CPS Nightmare

Dropped off my gear yesterday for factory calibration of lenses to bodies. 1Dm4, 7D, 300f2.8, 500f4.0 and 800f5.6. Almost $30,000 worth of gear with almost $20,000 of it brand new. The M4 needed +10 MA which I wasn't comfortable with.

On the phone the day before with CPS they said, no problem, we'll calibrate the new bodies but need your lenses too. OK, I make the several hundred mile round trip and bring the lenses too. I had given them all the info they needed and they supposedly did all the paperwork including all serial numbers etc on the phone. I get there expecting to just drop the stuff off and be out of there. Two guys at the counter tell me they have no access to that info and have to do it all over. They can't even access my profile where all serial numbers etc are and it has to be put in all over.... ok.

Then they ask, will I be picking them up. I say, no, ship them back and they say there will be a charge for the Fedex. I tell them no, that's included with the Gold level CPS. They look it up and finally agree, yes they pay.

Then they say, that will be $235 for repair of the 300 and 500 because they are more than 12 months old. After I tell them there is nothing wrong with them and are fine on other bodies and that I was told to bring them in with me with the new bodies. Nope, you have to pay now with credit card or cash or they won't return them. Then I said, well my gold membership includes two cleaning/check/adjusts per year, can you use them? No, have to have the paper coupon in hand that I haven't received yet and that I can come back when my renewal packet arrives with the coupons. I have no choice but to pay on the spot or take my stuff back so I give them my credit card. More Bull$hit.

As they are logging all my gear in, one at a time, (for the second time because they lost the info from 10 mins ago) this guy who was at the counter a couple of times doing I don't know what, comes walking back in the front door with two camera bodies in red plastic bags.... look just like mine that they had checked in and hands them back to the guy at the counter. I asked them if they were my bodies that I just gave them??? They were in fact the cameras that I had just checked in. No biggie, figure they just handed him the wrong bodies he was picking up. Then I look down and see the guy is walking out with a gray case for a 300mm f2.8. I ask, hey, is that my lens he's got there too? Yup. they take that back and go outside to his car and carry back in two more gray cases...... You guessed it.... one with my 500 in it and one with my brand new 800mm!!!!!!!!!!!!! My friend that was with me is just sitting there shaking his head in disbelief.

These guys I don't think had any power to do anything outside of what they were told but I'm shocked at the conduct of them. Clearly they are new and said Jamie that used to be there was gone and used to give everything away. I do not have a fuzzy warm feeling about that place at all now. I was on the spot but if doing it over would have sent it across the country to the CA service center where they at least used to have their act together. As of now I say at least the direct customer service sucks and I can only hope that the techs that are working on the stuff is ok.

Today I called CPS and they did waive the fee for the two lenses but that's almost not even the point. Nothing "professional" about Canon Professional Services so far.

PS. I figured if I was making the long trip I might as well get some images so left at 4AM yesterday morning and shot for a few hours at Barnegat. The files with the M4 produced with MA looked very good but I did not really have the opportunity to test it at further distances or flight. It was very windy etc and figured it was going to be all changed anyway so didn't bother.

Jim Zipp wrote:
As they are logging all my gear in, one at a time, (for the second time because they lost the info from 10 mins ago) this guy who was at the counter a couple of times doing I don't know what, comes walking back in the front door with two camera bodies in red plastic bags.... look just like mine that they had checked in and hands them back to the guy at the counter. I asked them if they were my bodies that I just gave them??? They were in fact the cameras that I had just checked in. No biggie, figure they just handed him the wrong bodies he was picking up. Then I look down and see the guy is walking out with a gray case for a 300mm f2.8. I ask, hey, is that my lens he's got there too? Yup. they take that back and go outside to his car and carry back in two more gray cases...... You guessed it.... one with my 500 in it and one with my brand new 800mm!!!!!!!!!!!!! My friend that was with me is just sitting there shaking his head in disbelief.

Hey Jim,

I am appalled to hear this story of comical incompetence. In the above part, are you saying that they logged your stuff in and immediately sent it straight out the door with some other customer? Is that guy with the two red bags a client or an employee?

Scott, don't know who it was. He might have been a sub contractor as there were some things labeled as such but I honestly don't know. It was clear that he wasn't supposed to be taking that equipment.

Jim,

Sorry to hear this horror story! FWIW, I can tell you I've had about 5 or 6 repair/maintenance issues over the years and used my CPS membership each time at the Irvine, CA facility...............which fortunately for me is only a 45 minute drive from home . Anyway, I've only ever received excellent service with very little hassle. They've replaced a few parts out of warranty and not charged me, they've always shipped things back to me at no charge, they've always been VERY quick with the turnaround time on repairs, etc................not sure you want to send your stuff across country but I'm just telling you my experience there. In fact, I was having an issue with my 7D last week and dropped the camera off on Monday afternoon and had it back in my hands from Fed Ex on Wednesday.

If your flying your stuff there's probably not much a difference other than cost of shipping to send to california. Ground shipping a different story. Jim I think it's best to start with cps on the phone maybe and generate a case before sending your stuff. I bought into the platinum ($500)but I have lot's of stuff to get fixed and it most certainly will pay for itself. Having just shipped off a 37 lb package containing my mark IV, 600, 1.4x,2.0x, I'm sure the shipping would have been close to a hundred dollars with insurance. I saved that of course but more importantly the order gets logged in because they have to send me the shipping label for the overnite air. The label had listed on it the items I was sending.I made an extra copy of this to be on the safe side with backup. They assured me that they were covering the cost of replacement if something got lost.

Once however I sent my 600/4 IS for major repairs in and they sent me back this old manual focus clunker 600 in a wooden box! They didn't think I was telling the truth that it wasn't mine, so I had to dig out the invoice for it with the serial no. and fax it to them to get mine back. Lesson: It's very important to affix painters tape with your name and cps no. it on everything you send these people. It couldn't hurt right? What can go wrong will go wrong remember.

Paul

pleverington wrote:Jim I think it's best to start with cps on the phone maybe and generate a case before sending your stuff.
Paul

Paul, that's exactly what I did and why I was sort of dumbfounded when I got there and they said, "Yeah, but we don't have access to that info"! Then why on earth did I sit there with the guy on the phone the day before setting everything up including all serial numbers etc? They just don't have it together it seems. As Brian mentioned, you don't seem to hear the same about Irvine. A number of years ago I had an issue with a 600 IS. I sent it into Jamesburg for a fix. Came back with no fix. When I called back I inadvertently called Irvine. When I told him that I had heard they were better than NJ he laughed and offered to send me a fedex label and pick it up, fix it and send it back. Did it and all was well. If they don't get it right this time, I might just upgrade to the Platinum if I have my choice on where to have the work done but not sure they give that to you when it's on their dime.

well I hope the at least fix yours ! got my stuff back from canon and was shooting starlings, Jays and sparrows in the yard.. Not 1 sharp shot............. Even a log that I have as a perch is not sharp.
this was with the 500 and the 500 with the TC. going to give the 300 a go now.

But I am at a loss...

oh boy....Sorry to hear that Jim. Looks like you got really unlucky. Here in germany CPS membership is for free and most things do not cost anything. Only heavy repairs...This doesn't mean that they do not have complete idiots working at the counter They do not even ask for ID. I could just go there and grab my stuff....Looks like a good way to get some cheap gear
Looks like Irvine is the only good CPS place in whole North America :-\

I think at Canon they play a game called "who can unpack and pack things without doing anything the fastest"

Jan Wegener wrote:oh boy....Sorry to hear that Jim. Looks like you got really unlucky. Here in germany CPS membership is for free and most things do not cost anything. Only heavy repairs...This doesn't mean that they do not have complete idiots working at the counter They do not even ask for ID. I could just go there and grab my stuff....Looks like a good way to get some cheap gear
Looks like Irvine is the only good CPS place in whole North America :-\

I think at Canon they play a game called "who can unpack and pack things without doing anything the fastest"

Jan, I can understand your frustration face to the continuing AF problems with your 600. Nevertheless I would advise to slow down a bit in bashing the CPS for offering free service for their members here in Germany. I guess you would not be happy either to pay for a Platinum membership in Europe - without the guarantee of a better service, though. For the most part their service has been excellent so far.

Wolfgang

Yes Wolfgang. This was a bit hard...I didn't mean it the way it sounds like :-\
CPS Germany always solved my issues until now. My bigger problems were with Canon Canada.
But I was suprised that they do not ask for ID when getting or bringing gear...

Jim, did you have a chance to test it yet?

Jan, Just dropped it off Thurs at closing time so assuming they meet the 48 hour turn around time, which can slip I'm told if multiple pieces like this are brought in all at once, I should have it back Tues or Wed.

As I mentioned, I did shoot with it for a few hours that morning with the MA. All my subjects were pretty close ducks and shorebirds and those files looked very good as did the few I shot with the 7D and M3. Mostly wanted to get things all calibrated together to start off on the right foot with them hopefully without having to do micro adjustments that aren't recommended unless necessary. For those perched subjects I'm very satisfied with the focus and sharpness.

Having the 800mm and 1.4x with very responsive autofocus and better image quality was very nice to have compared to the 600 and 2x when that kind of reach is necessary as well.

Hi Jim

sorry you went through this

Jim

This doesn't have anything to do with CPS but Canon Canada Technical Services just told me over the phone that they won't tell you over the phone whether or not there is a charge for calibrating lenses. I take that to mean that they will tell you only if you drive to Mississauga and take the lens in.

Also, when I asked them what method they recommend to do micro-adjustments for the 7D, MKIII & MKIV I was told that nobody should be doing their own micro-adjustments and all lenses should be sent in to Canon! Isn't that helpful!!!!

When these vendor groups use the word "service" or "support" to describe what they do for the customer, I'm reminded of the line from the character Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Royce Howland wrote:When these vendor groups use the word "service" or "support" to describe what they do for the customer, I'm reminded of the line from the character Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

"Support" is what you get from the specialty underwear worn for sports. I will not tell you the meaning of service, this is a clean forum

ROFLMAO!