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

I dunno about the eggshells thing, but I think people are confused.
We're told we must be respectful of others, and that's fine-of course
we should. But then we have Mr. Helpful and the mods basically making
fun of a member who chose to leave. To me that is unprofessional.
We're told to respect the mods and when we are told a topic or line of
conversation is inappropriate and asked to move on, that's fine, again
it's the respect thing. Then Beth shows up and basically says I don't
care that people were upset by the word or that a mod asked that we
move on. I am the admin and I'll talk about whatever I want. I found
that disrespectful. I think people feel they are getting mixed
messages and are confused about it. That's just my 2 cents however.
I'll throw another 2 cents in before I stop and say I am very
offended by people that use the r-word in their letters. It's
inappropriate and offensive, and even if it wasn't so upsetting, it's
no more appropriate in a business letter than any of the common swear
words. I was raped 12 years ago, in my own home by someone who up
until then was a friend of mine. No one, and I mean no one knows how
that feels unless they've been through it themselves. To use it in any
other way than to describe the act it is, diminishes the feelings of
us survivors. Such a word should never ever become an accepted "figure
of speech"

I've said all I needed to. I am going to copy this post into my blog
in case anyone would like to comment.

You have put words in my mouth. Many words, and many implied meanings
that I NEVER implied.

At absolutely *no time* did I EVER say I didn't care if people were
upset by the word rape. I said that Erik asked to have it changed,
with the permission of the letter writer, because it was upsetting
people. And that then getting upset about it being changed to
something less offensive was silly, and that especially choosing to
leave the site without ever bothering to try to discuss the issues at
hand with a moderator or admin who was involved was patently
ridiculous. And I do stand by that.

What I *also* said was that the word rape is a word commonly used in
the English language to mean things other than sexual assault. Yes,
it is the word we use to describe sexual assault. No, that is NOT the
only way to use it. I *also* noted that I was not saying that it was
necessarily the best choice of words for the original poster to use,
only that I didn't think he meant to imply what he was being accused
of implying - that his experience with the company was equal to a man
or woman who has been sexually assaulted. That was not the meaning of
the word in the context in which he used it.

As I said before and I guess I will have to say again, I have also
been raped. That does not give me personal ownership of the word, and
it does not mean that any person who ever uses it is recreating the
violence I lived through. I assure you that hearing that someone was
raped by a company in no way compares to the experience I had, and if
that had been the extent of the horror I experienced, I would have
considered myself lucky to live through it every single day. I can
not demand that they change the name of the seed known as a rape seed,
I cannot demand that people stop referring to the pilaging of villages
or museums as "raping". The word is seperate from the act, and just
like the word "jumped", has many different meanings. It's not a
"figure of speech". It's a definition listed in Webster's. Check it
out.

As for disrespectful, I am terribly sorry you feel that way. I read
comments on this site every day that I think are disrespectful. I
choose to ignore most of them, as long as they are within the
commenting guidelines for the site. I feel is it disrespectful when
people accuse me and my team of being corrupt dictators, bent on
censoring and silencing anyone who gets in our way. I also feel that
just as it is your right to accuse me of it, it is my right to respond
to it, and that's what I did.

Since there still remains some confusion on what the guidelines are
and what would or would not cause trouble, as you yourself point out,
let me reiterate. Don't cuss. Don't call names. Don't make
insinuations about people's lack of intelligence. And don't threaten
their lives, well being, etc. I just don't think those guidelines are
all that confusing, to be honest? Stay within them, and you're fine.


Which is why, as painful as I consider your comment personally, I
would never consider taking it down. Which is how I can say with an
absolutely clear conscience that I am not an overzealous, censoring
dictator.

...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.

As everyone already knows, the title of this letter got changed. We
apologize for having to do that, but certain words are just a bit too
loaded to be thrown around casually, even if written in a moment of
anger.

What we didn't want to do, though, was delete this letter entirely.
Other than the unfortunate choice in words, the rest of the complaint
is legitimate, and I'm happy to hear that it was resolved. It is also
commendable that Mark apologized for the term that he used. I have no
doubt that he regretted his choice in words.

However, I don't want anyone to think that those of who were angered
by the title to think that you weren't justified in being upset. You
certainly were. Jeffrey has a very good blog entry that he wrote about
the usage of the word "rape" in complaint letters. I agree with him
completely. As bad as any consumer complaint may be, it is still not
anywhere near comparable to being raped. A rape is a despicable,
heinous crime that most people can only hope to never have to
experience in their lifetime. It is not poor customer service.

So I apologize to Mark if some of the comments here were upsetting to
him, but I still feel that those who made them had a right to do so.
But what's been said has already been said on the subject, so I would
appreciate if any further comments on this letter be about Mark's
complaint, and not about the "rape" usage. As far as I'm concerned,
that issue has been dealt with already.

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.