Breaking up with Canon

Why Canon breaking their CPS Gold Service Terms of Agreement was the final straw.

I have been a loyal Canon customer for 30 years. I got my first Canon Rebel (remember Andre Agassi in the ads) back in 1994. I have only used Canon cameras and will gift them to family members and recommend them when people ask me about my camera. I am a professional photographer who photographs landscapes, portraits, and events. All of the pictures on my website, picturehappyphotos.com, were taken with Canon cameras. Sadly, I will no longer buy Canon products and will gradually make the transition to another camera brand.

I am a Canon Professional Services (CPS) gold member. It is promoted as “an exclusive program designed to support the demands of the imaging professional.” To be able to become a gold member, you have to be self-employed or an employee of a “professional imaging service” and own a certain number of higher end Canon products. You must be approved and then pay a fee for the privilege of being a gold member. On their membership page, they state that their “focus is you” and they offer “personalized support for the imaging professional.”

On December 28, 2023, I dropped off my camera at the Costa Mesa Service Center during a holiday trip through Southern California. I used to frequent the service center in Hawai`i which I travel to several times a year to visit family. Sadly that center closed during the pandemic and Costa Mesa was the closest center to where I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. People in Hawai`i also need to now use the Costa Mesa Service Center.

I was assured that being a CPS gold member, my repairs and maintenance should not take longer than 3 business days and they will have it shipped back to me in Northern California at no charge. I got a confirmation by text on December 28 and 29 stating that my camera bodies and gear (R5, 5DMIV, 16-35mm lens) were being worked on. I also called the repair notification line on December 29 to ask if there was anything more that needed to be done by me such as pay more money for the service to be completed on my camera gear. I was assured everything was fine and did not receive any other updates and gave them some grace due to the New Year Holiday which was on a Monday.

I called the toll free number for the repair notification line they provide to you on Wednesday, January 3 asking about the status of my service. It goes to a call center in Virginia. They do not let you speak to anyone in Costa Mesa in California. The person at the repair notification line assured me that my repairs were complete and they were just waiting for FedEx to pick it up. I told them that I did not receive any notification that the repair was complete and did not get a tracking number. They told me that once FedEx scans it at pick up, it will generate a tracking number. I told them that I thought tracking numbers were generated when a label is printed but was assured the tracking number will be generated upon scanning by FedEx and I should get all items being serviced delivered to me the next day, Thursday, January 4. I also asked the representative if I could get equipment loaned to me which is a CPS Gold membership benefit as repairs are taking longer than 3 business days. I was then told I could if I did not get the camera on Thursday.

I waited most of the day on Thursday, January 4 and did not get a tracking number or delivery. I called back the repair notification line and was told that my camera was ready to be picked up at the Costa Mesa service center. I told the representative at the repair notification line that I did not get any notification that the repairs were complete and ready for pick up. I also told them that I live 400 miles away and was told at drop off (my husband was standing next to me) and again yesterday when I called that it was being shipped back to me. I asked to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor told me that the service center in Costa Mesa was already closed (I called at 4:02 and the service center closes at 4) and I would receive a call back the next day from the Supervisor that I spoke to. They were going to figure out what was happening with my camera equipment.

I did not get a call back on Friday, January 5 so I called the repair notification line back. The supervisor that was supposed to call me back could not explain why they never returned my call. They told me that they needed to contact Costa Mesa to figure out what was wrong and assured me that I would get a call back. After the call, I got an electronic text notification that my items were shipped. I did not get a call back from the supervisor to confirm that my items were indeed being shipped back to me. She had promised to call me back and I did not get a call.

I got my items on Saturday, January 6 which was a full 6 business days after I dropped off my camera equipment. As a CPS gold member, these are their terms and conditions of membership:

• I am supposed to get my repairs shipped after 3 business days.
• If repairs were to take longer than that, I am supposed to get equipment loaned to me so I can have a camera.
• I was also supposed to be offered a $100 repair voucher if repairs are to take longer than 3 business days.

To add insult to injury, the enclosed invoice with the delivery showed that all repairs were completed on Friday, December 29 which was the day after I dropped off the camera. It apparently sat at the Costa Mesa Service Center for a full week before being shipped to me.

I called back on Monday, January 8 to request some sort of compensation for the extended repair time and loss of business opportunities because I did not have a camera. At this time, I spoke to someone in the Customer Relations Department. I spoke to Customer Relations after asking for my call to be escalated since two previous promises by the same supervisor at the repair notification line to receive a call back did not happen. They asked me what would be an appropriate amount of compensation. I did not offer a number and asked them what they were willing to offer. They offered a refund of the cost of the most expensive repair as compensation. It was fair and I agreed. This person gave me their direct number and promised to call me back later in the week to ensure that I received a refund as it will take a few days.

I did not get a call back or a refund. It was the third time someone promised to call back and did not. Once again, I gave them some grace due to another holiday on Monday, January 15. I called the person at Customer Relations directly on Thursday, January 18. It was 10 days after I was promised a refund and call back. She had no idea who I was and what I was talking about. After some digging she told me that it was “not like her” to not call someone back when promised to do so. She made excuses about her 55 case workload. I told her at this point I was done with Canon and wanted a refund of my CPS Gold membership fees as I did not get any of the benefits promised with the membership. I also wanted an update about the status of my refund. She said that the refund request was not submitted until January 10 despite our conversation about a refund happening on January 8. She could not explain the gap in time. The representative said she would expedite the refund and would need to check about getting my CPS membership fee refunded. I told her that I was an extremely loyal Canon customer for 30 years and disappointed at this entire experience. I recounted how I only used Canon cameras over the last 30 years and would recommend it to anyone who asked me about my cameras which would include family, friends, students I teach, and strangers on the street. She “double promised” to call me back.

She called me back a few hours later. It was the first time someone from Canon called me back since this whole ordeal started. The Customer Relations Representative told me that my refund has been processed but will take an additional 7-10 days. At this point, it was already 10 days since I was promised a refund. In other words, it may not be until January 28 that I get a refund which is a full 20 days after I was initially promised to get a refund.

She also told me that they valued my membership and wanted to keep me as a gold member. To keep my loyalty, she offered a credit for one maintenance service of one of my Canon products at a service center and a free battery as compensation for the $100 membership fee. I told her that a battery on their website was only $79.99. It did not equate to the $100 I paid for the CPS Gold Membership.

After 30 years of loyalty, my continued loyalty to Canon is only worth a $79.99 battery and a maintenance service after all that has happened? I told her that was insulting and she said that she didn’t mean to offend me. I told her there are bigger problems with Canon that need to be fixed beyond offering me a $79.99 battery.

In summary, here are the things that went wrong with this entire experience:

• I did not receive status updates about the service to my camera gear as promised in initial text messages on December 29.
• The service for my camera took longer than the promised 3 business days.
• I was not given “Repair Coverage Loan (RCL) equipment” to use while my camera gear was being serviced beyond the 3 business days. They had my camera gear for 6 business days.
• I was not offered a $100 credit for future service when the service took longer than 3 business days.
• My serviced camera equipment should have been shipped from Costa Mesa to me in the San Francisco Bay Area on Tuesday, January 2. I was then promised delivery on Thursday, January 4 but did not ultimately receive delivery until Saturday, January 6.
• Upon delivery, it was discovered that my service was actually completed on Friday, December 29 but not shipped from Costa Mesa until Friday, January 5.
• I have not received a promised refund of the most expensive repair.
• I was promised and did not receive a return phone call 3 times from 2 different people in 2 different departments.

I asked the customer relations representative why a loyal customer such as myself would want to recommend their brand anymore? I received this level of service as a professional photographer and gold level member. Can you imagine what kind of service one were to receive if they are a beginner photographer with an entry-level camera?

As an active member of the landscape community in the Bay Area and someone who shoots next to real working photographers from organizations like Getty Images, I don’t know of any of their current “influencers” or their “Explorers of Light.” While those photographer’s work are amazing, they don’t influence the more inexperienced photographers to want to pick up a Canon camera. Sony’s Ambassador program have real photographers that you run into in the field and are more inspiring to the beginner photographer. It feels more attainable for someone to achieve their level of skill. It is no mistake that many of the photographers that I know have switched from Canon to brands such as Sony and Fuji. Also, when I run into new photographers out and about, it is extremely rare for me to see a Canon camera in their hands. I see many new photographers with Sony, Fuji, and Nikon cameras.

Canon also does nothing to promote brand loyalty to future generations. It is heartwarming to hear stories of brands such as Nikon donating cameras to schools to promote photography to students. Sony has a page where you can request grants. Canon will apparently only do philanthropic activities only near their headquarters. What about donating refurbished cameras or cameras that are no longer being manufactured or with minor defects to students in under resourced school districts to inspire the next generation of photographers around the country?

I also told her that the loss of the service center in Hawai`i was a huge loss for the photography community there. The service was amazing. They remembered people by name. I had been going to that center since the 90’s. I could actually speak to someone on the phone at that location if I had any questions or needed updates about my gear. I was not routed to a call center on the other side of the country. I was not a gold member and still able to receive prompt service. My service needs were always finished in a few days before I had to fly back to California. There was a time when I was unexpectedly hospitalized on a trip and didn’t get to pick up my camera before I had to leave. They shipped my camera to me in California at no charge. That level of service helped to keep me a loyal customer for 30 years.

Now I’m left with shipping my gear to the nearest service center in Southern California for something like the free maintenance they’re offering to me to maintain my loyalty and maybe I’ll get it in a week? Why would I do that when I can go to my local camera store and get my Canon products cleaned with no shipping costs and faster service? With the credit they offered to me for an extra maintenance service, the shipping costs to them would be more than my local shop will charge for doing a maintenance cleaning. Also, with their dysfunctional repair system, I would have to plan for over a week for my camera gear to be shipped back and will have to also account for that lost revenue from missed business opportunities. How is that an added benefit? Apparently I am not the only one with these complaints. They are mentioned by others with 1 star reviews on Google and Yelp.

It seems completely lost on people at Costa Mesa and the repair notification line in Virginia that a camera is a means for people to earn a living. Prompt service for a professional photographer is essential so they can continue working.

What is extremely disappointing are the many failures from multiple departments at Canon across the country. From the service center in Costa Mesa not shipping my camera gear when it was finished, to the repair notification line in Virginia not confirming with Costa Mesa if my camera gear was ready and the supervisor not calling me back, and finally customer relations not submitting my refund request and calling back as promised. What could have been done differently? Thinking about this whole situation, all of this could have been avoided if ANY ONE of the following happened:

• I should have been able to speak to someone in Costa Mesa back on January 3 or should have had prompt text updates about the status of repairs as promised in their initial text messages. Why do I have to speak to someone across the country in Virginia? Why did the representative at the repair notification line that I spoke to not reach out to Costa Mesa to ensure the package was indeed waiting for pickup by FedEx on January 3 instead of assuming it was ready? Why was my camera gear in Costa Mesa not prepared for delivery as soon as or shortly after my servicing was finished on December 29? Why did I not get any text updates between December 29-January 5? With the promised notifications, I would have learned that my repair was finished on December 29. We would have also learned that my camera equipment was just sitting on a shelf somewhere in Costa Mesa since December 29 and not ready for pickup by FedEx on January 3.
• Why did the supervisor at the repair notification line who promised to call me back on January 5 not call me back? She could have done a simple apology for the service taking a long time, offered the service credit as outlined in the CPS Gold membership terms and conditions and I would not have escalated things further with customer relations. It would have been an acceptable outcome.
• Why did the customer relations representative not call me back as promised on January 8? I made it clear that two previous promises of a call back did not happen. Why was my promised refund request not submitted on January 8? Why was the request submitted on January 10? Why was the refund only approved on January 18 and only when I called back? Why would it have to take up to 20 days from the initial promise of a refund on January 8 for it to actually be received? If I had received a call back by January 12 as promised, I would not have asked for my CPS membership fee to be reimbursed.
• If Canon was serious about keeping me as a customer, why not entice me to use the services of the Costa Mesa service center to restore my faith in their service and brand? Instead of crediting me a “free” maintenance which I would have to pay to ship to Costa Mesa, why not encourage me to send in an item with free shipping to them? It would help to restore my faith that service can be done expeditiously and without problems. If they are going to offer a “gift” to cover the cost of my membership, why not offer a product or credit really worth the cost of the membership? Why would they offer something that is 20% less and claim that it is an equivalent cost? Maybe they could upgrade my membership for a year? Offer free shipping to them for repairs or maintenance? Do something to show that I am truly a valued member and customer.

I gave Canon many opportunities to correct their mistakes and tried to remain a loyal customer. Now they are left with a highly disgruntled customer who wants to do no further business with the brand and will never buy another Canon product. I was looking into getting a new camera and flash but no longer from Canon. They will also no longer get glowing recommendations from me about their products. Canon will also have to refund the cost of my most expensive repair and must refund my CPS membership fees. It did not have to come to this.

The customer relations representative was interested in what I had to say and she said many of my complaints were valid and “higher than her pay grade.” I told her that I have done a lot of customer service in my life and one rule that stuck with me was to “under promise and over deliver.” In every aspect of this situation, there was a lot of “over promising and under delivering” of service. As a gold member, they certainly did not have their focus on me or offer “personalized support for the imaging professional.” They fell well short of that. Also from my years of customer service experience, it does not take much to show someone you CARE or are VALUED. Simply following through with promises go a long way…

I encouraged her to pass on my feedback and that I welcome to speak to anyone higher up who will listen to me about my experiences. She agreed that 30 years is a long time to remain loyal to a brand and that “most marriages don’t last that long.” I told the representative that is why I am so sad and angry. I really liked their product but the horrible experiences outweigh the brand loyalty. It’s indeed like getting a divorce. Canon is not the only game in town anymore and many other brands have come up to the same standards that Canon has. Third party companies have also made it easy to compensate for perceived deficiencies with other brands. She wants to make this “right” but doesn’t know how. A refund of my CPS Gold membership fees is still not a sure thing. She will have someone call me back…