To make a long story perhaps longer, Canon has made my Christmas come a little early this year.
I took my 35L to Irvine for a repair that may have involved replacing the front element due to a void in the coating from a drop of pool water on the lens. When the lens came back three days later, the front element was perfect but the lens wouldn't autofocus on either of my 1DsMKIII bodies. More precisely, it would be fine at, say, five to seven feet, but be off by an inch at minimum focus and be front focusing by as much as twenty or thirty feet at longer distances approaching infinity. I sent the lens back immediately with an explanation.
The lens came back the following week and now it focused fine on one camera but not the other. Hmmm. Maybe this was my camera, but the lens had been perfect before the first repair. I started testing the funky camera with most of my other lenses. Interestingly, my 24 1.4L focused fine on the "other" camera but was acting the same as the twice repaired 35 on the "bad" camera. I shot a bunch of test images illustrating and drove both lenses and camera back to Irvine.
The following week I get everything back again. They said the camera was perfect, but after testing, both lenses were still not working properly. I called CPS after several more hours of careful testing to make sure that it wasn't just me. They suggest I send the lens back one more time. I did.
In the meantime I called Samy's in Hollywood expressing my frustration with the entire process, not really expecting much to happen. A couple of days later, Frank Schlegel called me and said the the Canon pro rep agreed to let Samy's take the lens back at the full price I had paid two and a half years earlier, and upgrading me to the vII 24mm for only the difference in price - about $300. It didn't hurt that it was during a no sales tax sale either.
Then a couple of days later I got a box in Fedex from Canon, and in it was a brand spanking new 35L, which is even sharper than the one I don't have anymore.
So, even though Christmas is still a couple of days off, my Christmas was unexpected and early.
All through this entire process, I never once raised my voice or got angry on the phone. I tried to be as patient as possible and never expected, asked for or wanted any kind of replacement. So, kudo's to Canon, who, even though, they couldn't quite get the repair done correctly, did the right thing in the end. And thanks to Frank Schlegel and Bill Gemberling at Samy's Fairfax for their help as well. Another great reason to develop a working relationship with a real brick and mortar store.
Peter
I took my 35L to Irvine for a repair that may have involved replacing the front element due to a void in the coating from a drop of pool water on the lens. When the lens came back three days later, the front element was perfect but the lens wouldn't autofocus on either of my 1DsMKIII bodies. More precisely, it would be fine at, say, five to seven feet, but be off by an inch at minimum focus and be front focusing by as much as twenty or thirty feet at longer distances approaching infinity. I sent the lens back immediately with an explanation.
The lens came back the following week and now it focused fine on one camera but not the other. Hmmm. Maybe this was my camera, but the lens had been perfect before the first repair. I started testing the funky camera with most of my other lenses. Interestingly, my 24 1.4L focused fine on the "other" camera but was acting the same as the twice repaired 35 on the "bad" camera. I shot a bunch of test images illustrating and drove both lenses and camera back to Irvine.
The following week I get everything back again. They said the camera was perfect, but after testing, both lenses were still not working properly. I called CPS after several more hours of careful testing to make sure that it wasn't just me. They suggest I send the lens back one more time. I did.
In the meantime I called Samy's in Hollywood expressing my frustration with the entire process, not really expecting much to happen. A couple of days later, Frank Schlegel called me and said the the Canon pro rep agreed to let Samy's take the lens back at the full price I had paid two and a half years earlier, and upgrading me to the vII 24mm for only the difference in price - about $300. It didn't hurt that it was during a no sales tax sale either.
Then a couple of days later I got a box in Fedex from Canon, and in it was a brand spanking new 35L, which is even sharper than the one I don't have anymore.
So, even though Christmas is still a couple of days off, my Christmas was unexpected and early.
All through this entire process, I never once raised my voice or got angry on the phone. I tried to be as patient as possible and never expected, asked for or wanted any kind of replacement. So, kudo's to Canon, who, even though, they couldn't quite get the repair done correctly, did the right thing in the end. And thanks to Frank Schlegel and Bill Gemberling at Samy's Fairfax for their help as well. Another great reason to develop a working relationship with a real brick and mortar store.
Peter
