Canon Customer Service

[mrspabs]

In Dec 2000, I bought a Powershot S20 (3 MP) for around $500. I loved this camera, it went with me everywhere!

Then in August of 2002, the lens cover would not close. And the pictures would not focus.

I sent it to Canon for repair and they wanted $150 to fix it! But because I loved the camera so much, I paid the money. The camera broke less than 9 months later in the same way. I left it alone on a shelf and the next time I picked it up, the lens cover was ok, but one of the color sensors was off or something and now all of the pics I take look green.

I did some web searching and it turns out that lots of people had this problem, but Canon would not recognize it as a defect in the camera!

So my opinion towards Canon has really soured.

20 months of use for a camera that I paid $500 for is ridiculous and making me pay for the repair was also absurd. The fact that I only got 9 months of use afterwards? #$*%!!!

I am about to purchase another digital camera to replace my s20.

I don't know if I want to buy another Canon because of this, but I love their software and I also love the design. I am considering an a95 or s70

Anyone have a customer service experience they want to share?
Thanks

[Rhys]

Unfortunately, the consumer end of the digital camera market is regarded with low regard by most digital camera manufacturers. All the low-end all-in-ones do is to spread the manufacturer's name around. They make most of their money from their real cameras - SLRs and dSLRs. The rest are pretty much disposable junk - even though they represent a fair whack out of the monthly pay-packet.

I can honestly say that Nikon's tech support is great. Pentax support sucks - as do Pentax cameras. As for the others, I have no experience.