Kudos to Canon

[Adcadet]

A few months ago I bought a Canon Vixia HF M300. I'm very happy with it. Unfortunately, the included software isn't the most user friendly, and after building my new PC the camera thought that none of the videos that I left on the internal memory card were on my PC and it started transfering far too many gigabytes for me to watch. So I went to work. I came back ~16 hours later, and the camera was off. I figured it had finished and powered off. But when I turned the camera on, it gave a fast red flashing light, which the users manual indicated to be a battery failure. I tried a few basic things, all to no avail. It was 7:30 pm local time when I looked up Canon's tech support number, thinking I'd have to call them during the day sometime later in the week when I had some free time. I was rather surprised to see that they were open until midnight eastern time. Wow. After calling in and indicating that I needed tech support for a camcorder, I was then connected directly to a real human being. No waiting. No huge number of menu options. A person! I explained what happened, gave him my contact info (I had yet to register the product), he said that it was most likely a bad battery and the easiest way to find out would be to send me a new one which should take 4-7 days. I was shocked today when a package arrived a short 3 days after the phone call. Kudos to Canon for making it easy for me to get in touch with a real human being who seemed to understand what s/he was doing, and rapidly getting me a replacement part. I didn't consider brand at all when buying this camera, but I certainly will for my next purchase.

Just thought I'd share my positive experience, as I know there are many camera-o-philes here, and we certainly say our share of bad things about tech support.

 

[MaxBurn]

So that fixed it?

 

[Stereodude]

So that fixed it?

That's what I was wondering.

 

[Adcadet]

Yes.

 

[MaxBurn]

Cool. I'm on my first (sort of second) canon printer here and the drivers don't suck. I have had two or three canon cameras now too and they have been good.

Reading consumerist canon generally has positive things there too.

 

[time]

Unfortunately, I'd have to pour cold water on this love-in based on my last two Canon P & S cameras. The first one just died, the current one has the dreaded 'low-battery' disease, where regardless of cells and condition, it complains that the battery is low before it actually is.

Pictures are crappy as well, but that's O/T.

 

[Stereodude]

Pictures are crappy as well, but that's O/T.

And, I'm sure there was no way for you to have known that before you bought them right? :roll:

 

[time]

I said it was O/T. :roll: Actually, reviews seemed to think it was pretty good. :tounge:

 

[time]

In the spirit of the OP, I must say that when my Canon photo (dye sub) printer died, I was pleasantly surprised to be able to speak to a Canon support rep. They were friendly, tried their best and didn't raise my blood pressure at all.

Of course, the fact that it died after very limited use (will no longer feed successfully) doesn't change my point that for low-end items anyway, Canon quality is not that conspicuous.