Messages

1

United Kingdom & Ireland / Re: Jessops close to administration?

« on: January 11, 2013, 04:51:57 PM »

It is a sad situation, but with the increase in on-line 'grey ish' importers it is to be expected.

I don't know how companies like Jessops calculate their cost price, but (for reasons I won't go in to) I've got a good idea as to their cost price for a 7d body.

This cost price to Jessops is roughly £250 more expensive than you can purchase it from well known reputable online dealers.
Jessops then put another £100 or so on for their margin.

The way that I see it, is they didn't make enough profit on the goods that they sold.  (not sure if this is down to their deal with the manufacturers/importers or simply import duty costs)

I understand that their most profitable part of their business is their printing side, so I expect that will be a service that is retained.

HA

Sorry as I am now a Ex Jessops employee I can honestly say that all cameras were a loss leader.. The trade price on a 7D was around £1100 or more.. Jessops made huge losses on cameras sometimes well over £150.. The idea was to try and compete in the market but sell profitable items like memory cards etc with the cameras.. I shall greatly miss Jessops as I was a devoted customer before I worked there..

78 years of trading and servicing the general public has been torn apart in less then 2 days..

That was my point.  How were Jessops ever going to compete with other online retailers if their trade prices were so much higher than the competition

2

United Kingdom & Ireland / Re: Jessops close to administration?

« on: January 11, 2013, 11:38:36 AM »

It is a sad situation, but with the increase in on-line 'grey ish' importers it is to be expected.

I don't know how companies like Jessops calculate their cost price, but (for reasons I won't go in to) I've got a good idea as to their cost price for a 7d body.

This cost price to Jessops is roughly £250 more expensive than you can purchase it from well known reputable online dealers.
Jessops then put another £100 or so on for their margin.

The way that I see it, is they didn't make enough profit on the goods that they sold.  (not sure if this is down to their deal with the manufacturers/importers or simply import duty costs)

I understand that their most profitable part of their business is their printing side, so I expect that will be a service that is retained.

3

Lenses / Re: efs 15-85 or ef 24-105L

« on: October 24, 2012, 08:20:36 AM »

The EF standard zooms arent suitable for crop IMO. At 38.4mm at the widest its far too tele for normal shooting, defeats the object of having a wide standard zoom. Even adding a 10-22mm you are missing 23-38mm which is a useful range.

Not true  it's only the 23mm focal length that's missing.

4

Technical Support / Re: EOS Utility 2.11.4 Updater for Mac OS X doesn't install

« on: September 26, 2012, 07:55:21 AM »

I recently updated to EOS Utility 2.11.4 on my Mac, but only attempted to use it for the first time last night  (I use the windows version mostly).

If I start it up without the camera switched on, the application appears to be fine.  As soon as I switch the camera on however the EOS Utility crashes.

If the camera is already switched on when I try to start the utility, it crashes straight away.

Pretty useless for me as it stands

5

Canon General / Re: Canada - USA cross border warranty service

« on: September 10, 2012, 06:57:08 PM »

The simplest advice I can give, is to simply make a phone call to Canon and ask them.

6

Canon General / Re: Canon Warranty

« on: September 10, 2012, 11:09:07 AM »

You may well be correct about the authorised dealers, however when I spoke to tech support they made no mention of this, just the requirement that it was paid for in Pounds and Pence

I've found that the list of 'authorised dealers'  (e-tailers)  is not the easiest thing to locate, especially when you are purchasing from a web site

7

Canon General / Canon Warranty

« on: September 09, 2012, 06:10:39 PM »

Almost a year ago I bought a Canon 7D with the 15-85mm lens from a English sounding web site.

I did some research beforehand and was convincved that the retailer was in actual fact in Hong Kong.  The cheaper prices lead me to believe that it would be a 'grey import'  too.  Nevertheless, I thought at that price it was worth taking the risk.

After a couple of weeks the camera turned up and worked perfectly.   There was nothing in the box to suggest that there was a uk warranty, in fact all the documentation and software included in the box was Asia Pacific.

About a month ago, I noticed that the lens started to play up a bit.  It wasn't focusing correctly  (auto and manual focusing).  A bit more research on the web actually indicated that it was a bit of a common problem with this lens.

I was now faced with the decision as to what to do with the lens.   Send it back to Hong Kong or try and get it repaired in the UK (possibly having to pay).

I thought what the heck, I'll give Canon UK a ring and see what they say.

I spoke to a lady in Canon Tech Support explaining that I bought the camera and lens from an English web site, but suspected that it was actually sent from Hong Kong.

The lady said  "As long as you paid for your camera in Pounds and Pence and you have an invoice to prove it, you will be covered by a UK warranty.  Send it to us and we'll fix it free of charge"

Result !!!

I sent my lens off to Canon UK (Elstree) on the Monday and got it back on the Friday of the same week.

How's that for service.

Thanks very much Canon

I guess it just goes to show that you can shop around on the web and still get a local warranty as well.