p.1 #1 · Canon Canada makes good on lens stolen during shipping
An EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L II lens purchased last month from a "damaged box" sale on the Canon Canada website, arrived with a large box of staples inside, instead of the lens. The lens weighs 805g and the staples weigh 667g.
Anyway, Canon Canada has already issued a full refund to the photographer, while they try to figure out who/when/where.
p.1 #3 · Canon Canada makes good on lens stolen during shipping
Cliff L. wrote:
It boggles my mind that anyone in Canon's facility would go to that much trouble to steal an old, obsolete EF lens...
An old, obsolete lens that apparently still sells for C$2500 or north of US$1000 used. I can't imagine why anyone would want to steal something so worthless.
p.1 #6 · Canon Canada makes good on lens stolen during shipping
One possibility is it was returned with staples inside and not properly checked through then sent out again.
Another is it was being handled by an outsourced third party logistics operator.
I'm actually disappointed to hear Canon didn't initially give her a refund until she went to the media.
FWIW used equipment prices have shot up in recent months here in Toronto. So I could see someone ordering this directly from Canon to save the hassle and presumably get some guarantee.
p.1 #9 · Canon Canada makes good on lens stolen during shipping
EB-1 wrote:
Jim indicated EF 24-70 IS so my thoughts were of the f/4. f/2.8 II makes more sense for the price.
EBH
I think you're right. At first, I thought it was the EF 24-70/4L IS. The weight of the staples, at 664g, was ridiculously close to the weight of my 24-70/4L IS (with caps & hood), at 667g. So, I felt all smart and all. Then, I thought, this doesn't make sense, and discovered that it didn't look so much like my f/4L IS (which was on the desk, in front of the screen). Then, I looked at the RF lineup, where it doesn't appear. So, I panicked and made the lens name kind of ambiguous. I would have gotten away with it, if I didn't add "IS" (which does not appear on the lens label). Of course, all of this happened before Cliff made the first reply, and so nobody will ever know...
p.1 #10 · Canon Canada makes good on lens stolen during shipping
Mike_5D wrote:
An old, obsolete lens that apparently still sells for C$2500 or north of US$1000 used. I can't imagine why anyone would want to steal something so worthless.
Chump change compared to the other stuff in that warehouse... and a lot of other things sound fishy with that story.
p.1 #11 · Canon Canada makes good on lens stolen during shipping
tsangc wrote:
FWIW used equipment prices have shot up in recent months here in Toronto. So I could see someone ordering this directly from Canon to save the hassle and presumably get some guarantee.
p.1 #13 · Canon Canada makes good on lens stolen during shipping
By the sounds of it Canon believed they eliminated the possibility theft occurred while it was in their control. So I'm not surprised they declined to refund the purchase. I kind of wonder how many of these they have to deal with over time? After a while I wouldn't be surprised if there was increased cynicism or a jaded perspective when dealing with such potentially fraudulent customer claims. But as soon as it's in the media, Canon doesn't really have a choice but to comply with the customer's wishes, for the sake of appearances.
As someone suggested, it could have been a return where the staples were sent back instead of the lens and it wasn't caught by whoever was supposed to check it at Canon. But there are numerous scenarios where the theft could have occurred and not all involve an inside job at Canon.
The first thing I would ask her is if the shipping box's sealing tape had been tampered with, which wasn't mentioned in the story. Canon Canada uses branded tape marked with CCI (Canon Canada Inc). If that was intact, it would imply an inside job or an uninspected return as suggested above. It's probably possible for someone between Canon and the recipient to still open the box, maybe with a steamer (the CCI tape is the brown paper type) and re-glue it, but that's a fair amount of effort and where would it happen?
p.1 #14 · Canon Canada makes good on lens stolen during shipping
rscheffler wrote:
The first thing I would ask her is if the shipping box's sealing tape had been tampered with, which wasn't mentioned in the story.
It was mentioned in the story:
"She said that while the outside box was sealed, the box for the camera lens had been opened—something that is standard with open or damaged box sales."
Every Canon refurbished item I ever purchased came in a white box with a Canon seal on it. Maybe that's different now?
p.1 #15 · Canon Canada makes good on lens stolen during shipping
Cliff L. wrote:
It was mentioned in the story:
"She said that while the outside box was sealed, the box for the camera lens had been opened—something that is standard with open or damaged box sales."
Every Canon refurbished item I ever purchased came in a white box with a Canon seal on it. Maybe that's different now?
It says the outside box was sealed, but does not clarify if it was the Canon CCI tape. But I wouldn't expect that degree of information in such a clickbait type of story.
I haven't bought anything refurbished from Canon Canada. The most recent new purchase from them was an RF 50/1.8 a couple years ago. I just checked the product box and it had no sealing tape on it. Nothing that would prevent opening before it reached the customer. I don't remember any equipment packaging with such types of tamperproof seals, therefore wasn't really surprised her 'damaged box' item wasn't sealed.
The Apple refurb I recently purchased however did have such seals.
p.1 #16 · Canon Canada makes good on lens stolen during shipping
Product boxes I don't think have ever had a seal--although it's been ages since I've purchased anything new (RP, before the pandemic). I think that was because they could be opened to show potential customers a lens/camera in the store.
But I guess this is a question of Refurb boxes vs Refurb boxes shipped from Canon Canada's warehouse vs Damaged retail product shipped from Canon Canada's warehouse.
We never seem to get the ridiculously good deals for refurbished stuff from Canon US. I recently received my very first DSLR back--a Canon Digital Rebel. It was refurbished/overstock and only $500. It's now on its way to a fourth owner--who will convert it for IR/astronomy and it'll live on the end of telescope!
