I can't say enough for Canon Repair Service. I had a big shoot in pretty tight quarters and my 28-70L went on the fritz. I almost just ordered a new 24-70L because I didn't think I would be able to get my lens back fast enough, but decided to send it in with a note saying how badly I needed it back quickly and just wait and see, if nothing else I would order a 24-70L the night before and pay for overnight shipping. Irvine got my lens fixed and back to me in under a week (including shipping time both ways) and kept the bill under $180. And this was before I was CPS. My lens is once again sharp and my shoot went well. Very happy with Canon Repair Service.
Here we go, my Canon Canada (Mississauga) experience:
* 20D erratic AF. Two repair attempts to no effect. Finally they gave me another 20D.
* 35L focus error. Third repair attempt brought the lens within focus.
* 50 f/1.4 soft wide open. Three repair attempts to no effect.Finally they gave me a credit for the lens.
* 50 f/1.2 backfocus. One repair attempt so far to no effect.
Additional considerations:
* Declined to inspect and clean one 200 f/1.8 a while ago. Reason given: They did not have the facilities to do it.
* Declined to focus-calibrate another 200 f/1.8 a couple of weeks ago. Reason given: The lens is not being serviced by Canon any longer.
I am leaving close to NJ Canon service center, they are always doing excellent job to me. I did cleaning/calibration for two lenses (100mm macro & 24-70L) and 5D body. All cases been free to me, always reasonable time for return. No huge lines for walk in there, very polite people working as well. A++++
I've used Canon Hawaii for 18 years and their service has been excellent from the cute counter girls to the techs. They were willing to take to time to talk to you and get it all straight and did it with a smile. Most things were fixed right the first time and in a timely manner. They even fixed a 70-200 4L for free that was 4 years out of warranty and blurry only on the left side. My gear has been pretty reliable but when something happens I'm not worried. Now when I shoot Nikon I had a hell of a time communicating with them and getting it fixed in a timely manner. Hopefully they improved since the 90s...
Just sent mine to Irvine, from Florida. The stories from NJ scared me enough, and the shipping was equal time and cost. NJ would probably do well, but I feel like my odds are better with Irvine.
I hope it all works out. Would LOVE to get it back by Friday of next week, but I'm not holding my breath.
I've sent probably a dozen bodies in and several lenses over the past few years to CPS-NJ.
CPS status gets me a bit faster turn around - IF I pre-pay the repair: give a credit card number and limit to what they can charge. I usually get it back within a week.
If I don't do that, then I'll get an email in a couple days saying they rec'd it, then another email about a week later with a repair estimate - IF I'm lucky. One time, I rec'd a letter in the mail three weeks out with an estimate!
Alot of times, they want to repair more than is necessary, needed or wanted - and charging for all of it, of course. I've talked to at least half a dozen folks there - mostly ones who make the decisions and even some who make policy.
Apparently, less is more - don't tell them you have 470,000 on the shutter and want to replace it - or they'll automatically put you in the bin for replacing the mirror box and charge assembly for $850+ instead of the normal $407.32
Otherwise, what I've rec'd back has generally been timely and worked very well.
Esquire08 wrote:
Just sent mine to Irvine, from Florida. The stories from NJ scared me enough, and the shipping was equal time and cost. NJ would probably do well, but I feel like my odds are better with Irvine.
I hope it all works out. Would LOVE to get it back by Friday of next week, but I'm not holding my breath.
Never heard anything bad from NJ, but always not as good words about Irvine.
If it was a warranty matter that would be different. I think the problem is here rather than in places like the US, where the market is so much bigger. You probably get better service there. Canon Australia have more attitude than I can handle.
Ditto Gochugogi's experience with Canon Hawaii. They're great - and they ship overnight to Irvine for repairs they can't handle, and the service at the Irvine facility is always expedited. They are super friendly and helpful and have comp'ed me repairs on more than one out of warantee item that would have been quite expensive otherwise.
Excellent service (New Jersey) that exceeded my expectations. 5-day turnaround and they returned my lens FedEx Next Day Air at no cost to me. A+ in my book.
I said average (Irvine). On too many occasions did I get something back that was not fixed, or only partially fixed. The communication has been often terrible. So overall can't say I am 100% happy. 7 items sent in this year alone so far...
They (Irvine) have always given me 1st class service...more times than not, free of charge. The exception being when I've dropped my camera and/or lens.
Irvine's service is excellent. They're not perfect simply because they're human. Errors have always been corrected to my satisfaction. Charged work has been reasonably priced and they've thrown in enough freebies to make me happy. I wouldn't hesitate to send any of my Canon equipment to Irvine for repair, adjustment or cleaning.
I've had both good (2) and bad (1) experiences with the NJ facility, but the bad one was so bad that I'm very hesitant to ever send them anything again. Next time I'll use Irvine. Worse than the service itself (or lack thereof) was the stonewalling and lying by the higher-ups in customer service, which to me was indicative of a culture not concerned with making things right unless really pushed to the wall, which is what I had to do. My experience was most likely a rare one, but not unheard of from others on these boards. My advice - document everything: shipping receipts, phone calls (date/time/person), emails, etc.
Quick turnaround (back with me five business days after being received at Irvine) but had to send lens back again because backfocus was not fixed right first time. Equally quick turnaround second time. Also had an out-of-warranty body fixed for free, although I never did find out what caused the error 99.
So all in all a relatively positive experience but I was still without gear for a couple of weeks.
