# From bad to worse to Outstanding Customer Service



## Eddie_2001 (Aug 9, 2011)

I recently bought a Vixia HF S30 camcorder and when I went to register it in my Canon Account it would not show the links to the Image Gateway or the Benefits pages, even though the HF S30 is one of the camcorders that qualifies for these benefits. I called the number for customer service, and the first couple of reps that answered (rather quickly) had no clue as to why the Image Gateway feature did not work for me. One person said they would reset my password and they did, but still no joy on the Gateway site. 

I called back and then someone said that the user name had to be all cap letters (which is not true) and that should try again. I did, but I still could not get into the Gateway site. So I called back again (for the 5th time) and they said they would fix it and call me back. Of course, they never did. By this time I was getting rather frustrated with all of these runarounds.

I thought I will make one more attempt to see what was wrong, and this time I got connected to a guy named Dwight, and he actually stuck with me for over 2 1/2 hours (!!) on the phone while we deleted accounts, re-registered the camcorder, deleted it and re-registered it a couple of more times (I think I got 7 emails from Canon thanking me for registering the camcorder), then we tried Internet Explorer instead of my usual Firefox, and on and on. Nothing worked until I let him log into my account with my password (and with mine and his supervisor's permission of course) and then he could see for himself that my Canon Account Home Page did not have these links to the Benefits page and to the Gateway page. He then deleted everything and started over, and it still would not work...but at least we knew by then it was not my computer or firewall issues, browser problems, etc. For whatever reason the Canon websites would not recognize the HF S30 as a camera that allowed access to the Gateway, even though it was on the list of qualifying cameras.

I then suggested he add another camera to my equipment list that he knew would work, so he added a PowerShot of some sort to my registered list, and wow...right away I got an email thanking me for registering the PowerShot and another email saying that I could now access the Gateway, which I had never received before. I logged on without any problems and even more interesting is that once I was on the Image Gateway home page it showed the Vixia HF S30 as the main camera!! 

Obviously Canon's IT people need to figure this one out....

Bottom line is that he saved a long time Canon user (I bought my first Canon product - an AE1 - in 1976) from going to the Dark Side (Nikon or Sony) for my first DSLR. This kind of customer service is very rare in my experience, and I thought it would be worth mentioning - so often we only hear the bad things about CSR's. I used to be one myself before retiring so I know what it like on the other end of the phone.

Ted


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## Edwin Herdman (Aug 13, 2011)

Hey Eddie (I'm also Eddie),

I know this thread is a few days old but I wanted to thank you for the tale.


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## Eagle Eye (Aug 20, 2011)

I'll use this opportunity to plug Canon Professional Services (CPS). My experience with them has been exceptional. Their support personnel are very knowledgeable and responsive, they have a rapid turn-around time, and they'll do what they can to save you money. My first experience was when I lost a 24-70mm f/2.8L and a 70-200mm f/4L out of the back of my car while moving (loooong story). In short, $200 bucks later got me completely restored lens quality, even if they looked like that had been to Iraq and back. The turnaround was about two weeks. The lowest level is FREE annually, and they'll send you a few things for signing up. If you have the gear to qualify, I HIGHLY recommend enrolling.


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## Edwin Herdman (Aug 23, 2011)

My only problem with CPS is...I need a pro body to qualify. I have two lenses in the qualifying list so I think I'm good in that department already.



Of course, I haven't needed it since the camera itself is pretty rugged (and both qualifying lenses are manual focus so unlikely to need much help either). Hooray!


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## Eddie_2001 (Aug 23, 2011)

Looking at the requirements for the Pro Service one must also be a professional photographer in addition to having the required equipment! While I have had a few photos published in a few magazines and books (and even the front cover of 2 hard cover books) I certainly do not make a living at photography. If and when I go to the EOS system, I only plan on getting 2 lenses and 2 bodies, not the 3 lenses they require.

Oh well....

Ted


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## Edwin Herdman (Aug 23, 2011)

You're right - I forgot about that requirement too.


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