Update - Should I pay Canon's 'fixed price' repair bill?

HoppyUK

HoppyUK

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Should I pay Canon's 'fixed price' repair bill, or is there a cheaper alternative? They want £150 for the 40D and £100 for a 580EX flash :eek: They have not been abused in any way, they just failed.

My 40D packed up the other day. I posted a thread here but it's definitely bust. http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=161562
I didn't drop it or anything, just took a few pictures on Bulb with the old welding glass (which involves a lot of twiddling the main dial back and forth through the full range of shutter speeds) and when I came to use it again I couldn't change the shutter speed on Tv or the f/number on Av. The main dial just doesn't do anything. Camera takes pictures fine in P, and is about two years old and not heavily used.

Without looking at the camera, Canon's estimate (Elstree service centre) is a fixed £150 to mend the camera, give it a full service (ie clean the sensor I guess) VAT and return delivery. It seems that it's the same cost whether it's a simple component failure or if you've dropped it on its head.

Sod's Law, but at exactly the same time one of my 580EX guns decided not to act as Master, for no reason. Otherwise it seems fine. Fixed price on that is one hundred flippin quid! Yikes :'(

This seems like a heck of a lot of money to fix faulty components that are clearly not my fault.

I'm well miffed. Any bright ideas?

Thanks.

Richard.
 
From what I have been told, the fixed fee covers all faults.
Obviously on one hand this is expensive for just a sensor and mirror clean but on the other it's a good deal if major components need replacing.
I think a lot of places are going to go the same way with fixed fees as it must be major hassle doing quotes, customer says no to the cost, technician has to re-assemble the item then send it back to the customer.
It used to drive me mad when I repaired desktop PCs and laptops.
 
hashcake said:
From what I have been told, the fixed fee covers all faults.
Obviously on one hand this is expensive for just a sensor and mirror clean but on the other it's a good deal if major components need replacing.
I think a lot of places are going to go the same way with fixed fees as it must be major hassle doing quotes, customer says no to the cost, technician has to re-assemble the item then send it back to the customer.
It used to drive me mad when I repaired desktop PCs and laptops.
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That's exactly what I have said to myself. It's just a bit different when it's your outfit and one day it's working fine, and the next day it's broken for no apparent reason and I get hassle and a £250 bill :( And I don't want the sensor cleaning, or a firmware update, or anything else that is part of an unnecessary service.

I cannot think that either the camera or flash needs anything major doing. How do other repair shops operate? I'm willing to pay good money, just not get ripped off subsidising other people's equipment abuse ;)
 
Firstly a standard service inc sensor clean at a Canon service centre is about £100. This makes your repair approx £50. You also get 6 month warranty with any repair. Taking your camera to anywhere other than authorised service centre may result in Canon refusing to service/repair the camera in the future should (for whatever reason) you decide to use them. I cannot comment on the flash as I have had no experience of that type of failure.
 
snapzz said:
Firstly a standard service inc sensor clean at a Canon service centre is about £100. This makes your repair approx £50. You also get 6 month warranty with any repair. Taking your camera to anywhere other than authorised service centre may result in Canon refusing to service/repair the camera in the future should (for whatever reason) you decide to use them. I cannot comment on the flash as I have had no experience of that type of failure.
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I will happily pay £50. I don't want a service or sensor clean. I don't even want any warranty (they only give you that because they know it's very unlikely ever to break again).

I've just been unlucky. I don't think I should be penalised for that. It's a PITA enough as it is.
 
What about your Consumer Rights? This could be an easy route to getting replacements, depending on how recently and where you bought them and how you paid for them.
 
jamesnygren said:
Hello Hoopy, not many people know this. It may help you. "Two-year warranty loophole (EU law)"



http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/bargai...=487339&in_page_id=53954&in_advicepage_id=131
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Thank you James :) Just found the receipt 22nd Sept 07 - phew! I'll give it a try.

I'm not trying to avoid paying a reasonable sum. Sh!t happens. But I don't think I've done anything wrong, the equipment is effectively still as new, lightly used, and now rendered useless through no fault of mine.

On the other hand, if I'd given it a thrashing for five years and then dropped it, a flat £150 would seem like a bargain. But I don't feel like subsidising those kind of repairs.

Cheers :thumbs:
 
Awww Man, thats just not fair........

I'd be inclined to try the route of asking if they can get it repaired 'as it shouldn't happen' to quality brands of such a young age and taken care of in such a way.....

Failing all that, pay up and put it behind you..... they may waiver some of it and if they do it's a bonus....

But the post above sounds like a cunning plan !

Phil

PS - are they insured against failure rather than loss or theft ?
 
I'm not absolutely clear about how you obtained your quote, but they do have human beings there and putting your case may get sympathetic treatment. Just remember that they are employees and not all have too much flexibility. Do ask to go higher if you don't get any satisfaction.

My personal thoughts are that you should get a sympathetic ear to listen to you. Remain calm and reasoned and I am sure you will be looked after.

Please keep us posted.

Graham
 
It depends what you want to do, had to send my 1D and 300mm lens into them, for a fix, over exposure / calibration, quoted a price of £185, but actually paid £30 less, so perhaps if full service is not required, you won't pay full amount, I'm sure that was the case for a friend as well with his 5D. If your a member of CPS, then remember to quote your membership number and include the Number with the camera and flash, reasonable turnaround times.
 
HoppyUK said:
Thank you James :) Just found the receipt 22nd Sept 07 - phew! I'll give it a try.
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With the seller, not Canon. If that fails (initially), take it up with your card issuer (assuming you used a credit card).
 
pete.rush said:
It depends what you want to do, had to send my 1D and 300mm lens into them, for a fix, over exposure / calibration, quoted a price of £185, but actually paid £30 less, so perhaps if full service is not required, you won't pay full amount, I'm sure that was the case for a friend as well with his 5D. If your a member of CPS, then remember to quote your membership number and include the Number with the camera and flash, reasonable turnaround times.
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Pete, I got caught on this one. My 1Ds mk3's lcd screen got damaged about a year ago when it fell in the Arctic, took it to Ellstree and it cost me £80 to get it fixed. Would you believe my 40D suffered the same fate in my hand baggage just a few weeks ago. Took that in, thinking another £80 down the tube, and was quoted the £150 figure. When I questioned this, I got the same standard charge story. When I then said about the cost on the 1Ds, I was told that 1 series cameras are charged on a parts and labour basis, where as the others (and I don't know where the 5D and now 7D will fit in) are a fixed price.
So I told them to do a sensor and focussing screen clean as well.
I wonder if the independent official repairers such as AJ Johnstone in Glasgow have the same outlook?
I'll check (if I remember) on Mon and post the results. They are Canon approved, so the warranty should still hold.

George
 
snapzz said:
Firstly a standard service inc sensor clean at a Canon service centre is about £100. This makes your repair approx £50.
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Last time I was there (elstree) sensor clean was £20 inc VAT for a 1.3 crop camera.

I also have the same thing. My 580 flash isn't working properly, cos I dropped it. It now makes a clicking sound where the zoom has come off the runner.£100 covers all, I contacted fixation, they say It could cost 50 to put on runners, but If something else has broken the cost will go up. So take a chance or play safe. I'm still undecided, while my flash works. Kinda.
 
Thank you all for your advice and alternative suggestions. I'll have a go on Monday and let you know how it goes :)
 
Hoppy I was quoted £75 for a Sensor clean from a local dealer, think of that when you have to pay for a repair, plus service, plus sensor clean! Suddenley it seems cheap, needless to say I didnt pay I did it myself. It seems anything we want repairing be it a computer, a car or a camera, we will get stung big time. I paid £100 for a filter ring to be replaced too, that was done by Fixation, I wanted it done by Canon but they just didnt care they said twice they had emailed me a job number and twice it never arrived, in the end I had to go to Fixation.
 
I would try Lehmann's in stoke on trent, way better than canon and better service, i dare say they maybe cheaper too.

Mark
 
HoppyUK said:
Thank you all for your advice and alternative suggestions. I'll have a go on Monday and let you know how it goes :)
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Don't they quote 6 weeks or something? I would send them a letter asking for a reduction, as it is taking too long, and reducing the time that you can use the lens for.

Sorry to hear of your continued problems Hoppy. Probably not much can be done for the flash, but if it is just the dial pickups, then an independent might be able to get the part cheaper. Tried searching for a service manual, but couldn't find one, :(
 
UPDATE. A Happy Ending - all fixed for £56 :)

To recap, Canon quoted me fixed price repairs on my 40D and 580EX flash, of £150 and £100 each. This would get them fixed regardless of the problem, cleaned and serviced, postage the lot.

I didn't want to pay that, given that I'd done nothing wrong and I couldn't imagine any very expensive damage had been done, so I asked what alternatives there were.

I tried the "Two Year Warranty Loophole" mentioned above. Canon have obviously heard this one before, apparently it is not relevant and the wording is just bad resulting in misunderstandings. I got the distinct impression that angle was going nowhere. However, Canon readily agreed to give me an individual quote on each repair.

Two weeks went by with a general failure by Canon to get back to me when promised a couple of times, but I wasn't in a blinding rush and eventually they came back with £56 to fix the 40D, and zero for the flash gun as they couldn't find anything wrong with it!

They repaired/replaced the Main Dial and did something to the "bus system" on the camera, cleaned the sensor. It's now fine. The flash is also working okay; maybe there was nothing wrong and I got brain fade when checking over the master/slave modes of my several 580EX guns :thinking: This seems most likely and it was decent of Canon to check it over and return it gratis.

All in all a good result in the end - Canon did good :)
 
I'm glad to hear that :clap:

Perhaps their way of quoting is just to save time, and most people will accept, but if you query it no doubt Canon will spend a bit more time to individually quote it and repair it?
 
foodpoison said:
I'm glad to hear that :clap:

Perhaps their way of quoting is just to save time, and most people will accept, but if you query it no doubt Canon will spend a bit more time to individually quote it and repair it?
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Forgot to mention, if you opt for an individual quote and it comes back high, you lose the option to have the £150 flat rate job. Sounds fair enough.

I got the impression speaking to Canon that they were actually quite keen to look after their customers. For example, if your warranty is a month or perhaps even two months out of date, they will waive any charges. But that wasn't the impression I got when taking the camera in, with a flat rate take-it-or-leave-it quote. I guess we all want to be treated as individuals.
 
My 40D (bought Sept 2008) went snafu a few months ago. It wouldn't take any pictures and some of the buttons stopped responding. No error codes, just said 'busy'. There was no warning of impending failure and it hadn't suffered any knocks or spills. I couldn't attribute it to anything I'd done. I ummed and arred over a repair and decided to buy a 7D instead.

Fast forward to a couple of days ago, I decided having a 40D in a box doing nothing was a waste, so I sent it to Canon. I have just received an email from them with an estimate - £153 fixed price repair. No mention of whether they've actually looked at it or not. So I have no idea if the fixed price repair is good value or not. I don't know how much another company would charge, but really wanted Canon to do the work as there's a chance I'll want sell it when it's returned to me. (I thought an officially repaired camera, with 6 month warranty would be better come sale time.)

I decided to chance it and have just this moment paid over the phone. (Before reading this thread.) I'm now wondering if I should have at least tried to negotiate.

As you say, it could be a small, easily repaired, 'cheap' fault and they've made a killing. Or it could require a major component replacement and I've save a few quid. I guess I'll never know.
 
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Think yourself lucky

my 13 month old 100-400L went to Canon for repair on the friction ring, they charged me £227.

Loads of people have sent theirs and told them it needs a service and any repairs and got it done for a fixed fee of £167.

So your pee'd off :D

They just quoted me £247 for a 400D shutter mech, they are having a laugh :D
 
Look at it this way, what is a non working 40D worth, what is a fully working 40D worth and is it worth spending £153 to get it to that state.
 
artyman said:
Look at it this way, what is a non working 40D worth, what is a fully working 40D worth and is it worth spending £153 to get it to that state.
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That's what I've been asking myself: Sell as faulty? Repair and sell? Or even, repair and keep? But I think my wife would have something to say about the last one, what with my recent purchases. :)

40D seem to go for £375ish. Would a faulty one go for £222? I don't know, probably not. Lots of people buy faulty stuff on ebay for spares/repair.
 
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how much guarantee do they give on overhauls..if anything goes wrong later
 
6 months. But I'm not sure if it's only on the work they've done, or a blanket warranty covering the whole camera, i.e. I'd be able to use it if something else goes wrong within that time. I suspect the former, but hope it's the latter. I'd like to think a 6 month warranty would make it easier to sell, if that's what I decide to do.
 
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I sent my 24-70 to a Canon Certified repair centre as the apature blades were stuck at f16 and wouldn't move.

Repair cost £110 flat + postage £15 i think, with a 6month warrenty on the repair, which was a god send as it went back a further 2 more times as the problem was still not repaired, in the end my 24-70 for the £110 got
New USM Motor, New AF circuit, rear mount, complete clean, 2 new apature diaphrams and all the gubbins that went with it, all this because my postman dropped the parcel and RoyalFail didn't pay out in the end atleast it only cost £110 not £700+

So I'm pretty chuffed with the services and thank god for Warrenties.
 
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RM didn't pay out? Let me guess - it was inadequately packaged? :cuckoo:
 
40d body returned today. The paperwork lists replacement of 'Electronic Bus System' and 'Main PCB Assembly'. I don't know if they're one in the same, but along with the clean and service, do you think £153 was a good price?

Not that it matters now, but I'd like to know if I got value for money. :thinking: Unless of course I didn't, then I'd rather live in ignorance. :)
 
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