ripped off by repair

I'd love to know how the subject went from the canon repair to sexual
assault.. yea im too lazy to read all the comments

How on earth did this happen? Why is there such a terrible
misunderstanding about the reason for needing moderators? And, above
all, why in the world would anyone suddenly be afraid to speak their
mind? Could someone please explain to me what is going on.

I don't understand how this got so blown out of proportion, and for
the life of me, I can't understand how the regular commenters ever got
the impression that they had to walk on eggshells. That's not the way
I understood it at all. I just assumed everyone realized who the new
rules were meant for. Why are you all taking it so personally? If
we're going to fight amongst ourselves, then the trolls have won.
Congratulations.

It's 4:00 a.m., I can't sleep, and after making the mistake of looking
at this letter, I may never sleep again.

...describing a sexual assault is NOT the only appropriate way to use
the word "rape".

Dictionary.com says it can also be used to describe:
* an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation;
violation.
* the act of seizing and carrying off by force.
* to plunder (a place); despoil.
* to seize, take, or carry off by force.
* the residue of grapes, after the juice has been extracted, used as a
filter in making vinegar.
* a plant, Brassica napus, of the mustard family, whose leaves are
used for food for hogs, sheep, etc., and whose seeds yield rape oil.

Not to say it was the best word to use - obviously, it was highly
irritating for the community. It is entirely possible the letter
writer didn't mean to say that the company had sexually assaulted him,
but rather that the company had abused or violated him - which it is
his perogative to believe.

I noticed that Mark apologized for his "poor choice of words" AFTER he
got what he wanted from Canon. I can't help but wonder how Mark would
have reacted if Canon refused to help him.

I also didn't appreciate his comment in the Suggestion Box.

I think Mark's attitude leaves a lot to be desired.

That suggestion I left I will not apologise for, what once was a great
venue for reaching out to executive escalations groups within
corporations has become something less, just my humble opinion.

have a great day.

Well since Mark was nice enough to come back and tell us they didn't
charge him this ONE TIME free... I think we should expect a "Thank
You" note written in a more civil manner to Cannon after dissing them
in such a foul, uncouth manner in a public forum, and causing US to
read it!!

Good job.

Bend over. Let someone forcibly assault you.

Then decide whether you want to use the word "rape" in such a manner
ever again.

I hope your entire post gets deleted by site moderators.

"rape their customers"

Lovely. Absolutely lovely.

Mark, you may be upset, but sexual assault is not the right image for
a business letter, y'know.

Of course, since you were a repair tech, isn't this something you
could do yourself? I'm no camera expert, but a bottle of cleaner, a
soft cloth, maybe a brush... these can be purchased at a camera store
for what, under $10?

Which, of course, backs up your point. But if it was something that
you could do in 10 minutes for less than $10, why even bother with
Canon? Claims of "free" or no, I can't imagine mailing my camera away
if I could just do it myself.

If you were told by someone at Canon the repair would be free then
they will likely take care of it.
Cleanings are normally NEVER free. It's like changing an air filter
in your car or an oil change. Granted the price may be higher, but I
am sure the cleaning is done by a skilled technician, not an oil
change mechanic.
If I recall this cleaning is a requirement on all SLR digital camera,
regardless of the brand...
Sounds like it is general maint to me.

I have to raise a question, if you were a repair tech for them, then
why didn't you just clean it yourself, especially if its that easy and
quick to do, rather then pay to ship it etc... ? Something smells
fishy about your story... Just my thoughts.

As an aside, prices are going up for service because the prices of the
products are going down. When companies make cheap products, quality
companies like Canon, have to compete thus making up for the price
difference somewhere normally in repair. This is industry-wide in the
electronic market.