Canon repair center

[fragglecasper]

Hey guys, firstly thank you for allowing me into the group..

Secondly i just wanted to share an experience with ye, and hope someone can help.

I am a wedding photographer in Ireland, and i had an extremely busy 2023, 7 weddings in December of 2023, the last 2 weddings were the 30th and 31st,

I only ever use 3 lenses when shooting weddings, two Canon r6 cameras,
1 85rf f1.2 glued to my camera

And on the other camera i switch between my 15-35 f2.8 rf lens, and my rf 35 f1.8,

Anyway, the 15-35 lens has worked a treat for me, for the past 16 months, until i turned the cameras on for my last wedding on December 31st, the autofocus would not work, it just would not, it would manually focus no problems at all. But auto focus was not working. Took it off my camera and put the 35mm f1.8 on and finished out my year.
On January the 1st and 2nd i contacted canon.ie told them what was going on they created a label and i shipped the lens on the 3rd of January to Germany to their repair center. It was still under warranty in europe it is a 2 year warranty, never in 30 years have i ever sent anything back to canon, and i am a platinum member in the cps program Canon runs.

The lens spent 6 and half days travelling, and on the 10th of January the repair center contacted me back saying they wont repair it under warranty,
I asked why, they said the lens had been disassemble and put back together before it arrived to them and the entire insides need replacement. And the cost would be 1600 euros to repair the lens.

I said bullshite to that and i explained the lens worked perfectly for 6 weddings in December and on the 7th wedding it would not autofocus. I said i boxed it up and shipped it to ye.

They said no chance, there is no way this lens was operational when i had it.

I said listen guys your calling me a liar, here is the metadata from lightroom showing the images i photographed on the 30th of December using that lens.

They said we dont care,

Either pay the money to repair it, or we can destroy it free of charge.

So apart from been called a liar, and them sending me some images of ribbon cables they claim are not seated correctly, which i wouldn't have an idea if they were or not,

They were cold hearted. Couldnt care less, the lens needs a whole new insides and thats the cost, like it or lump it.

I dont understand this. It was the holidays, the lens worked one day, didnt work the next. Lens was shipped off to them, i dont have the technical know how to confrot them, showing me images of rippon cables that have a kink in them to me makes no sense, because the lens worked perfectly for the 16 months i owed it. It rarley left my camera..

I honestly believe warranty mens nothing at all to these people, almost 1600 euros they claim to fix this lens, when i could still manually focus. Just autofocus stopped.

I dont know, anyone ever have similar issues to this.

Regards
James

 

[AntonLargiader]

To me there are a lot of details missing, but they probably don't really matter as I'm not going to be resolving this.

First, what is actually wrong with all of that stuff inside the lens that it needs to be replaced? Was it all damaged by what they see as prior improper disassembly? Attitude aside, if they think there's no way that the lens could ever have worked properly for you, there's probably a reason they are saying that.

Two, what's the history of this lens? Are you sure they are looking at the same one? Did you buy it new, do you have a record of the serial number, etc?

Is there a different repair center you can use? I don't have an answer as to why you are not getting anywhere with that one, but the solution may just lie elsewhere.

 

[fragglecasper]

To me there are a lot of details missing, but they probably don't really matter as I'm not going to be resolving this.

First, what is actually wrong with all of that stuff inside the lens that it needs to be replaced? Was it all damaged by what they see as prior improper disassembly? Attitude aside, if they think there's no way that the lens could ever have worked properly for you, there's probably a reason they are saying that.

Two, what's the history of this lens? Are you sure they are looking at the same one? Did you buy it new, do you have a record of the serial number, etc?

Is there a different repair center you can use? I don't have an answer as to why you are not getting anywhere with that one, but the solution may just lie elsewhere.

The lens was purchased brand new, i unwrapped it, 16 months ago, put it on my camera and it basically hasn't come off it.
They say rippon cables look to be worn, and not correctly seated in place,
They said one ribbon cable is broken,
I asked which cable is broken, and they said something to do with the autofocus.

I said, fix that, and the lens is fixed, they said the lens has other issues, they need to fix all the rippon cables as they look to have been installed incorrectly and then adjust the focus align it, new roating sleeve,

And i just said, look, what do ye want me to say, the lens worked perfectly for the past 16 months, and failed a few days ago.
No on opened that lens, no one disassemble that lens. The fact the rippon cables look worn and unseated properly never caused that lens to not work,
The fact ye found a broken autofocus rippon cable, maybe that is the issue i am having and fix that,

They can fix that one cable, i am guessing without putting more new cables on and re focusing the lens, and a new sleeve, why i dont know, but they claimed it would have never come to me, from canon with badly seated cables when i bought it.

I said, look guys i dont know what to tel ye, but that is the way the lens has been since i got it.

We dont care is their attitude, it looks tampered with . Pay 1600 euros or else we can destroy it for free. Or send it back.

Thats it in a nut shell.

 

[MikeZ]

So sorry to hear about the treatment you have received from Canon - and I sure hope that this is not some trend. I do wonder if they have the proper lens, meaning is this your lens or have they mixed-up things on their end. Can they confirm the serial number? Also, why would they offer to destroy the lens? That's not an alternative that I would accept, and there is always the possibility for third party repair, if you so wanted to proceed that way.

Good luck with this, and please keep us informed of status.

 

[fragglecasper]

So sorry to hear about the treatment you have received from Canon - and I sure hope that this is not some trend. I do wonder if they have the proper lens, meaning is this your lens or have they mixed-up things on their end. Can they confirm the serial number? Also, why would they offer to destroy the lens? That's not an alternative that I would accept, and there is always the possibility for third party repair, if you so wanted to proceed that way.

Good luck with this, and please keep us informed of status.

Reading canon guides i believe any repairs now have to leave the repair centers, in a new state.

Like not for one second have they made me feel like a customer, they basically couldn't care,
Pay dont pay

The timeline is the key here, wedding on the 30th of December lens worked flawlessly, wedding on the 31st of December lens as soon as i turn on the camera lens didn't zoom correctly.

I could manually zoom, but autofocus i could not.

The next day i checked if it was still under warranty, it was, i contacted canon, that was the 1st of January, the 2nd they replied and created a label to ship it. The 3rd of January it was collected.
Spent 6.5 days travelling to Germany, on the 10th they said, cable rippons, looked worn and not seated correctly. They believe the lens was disassemble and poorly put back together.

I said no lads lens worked perfectly all December bar the 31st,

They said, in this state there is no way that lens was operational,

I sent them the metadata from the images on the 30th proving the lens worked perfectly,

They then changed their tune.
We dont care
Dont send us images or videos

The lens needs all this repair

Pay it or don't, we can destroy the lens free or charge, or send it back,

I said the lens how was it disassemble in the time line i am trying to explain, every where was closed due the holidays, and are you thinking i dissemble the lens?.

They bascailly said look we dont care how the lens ended up in this state, it did, and it is not under a warranty now.

Paynor dont pay.

So angry as i was, i sought out every canon email i could, every production manager to media manager within canon from every country. I made a chain mail of emails and sent off the story to them.

One European canon consultant got back to me saying she is taking over this case.

Have not heard anything back.

In europe that lens cost 3k euros.

Not small change.. the fact they have an option to destory the lens is comical...