Help! John Lewis refusing to fix camera under warranty

westend_2

I got a new Canon camera in May this year and in July, the second time I used it, the lens stopped working - refusing to open. In August I returned it to John Lewis and after a bit of mumbling about me having damaged it by putting it in my pocket (!) they agreed to send it back to the manufacturer, Canon, to be fixed under warranty.

They've contacted me today to say Canon are not fixing it as there was sand in it when they took it apart so it is not covered under the warranty. And apaprently that is that.

I dont believe that I was negligent with it. I did take it to the beach but I would expect a camera to be able to withstand that. I had another of their models for 3 years with no issues and haven't treated this one any differently.

Any advice on how I could take this forward would be much appreciated!

Thanks

Hintza

You can not take it any further as it is not a manufacturing fault.

You can not expect a moving lens mechanism to withstand sand getting in. Be more careful the next time.

When I was selling cameras this was a frequent problem. With customers claiming camera had never been on the beach (then why does the memory card show you and the family on the beach..doh)

I even had to send one customer images to show them the quite large quantities of sand in the mechanism.

If you want to send it for repair talk to AJ Johnstone

Lirin

Sand gets in everywhere on a camera. The only thing you could do is maybe ask for details of the fault.

Hintza- I had many similar problems. Once had a guy call back 2 hours after buying a camera claiming it was broken- he'd put it in his backpack UNDER a 2ltr bottle of water which split.....

rsykes2000

westend wrote: »

I did take it to the beach but I would expect a camera to be able to withstand that.

Big mistake unfortunately. Unless it was sold as weatherproof / dustproof, I wouldn't think you have much of a leg to stand on.

dmg24

rsykes2000 wrote: »

Big mistake unfortunately. Unless it was sold as weatherproof / dustproof, I wouldn't think you have much of a leg to stand on.

Unless of course he had a tripod, in which case he would have three!

Freddie_Snowbits

dmg24 wrote: »

Unless of course he had a tripod, in which case he would have three!

I used to have a cat called tripod, she only had 3 legs!

westend_2

Hintza, I take your point but I remain dubious that sand was the cause of the fault. It had started to play up before the beach visit, and was in a zipped up bag whilst there. It also doesnt fill me with confidence that they have also previously tried other reasons why they shouldn't follow up the fault - "you must have dropped it" - "you put it in your pocket and this damaged the lens mechanism".... I will ask for more details as Lirin suggests so perhaps that will convince me otherwise.

It seems from this though that the manufacturer can claim that is the negligence of the consumer and we then have no further recourse

dmg24

westend wrote: »

Hintza, I take your point but I remain dubious that sand was the cause of the fault. It had started to play up before the beach visit, and was in a zipped up bag whilst there. It also doesnt fill me with confidence that they have also previously tried other reasons why they shouldn't follow up the fault - "you must have dropped it" - "you put it in your pocket and this damaged the lens mechanism".... I will ask for more details as Lirin suggests so perhaps that will convince me otherwise.

It seems from this though that the manufacturer can claim that is the negligence of the consumer and we then have no further recourse

In that case you need to get an independent report that proves the fault was not caused by the sand.

Hintza

dmg24 wrote: »

In that case you need to get an independent report that proves the fault was not caused by the sand.

Then the OP can use the link I posted as they are an indepedent Canon repairer.

But my betting will be on either sand or it was dropped. There really is not much to go wrong with these (although it does happen).

shaun_from_Africa

In that case you need to get an independent report that proves the fault was not caused by the sand.

The problem now being that the camera has been disassmbled and the sand presumably removed so even if taken to another repairer, they may not be able to confirm the diagnosis.

I would suggest that you contact both John Lewis and Canon and ask them to supply you with a copy of the repair centre report showing that in their opinion the damage was caused by sand. Tell them that you strongly disagree with this and that you wish to take it further.
You may well find that they decide to repair or replace it without accepting liability.

vyle

westend wrote: »

Hintza, I take your point but I remain dubious that sand was the cause of the fault. It had started to play up before the beach visit, and was in a zipped up bag whilst there. It also doesnt fill me with confidence that they have also previously tried other reasons why they shouldn't follow up the fault - "you must have dropped it" - "you put it in your pocket and this damaged the lens mechanism".... I will ask for more details as Lirin suggests so perhaps that will convince me otherwise.

It seems from this though that the manufacturer can claim that is the negligence of the consumer and we then have no further recourse

Whenever I work at the service desk, if I say to a customer something along the lines of, "this looks like negligence to me, I'll send it to the manufacturer to check, but they may charge," the customer will moan because I've supposedly accused them of something when just giving them a fair warning.

If I DON'T and the manufacturer refuses, the customer still moans.

All the person at the service desk can do is say what it appears to them, so you have an understanding of what the manufacturer will say, but they can be wrong, because they're not going to take it apart. The manufacturer can.