Yay Canon!

I am a huge fan of good customer support, but I am cynical enough that I almost never expect to receive it.

A couple of weeks ago, my Canon S500 digital camera was broken. I’m not sure how it happened, but the door to the memory slot would not stay closed because the little plastic “catch” had somehow been snapped off. Suck! And of course, the camera refuses to function while that door is open, and it’s spring-loaded so the door is open by default. The only way to use the camera was to hold it closed manually, with your finger or a piece of tape.

The ever-helpful girl did some web surfing and found instructions for how to send the camera back to Canon for repair. Already, my cynicism kicked into gear. “Please, that’ll cost as much as a new camera would cost.” “They’re not gonna fix it when it’s obviously not a design failure, but is something we broke.” “I bet it takes them two months, minimum.” Despite my skepticism, the camera was boxed up and shipped off two Saturdays ago.

Today, we got the camera back! It works, the door was replaced and all at no charge. If you’re adept with a calendar, you’ll note that it took them just a smidge over two weeks, including transit time. And the packaging for the returned camera included a checklist of “items returned with the camera”, just to make sure we got back all of the goodies that we sent in the package (like the attached camera strap, the battery, and the original box).

Suffice it to say, I am really impressed by the entire experience. This is about the fourth or fifth Canon camera I’ve purchased, and this one little experience makes it very likely I will continue to be a loyal customer in the future.

The next time I make a cherry cobbler or chicken biryani, you’ll get pictures to go with the experience.