Any official Canon representatives here?

[Darkbreeze]

So, I have a problem with Canon, and I'm hoping somebody officially FROM Canon might frequent these forums and be able to bend the ear of somebody in the company that can actually do something for me.

Before I outline what the exact problem is let me just say that yes, I HAVE already spent a great deal of time on the phone on five separate occasions with Canon tech support and in every case I've been assured that the problem would be resolved yet here I am nearly two months later and I still have a Camera I cannot use because I don't have a battery charger for it.

The problem is, I purchased a refurbished Canon Rebel SL3 directly from Canon. The camera itself is fine, to the best of my knowledge, although to date I've been unable to use it because I was sent the wrong battery and the wrong charger. I received the LP-E10 battery and the LC-E10 charger, when what I NEED is the LP-E17 battery and LC-E17 charger. Canon DID sent me the correct battery several weeks ago, about the third week of November (I received my camera around the 4th of November originally) but did not sent me a charger.

Seems they have been back ordered on this charger, however on three separate occasions I've been assured by a Canon representative on the phone that they have "talked to somebody higher up" or in a different department, or whatever, and that there were new SL3's that had come in and that it had been approved that they would take a charger out of one of those boxes and send it to me, and then replace it for that product later when they get the long overdue back ordered chargers. Well, so far not only has that never happened, but also, not once out of the five occasions I've spoken to tech support where I was assured that somebody would follow up with me to keep me informed on what is the status of getting this fixed, has anybody EVER contacted me.

So as of right now I am on about day 42 of having a 550 dollar camera that I have no idea how it works, or if it works, and have already seemingly lost 42 days of my warranty period because I cannot even USE the camera I paid for since Canon didn't care about me enough to make sure that they sent me the correct and essential parts to use the camera, or to fix the problem after any of the five times by phone and three additional contacts by email, despite having given them the opportunity repeatedly and practically begged for them to do.

At this point I've about given up hope that anybody at Canon cares whatsoever that this gets resolved, and in the grand scheme of things I'm sure they don't. I am however seriously considering suing for a failure to provide the goods for which I've paid, and which delivery of is long overdue. I'd really like to avoid having to deal with that kind of mess over something so stupidly easy to fix, and give Canon the benefit of the doubt here, but it is definitely getting to the point where that has become almost impossible to do especially since I clearly am not important enough for any of the five different people I've spoken to to even bother with an attempt to contact me and let me know where things stand much less follow through on the promises for fullfillment that have been repeatedly made.

If there is somebody here who can help to facilitate a resolution in this matter, I am all ears. Thanks.

[shadowsports · Accepted solution]

Greetings,

I've reached out to a moderator on your behalf. I cannot promise resolution, but I have brought your issue to Canon's attention.  

Happy Holidays

[Danny]

Hi, Darkbreeze!

Thanks for posting. We can absolutely understand your frustration and we were able to look up your information based on what you provided in your forum profile. We're happy to report that the charger has just come back into stock and we've got one on its way to you. It should be in your hands within the next few business days. You can call us at 1-800-OK-CANON (1-800-652-2666) for an update if you need one or if you have any additional questions.

We appreciate your patience, and thanks again for choosing Canon!

[Darkbreeze]

Well Danny, that is most wonderful news, but I hope you can understand that I'll reserve and somewhat temper my reaction until I actually receive the unit since this is clearly not the first time I've been told it was going to be sent the next day and obviously that never happened.

On the other hand, I certainly appreciate not only the response but the ability to have a point of contact with somebody who already has some familiarity with the situation should I need to make further contacts in this regard, which hopefully won't be necessary.

I do however 100% appreciate your taking the time to make any efforts on my behalf and am cautiously hopeful that perhaps my (so far, not so good) future interactions and relationship with Canon can be of a more positive sort, because frankly what I've seen so far was rather disappointing.

I have an additional boon to request if you might be able to pass it along to somebody who would be in a position to authorize such an action, and that is that since it has already been now approximately 43 days that I've had the camera without any ability to use it whatsoever due to the lack of both a battery and a charger, and then just the charger, it would be a very appreciated gesture if Canon could see fit to restart my warranty on this product to account for the amount of time I've had it with NO ability to use it.

45-ish days might not seem like that much, but the fact is that the whole reason I purchased this refurbished product directly from Canon rather than simply used through one of the authorized dealers was because of the fact that it was the only way to get the one year warranty and now I have to admit feeling somewhat cheated in that regard, even if only to a lesser degree.

Thanks again for your assistance and hopefully this will all be resolved to everybody's satisfaction.

Kind regards.

Also, thank you Shadowsports, for your intervention and assistance in bringing this to the attention of a moderator. Having been a moderator for a major tech site for many years, I know it's definitely not always something that would occur on it's own so I certainly appreciate your assistance in this regard.

-DB

[shadowsports]

@Stephen

@Danny

Thanks guys!

DarkBreeze,

Glad I could help, hopefully you will have the charger for use by Christmas.  Your SL3 will capture great memories.

[Darkbreeze]

So, got an email saying Fedex had picked up the charger. I'll assume problem resolved at this time. Would still like to hear back from Danny about being able to reset the warranty though. Thanks.

[ebiggs1]

Rick,

"Glad I could help, hopefully you will have the charger for use by Christmas."

A Gold Star in your Christmas stocking this year! Good job. 

[Darkbreeze]

It would also seem that Canon moderators, even though I specifically stated that my problems were absolutely not related to them, delete unfavorable replies here as well.

That's another mark against Canon in addition to the rather lengthy explanation I posted regarding why the previous comment about how great Canon's customer service is, is less than accurate. I'll leave it at that because apparently honest content that is unfavorable but does not rise to the level of bashing will be deleted anyhow.

Sort of surprising to be honest, but then again, maybe not. Small wonder everything looks so grand in Canon land when you guys get rid of anything contrary to that idea. I was very happy to have received, finally, some great assistance from the members and moderators here as compared to what I had by phone, but the deletion of my comments has somewhat tempered that initial feeling. Anyhow, can't agree with that kind of censorship of a comment that in no way violated any of the rules or guidelines.

Regardless, everybody stay stay and have a great Christmas if you can.

[stevet1]

Canon's Customer Service is about the best I've ever encountered, and why I will continue buying Canon products.
Steve Thomas

[Darkbreeze]

While I am certainly happy to finally have the final required portion of my order (That was originally delivered 45 days ago), I'm pretty sure I wouldn't go so far as to say that Canon's customer service was great.

No offense to the individuals or moderators on this forum of course, but when you've specifically and directly communicated with five distinct customer service and technical support agents and have to come HERE in order to actually get something accomplished, it really doesn't scream "exceptional customer service".

I could forgive the failures of one or maybe even two support agents, but when FIVE of them tell you something similar and then in each of those cases it not only doesn't happen but nobody can be bothered to even send you a follow up email saying "sorry, things have been pushed back" much less call to do so as they indicated they would do, that's pretty horrible from any company much less one of if not the largest camera and printer manufacturers in the world.

If you want to see exemplary customer service, then on some occasion I'd advise you to purchase through EVGA, Fractal design or Corsair. Even, for the most part, Amazon. These are companies that take customer service VERY seriously and are incredibly expedient when doing so.

Again, I'm certainly glad for Canon getting this straight finally, but it took a LOT of effort on my part to resolve something that should never have been wrong, ever, in the first place. It shows a lack of even the most basic concern for the wrong battery and charger to have come along with any camera purchase made directly from the manufacturer.

This is more like something I'd expect from a Newegg or Amazon 3rd party seller, not Canon. Sorry, I can't agree with you there much as I am certainly glad that this community was able to help get me to somebody who actually had a desire to help me get the problem resolved.