And the big news...

The binoculars made it back today.  They look and function like new.  I'm just relieved to not be dealing with Canon any further.

What I am taking away from this: Canon ate the cost of the repair, in the name of "good will."  In the meantime, there was painfully little communication from them, the repair was estimated at one price, then "re-estimated" to a price 4x higher.  Repair time estimates came and went.  No explanation, no contact.  A Customer Contact Supervisor did his best to try to make things right, but the actual repair/service folks seemed to give him about the same regard as they afforded me.  Good will?  I don't think so.

It all started bad, when making contact with Canon, just to find out the address for repair/service.  Six e-mails went ignored beyond the automated, "We will contact you within 48 hours..."  No, they never made contact.  Not by e-mail, not by phone.  In fact, they seem averse to using the phone, when a discussion (as opposed to endless e-mails) would have gone further in settling the whole mess.

It finally took a post on Canon's owners' forum, where I simply asked, "How do you get Canon Customer Service to respond?"  I got an e-mail from two different Canon people after that.  I sent the binoculars out immediately, once I had an address (not sure why they don't simply put that address on their website).  Send with a delivery confirmation, we knew exactly when the binoculars got there.  Four days later, since there was no response from Canon, I wrote again to see if the estimate would be forthcoming.  A couple days later, I got the estimate.  I was fine with paying that amount for the repair, but that was when the Customer Contact Supervisor offered to do the repair gratis (as long as the repair wasn't due to "mis-use or water immersion."  I was told "5 to 7 days for the repair."  A week later, no contact, no change in the repair status on Canon's site, I called them.  Things went downhill pretty fast after that.  I was told, "The repair was suspended - don't know why."  I was told a supervisor would call me right back with an explanation.  That never happened.  I called again the next day.  No one knew what was going on with the repair, but I soon received the "re-estimated" bill of $846... the reason: the binoculars had been immersed in water.  Not true, and I was about fed up with the delays, the bill-escalation, and the lies.

The same Customer Contact Supervisor wrote off the new "re-estimated" repair bill... but didn't tell me.  Not sure repair knew about it, either, because it was even more time when the status remained, "the item is being examined."  Heated exchanges between the supervisor and myself (which I do have saved), where I was told that repair/service would get right on it.  Never any mention that they didn't have the parts.  That didn't come up until I contacted them to find out why the repair was (at that point) taking three times longer than they said.

All told, 4 weeks of dealing with a repair that I was told would be "5 to 7 days."  It all could have gone smooth if...

*  Return customer contacts.
*  Do what you say you're going to do.
*  Do it in the amount of time you say it will take.
*  Do it for the price you say it will be.

Price only became an objection on my part when I got a second bill for more than twice what a new pair of the same binoculars would cost.  They could have said, "It will cost more to repair these than what they are worth," and I would have understood.  Unfortunately, that second bill came right after I made a phone call to find out why the repair wasn't completed in the amount of time they said it would take.

Easily, the most frustrating repair/service situation I have ever had on a piece of equipment.  The Customer Contact Supervisor and I both have hours into this mess, when a phone call could have settled everything in minutes.  For the record, I called them twice, got put on hold a lot, was told "a supervisor will call you right back," and never got a call from them.  I did send an e-mail to Canon's Corporate Public Relations, and never heard back from them.  Anytime "Customer Service" turns it into an ordeal, there is NO good will.

I like the binoculars, but if/when something happens to this repaired pair, I will toss them and buy something else.  I would never subject myself to the ordeal of trying to get something repaired by Canon again.

I have no doubt that there are Canon repairs that go just like they're supposed to... this was certainly not the case.  Should any reader here have to deal with Canon repair/service, I suggest you keep good records, keep a copy of every e-mail, a record of anyone you talk to on the phone.

This will be the last mention of "the ordeal" on this site.

For the search engines: Canon 10x30is binoculars.

:-)