Not sure if this is where I should post this, but I recently sold a 5d2 to someone on a facebook group. They received the camera about 28 days ago. I messaged her to make sure everything was good and she said it was.
Well she messaged me today and said there was an issue with the autofocus. She says that the camera will lock focus and confirm with the red light, but as she continued to press the shutter, it would not take the picture. She said she would have to turn it off and turn it back on to get it to work properly. Then it would work for a bit and do the same thing. I told her that it was working perfectly when I had used it last and that I didnt notice any issues with it.
Well she calls Canon and they tell her its probably the button getting stuck and to send it in. I guess they told her it would be a flat rate of $250 for them to look at it and fix the issue. She now wants me to pay for the fix since I "should have known it had that issue and I was misled in the post"...
I personally dont think that I am responsible to pay for it 30 days after she gets it. Anything can happen in those 30days that I have no control over. Maybe she dropped it.. Who knows. She claims she hasnt had much time to use it and just was able to use it fully at a wedding over the weekend and noticed the issue then.
Curtiss Bryant wrote:
...I personally dont think that I am responsible to pay for it 30 days after she gets it.
I agree. OTOH, I don't know anything about how feedback works on FB (or if it even exists), except of course for what folks might post on your pages.
If you're worried about the consequences of negative feedback, then I suggest you consider offering to split the repair cost, after getting a scan of the repair estimate from a reputable camera repair shop, of course. I've been in similar situations from both sides (buyer and seller), and it's always worked out OK - 'neutral' feedback at the worst.
Curtiss Bryant wrote:
Not sure if this is where I should post this, but I recently sold a 5d2 to someone on a facebook group. They received the camera about 28 days ago. I messaged her to make sure everything was good and she said it was.
Well she messaged me today and said there was an issue with the autofocus. She says that the camera will lock focus and confirm with the red light, but as she continued to press the shutter, it would not take the picture. She said she would have to turn it off and turn it back on to get it to work properly. Then it would work for a bit and do the same thing. I told her that it was working perfectly when I had used it last and that I didnt notice any issues with it.
Well she calls Canon and they tell her its probably the button getting stuck and to send it in. I guess they told her it would be a flat rate of $250 for them to look at it and fix the issue. She now wants me to pay for the fix since I "should have known it had that issue and I was misled in the post"...
I personally dont think that I am responsible to pay for it 30 days after she gets it. Anything can happen in those 30days that I have no control over. Maybe she dropped it.. Who knows. She claims she hasnt had much time to use it and just was able to use it fully at a wedding over the weekend and noticed the issue then.
The last time that happened to me it was cos I'd taken a shot on self-timer and forgot to turn off the timer for the next shot
Is she local, are you able to meet her and check the issue yourself?
Bad situation: I agree that anything can happen in 28 days. Once Canon have provided a report on the cause of the problem and the repair cost, you could consider offering to split the repair cost.
If I was the buyer, I would certainly be frustrated if the camera develops a problem so soon after I have bought it. However I would not hold you responsible for that and would bite the bullet for the repair myself. As a seller you have to make sure that the camera is working perfectly when you deliver it. Any problem that develops after that is not for you to handle. There is always a risk in buying used and the buyer knows the risk at the time of purchase. Of course if you had some prior knowledge that this issue might happen or you failed to disclose something such as the camera taking a fall on concrete etc then thats a different story and you stand accountable in that case. However that doesn't seem to be the case here, so I would say just politely tell her that you can not take responsibility for something which happened well after the sale.
1st:
She bought a 2nd hand item in a private sale. She should not be expecting any comeback after nearly a month. Especially as she indicated all was ok after she received the camera.
2nd:
If it is a sticky/dirty button then its a very common thing , yes if it's sent to canon they will replace the button. But if you've seen pictures of how it's done then you will understand the cost .
But if you lookup the 'alcohol fix' (ok I admit you have to be brave the first time you do it :) you can fix sticky dirty buttons really easily. I did my 40D over a year ago and the button has never stuck since. And I know a friend who had a sticky button who sent the camera in for a fix and the thing stuck again a few months later. They did the alcohol fix the 2nd time .
I would not ignore her. Its not fair, nor reasonable to expect you to cover anything for as long as she had the camera. If it was in the first few days, then yes. But after a week (at the most), its her problem IMO.
But I would not ignore the matter as Paypal will debit your account. Then you'll have a fight on your hands. And Paypal has no sense of humor.
This is an unfortunate situation. If I were worried about my reputation and/or receiving negative feedback I would offer to cover the cost of repair if problem was verified by an independent repair center.
Thirty days is too long to claim a faulty product purchased used in my opinion, but paypal will side in her favor I think. I think their policy is 45 days, but would highly recommend you checking.
You seem to be dealing with an unreasonable person, so use caution. Most folks I have dealt with seem fair and would notify me of the issue, and I would be willing to help with the repair cost to preserve my reputation. A split of costs would be fair for you and her.
Curtiss Bryant wrote:
Well she calls Canon and they tell her its probably the button getting stuck and to send it in. I guess they told her it would be a flat rate of $250 for them to look at it and fix the issue. She now wants me to pay for the fix since I "should have known it had that issue and I was misled in the post"...
Based on my experience, Canon never ever provides an estimate before they inspect the item. Also, I don't think it costs $250 for them just to look at it.
Yeah I'm not sure of the entire issue. She just messaged me about it and we had a little conversation. Her initial issue was that the LCD would dim and get brighter. She didnt think it was normal as none of her other cameras did that (rebels). I explained that it was a feature of the 5d2 to dim in low light and get brighter in bright light..
So then the issue of the AF came up. She says she used it at a wedding the the outer points wouldnt catch AF very well. I explained that is a fault of the AF design in the 5d2 and not a "real" problem with the camera. She then said that when she goes to focus, the shutter will not fire unless she turns the camera off to reset it. Shes tried 4 different lenses.
All I know is that it had worked perfectly before I sent it and she said it worked fine when she received it (although she admits not really having much time to test it until this last weekend). I did a shoot the day before it was sent and I never noticed any AF issues like that.
So initially I was thinking she didnt know what she was doing, but I certainly dont want to tell her that. I told her to send it in and to forward me the Canon info and we can go from there.
28 days is a little much... if you buy used you must put it though the paces as quickly as you can.
Electronics can fail on any given day... you want a warranty.... buy new
it sounds like she's really fishing for something... LCD, autofocus, shutter... anything
she probably wishes she didn't buy it for whatever reason. can you meet her? check out the camera and if its fine take it back and sell it to someone else? not ideal, but if you're worried about your reputation or getting into it with PayPal (which sounds like a rabbit hole of crap that'd be worth the effort to avoid)
or some people just can't deal with buying used because they think there HAS to be something wrong with it, and it'll haunt them until they validate their concern by finding anything hey can consider to be a fault
I agree that it sounds like she's fishing for something. Perhaps it's because there has been such a huge price drop on new 5DII bodies just after she bought it used. If you don't mind my asking, what was the selling price, and how does that compare to the $1800 price for a new one with the $400 instant rebate? I wonder if she's trying to haggle you enough for you to give in and accept a return.
Ben Horne wrote:
I agree that it sounds like she's fishing for something. Perhaps it's because there has been such a huge price drop on new 5DII bodies just after she bought it used. If you don't mind my asking, what was the selling price, and how does that compare to the $1800 price for a new one with the $400 instant rebate? I wonder if she's trying to haggle you enough for you to give in and accept a return.
) you can fix sticky dirty buttons really easily. I did my 40D over a year ago and the button has never stuck since. And I know a friend who had a sticky button who sent the camera in for a fix and the thing stuck again a few months later. They did the alcohol fix the 2nd time