Jamesburg experience

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Archive 2008 · Jamesburg experience

RobertLynn
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p.2 #1 · Jamesburg experience

I don't want you to think that I'm calling yelling at them. I am nothing but courteous. While I am thinking about screaming my head off, it is usually much more polite. Almost too polite.

Nov 20, 2008 at 10:31 PM

stanj
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p.2 #2 · Jamesburg experience

timbop wrote:
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.

I'd love to see that thread (but am too lazy to search

). I have seen many such threads, but always in favor of Irvine overall.

Nov 20, 2008 at 11:19 PM

Breitling65
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p.2 #3 · Jamesburg experience

Nick Nishizaka wrote:
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.

I would disagree with this statements, did several lenses calibrations and always superb in Jamesburg. Excellent center!

Nov 20, 2008 at 11:45 PM

Breitling65
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p.2 #4 · Jamesburg experience

Cliftonyte wrote:
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.................

Do you think they have to work for free all the time? Do you?

Nov 20, 2008 at 11:46 PM

Will Patterson
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p.2 #5 · Jamesburg experience

I had almost the SAME issue with my lens, bought it new, sent it in and it came back no better, sent it in to the jamesburg location, they replaced the IS unit and the 3rd and 4th lens groups. The lens is WAY better afterwords, I'm very happy with it.

Nov 21, 2008 at 12:00 AM

Cliftonyte
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p.2 #6 · Jamesburg experience

Breitling65 wrote:
Cliftonyte wrote:
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.................

Do you think they have to work for free all the time? Do you?

way to rub it in, for the service the have provided me the last two times it should have been free, because all they did was

and many other things except for fixing my lens, finaly they got it right the third time.

Nov 21, 2008 at 12:10 AM

RobertLynn
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p.2 #7 · Jamesburg experience

Do you think they have to work for free all the time? Do you?

Why should you get free, unwarranty work, and they try and charge me for warranty work? I'm glad they took care of you, and happy for you. I'm just pissed they tried to sneak in a charge.

The images posted were after the calibration. Any thoughts folks?

Nov 21, 2008 at 01:14 AM

PetKal
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p.2 #8 · Jamesburg experience

RobertLynn wrote:

The images posted were after the calibration. Any thoughts folks?

Looks fairly good to me , Robert.
If you give us 100% crop of the lady's eyes that might help.

Nov 21, 2008 at 01:23 AM

markymarc
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p.2 #9 · Jamesburg experience

Did you use a tripod for those two examples?

Nov 21, 2008 at 02:53 AM

RobertLynn
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p.2 #10 · Jamesburg experience

No tripod. Hand held, and crumby conditions (ISO 800 and 35 feet away from the woman isn't exactly the best way to check sharpness).

Nov 21, 2008 at 03:18 AM

gene A.
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p.2 #11 · Jamesburg experience

I bought my first SLR from Canon in 1971, and have never used anything but Canon since. I have been shooting for a living since 1991, and have always had excellent service from Jamesburg until the last couple years. Sent them a 24-105mm with a bad IS. Got it back with IS replaced, but got stuck every time it focused at close range, you had to switch it to manual focus readjust and the it was fine until you close focused again. Had a 5D go in for service because it was doing some really strange things, got it back but some of the dials were disconnected, had to send it back again. Had a 50mm macro go in for service because the autofocus was dead, got it back and it worked for two weeks and died again.

So it seems at least in my experience that they have some issues which need to be addressed. I don't send in that much equipment to be repaired but everything I've sent them recently has had to make two trips before it was completely repaired.

Nov 21, 2008 at 03:27 AM

veroman
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p.2 #12 · Jamesburg experience

gene A. wrote:
I bought my first SLR from Canon in 1971, and have never used anything but Canon since. I have been shooting for a living since 1991, and have always had excellent service from Jamesburg until the last couple years. Sent them a 24-105mm with a bad IS. Got it back with IS replaced, but got stuck every time it focused at close range, you had to switch it to manual focus readjust and the it was fine until you close focused again. Had a 5D go in for service because it was doing some really strange things, got it back but some of the dials were disconnected, had to send it back again. Had a 50mm macro go in for service because the autofocus was dead, got it back and it worked for two weeks and died again.

So it seems at least in my experience that they have some issues which need to be addressed. I don't send in that much equipment to be repaired but everything I've sent them recently has had to make two trips before it was completely repaired.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, a manager at Jamesburg told me that staff at Canon is max'd out and stressed to the limit, each person doing the jobs of several people. This is rampant throughout many organizations these days. This doesn't excuse anything, particularly poor service. But it does seem to be one of the major causes of the kind of service stories we've been hearing lately. So, yes, Canon has issues that need to be addressed. I'm sure they will address them. They are well aware of who, ultimately, puts the dinner on the tables of all their workers ....

- Steve

Nov 21, 2008 at 03:37 AM

Cliftonyte
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p.2 #13 · Jamesburg experience

veroman wrote:
gene A. wrote:
They are well aware of who, ultimately, puts the dinner on the tables of all their workers ....

- Steve

I don't get it

Nov 21, 2008 at 04:07 AM

RobertLynn
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p.2 #14 · Jamesburg experience

He's saying that Canon realizes that we the consumer puts the dinner on their tables.

Steve, I understand what you're saying. The people are stressed out, doing those jobs.

Sympathy from me, they will not get. I am a painter at a local nursing home. Our county cannot manage money, so what do they do? Spend hundreds of thousands on consultants and such. So they've been coming into our work, telling us how to save money, but they money they save us pays their fees.

Now we've got a management group running the home...They've saved us a couple hundred K...but guess what...their tab paid again.

Now, it gets better. They've laid off in every department, but nursing. So my department that had a lot more people has 8 people, spread over 3 shifts, 7 days, and covering a 250 bed facility.

They just recently let get the entire security department. So now the stuff they didn't realize was "security", every other department gets. So my understaffed department spends approx. 3 hours a day doing wanderguard checks, and then another hour doing wanderguard door checks.

So I'm stressed out at work, making my dollars stretch so I can buy this gear and I'm supposed to be understanding of when I get a bad lens (for all those saying no L can be bad, I'll say most aren't bad, but I happened to be unlucky, as evidenced by the parts replaced), and then when I send it in for WARRANTY service just a mere 5 months into the warranty, they try and soak me for over 400$ to fix it...I'm supposed to be understanding?

It cost me 32$ to ship and insure this lens when I sent it in, and you can bet that 32$ I packed that thing like a child was in there (a 70-200 2.8IS in a box that was 12X12X18 and PACKED with bubble pack), they ship it back to me in a crappy packed box, that's too small to insure proper packing of this high caliber optical equipment. With the image cd SNAPPED into pieces, and with a lousy one wrap of bubble wrap and not even packed with paper (you could move the lens in the box without opening it).

Admittedly I haven't got a chance to fully test this out, and hopefully this weekend I do, but if it's wrong...and I have to send it back that's more time without my lens. More money in shipping, and most of all more money on the packing materials I put into the box.

Not trying to argue with you, but not only do I have all of the same stress they have at work (doing multiple people's jobs), but I've got an added stressor the fact that my lens may not be right even after 1 trip to Jamesburg.

Again, it may be right after the trip to Jamesburg, and I'll hopefully know this weekend, but even still I'm going to be looking for it in photos over the next couple weeks/months in case it has to go back.

Nov 21, 2008 at 01:36 PM

veroman
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p.2 #15 · Jamesburg experience

Think Canon service is bad? How about no service at all? Consider this:

I purchased three LaCie external hard drives/hubs about two years ago. Two of the three have failed during the past 6 months, most recently about 2 weeks ago. In my case, that's a 66% failure rate!

The hard drives inside the enclosures are fine. I removed them from the LaCie enclosures and installed them in a different brand enclosure. They both booted up just fine. So the problem appears to be in the circuit boards of the LaCie enclosures that interface the hard drives with a/c power and the FireWire connections.

Guess what? LaCie no longer services my model and has no replacement parts. Again, these are hard drives purchased just a little over two years ago! And there's no replacement parts!

Imagine if Canon no longer supported cameras and lenses that were purchased only two years ago! Now THAT'S something to be ticked about. And I am. I told LaCie goodbye and that I will never be purchasing any of their products again.

So, as bad as you think Canon's service might be, there's always worse. And I've just experienced it. Buyer beware: stay away from LaCie.

- Steve

Nov 21, 2008 at 04:56 PM

stanj
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p.2 #16 · Jamesburg experience

veroman wrote:
Think Canon service is bad? How about no service at all? Consider this:

I purchased three LaCie external hard drives/hubs about two years ago. Two of the three have failed during the past 6 months, most recently about 2 weeks ago. In my case, that's a 66% failure rate!

The hard drives inside the enclosures are fine. I removed them from the LaCie enclosures and installed them in a different brand enclosure. They both booted up just fine. So the problem appears to be in the circuit boards of the LaCie enclosures that interface the hard drives with a/c power and the FireWire connections.

Guess what? LaCie no longer services my model and has no replacement parts. Again, these are hard drives purchased just a little over two years ago! And there's no replacement parts!

Imagine if Canon no longer supported cameras and lenses that were purchased only two years ago! Now THAT'S something to be ticked about. And I am. I told LaCie goodbye and that I will never be purchasing any of their products again.

So, as bad as you think Canon's service might be, there's always worse. And I've just experienced it. Buyer beware: stay away from LaCie.

- Steve

Depending on which state you live in, that may be illegal. Some states have statutes that dictate that consumer products must be serviced by the manufacturer for X years - I think it's 3 years here in CA. If they can't service it, they must replace it.

As for LaCie, on my previous project we needed LOTS of these external drives, and bought maybe 20-30 of them. Within one year, 50% were dead. So, yes, friends don't let friends buy LaCie drives.

Nov 21, 2008 at 05:21 PM

veroman
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p.2 #17 · Jamesburg experience

stanj wrote:
Depending on which state you live in, that may be illegal. Some states have statutes that dictate that consumer products must be serviced by the manufacturer for X years - I think it's 3 years here in CA. If they can't service it, they must replace it.

As for LaCie, on my previous project we needed LOTS of these external drives, and bought maybe 20-30 of them. Within one year, 50% were dead. So, yes, friends don't let friends buy LaCie drives.

Amazing that the company continues to do a high volume of business. As I said to them in a letter, "The handsome external designs by Porche and other noted design firms doesn't mean a thing if, underneath the skin, lies an ugly soul."

I've heard many stories of premature LaCie hard drive failures compared to what might be the "normal" life expectancy (if there is such a thing) for an h/d. I have a couple of Western Digital drives and Maxtor drives in Macally enclosures that have performed perfectly for nearly 10 years.

Bye, bye LaCie ...

- Steve

Nov 21, 2008 at 05:48 PM

RobertLynn
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p.2 #18 · Jamesburg experience

That sucks about the HD's man, but this is about my lens. I can sympathize but at the same time I'm irate about my equipment.

The 70-200 2.8IS looks like it's focusing fine on the 5D (haven't looked at crops yet), but it's almost without question backfocusing on my 40D.

I wonder if honestly, Canon will take my 40D, 5D, 24-70 2.8L and 70-200 2.8L IS and work every one over.

Nov 22, 2008 at 10:09 PM

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p.2 #19 · Jamesburg experience

RobertLynn wrote:
That sucks about the HD's man, but this is about my lens. I can sympathize but at the same time I'm irate about my equipment.

The 70-200 2.8IS looks like it's focusing fine on the 5D (haven't looked at crops yet), but it's almost without question backfocusing on my 40D.

I wonder if honestly, Canon will take my 40D, 5D, 24-70 2.8L and 70-200 2.8L IS and work every one over.

sorry to hear that.

how do other lenses do on the 5D vs. 40D.

maybe the lens is backfocusing, 40D correct, 5D FF
or lens and 5D fine and 40D BF?

anyway 40D hasn't been out too long so if you complain about that and then in everything they should decide to do it all for free automatically.
although with how they packed the 70-200 i might be afraid....

maybe it helps to be there in person, girl at the front desk is really nice.

anyway, don't know what to say but I understand your frustration, I was annoyed they didn't pu tin MF adjust in the 40D for such reasons.

Nov 23, 2008 at 01:20 AM

RobertLynn
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p.2 #20 · Jamesburg experience

In person is not an option, since it's over 5 hours away to the facility.

I did a sample test. I took a "canon" rocket blower (whoever makes it, canon puts their logo on it) in the background, and three miniatures on 20x20mm bases in staggered positions. The left 10mm forward, the right 10mm back. I focused on the center one with the camera on a tripod, mlu, timer release, towards minimum focus difference. The focus was spot on, on both 5D and 40D.

However, in more difficult circumstances, I focused on the Bass control on my Mesa Boogie amplifier. The treble was in focus, while the bass was not. This was on the 40D.

I guess time for some tests outside. Too bad it's been like 10 degrees outside.

I'd feel much better just sending everything of mine to Canon, but I cannot imagine how much it would cost to insure a package for 6000$.

I"m going to try and do more tests as soon as I can. If I find anymore issue, Canon is most certainly paying the shipping.

It is unacceptable that after I spent 1700ish on the lens, that I spent 32$ to ship the lens, 20$ in packing materials and made sure it was properly packed, when some goof throws everything into a box with little to no packing. If it has to go back, I'm pushing for them to work it over and pay the rush shipping.

Nov 23, 2008 at 02:46 AM

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