Jamesburg experience

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Archive 2008 · Jamesburg experience

RobertLynn
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p.1 #1 · Jamesburg experience

Last week, I sent my 70-200 2.8L IS USM into Canon.

It was soft around 150+mm, and occasionally front focused at the long end.

I sent in a note to Canon saying what the lens did, a cd with photos on it, and a copy of my receipt and warranty card.

A few days after they get it, they send me an e-mail saying that I need to authorize a couple hundred dollar repair.

I call and raise hell, saying that it's under warranty yadda yadda. They say that they never got my receipt (keep this in mind). So I get the guy to update it over the phone, and I e-mailed them my order confirmation from canoga (not even my receipt).

Okay, so fast forward to yesterday. I call and ask if they know what's going on with my lens. The woman tells me that they are waiting for an IS assembly to come in stock. Okay, just so long as they are doing something, you know?

So I get an e-mail TODAY saying that they shipped it standard overnight YESTERDAY, meaning it would be here TODAY (why e-mail me in advance...that would make sense).

So I take the day off of work to wait. Just a few minutes ago the fed-ex man shows up with my package. They shipped my 70-200 with 1 quick wrap of bubble wrap and paper in the box. The box is like 8X8X12 (just guessing, but it's not very big). They had the lens in a bag, with some papers in it. They also had the CD in a case rubber banded to the lens...the cd was in 4 pieces as was the case (broken in transit? great job on the packing Canon!)

Also included in the package was...GET THIS....THE DAMN RECEIPT!

So I get a letter back saying this,

Unit shows soft focus, see example disc, check all functions.

Then it says the serial and such...

The service details are

Replaced 3rd and 4th lens ass'y, zoom unit and other parts. Checked all, adjusted center/tilt/focus, clean all factory spec. *IF SAME PROBLEM OCCUR, PLS SEND US WITH BODY.

In the note I said I was able to replicate the problem on 3 bodies...definitely not a body problem. Doubtful that 3 bodies are all out just as much on this lens, but not at all on any of my other lenses.

I'm saying this, without any judgment of the job they did to the lens (as I have no idea). I have little confidence in Canon's communication processes.

1st; They wanted to charge me for something...when the receipt was included with the item along with the warranty card (copies). Who cares if they fixed it (well I do, I didn't have to pay, but still they tried to get an extra couple hundred for nothing).

2nd; Told me something different every time on the phone. Friday, it was being boxed and ready to ship back. Tuesday? Waiting for a new IS assembly...but wait here's the good part, when I called...it was already on a fed ex truck.

3rd; I get the item today, poorly packed, with the documents they said they never had, and I'm looking at the work order...IS assembly isn't one of the things replaced.

This is very upsetting. Like I said, I'll see how the images are and if they are better, that's great...but damn Canon, get it together.

PROS
shipped last Monday, they got it Tuesday, I got it back today.
Fixed the "warranty" fiasco.
possibly fixed lens (we'll see soon).

Nov 19, 2008 at 08:02 PM

M Vers
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p.1 #2 · Jamesburg experience

Did you save the box and packaging the lens came in initially? I know its a matter of too little too late but that's why I keep every piece of packaging my gear comes in. I too sent my 70-200 in for calibration but I did so in its original packaging--needless to say it took over 2 weeks to get back, how it was sent, in good condition. That's not to say Canon wasn't at fault for its poor packaging BUT that's why its always a good idea to take extra precautionary methods when it comes to dealing with such expensive gear. Hope your lens is now, as Canon states, 'within spec'

Nov 19, 2008 at 08:49 PM

Nick Nishizaka
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p.1 #3 · Jamesburg experience

I am not surprised.
Of the times I have had to deal with Canon NJ, they were horrible.
Irvine, CA is better, but that's just relatively speaking to NJ.

Nov 19, 2008 at 08:54 PM

photo1a
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p.1 #4 · Jamesburg experience

I had a similar shipping date experience from the Irvine facility. I called to check on a lens being calibrated. "Can you wain, I'll check." Several minutes pass. "It will be shipped tomorrow." The next day the lens arrive, 600 miles from Irvine. Now is that great service, or what. Shipped UPS and received 600 miles away on the same day! The lens was perfect.

Nov 19, 2008 at 09:10 PM

outlawyer
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p.1 #5 · Jamesburg experience

The Canon website instructs warranty claims to be accompanied by a receipt OR a warranty card, not both. Presumably the date code on the lens itself will, to an extent, determine whether it's warranted. Which makes your experience even more baffling.

Nov 19, 2008 at 09:20 PM

s23chang
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p.1 #6 · Jamesburg experience

My experience was ok from Jamesburg. It did take 10 days as expected.

The packing is poor and I have to agree. Far worst than the packing I sent my camera to them.
I didn't have issue with Receipt as that was the first thing they see when they open the stock camera box.
All I can say is you got a careless tech working on your unit. I tested out after the mirror assy replacement and mirro assy lever replacement and no issues so far with my 1Dmk3.

Nov 19, 2008 at 09:28 PM

RobertLynn
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p.1 #7 · Jamesburg experience

outlawyer wrote:
The Canon website instructs warranty claims to be accompanied by a receipt OR a warranty card, not both. Presumably the date code on the lens itself will, to an extent, determine whether it's warranted. Which makes your experience even more baffling.
Incorrect. They want a copy of both. 1 to prove you bought it, and 2 to prove it's in warranty.

Nov 19, 2008 at 10:03 PM

RobertLynn
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p.1 #8 · Jamesburg experience

I called Canon to report that the CD was snapped in half, and it wasn't that I cared about the cd, it was to report possible damage in shipping.

I asked why the woman told me yesterday that there was an IS unit on order. she said that it was replaced. I said why wasn't it in the service notes, and she said that it was replaced, after the lens was fixed.

If you can figure out that one, you're better than me.

Nov 20, 2008 at 12:13 AM

stanj
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p.1 #9 · Jamesburg experience

RobertLynn wrote:
outlawyer wrote:
The Canon website instructs warranty claims to be accompanied by a receipt OR a warranty card, not both. Presumably the date code on the lens itself will, to an extent, determine whether it's warranted. Which makes your experience even more baffling.
Incorrect. They want a copy of both. 1 to prove you bought it, and 2 to prove it's in warranty.

Your luck is not as strong as mine, it seems. On numerous occasions did Irvine work on new items which clearly were on the market for less than a year without asking for paperwork. Once they did ask for paperwork, which I didn't have handy, so I just replied with "you realize it's been on the market for less than 12 months" and their reaction was "duh, of course" and that was it.

Overall my experience with Irvine (countless encounters - 8 this year alone) were between great to passable. My only two encounters with NJ were ... how should I say ... not convincing. In all cases at both facilities, the communication was by far the worst part of the experience. Which, in the end if the lens / camera is fixed, doesn't matter all that much.

Nov 20, 2008 at 12:35 AM

veroman
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p.1 #10 · Jamesburg experience

Jamesburg has serviced all of my Canon gear at one time or another, including the 28-300L IS (one of Canon's most complex lenses), the 70-200 f/2.8L IS, the 16-35 Mark 1, the 24-70 and my 5D and 1Ds II cameras.

In all instances, the gear has came back repaired as needed and even better overall than when I sent it in. There have been instances when they replaced or repaired something that I had not indicated needed work and didn't even charge me for it.

I think moments of poor communication and even poor repair will occur from time to time; Canon and its repair organizations are, after all, people ... and people are not perfect.

One of the managers at Jamesburg told me that Canon is no different than any other large company right now: most of the employees are each doing the work of 4 or 5 people and wearing 4 or 5 different hats. They're stressed out, he told me. Fact is, I don't know of anyone who ISN'T stressed at the moment.

So ... while I feel for your experience and the frustration of it, I do believe it's somewhat isolated and not the general experience of the majority of those who have repairs done at Jamesburg. Besides, whatever it is that Canon may have done wrong, you can be sure that they will make it right.

I hope your attitude softens a bit so that, in the event you need to communicate with them about this, you can communicate in a tone other than ... and gentler than ... angry. It will take you further than hostility.

- Steve

Nov 20, 2008 at 12:55 AM

Cliftonyte
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p.1 #11 · Jamesburg experience

veroman wrote:
Jamesburg has serviced all of my Canon gear at one time or another, including the 28-300L IS (one of Canon's most complex lenses), the 70-200 f/2.8L IS, the 16-35 Mark 1, the 24-70 and my 5D and 1Ds II cameras.

In all instances, the gear has came back repaired as needed and even better overall than when I sent it in. There have been instances when they replaced or repaired something that I had not indicated needed work and didn't even charge me for it.

I think moments of poor communication and even poor repair will occur from time to time; Canon and its repair organizations are, after all, people ... and people are not perfect.

One of the managers at Jamesburg told me that Canon is no different than any other large company right now: most of the employees are each doing the work of 4 or 5 people and wearing 4 or 5 different hats. They're stressed out, he told me. Fact is, I don't know of anyone who ISN'T stressed at the moment.

So ... while I feel for your experience and the frustration of it, I do believe it's somewhat isolated and not the general experience of the majority of those who have repairs done at Jamesburg. Besides, whatever it is that Canon may have done wrong, you can be sure that they will make it right.

I hope your attitude softens a bit so that, in the event you need to communicate with them about this, you can communicate in a tone other than ... and gentler than ... angry. It will take you further than hostility.

- Steve
Sounds like a Canon Rep to me or a manager. As a consumer(me), who is paying and is taking time out of our busy lives to ship the gear out. Then as a consumer if a job is not done right and I have to do the same process all frickin over again.............yes it is wise to be cordial in your approach to resolving a matter the first time, but for a multi-billion dollar company to not give a shit about the consumer and the so-called under staffing issue you speak of gives me little room to be Mr. nice guy. This is complete bull. I spend thousands of dollars on gear and I have an over worked, stressed out donkey working on my equipment so some fat cat CEO can make millions of dollars a year! Thanks for the tip, Canon management can go "F" themselves. Sorry for the rant but when people stick up for other's incompetence it really irritates the crap out of me.

Nov 20, 2008 at 01:48 AM

csd2020
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p.1 #12 · Jamesburg experience

I've had nothing but incredible service from Jamesburg. Twice they have fixed items "as a courtesy" when not coverd by warranty and clearly my fault. Best service I've encountered with any product.

Nov 20, 2008 at 03:03 AM

Cliftonyte
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p.1 #13 · Jamesburg experience

csd2020 wrote:
I've had nothing but incredible service from Jamesburg. Twice they have fixed items "as a courtesy" when not coverd by warranty and clearly my fault. Best service I've encountered with any product.
PM me your name and phone number so when they soak me for 300 here 100 here I can tell them "hey, I would like to use one of my two courtesy fixes" We then all smile and fade to a beautiful sunset. more crap. I'm switching to.................

Nov 20, 2008 at 04:09 AM

RobertLynn
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p.1 #14 · Jamesburg experience

csd2020 wrote:
I've had nothing but incredible service from Jamesburg. Twice they have fixed items "as a courtesy" when not coverd by warranty and clearly my fault. Best service I've encountered with any product.

I am glad they gave you free, non-warranty work, when they tried to charge me several hundred for something that was clearly in the warranty.

3rd and 4th lens elements probably don't just go bad...meaning they shipped bad...same thing with all that tilt b/s they said they fixed.

The whole, brand new 1700$ lens thing has me so pissed, I cannot even tell if the photo is good or not.

200mm f/2.8 ISO 800 1/50 IS on 5D (after repair) raw to jpeg, 0 sharpening in dpp

This image is copyrighted by the owner

70mm, f/2.8 ISO 1600 1/60 IS on 5D (after repair) raw to jpeg, 0 sharpening in dpp

This image is copyrighted by the owner

The thing with this lens is, it's a tricky bastard. Before it went for service, it made great images, and suck images. I always thought it was me, but the extensive workup clearly shows it wasn't.

Nov 20, 2008 at 04:39 AM

twistedlim
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p.1 #15 · Jamesburg experience

Jamesburg will not see anymore of my canon stuff. "tested and it is withing specifications, please send in your body if you have further trouble" Yea right, must be the body even though all my other lenses are fine. You think I would let them mess with a body that is working well with all my other lenses? Not a chance. That is why I get so darn picky about my new stuff. If it aint perfect from the store, it goes back. Irvine or nothing for me these days.

Edited on Nov 20, 2008 at 08:24 PM · View previous versions

Nov 20, 2008 at 12:01 PM

Photodan34
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p.1 #16 · Jamesburg experience

My CPS service with Jamesburg has been nothing short of stellar. They are on time,courteous, and the repairs have done correctly. I'm also very polite and actually tell them how much I love my products and please take care of them. I also tell them to take extra time if needed. I'm also fortunate to have been in business long enough that I have two of just about every piece of gear that I use.

Nov 20, 2008 at 04:01 PM

hhski
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p.1 #17 · Jamesburg experience

veroman wrote:
Jamesburg has serviced all of my Canon gear at one time or another, including the 28-300L IS (one of Canon's most complex lenses), the 70-200 f/2.8L IS, the 16-35 Mark 1, the 24-70 and my 5D and 1Ds II cameras.

In all instances, the gear has came back repaired as needed and even better overall than when I sent it in. There have been instances when they replaced or repaired something that I had not indicated needed work and didn't even charge me for it.

I think moments of poor communication and even poor repair will occur from time to time; Canon and its repair organizations are, after all, people ... and people are not perfect.

One of the managers at Jamesburg told me that Canon is no different than any other large company right now: most of the employees are each doing the work of 4 or 5 people and wearing 4 or 5 different hats. They're stressed out, he told me. Fact is, I don't know of anyone who ISN'T stressed at the moment.
my experience has been stellar too. 6 day turnaround including the weekend. All I can say is when m expectations were not met I have always found someone to listen address my problems with Canon. One of the reAsons I stay with them is the CS.
So ... while I feel for your experience and the frustration of it, I do believe it's somewhat isolated and not the general experience of the majority of those who have repairs done at Jamesburg. Besides, whatever it is that Canon may have done wrong, you can be sure that they will make it right.

I hope your attitude softens a bit so that, in the event you need to communicate with them about this, you can communicate in a tone other than ... and gentler than ... angry. It will take you further than hostility.

- Steve

Nov 20, 2008 at 06:46 PM

timbop
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p.1 #18 · Jamesburg experience

This thread is pretty interesting, in light of the fact a similar thread surfaced last year with exactly the opposite conclusions. There was great praise for Jamesburg, and loathing for Irvine.

My guess is that it is going to always be a crap shoot, with your odds of good vs. bad service depending on a lot of factors - location being statistically irrelevent.

Nov 20, 2008 at 07:23 PM

veroman
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p.1 #19 · Jamesburg experience

Cliftonyte wrote:
Sounds like a Canon Rep to me or a manager.

If you're referring to me (hard to tell), I'm neither. I have no affiliation with Canon other than using their gear and their Jamesburg service facility. I'm a customer, just like you.

- Steve

Nov 20, 2008 at 07:40 PM

twistedlim
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p.1 #20 · Jamesburg experience

veroman wrote:

I hope your attitude softens a bit so that, in the event you need to communicate with them about this, you can communicate in a tone other than ... and gentler than ... angry. It will take you further than hostility.

- Steve

I guess I agree but to Robert's defense, when you call canon service you don't get connected to the sevice center. The first person you talk to will ask you "do you have the camera turned on? etc." Then you get transfered to someone with a bit more knowlege but not at the actual service center. When you get the item back you have to go thru the same process. I just wanted to speak to a tech that actually had working knowlege about camera bodies and lenses and how they work together. I had a brand new 1d2n that would not track properly in AIServo. (sound familiar to the mk3 stuff?) . I sent it in and after a couple of weeks it came back not focusing in single shot as well. Sent it back and it came back not working again. At no time was I actually able to speak with anyone who knew anything about the repair. In the end a person high up in Canon customer service had me send the body to her. They tested it and realized it did not work and replaced it with a new one. Unfortunatly there were none in any warehouse in the USA at that time so another few weeks went by. The frustration Robert was expressing was probably due to the fact that you cannot actually contact someone who can solve your problem. Then you get angry and the cycle begins.

Nov 20, 2008 at 08:20 PM

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