Canon What Happened To My Fairy Tale?

Canon cameras, have always been my first choice when it comes to purchasing a camera for myself.  I do a large amount of photography both here on my site for review purposes, and on the side for a small family photography business.  The very first camera that I had, was a Canon Rebel 4000 35mm camera, and I used it till they started coming out with their digital SLR cameras.

It wasn’t until I had a problem with a $400 lens that I got a first hand glimpse into Canon customer service and the repair process, that I became a bit disenchanted with everything.   I had brought my lens into the local camera store where I had purchased the lens, and they had told me that the wait time is an average of six to eight weeks.  I felt like I had no other choice, and told them to go ahead and send it in.  The lens happened to be under warranty so I was lucky.  At the eleven week mark, I started to get really frustrated because I was losing photography jobs because my lens was not back.  I had made numerous phone calls to the camera shop and I got some run around and called Canon direct and no one could explain why they still had my lens.  After a few emails someone over at Canon in customer service contacted me apologizing for the long delay.  The best she could say was sorry, talked about the various repair centers, but assured me that she would pass this information to the higher ups and would contact me to give me the full story.  I never heard back after that, and since I lost her phone number, I couldn’t follow up.  I sort of let that one go, and was just relieved to have my lens back after three months.

The best is yet to come, however.  Recently, I had brought my camera along with me on an event, nothing unusual and I had done this numerous times before.  My camera has never been dropped, or mishandled because I do consider it to be my baby.  I had fully charged my battery, and popped it in and was ready to take pictures when, I flipped the power on and nothing happened.  I was completely baffled because it had worked just the day before for the boys birthday.  I went into a bit of a panic because I could not afford another $800 for a camera, and I use it for everything.  So the last fiasco was right in the back of my mind, but the lady I talked to from before, had mentioned that next time I could send my camera in direct and have it back sooner, gee thanks.

I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, since my 2.5 year old camera was obviously out of warranty.  I went back the camera shop who originally sent my lens to Canon through their camera repair center, to have them take a look to see if I was missing something.  He asked if that was sand he saw in my camera, the same accusation that was made about my lens yet I have no sand around me, no beaches here.  (This is a whole other story).  I was already mad but that just made it worse.

I managed to get a hold of someone in the PR department for Canon, but she only directed me to the repair center.  All my feel good, warm fuzzies about owning a Canon had totally left the building.  I don’t care if the camera does my laundry, is it really worth the hassle?  So I packed up my $800 camera in its original box, spent $20 and insured the thing and sent it away to Virginia.  And, I waited.  Then I got the email stating that it would be $224 to repair my camera that doesnt turn on.  My hands were tied, because I could either not pay it and have nothing, or pay it, neither of which was an option that I could afford.  I mean who has $800 laying around for a new camera?  The worst part about it, is that, the camera is only 2 yrs old, and you would think that something this expensive wouldn’t just stop working but I guess I am just disillusioned.

So I finally got my Rebel XTi back and along with it, an empty bank account.  It turns out that the power to the camera wasn’t working “DUH!”.  And they cleaned the camera, and replaced a fuse!  A fuse?  $224?  That’s one expensive fuse!  And to rub a little more salt, as part of being a valued customer, they offered me a Canon 5oD refurbished for just $650 as a replacement, what a bargain!

But seriously, I really do think that, they could have handled things a little differently and stood behind their products a little more.  I feel like I have lost all the excitement that came with owning a Canon and the enchantment is gone. As a customer you want to know that you are getting a good product.  I don’t know if I could afford to own another!