CPS Lens Service... Do they tell you what they did?

I sent my 50L into CPS Canada last week to get an issue with off-center focus addressed.

Now to be honest, I'm not sure if there was something really wrong with the lens or not, given how notoriously finicky this lens is. Im going to pick it up from the courier depot this afternoon (missed delivery yesterday) and try it out.

Sadly, they don't appear to have provided any communication as to what they found, or what they did, if anything.

Is this normal? Is there any way I can find out?

VirtualRain wrote in post #17549673
I sent my 50L into CPS Canada last week to get an issue with off-center focus addressed.

Now to be honest, I'm not sure if there was something really wrong with the lens or not, given how notoriously finicky this lens is. Im going to pick it up from the courier depot this afternoon (missed delivery yesterday) and try it out.

Sadly, they don't appear to have provided any communication as to what they found, or what they did, if anything.

Is this normal? Is there any way I can find out?

Well I hate to be a negative person on this subject but good luck with Canon Canada Service. I found them just too difficult to deal with. One time they did an unauthorized repair on my 7 year old 300 F4 IS for $450 and basically avoided looking at my brand new 70-200 MKII. I sent it to Newport and they found a problem. That was the first time I have ever sent in a lens under warranty for focus issues.

As a non CPS member I get my gear back in 10 days sending it to the US but I have to pay the shipping if it is on warranty. It is still worth it. They are much better dealing with customers however I do miss not being able to contact the tech's like the old days. It is a little tricky because they don't ship back to Canada. As a non CPS member Canon Canada has a 4 to 6 week turn around (if you are lucky). I cancelled my Canadian membership.

Good luck to you. I hope you get the info you are looking for. Keep us posted.

I am a CPS Gold member in Canada... I sent it last Monday, and it was back on my doorstep Friday. For $100, the membership fee is well worth it for the expedited turn-around alone. Having free shipping there/back doesn't hurt either.

I still don't have the lens in hand though as the lazy Purolator courier driver didn't drop off the box at the depot on Friday afternoon... It's still on his truck apparently.

So I'll check it out early next week.

However, I'm still interested in hearing from other members if it's normal or not to get zero insights on what work was done. It seems odd. If I drop my car at the dealer to get serviced, they will tell me what work they did... Is that not a reasonable expectation?

In my experience, their communication is very terse, like "replaced xyz module, cleaned, adjusted, meets all specs".

It's as though every word costs them $10.

Apparently they do maintain additional info, though, and if it is important to you, you can contact them and find out a bit more.

I've never been able to talk to the actual tech, though. Canon seems to keep them away from customers. Canon Service is a fortress.

Archibald wrote in post #17550818
In my experience, their communication is very terse, like "replaced xyz module, cleaned, adjusted, meets all specs".

It's as though every word costs them $10.

Apparently they do maintain additional info, though, and if it is important to you, you can contact them and find out a bit more.

I've never been able to talk to the actual tech, though. Canon seems to keep them away from customers. Canon Service is a fortress.

this is what i have gotten from them as well. it won't be any insightful information

not sure how canon canada differs from canon usa, but i had my 24-70 v1 serviced by the NJ service center. a few days after dropping it off, i called them to inquire about the status of my lens, they told me exactly what was wrong and what they did to fix it, before sending it out to me

ekinnyc wrote in post #17552306
not sure how canon canada differs from canon usa, but i had my 24-70 v1 serviced by the NJ service center. a few days after dropping it off, i called them to inquire about the status of my lens, they told me exactly what was wrong and what they did to fix it, before sending it out to me

I have used Canon Canada in Mississauga and Canon USA in Newport News, VA and found them to be very similar. One difference I noticed, though, is that Canon USA was reluctant to use email, whereas Canon Canada was fine with that, but also used the phone.

(You don't get to speak to the techs, just to a Canon rep who presumably is trained to deal with possibly irate customers.)

I emailed them and got a reply...

The description is terse but I found it satisfactory to understand what they did and what parts were replaced. Communications of the process could be better, particularly when I when I sent more than the 3-piece limit for 3-day turnaround. An estimate of when the item would be on the bench would be appreciated. In any case, because I was over the 3-piece limit they estimated 7 business days (including free overnight return shipping) and met that target.

I was disappointed to learn that internal cleaning of dust and MFA calibration is not a part of the "free maintenance" service for lenses. If I had more time I would have had them do the "free maintenance" first and then dealt with any repairs they discovered were needed.

Based solely on the discount I received to repair a body and two lenses, I've saved more than 2X what I paid for CPS Gold. The work was done promptly and I'm satisfied with the quality and speed of the service. The minimum repair cost is excessively high IMHO for things like dust cleaning and, particularly, MFA adjust (since you have to pay for both the lens and the body to which it is calibrated).

Well i finally got to pick it up from the courier office and play around with it.

There was a note in the box with a description of what was done... Identical to what they sent me by email (posted above).

As far as improvements, it seems more predictable and better. I'm going to start a new thread to discuss it as it's not relevant to this topic.