When I boungt my 10D, I also bought the 3yr MAC extended warranty with it. I am looking to buy another camera sometime soon (hopefully), and would like to know about Canons own warranty, and if anyone has experience with it, and/or about the MAC warranty if it is worth it or not. If I can remember it was over $100 USD for the MAC warranty.
Based on the response of others I've read with experience with Canon and Mack warranties is that the turn-around time for Canon is a few short weeks while Mack can be many months. Also, Canon is more likely to have fixed it the first time and Mack is likely to return your camera after months and say they could not repair it, or say they repaired it and then when returned you discover they screwed something else up.
I was unaware that the Mack warranty was 3rd party. I thought it was through the manufactor. I have no reason for thinking this....just ignorance (sp?)
How long is Canon's warranty for?
So from what I gather, I should just save my money and NOT buy the Mack warranty?
I'm actually interested in hearing other folks responses too, I have a Mack warranty on my 100-400L IS and I'm hesitant in sending it to Mack after a possible IS issue in the event they keep my primary lens for a ridiculous period of time. The problem has not repeated itself, so there is a good chance they will not make any repairs.
If I understand it correctly Mack does some of the repairs in-house, then issues that are beyond their tech abilities are sent out to Canon to be repaired. It's not clear what those issues may be, but perhaps IS and shutter replacement are up there.
I guess it comes down to whether you can live without the piece of equipment for a while. If you can, then the Mack system may be alright, if not you may be better off with the standard Canon 1-year warranty and simply pay for repairs if you are beyond that or replace the failed equipment.
The best warranty deal around is to buy your camera with a Visa card. Most Visa cards (I'm guessing Master Cards as well) will double the manufacturers warranty. That'll make the Canon a two year warranty. Check the benefits on your card. You can also buy extended warranties through them, more expensive than Mack, but you can just send your camera to Canon and they'll pay whatever Canon charges.
I purchased a Mack warranty for my rebel when I bought it. Cost ~$35 if I remember correctly (absurdly, much of that cost was for "shipping" the piece of paper that the warranty was on). I haven't used it yet, but felt better knowing that if something went wrong I had some peace of mind.
