Canon took a month to get me my new R5 - and then when I got it the sensor was fried.

[atoler]

I’m making this post 1. Because I’m furious with canon and feel powerless against such a big company 2. To see if anyone else has experienced anything like this because I haven’t heard many things like this.

I have a big busy season starting this weekend that I have been preparing for all year by upgrading gear, investing in education, etc. In February, I decided to order the R5. They cancelled my order THREE SEPARATE TIMES WITHOUT TELLING ME because “they have a sensitive fraud detection system” even tho I was placing the order on the phone and they said they would manually process it. That obviously didn’t work. 
By the time I finally got the camera, it was late March. I had missed some shoots by then I was really hoping to use it on, but like I said it’s a massive company who doesn’t care, what could I do.

I finally get the camera, had tested it out and played with it a few times and I was super excited to finally have it, it all seemed fine. Then I’m using it at a wedding and 3-4 hours into the day, a thick green line starts appearing on all my photos. I immediately knew it was the sensor (and no I hadn’t even been near any lasers, we were literally in the middle of wedding party portraits.) I still tried to change the batteries, shut it off and on, etc, and nothing fixed it. I had to resort back to my old camera after only four hours of using my new one.
I could not be angrier with canon. Like you make me work to get the camera in the first place, and then send me one that’s FRIED???? How is that ok??
When I called customer service, (which I had to wait till Monday) they wouldn’t replace it immediately, but said I had to send it back it and it would probably be fixed in 5-7 business days. I guess the shoots and weddings I have every night for the next 14 days don’t matter then??? And I can’t do anything about it because they’re too big of a company to care. This whole experience has made me determined to switch to Sony. I never want to have to deal with another one of their products and their terrible customer service again. 
Canon - I hope you see this and can do something better than “getting it fixed in 5-7 business days.” You shouldn’t have sent me a camera that needed fixing in the first place. I’m sharing this here because I feel like I have no other voice with you. I started this process 2 months ago and still won’t have my camera for the beginning of busy season because of your carelessness. 

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

Guess I'll start this off.  Sorry to hear about this experience.  Sounds horrible.  If you have weddings booked every night for the next 14 days, you're a hero, and the most prolific wedding photographer I've ever met.  If I were pro and had that much on the line, I'd be at Best Buy throwing down my visa and getting a new camera. That is a simple fix for your immediate problem.  You have every right to be disappointed, so what's next?

We can commiserate with you all day long, but in the end, just get a new camera and deal with the issue.  Canon is going to make you whole, but you'll need to take control of the time table.  That's the sign of a pro.  You think this doesn't happen to Sony, Nikon, Microsoft, Apple, Google?  It does and could happen to anyone.  I'm sorry it happened to you.  Would you expect it to, no, but now it's time to recover, be resilient and adapt.  There's nothing more anyone can say really.  Sorry, crummy bad luck, not typical, you'll get a new camera or yours repaired.  Look forward, don't dwell on what you cannot control.  All hardware fails and it's not usually at a convenient time.  I've bought DOA gear before.  It happens.  It's ok to be disappointed, even pissed, but at the end of the day, you've got a task that needs to be completed.  So make it happen.  Good luck.  

[atoler]

Thanks for your reply. They’re not all weddings, just a few of those sessions are. I understand very well my duty as a professional and to my clients, and am taking steps accordingly to take care of myself. I just had never experienced this before (or heard of someone else having such bad luck with canon) and wanted to know if I was the only one. Thanks for your sympathy, and for answering what I was wondering. 

[Waddizzle]

I hope your image sensor was not damaged by a stray laser light.

[shadowsports]

I'm glad to hear your solving things.  Never fun when you have to go about it like this, but I'll bet you'll never have an issue like this again.  The R5 really is a nice camera.  I'm truly sorry you had the problem.