OK, I’m annoyed. No, scratch that – I’m fucking livid.
After some nice experiences with Jessops over the past couple of years, they’ve done something that’s really irked me: they’ve sat on my repair job without sending it off.
Let’s backtrack: my Canon EOS 5D Mark II (list price over £2300) developed a small rash of measles on the CCD – dead pixels which would come up as red blobs indicating early CCD failure. Any photos which came out had to be manually retouched (including a lot of the ones from Pride London 2009), a completely unacceptable situation. I’d previously written about Jessops in both Leeds and Wakefield being excellent so let me be clear here, I’m not laying this at the door of the shops themselves.
I took the unit to the Wakefield branch of Jessops which (in my opinion) has a competent manager and isn’t so busy that they rush you along. Quite aside from the computer being a bit odd and linking the serial number to a Canon EOS 30D (!) they managed to book it in and said the courier would pick it up same day.
That was about a week and a half ago (10th July). I’ve started getting anxious for an update since I’m off on holiday next week and wanted to spend a good while getting to know the camera in bright conditions. I dug around on Jessops’ site for a link to repair updates: nothing there, no help at all – and the helpline I did phone said ‘call Canon on 0844 369 0100 and choose option 1’. So I did.
After sitting through what seemed like eons of ‘you must call xxx if you have yyy’ and other prerecorded messages I finally got through to a polite lady who took the serial number of the camera body, and then said she couldn’t tell me anything because of ‘data protection’. Right. Finally through a two-step comprising me telling her bits about what it was in for and stuff (and that it had been booked through Jessops) she let slip it hadn’t arrived at Canon until 20th July, it was in ‘the queue’ and the average wait time was 5-7 working days.
So, just to clarify: Jessops didn’t forward my 5 month-old camera body to Canon for almost 10 days.
(Sidenote: Jessops shouldn’t have told me to phone the Canon service centre apparently; “They know they’re not meant to do that.” said Polite Lady.)
I’m not optimistic of receiving the unit back before I go on holiday on 29th July. Indeed, aside from having to go back to the 30D I’m steeling myself for either a dash back up North on the Thursday, or getting a friend to courier the body out to Montpellier if it comes back in time (which might be a silly idea anyway, we’ll have to see).
To say I’m pissed off is an understatement. More as it unfolds.
July 29, 2009 at 2:30 pm
I have experienced something similar with them. I too had this measles 🙂 issue with what was at the time my 3 month old Sony A300 camera. It currently away for ‘repair’ with Jessops now for the third time for the same issue. On this third occasion, my camera sat in a draw in a West Midlands branch for 3 weeks before it was sent off! I found out when my wife kindly decided to give Jessops a call on my behalf to get an update on its ‘repair’ progress. Including the time that the camera has been sat in a draw, I have been without the camera for 7 weeks. Prior to that, I initially wrote an email to Jessops explaining the issue that I was having with the camera and wrote to Sony. Sony didn’t bother responding and Jessops wrote back to me advising me to contact Canon regarding my Sony camera. Eh.?! Contact Canon regarding my Sony? On the first occasion that the camera was sent away, it came back to the store in approximately 3 weeks, but came back with a report stating “AFTER EXTENSIVE TESTING NO FAULT FOUND”. I was absolutely boiling inside! I left the camera at the store and went home to get some sample pictures which had the measles effect of the red spots. I showed the store staff and they sent it away again with the photographic evidence. Again about three weeks later it came back to the store, this time with a repair note stating that the CCD had been changed. Great! I thought. It’s taken 6-7 weeks but my camera is now sorted. I went out to a local park with my son to shoot some images I needed to produce a website. When I got home and looked at the images..that’s right! Same problem! My camera still had the measles.
I sighed. I took the camera back. Told them that I am not happy and that I wanted a replacement.
They gave no replacement and its now away for repair again. Would I buy a camera from Jessops again? For someone I don’t like maybe. I have contacted trading standards and was told that if the camera is not repaired after the third attempt then then they can fight in my corner to obtain a replacement in Jessops are unwilling to provide one.
The service has been despicable! From being advised to contact Canon regarding my Sony Camera, to having the insult and time waste of having the camera sent back with a note stating that after extensive lol extensive testing by their high standard repair centre no fault had been found. Then having it sent away again and having the CCD changed without the issue being resolved.. to having it sit in a draw for 3 weeks and then now still waiting for its repair and return is sick!!!
No fault found??? !!! Why replace the sensor? Why wasn’t it replaced the first time around? If your extensive testing was of any credible good at all, why did I have to provide pictures of the fault… TWICE!! Jessops lol. Advise people you hate to go there. A total of over 3 months without my camera, close approaching 4 months.1 third of a year!
What have I learned?
1. Don’t shop at Jessops EVER again.
2. If you want a decent camera from a company who care and can give a moneys about good service and repair turn around time then go for a Nikon or Canon camera. Two emails to Sony. No responses back.