My friend's Canon 5dm3 Died!

Hi all

I don't know if anyone experienced this or can recommend what to do in my friend's case. He has a 5dm3, bought it new about a year and a half ago. It was used properly, gently and with original batteries only.

Two weeks ago, he turned on the camera but doesn't turn on.. he changed the battery but still the same, recharge them and still no response. He sent to Canon repair.. they said the Main PCB (main board) is defective and the warranty is over and to fix it it cost $655! They confirmed it is not miss-use but they said you can not guarantee electronics!

He is asking me if there is a cheaper way to fix it or shall he complain to Canon international as his camera is like new and it is defective from inside and not because of miss-use..

Well, for me I was shocked because now I only have the 5dm3 and no backup cam.. I thought it is a pro level and you will find it when you need it so I am afraid this happen to me!

Any help or thoughts will be much appreciated.

Thank you.

Things fail outside warranties all the time. Can your friend join cps and use the 20-30% off the repair?

TeamSpeed wrote in post #17106951
Things fail outside warranties all the time. Can your friend join cps and use the 20-30% off the repair?

Thank you, I am not sure.. he has 5dm3, 60d,24-105l and 8-15l FE.. I will let him check and maybe he can Thanks for the tip

samerr9 wrote in post #17106949
Hi all

I don't know if anyone experienced this or can recommend what to do in my friend's case. He has a 5dm3, bought it new about a year and a half ago. It was used properly, gently and with original batteries only.

Two weeks ago, he turned on the camera but doesn't turn on.. he changed the battery but still the same, recharge them and still no response. He sent to Canon repair.. they said the Main PCB (main board) is defective and the warranty is over and to fix it it cost $655! They confirmed it is not miss-use but they said you can not guarantee electronics!

He is asking me if there is a cheaper way to fix it or shall he complain to Canon international as his camera is like new and it is defective from inside and not because of miss-use..

Well, for me I was shocked because now I only have the 5dm3 and no backup cam.. I thought it is a pro level and you will find it when you need it so I am afraid this happen to me!

Any help or thoughts will be much appreciated.

Thank you.

This could depend on your friend's country of residence / purchase...
I'm no expert however if I being resident in Europe were faced with the same dilemma as your friend AND given your friend has evidence of They confirmed it is not miss-use but they said you can not guarantee electronics!
in writing from Canon ...

Then I would pursue Canon for providing a product which is not fit for purpose. Such a high priced item should last at least two years IMHO and frankly it's no skin off Canon's nose to fit a new PCB it is not acceptable for Canon to state "said you can not guarantee electronics!" my response would be "tough - you have to bear the costs if stuff you use won't last 2 years at the price I paid - Fix it!"

This is all predicated upon where your friend lives, if indeed it was purchased 18 months ago in the region it was intended to be sold and Canon did indeed consider the body well used.

That said if everything was as above, I'd be apoplectic about Canon refusing to rectify such a problem at THEIR expense.

The main PCB went on mine too. It was under warranty in my case. I think Canon is your friends only option here.

That does suck!

.. however, 1 5D3 with an electronics problem should not be cause for you to worry about yours.
As for Canon and the cost of repair, I agree, I'd be kicking and screaming!

EIODT: Ack! Now we have a trend!

As Shoshone has said, if you are in Europe or another part of the world that has similar consumer laws (I believe New Zealand is the same, at least) then you should be able to get it fixed free of charge. The law states that a product must be fit for use and last a reasonable amount of time under normal use. 18 months is not a reasonable life for a pro level camera and a major failure such as this needs to be sorted out free of charge. I have never had to use the law myself, but I believe that you need to sort it out with the retailer first, if possible, because it is their responsibility under the law and it is for them to deal with Canon on the matter.

Manufacturers cannot simply guarantee a product for just 12 months, and refuse to accept their legal responsibility after that period.

If you are in the USA though, I believe you are stuck with paying for the repair yourself, unless you can persuade Canon to play nice.

You know all electronics have at least a 5% failure rate no matter who makes it.

Thanks for adding that info Sandpiper - I was thinking that (and we still don't know the buyer's location) Canon POTN might be a vehicle for getting Canon to be reasonable regardless of the territory - I for one remember all the posts regarding CyberDyneSystems struggle with a faulty 1DIII which eventually was resolved by Canon at their expense (though not without considerable public exposure on this forum) , it's no good folks posting bare statements like Gregg.Siam just did - what is needed is collective common sense with group distain for unreasonable responses from Canon. I for one would appreciate this group's collective support for such a problem if I couldn't get redress. However should this not gel with US members, then I'll leave them to their desserts if that is the culture of vendor response they expect/wish.
Jamie

How did your friend purchase the camera? Some credit cards double the manufacturer's warranty.

Short of that, I think the only option is to call Canon customer service and try to negotiate a reduced price.

shoshone wrote in post #17107318
.... I for one remember all the posts regarding CyberDyneSystems struggle with a faulty 1DIII which eventually was resolved by Canon at their expense (though not without considerable public exposure on this forum) ...

Sadly, nothing that happened on the public forum here was instrumental in my eventual resolution of the failed 1DIII.

When all was said and done after two years of back and forth, and Canon was washing their hands of me and my broken 1DIII, the thing that got the camera replaced with a new one was an out and out threat. One step short of blackmail.

I got a new 1DIII that was not broken like my first one, but Canon most certainly did NOT do right by me. they were forced. I was very lucky and very uniquely capable of being able to apply such force.

Ah! I see.
So group pressure (clearly in your case Jake) had no effect. Naive of me to dream that group pressure would have an influence. Canon must be as tough as old boots then to not give a damn about their customers' perception of them in the public domain. In which case I now know not to hesitate in blackmail if I were able to conjure up such a threat!
Forewarned is forearmed as they say!
My posts are possibly getting in the way of the OP getting a resolution so having said my piece I'll step out of the room rather than obscure his issue any further.
Jamie

Heya,

This is where insurance that has a good policy for "who cares why it stopped working, replace it" comes in real handy so that you're not stuck with manufacture warranty issues when they run out and you're paying out of pocket.

Very best,

If the purchase was made with a credit card, there might be some extended warranty under the card provisions. Usually that requires shipping to a 3rd party, so you might have to get the camera back and then send it off. But if you have the coverage via the credit card, it might be worth seeing if the credit card people would pay for Canon doing the repair work.

A couple things come to mind. For one, you cannot possibly know how well your friend treated the camera. You only know what you were told and what you saw. Perhaps you never saw it fall off of the counter and hit the floor, or one of the many other ways a camera could get damaged. There is a warranty period in your country which I would suggest taking a look at. If it is within the warranty period then make them fix it. He was willing to put down the money for the camera, and yes, stuff happens, so fix it if it is out of warranty. Since you have no location listed, we have no clue where you are from or what laws you may be required to live by.

What happened with his camera is not connected with your camera, unless perhaps storage of the device is part of the issue. ie you both live next to the sea and a corrosive environment was part of the cause.