Canon Loyalty Program- They hooked me up [A95]

[driftin' by]

Just wanted to share my positive experience with Canon's loyalty program that has been discussed here on SB. My first digital UW camera setup was a Canon A95 with a WP-DC50 housing. Purchased the camera in summer of 2005 before the birth of our daughter. Added the housing in March 2006 followed with the first trip in June 2006. Used it on 4 trips as an UW camera and extensively on land taking tons of pictures of our daughter during her early years.

With the release of the G9 it was time to upgrade my UW setup going with an Ike housing and strobe. However, the A95 would not go into retirement, instead it would become my wife's very capable UW camera until our trip to Bonaire in February. Unfortunately, the screen would go black and not show any images. Thinking it was a problem with the LCD, we soon discovered it was a problem with the sensor as the photos were also turning out all black while the LCD was capable of displaying photos taken earlier in the trip.

After 3.5 good years, I knew it was the end of the line for the A95 and that if my wife wanted to continue with UW photography, that we would either have to buy a used A95 off eBay or I'd have to upgrade to dSLR handing down my G9. Uh, no thanks and the eBay search ensued. I was a bit surprised to find most used A95's going for up to $80.

After a few weeks mulling it over, I remembered talks on SB about the "Program" and figured it couldn't hurt. So I submitted the online inquiry to Canon via their support website indicating what was going on with the camera and got a response the following day which included some tender apologies for the inconvenience and that there was a known problem with sensors they received from a particular vendor rendering the camera under full warranty. Another email followed with a prepaid UPS shipping label attached. In no more than 10 days, I received the camera back fully repaired and functioning without paying one penny. And I didn't get a refurbished one sitting on the shelf... instead they repaired mine as evident by some sticky goo inside the CF card door which was still present. They also replaced a dented top metal piece and bent lanyard fixing loop that was as a result of an unfortunate fall onto a Cozumel sidewalk our first trip out with it.

Big prop to Canon reminding my why I'm such a brand loyalist!

[emoreira]

Nice succesfull story. Congratulations fro your good luck !
I have an A570is + WP DC12. I'm not in the USA, so, I expect nothing from Canon in the event of a failure, though I bought my camera locally with warranty and the WP case in Amazon and shipped to Argentina.
I hope I'm wrong, and I also hope I never need to use the warranty and/or service.

[tk trekers]

Seeing as how we just purchased a G10 this past weekend, that story reinforces why we bought it. Thank you for sharing!