Canada - USA cross border warranty service

[ablearcher]

I've browsed a ton of warranty related posts but was unable to find a straight answer to my question.

As Canadian - if I buy a body (5DMKIII) in the US and i need warranty repair/service (in Canada) - would Canon Canada take it for service or i will need to send it to the US? I know the card says US/Canada warranty, but it i could not find a clear indication that a cross-border purchase will be serviced in a country of residence.

Any experience?

 

[inky38]

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

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Canon Canada has a reputation of being nasty about this, I've heard from several who could not get warranty service. In the USA, as long as you paid in US dollars, and bought from a authorized reseller, they have not been giving a hassle.
As noted, do not take my word for it, call and ask. Then get the name of the person you talked with, just in case they change their mind.

 

[Luke]

When it was under warranty, I tried phoning Canon Canada to get my powershot repaired.
I was told in no uncertain terms that because it was a US camera, it could only be served by Canon US...
Canon US told me that it had to be shipped from a US address and back to a US address.
This was a few years ago...

Of course, once it was out of warranty, I shipped it to Canon Canada without a receipt, and they repaired it via goodwill....

Canon US and Canon Canada are different profit centers and different legal entities.. If Canon Canada fixes your US camera, it costs them money they wouldn't normally need to spend. That being said, sometimes you can get lucky - and worse case scenario, you can use a forwarding service to get your camera fixed - since you're saving a couple hundred buying it...

 

[Aardvark705]

Taken from photoprice.ca website.

"Note! The product you purchase will have a US warranty (once you bring it or mail it back to Canada, it may be considered "Grey Market"). Some manufacturers (for example, Nikon) will not provide you warranty service in Canada. Other manufacturers (including Canon) will honour a US warranted product provided you can show proof of purchase from an authorized dealer in the states. Still other manufacturers (like Olympus and Pentax) have international warranties that are valid for Canadian service regardless of place of purchase. For more details, read our articles on Grey Market and Warranties."

 

[bhavikk]

To my understanding is the following:

Canon bodies are only under warranty in the country you brought them in. Therefore Canon Canada is under no obligation to honor a warranty which is for USA only.

This is unlike many L lenses which have worldwide warranty with the exception of lenses from Hong Kong which only have walk in warranties now.

 

[ablearcher]

Canon US and Canon Canada are different profit centers and different legal entities.. If Canon Canada fixes your US camera, it costs them money they wouldn't normally need to spend.

Isn't Canon Canada a subsidiary of Canon USA? With $$ going to a parent corporation in the end - whats the big difference? I doubt this is about corporate structure of Canon's operations. This is more about ripping Canadian customers off by protecting this high mark up market. Other than that it is really dumb not to provide a true international warranty to such an "internations" product. People travel and lots of preople with pro gear travel, so not being protected by warranty internationally is simply not caring about customers by the manufacturer. End of rant.

Yes, I was thinking about calling Canon but then spoke to a few folks and it looks like there is no point in that. Regardless of what they tell me over the phone, this may change when it comes down to a real life situation. All this is coming from a misleading and confusing language of Canon's warranty card. Thats the reason i was curious about real life experience with this...