CPW warning: Purchased USA Canon CarePAK will DENY WARRANTY CLAIMS WHEN YOU TRY TO USE IT for purchases from Canada!

[usern4cr]

I have purchased 6 new RF lenses through CPW (Canon Price Watch) which got me in contact with CameraCanada to purchase those lenses at a considerable discount. I had been assured that there was a FULL USA WARRANTY with them doing this. I've received the lenses and been very happy with them, as well as being very happy dealing with George at CPW and Kedar at CameraCanada.

These lenses came with a "USA & Canada" warranty card. I registered those lenses on the Canon USA site (mycanon.usa.canon.com) including all CameraCanada information with Canada location. The site accepted this and offered a link to purchase the CarePAK extended warranty for them. I wanted to purchase a CarePAK extended warranty for my RF 100-500 L lens, and possibly other lenses or body, so I called Canon's line regarding CarePAK and after several long conversations and exchange of documentation with them they said that I could not get CarePAK for anything purchased outside of the USA, and that even if their USA website allowed me to buy the CarePAK I would be refused service from it when I later requested it.

I contacted CameraCanada and CPW, who were very kind and helpful, and were unaware of this situation. Gordon, from CPW, responded with this:

"I checked with my contact at Canon, and yes, they're not supposed to let you purchase CarePAK PLUS on a lens that was purchased from a dealer outside of the USA. Unfortunately, their systems don't seem to check this. It would be horrible to let you purchase it, then deny your warranty claim or service when you try to use it ... we'll note this for future customers. Canon works in strange ways...
Rest assured your item has the standard 1-year Canon USA warranty, as attested to by the Canon USA warranty card in the box."

While I am not happy with this situation, there is nothing I can do about it. If, in the future, I want to buy any Canon equipment which I know I will want to have additionally covered by purchasing a CarePAK for it, I now know that I must buy it from a company in the USA. But if I am comfortable without needing a CarePAK for it, then I will be very happy to buy it from CameraCanada to enjoy their friendly service and considerable discounts which they often have. In either case, I will continue to consider good discounts through CPW, and I hope you will consider them too.

Enjoy your photography, and keep safe!

 

[AlanF]

I was once advised to insure against events that happen only rarely and you cannot afford to pay for if they do happen. If you can afford to pay for a loss that is not too expensive then you will save money in the long run if you don't insure. The logic is that the insurers know the odd of losses happening and so when you insure you are betting with professionals who know more than you. Also if you are a careful person, you are paying for all those careless people. So, I wouldn't bother paying for a CarePak. But, others might like the comfort of one, especially if they might become cash strapped.

 

[usern4cr]

I was once advised to insure against events that happen only rarely and you cannot afford to pay for if they do happen. If you can afford to pay for a loss that is not too expensive then you will save money in the long run if you don't insure. The logic is that the insurers know the odd of losses happening and so when you insure you are betting with professionals who know more than you. Also if you are a careful person, you are paying for all those careless people. So, I wouldn't bother paying for a CarePak. But, others might like the comfort of one, especially if they might become cash strapped.

I agree with what you've said completely. While I have many RF lenses now, I only wanted to get this CarePAK on the RF 100-500 lens because I considered the "unparked-IS-lenses-without-power" issue enough of a possible future problem that I would like to get a 4 year plan and ensure there was no trouble with it over time, and in addition I would be able to get it serviced/inspected/cleaned to make sure it was in ideal working condition before the end of the 4 years.

I would also like to mention that if you buy a CarePAK plan for your camera body, you get additional benefits such as being allowed to send in your camera 2 times in the 4 year period for them to make sure it is in proper working conditions including a cleaning of the sensor and other key parts. That's a major benefit that many would find worthwhile to get.

Imagine if I had paid for a 4 year plan, and near the end of the 4 years I sent it in to be fixed, or inspected & cleaned so I could be happy going forwards with a Canon-tip-top-working&cleaned unit, just to find out that they refused service and they also refused to refund my money I paid for the CarePAK since they claim I did not follow their Terms & Conditions for purchase!

 

[privatebydesign]

I have bought a ton of stuff via CPW including two 1DX II’s and my 11-24 f4, but they are the three I got from Canada. All three came with USA & Canada warranties as well as third party three year warranties, I was told at the time of purchase that if I had a warranty issue outside the standard 12 months I’d have to send the item back to Canada but as it wouldn’t have got any coverage at all past 12 months if I had bought it in the USA I figured I’d play it by ear if I needed to use it.

Of the three items I have gotten via CPW and Camera Canada the only one that has needed work has been the 11-24, it was inside the 12 month Canon warranty when it fell off the tripod and it broke in two. Even though it was my fault entirely Canon USA fixed it and posted it back to me entirely free of charge.

I am a huge fan of CPW and Camera Canada and have always been 100% satisfied, they have saved me a lot of money over the years too!

 

[usern4cr]

I have bought a ton of stuff via CPW including two 1DX II’s and my 11-24 f4, but they are the three I got from Canada. All three came with USA & Canada warranties as well as third party three year warranties, I was told at the time of purchase that if I had a warranty issue outside the standard 12 months I’d have to send the item back to Canada but as it wouldn’t have got any coverage at all past 12 months if I had bought it in the USA I figured I’d play it by ear if I needed to use it.

Of the three items I have gotten via CPW and Camera Canada the only one that has needed work has been the 11-24, it was inside the 12 month Canon warranty when it fell off the tripod and it broke in two. Even though it was my fault entirely Canon USA fixed it and posted it back to me entirely free of charge.

I am a huge fan of CPW and Camera Canada and have always been 100% satisfied, they have saved me a lot of money over the years too!

As you say, your problem happened within the initial 12 months. The "USA & Canada" warranty is still valid for me for those lenses within the first 12 months, so mine is still covered for the first 12 months. Whether the standard 12 month warranty would cover such a drop I don't know, as I haven't read that contract, nor do I know if they would have covered it anyway.

As I mentioned in my initial post, I have been very happy with CameraCanada and CPW in general and they have also saved me a lot of money over the last half year.
Also, I will continue to consider purchasing items through both of them, and recommend that others consider them, too.

I just wish I had been aware of the CarePAK issue before buying the lenses so that I wouldn't feel that I had been misled (which I now know was not intentional at all). I am upset that Canon USA product registration will accept a Canadian address and then offer an expensive CarePAK for you to buy, take your money, and only when you later request a repair they will refuse your service. And due to the wording of their contract they are not obligated to refund any of your money for the pro-rated duration of the time you've had the contract up until that time, which might be almost the entire contract duration.

I just want other users here to be aware of this, so that they can make informed decisions on where to buy their equipment.

 

[privatebydesign]

I suppose my point was more that I did get a three year warranty with my purchases with the clearly stated condition I would need to post the item back to Canada to get it fixed after the initial 12 months. A restriction I was happy with given the fact Canon only issue a 12 month warranty anyway in the USA. However I have not had to test if they are actually worth the paper they are written on!

I do understand your frustration with Canon’s own CarePAK limitations and gotcha, especially given Canon Canada is a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon USA which in turn is wholly owned by Canon Inc Japan.

 

[usern4cr]

I suppose my point was more that I did get a three year warranty with my purchases with the clearly stated condition I would need to post the item back to Canada to get it fixed after the initial 12 months. A restriction I was happy with given the fact Canon only issue a 12 month warranty anyway in the USA. However I have not had to test if they are actually worth the paper they are written on!

I do understand your frustration with Canon’s own CarePAK limitations and gotcha, especially given Canon Canada is a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon USA which in turn is wholly owned by Canon Inc Japan.

Thanks, privatebydesign. I don't remember if it was you or someone else here on C.R. who suggested that I consider CPW. But I'm very glad I went with CPW & CameraCanada as I've saved a lot of money with them. In fact that savings (due to being on C.R.) made it easy for me to decide to pay the $ for the Pro C.R. membership as that cost was nothing compared to the savings, and I was glad to "give back" to C.R. for all the help & support it's given me.

 

[dwarven]

I was once advised to insure against events that happen only rarely and you cannot afford to pay for if they do happen. If you can afford to pay for a loss that is not too expensive then you will save money in the long run if you don't insure. The logic is that the insurers know the odd of losses happening and so when you insure you are betting with professionals who know more than you. Also if you are a careful person, you are paying for all those careless people. So, I wouldn't bother paying for a CarePak. But, others might like the comfort of one, especially if they might become cash strapped.

I buy warranties on camera bodies because it allows me to be more adventurous in how or where I shoot. If I had a body without an accidental warranty plan, I'd probably be a lot more careful and I wouldn't get all the shots I'd like. Normally I'd agree with you that getting the extra warranty is a waste of money, but it has been worth it so far.

 

[SteveC]

I buy warranties on camera bodies because it allows me to be more adventurous in how or where I shoot. If I had a body without an accidental warranty plan, I'd probably be a lot more careful and I wouldn't get all the shots I'd like. Normally I'd agree with you that getting the extra warranty is a waste of money, but it has been worth it so far.

Supposedly, insurance companies invest the premiums; if the investments make enough money they can actually lower the premiums to below the expected cost of the insurance.

EDIT: I'm talking about real insurance companies, not necessarily the sorts of outfits that offer warranties.

 

[usern4cr]

Supposedly, insurance companies invest the premiums; if the investments make enough money they can actually lower the premiums to below the expected cost of the insurance.

I'd hope they invest wisely, as I'd hope any business with money would. But I'd also expect that they'd have an overhead in personnel, location & business costs, and whoever owns them wants to make a nice profit, as expected. Thus I always assume that what you get back from insurance is always much lower (on average) than what you paid in. Since you know that going in, it's fine if you think it's worth it for your peace of mind. I'm of the opinion that I'd rather be in a position to absorb the cost of any downturn and thus I normally have no desire to pay others for insurance.

Since the particular insurance I was interested in for the RF 100-500 included some routine maintenance and cleaning/inspection etc, I thought it may be worth it to cover the chance that the floating IS lense issue might become a problem for me. Since I can't get the insurance due to the issue of purchase in Canada, I no longer have that choice. It's since come to light that there really is little to no problem with the RF floating IS lens design and I'm now happier that I didn't get the insurance after all.

I can only hope that Canon USA, CPW, CameraCanada and CanonRumors will inform people that the "full US warranty" they might claim for purchase in Canada is not "full", but rather that the initial "US & Canada warranty" is indeed honored in both the US and Canada, but any US CarePAK warranties are not honored. I particularly hope that Canon USA will stop taking people's money for CarePAK insurance when they have no intention of covering subsequent claims for those who purchased it if their insured equipment was purchased in Canada.

 

[AlanF]

I buy warranties on camera bodies because it allows me to be more adventurous in how or where I shoot. If I had a body without an accidental warranty plan, I'd probably be a lot more careful and I wouldn't get all the shots I'd like. Normally I'd agree with you that getting the extra warranty is a waste of money, but it has been worth it so far.

All the more reason for careful people not to buy warranties that cover accidental damage because they are paying for those who are more reckless.

 

[dwarven]

All the more reason for careful people not to buy warranties that cover accidental damage because they are paying for those who are more reckless.

The most careful people usually buy warranties for peace of mind though. It's not about the other person benefitting from their loss or not. They know their gear is secure, and that's what is important. What someone should or shouldn't do depends on what they value, which isn't always money.

 

[AlanF]

The most careful people usually buy warranties for peace of mind though. It's not about the other person benefitting from their loss or not. They know their gear is secure, and that's what is important. What someone should or shouldn't do depends on what they value, which isn't always money.

As pointed out by others, the insurers have overheads of staff and office costs, and have to make a nice profit. They also know the statistics of the frequency of breakdowns plus a safety allowance for themselves. So, if you are a careful person you are paying far over the odds for repairs by paying them to pay for it for you. I was given the advice when I was young that you should insure only against events that are rare but are very expensive when they do happen, like for your house burning down or emergency health insurance when you travel or third party liability etc. If you can afford to cover the cost yourself, then you save money by insuring yourself with your own funds.
if you never have the savings to cover losses, then paying insurance may be important but it would be cheaper over the longer run to put the money you would pay for insurance into a regular savings account.

 

[SteveC]

As pointed out by others, the insurers have overheads of staff and office costs, and have to make a nice profit. They also know the statistics of the frequency of breakdowns plus a safety allowance for themselves. So, if you are a careful person you are paying far over the odds for repairs by paying them to pay for it for you. I was given the advice when I was young that you should insure only against events that are rare but are very expensive when they do happen, like for your house burning down or emergency health insurance when you travel or third party liability etc. If you can afford to cover the cost yourself, then you save money by insuring yourself with your own funds.
if you never have the savings to cover losses, then paying insurance may be important but it would be cheaper over the longer run to put the money you would pay for insurance into a regular savings account.

I tend to agree with this philosophy. The only time I ever bought an extended warranty was for an ink jet printer (where I know the damn jets would plug up). Of course that time they waited a bit longer to do so.