I'm in the market for a new camera and set of lenses. I'm not a professional, but a pretty serious hobbyist with a strong interest in landscape and nature photography.
I've been a Nikon shooter for a long time and would have probably just stayed with their gear, but an unpleasant warranty experience has me considering other brands.
The purpose of my post is to get feedback from Canon users on Canon's customer service after the sale and, in particular, warranty service. If you've had experience with both Canon and Nikon customer service, and have any opinions about how they compare, that would be helpful.
I've used Canon service a couple of times and I'd say my experience has been pretty good. I did have to send 1 lens back 3 times to get right but other warranty or repair service visits have been resolved in only 1 trip.
I'm somewhat within reasonable driving distance to their Irvine facility, so I always drop/pick up my equipment there.
For warranty work, as with Nikon, just keep a copy of the purchase receipt. One thing to keep in mind in your transition, Canon lenses are only 1 year warranty as opposed to Nikon's 5 year.
I joined CPS a couple of years back, they expedite service, and its been very good. They treat you very well, well worth the $100 a year for the gold membership, assuming you qualify.
I used Canon service both as a CPS member and not. Never had any issues with the repairs.
Warranty repairs were very fast door-to-door and CPS the same. Non CPS were done in a reasonable amount of time.
Dan
I've had to send in probably 50% or more of my new Canon EOS cameras and L lenses for one reason or another, and they always corrected the issues, with one exception: I had to send in a 7D four times for inconsistent single-shot AF, and they ended up sending me a new one after the fourth time. The new one was okay.
I've sent 2 lenses in for service over the years, 1 was in warranty (70-200 IS II), 1 ended up not being covered by the warranty (100-400L). The 70-200 needed the IS replaced along with another lens element and was returned good as new without a problem (within a week). The 100-400 needed the zoom friction ring replaced along with the IS. That repair took about 3 weeks due to backordered parts. When I got the 100-400 back, it was better than before, smoother zoom, sharper image wide open, and more responsive IS.
I've had some other stuff done too, but it wasn't warranty work. Just some shutter replacements and cleanings and such. In all, I've been very happy with Canon from a service standpoint (and equipment too obviously ).
took me 2 tries to get my new 35L calibrated to work with my 5D...i suspect they only did the mirror fix on the 5d during the first trip and ignored the 35L....the second time however...they came back amazing. I will never sell either now, theyre that good together. It was all free, even the shipping, so i didnt mind doing it twice.
The quality of service is largely dependent on luck of the draw. Ive had 2 go through flawlessly and 1 took a good 1 hr on phone and an escalation to get it taken care of.
IMO, dont leave your familiar system just due to a service issue, its usually 6 of one kind and half dozen of another
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