canon service on my 24-105L ... ouch!

wow. two weeks ago i sent in my 24-105L and my buddy's 1ds mark III for service. the 24-105L seemed like it was focussing softly especially around 24mm. so i wanted to have it checked.

my buddy dropped his 1ds mark III which knocked the mirror loose but i'm not sure if there was any other damage.

so i sent the lens and camera to the irvine service center exactly two weeks ago and today i finally got the estimates. btw, i had called canon three times in the last week to ask them WTF and yesterday i finally got someone who looked into the delay and she said canon receiving was backed up a couple of weeks because of a new system and that they had just started working on packages that were sent around the time that i sent mine.

anyhow flat service charge for my lens is: $294.98 and they aren't saying what if anything is wrong with the lens! oh but that also includes cleaning and lube, she said. well i ain't feeling the lube on that one!

repair cost for the 1ds mark III is: $296.98 so that is great news. maybe the mirror costs $2 ?

ed rader

Yeah but - are the items fixed?

[QUOTE=JonK;13246698]Yeah but - are the items fixed?[/quote]

not yet. you have to pay first and then the repairs are done within the next week. i just paid today.

ed rader

Ed - $217 of that lens repair cost is for the magic pixie dust they sprinkle in it, making all your photos with that lens magical.

I mean, what's worse - $300 to fix, or $1100 to rebuy, ya know?

JonK wrote in post #13246788
I mean, what's worse - $300 to fix, or $1100 to rebuy, ya know?

well i did pay. my point is the minimum service charge is $300 for the 24-105L. there is no lower charge. and you wonder why bad copies are dumped on ebay and sometimes on the POTN sales forum.

ed rader

The question is how much life and use have you got out of the lens? Service costs are just part of use and wear and tear. It would be lovely to have things that never need servicing. That is cheaper than getting my car serviced ($430) and it gets done every 5 months or so depending on how many klm I do, so it does not seem like a huge cost in the overall scheme of things.

L.J.G. wrote in post #13246850
The question is how much life and use have you got out of the lens? Service costs are just part of use and wear and tear. It would be lovely to have things that never need servicing. That is cheaper than getting my car serviced ($430) and it gets done every 5 months or so depending on how many klm I do, so it does not seem like a huge cost in the overall scheme of things.

it's a fairly new lens but nevertheless it needs to be fixed. i know that. afterall i did send it in and i did pay for and authorize the repair.

again, my point is the minimum service charge for that lens is $296.98 no matter what's wrong with it, but of course that includes return postage and cleaning and lube .

i think that's too expensive for a flat charge on that lens.

ed rader

Ed I think there have been a lot of times where canon has looked at lenses and determined the repair so inconsequential to wave any fees and just mail it back. I have read that so many times on this forum. Let's be honest - if there wasn't a flat rate of a decent amount I bet Canon would have to open 15 more service centers to handle all of "I think this lens is a little soft sometimes" mail-ins. If it needs repair it will be $294 (maybe), and if not, they'll mail it back.

JonK wrote in post #13246882
Ed I think there have been a lot of times where canon has looked at lenses and determined the repair so inconsequential to wave any fees and just mail it back. I have read that so many times on this forum. Let's be honest - if there wasn't a flat rate of a decent amount I bet Canon would have to open 15 more service centers to handle all of "I think this lens is a little soft sometimes" mail-ins. If it needs repair it will be $294 (maybe), and if not, they'll mail it back.

Jonk -- glad there is a canon rep on this forum to answer for them. i've called canon three times in the last week trying to get any information on the 1ds and the 24-105L that i sent in on september 28th and all i was told was the items have not been received.

today i got the work estimates that have no explanation of the work to be performed just the cost of repair. so thanx man. i feel better now.

if you would send me $300 i'd feel better .

ed rader

why are you not a CPS member....lowers the cost, expedites shipping!

ed rader wrote in post #13246918
Jonk -- glad there is a canon rep on this forum to answer for them. i've called canon three times in the last week trying to get any information on the 1ds and the 24-105L that i sent in on september 28th and all i was told was the items have not been received.

today i got the work estimates that have no explanation of the work to be performed just the cost of repair. so thanx man. i feel better now.

if you would send me $300 i'd feel better .

ed rader

Dunno what to tell ya man - its kind of like a car service center offering free evaluations on issues. Soon enough, all you do is free evaluations!

I can agree that it would be helpful to know what is going on, but they obviously like to keep their work closed off. I had the same thing happen on a Canon G5 that was dropped years ago. Took it to a canon-authorized repair service (comet camera in phila, pa) and got an invoice of like "$200 to repair". But, what are your options?

jcpoulin wrote in post #13246936
why are you not a CPS member....lowers the cost, expedites shipping!

i never felt the need to be a CPS member but i guess that's what canon wants from me. i was thinking the other day that i would send in my lenses one at a time and have them cleaned and checked. you know get that cracked window replaced on my 70-200L f4 IS and have the worn camera gasket replaced.

for 300 bucks a pop no way that's going to happen. i'd rather sell my lenses every 3-4 years and buy new ones .

or maybe spring for that CPS membership.

ed rader

Old Hasselblad film cameras and lenses much cheaper to fix and maintain....
http://www.david-odess.com/repair.html

I recently did the CPS Gold membership. Figured the bodies I have are aging a bit and I have a couple lenses that may go in for a check of focus issues. There were a few gift goodies that came with the Gold membership that were OK.