How long does Canon repair usually take??

[DRR]

Sent my lens in to Canon for repair (calibration, not physical damage) and approved the out of warranty repair charge on 12/17. Sure there were holiday days in there for Christmas and New Years, but it seems to be taking quite a long time for a calibration. Even with 3 holiday days in there I'm already at 12 business days with zero communication.

The online repair lookup tool simply says "you have approved your repair", and it's said that since the 17th.

I am not a CPS member, I had considered joining the gold level before I sent my lens in, now regretting that I didn't since they have no regard for quoted timeframes unless you're CPS.

Is this typical??

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

You need to tell people where you sent it, this is a international forum. Was it in Australia, Canada, France. USA, etc. Some countries do take longer, and, if parts are out of stock, that could be a issue.

In the USA, the Canon web site status is typically not updated, so it may have been shipped back already. Call and ask.

 

[DRR]

Sorry. Sent it to Canon USA factory service, in southern california.

 

[monkey44]

I've only sent one Canon product in for warranty service - a 7D, and it was about ten days door 2 door. Sent it to South Carolina from Florida.

 

[slclick]

Well mine have been Gold level CPS and those take just a few days. My pal's non member repair took 10 for a cleaning and small repair. Costa Mesa? They are pretty fast. Usually they send an alert when it's done but if you want a tracking for shipping you have to call.

 

[Pixel]

Gold service is never usually more than three or four days door to door. Had a lens back in about a week which had New Year's Day in it! I'm seriously considering going to platinum because the FedEx shipping is killing me!

 

[infared]

I dropped my 5DIII off at Canon Service in New Jersey during the holidays for servicing. I did not need any parts, (I don't think)..I was having my focus points simulators in the prism realligned with the actual focus points on the sensor. (hope that I am explaining that correctly). Also cleaned etc. Amazingly I was able to pick it up in 3 days!

 

[nc0b]

My iPhone fell off a coffee table onto my 60D which I stupidly had laid on the floor. It broke the LCD display on the top of the camera. Repair sent to CA took a couple weeks. I did receive a phone call telling me the repair cost, which was somewhat above $200. I don't remember any further communication before it arrived back at my home. The protective plastic window above the LCD wasn't damaged, just the LCD! $10 part, $200 labor. Hope not to duplicate that mistake. My scheduled insurance rider on my home owners policy covered the repair, but of course I pay for that coverage annually. Definitely worth having the insurance should something catastrophic happen like a home burglary.

 

[curtisnull]

I'm a CPS Platinum member in the US. I live about 2 hours drive from their Newport News, Virginia facility. Sometimes I just drive a piece over to be worked on. Frequently, is it shipped out to me the same day.

 

[wsmith96]

wow, that seems like a long time. I'm a cps gold member and I just sent my gear off for cleaning and calibration. After canon received the hardware (camera and 4 lenses) I had it back 3 days later. I sent it to Virginia from Texas.

 

[gwflauto]

I gave two bodies and five lenses to the service point in Germany for cleaning and calibration as well as some minor repair. The equipment had seen a lot of dust during a two month trip through southern parts of Africa. I got the note, that the work was completed after five working days and picked up the equipment, with everything well served.

 

[DRR]

Well I finally got the lens back. Timeframe was something like this -

Sent from TX to CA, 12/11
Arrived at Canon 12/15
Approved estimate 12/17 (within minutes of being notified)
Constant phone calls, emails for the next two weeks asking for status updates. Canon was also closed for 3 business days due to the holiday.
Item prepared for shipping 1/8
Shipped out 1/9, overnight
Arrived 1/12. So over a month, door to door.

Some notes about my experience, hopefully these will help someone else make a decision.

-The web tool where you check the status of the repair, is useless. It said "You have approved your estimate" for 3 weeks.
-The reps on the phone were generally very helpful and courteous. But of course they will not commit to timeframes, or really be able to give you much more information, than "your item is with the repair department."
-Reps were also very responsive via email and generally had a bit more information, as I suspect these emails actually go to the repair department. On one occasion they gave me a vague timeline, but again would not commit to it.
-They were kind enough to recognize that this repair was taking longer than usual, so they upgraded me from 2 day shipping to overnight shipping.
-The lens is repaired and I'm happy with the result. Focus assembly had become misaligned.

If I had to do it over again, I'd do CPS in a heartbeat. Gold obviously confers you a much higher status and quicker turnaround, I would have at least registered for the silver level though. (Not sure that would have made a difference, aside from having the 24/7 toll free number) Gold level, even at $100, would have saved me $40 off the repair price, and then I could probably sell that CPS strap they give you on ebay to make up the bulk of the rest. That, plus the fact that you can get equipment cleaned and serviced quickly makes it a bargain IMO.

I'm probably not going to join right away, but I certainly will prior to sending anything else in.