Since many are all too eager to tell us how bad Canon Service is, here's my story:
Dropped 70-200 f4L IS lens about a metre onto a wood floor while it was in a ThinkTank pouch. Lens was long out of warranty.
Upon inspection, obvious misalignment of the rear part of the lens and the rest of the lens barrel, as far up as the rear zooming ring. Everything seemed to work (IS, USM, optics), but the damage was obvious (there was a "L-shape curve" when looking at the lens when mounted on the camera).
I packed the lens, and sent it via Purolator, using a Canon supplied prepaid shipping form to "CPC Service" in Mississauga, about 300 km away. I got the labels as part of my CPS package (have been a member for three years at Gold level). I dropped the lens off at about noon, February 12.
According to the tracking info, a person at Canon signed on receiving the package in the late afternoon of February 13, the next day. Took about 27 hours for Purolator to get it to Canon.
The lens was couriered back to me and arrived before noon on February 15 (today). The technician's report indicates a barrel assembly was replaced, and then the IS, USM and optics were then checked. I was charged the flat rate for a CPS repair to a 70-200 f/4L IS lens, plus shipping one-way. This totaled $217.
In summary, I have the lens back in less than 72 hours, completely repaired, and of that time at least half of it was spent getting shipped to and from Canon, not at Canon themselves.
Now, ladies and gentleman, THAT IS SERVICE!!
KUDOS and THANKS to Canon Canada
Lessons
"Don't drop lenses, even "L"'s.
Join CPS if possible (it's a cheap but superb service plan in my estimation).
Maxdave
