20 working days turn around time which is ridiculously long but they weren't able to perform even by this extremely low standard. The actual turn around time was 23 working days.

If you paid for this... One thing you can try is doing a chargeback - they promised 20 days service - if they didn't have it back to you before 20 working days, you could file a claim.
Too bad credit card companies in Canada suck for chargebacks.

Canon really ought to increase the warranty period on their L glass too. A 1 year warranty really doesn't seem like they have any confidence in their products.