Warranty repair of a Camera

[neeeeeeeeeek 10]

Having bought an Canon digital SLR I had some problems with it only a week after getting it. Somehow one of the pins which the compact flash card connects to seems to have got stuck in the card. The card has been replaced by Ebuyer and I sent the Camera to Canon's repair centre. I was advised I should get it back within 1 month. It has now been a month so I rang them to be told they are currently working on stuff from mid July so it will be another month at least. This to me seems completely unacceptable, I am guessing they can take as long as they like but I just wanted to see if anyone has any more info on such things and where I stand. I am in the process of trying to speak to someone at Canon about it but they have yet to call me back. The people at the repair centre want me to complain in the hope they will get more staff! I could not take it back to the shop as I got it from America as it was MUCH cheaper, I bought a 5 year international warranty with it at so it is covered. I just can't see how a company such as Canon can expect to get away with taking 2-3 months to repair a semi profesional camera.

Apart from rant at Canon anyone any ideas?

[max 13]

As a matter of interest how much cheaper was it? I've a Canon SLR currently and was thinking of upgrading to digital but am put off by the price. Can you use existing lenses on it?

 

Sorry about your problem, have you thought of writing to one of the consumer sites or even The Guardian? If you look at the Gruiand's website you'll see that on a Thursday they have a consumer bod who seem to get things done more quickly than you or I.

[some_boy 10]

i agree, in my experience no matter how much you complain it wont bother them.

 

if its a computer magazine, or national paper phoning on your behalf, oh wow we've fixed it!

 

sad but true.

 

write to magazines and get them on the case!

[neeeeeeeeeek 10]

300d kit (camera, lens, battery, charger, s/w, 1 year warranty) over here is £800

 

Digital Rebel kit (identical but called a Digital Rebel) With a 5 year international warranty cost me I think just under £500 probably be £480 is with the exchange rate now. I bought it from B&H photo video in New York as they have a good reputation. You can get them from people on Ebay even cheaper and I had been in communication with one of the Ebay sellers who was quite sound, I would have got it from him but I had someone bring it over for me, otherwise you need to get it sent as a gift with invoices separate etc etc else customs stick 17.5% on it before they let you have it!! the gits!

The warranty was only £40 - £45 quid, Just as well I took it out! the camera is (or was) amazing, I don't understand how it could capture such detail am setting up a photobuket account so can stick up one of the only pictures I have. It will take all standard Canon AF lenses, I have an EOS 300 and it takes those lenses no problem.

I think I am getting somewhere with canon, we shall see!

[DaBouncer 13]

Well the Office of Fair Trading Website seems to have a wealth of information which may offer you some help. You may also want to check out the Trading Standards website to see if they offer some information to help you.

 

What I would do is write a very eloquent yet demanding letter to their complaints department giving all relevent details to track your repair.

I would send this in a recorded delivery envelope to the correct Complaints address, and I'll tell you why.

I friend of mine used to work for a well know travel company who shall remain nameless (but they rhyme with Hummus Book ) in their complaints department. She told me that if they receive a complaint which was not given through a branch or has no way of being tracked (i.e.recorded delivery) they binned about 30% of the complaints and claimed none receipt (how fudging disgusting is that ).

 

So with my letter I would either advise you are seeking advice from the Office of Fair Trading as well as trading standards. Tell them if you dont receive your fixed camera by 'X' date then you'll contact WatchDog and seek legal advice regarding claims for damages (or something like that).

 

Or I would photocopy a 'fake' letter which looks like you sent to the Office of Fair Trading and Watch Dog outlining your disgust and Cannon's unprofessionalism and enclose it with the complain. That way Cannon think you've already contacted them. Watch Dog is a good one because it's televised and I'm sure they wont like bad publicity.

 

Hope this helps

[neeeeeeeeeek 10]

I was forced to write a friendly but direct email to Sony Erricson when their repair agents sent my phone back un-repaired, (not fixing it because it's broken seemed to be the excuse!) and they sent me a new one, so hears hoping. I mailed Canon's customer liaison department asking for a manager to ring me, the person who rang me was the person at the repair centre who had told me it was going to be another month (not a manager!) More ammo in case they don't try to help, but she said she will try to get it to an engineer in the next couple of days. Here's hoping!

[neeeeeeeeeek 10]

Mainly for Max but this is one of the few pics I managed to take with it! This is on auto settings, I did little but point and click. The resolution stunned me, you can zoom in on the hover fly and see the colour in it's wings! The original was 1.3Mb, this has been reduced to 250k JPEG so a slight loss in quality. Still stunning though.

 

http://photobucket.com/albums/v412/neeeeeeeeeek/

[max 13]

You need to put a read only password on the album and tell us what it is, please.

[neeeeeeeeeek 10]

Opps, never used that site before! it's now public. so all should be good.

 

http://photobucket.com/albums/v412/neeeeeeeeeek/

[max 13]

Wow, that is impressive. What lens were you using?

[neeeeeeeeeek 10]

The standard efs 18-55 lens that came with the camera kit. I struggle to understand how it captures so much detail, mad as toast!

[Robbie Loving 10]

sadly, with office of fair trading, you would have to go through the people you bought the camera from

ie: the people in america

 

by taking the camera out of america you lose manufacturers warranty too,

 

if you have extended cover on it, look in the agreement to see if there is any time limit on which any single repair can take.

 

the company i work for have 6 weeks to repair an item, then it gets wrote off and vouchers issued