Amazon, Canon & The Failing 40D

After 7 months of getting the Canon 40D and paying a lot of money for it I am still not able to use it.

This story begins in May 2008 as I got the camera as a gift through my Amazon Wishlist. Unfortunately I found out that the camera was not purchased directly from Amazon but from a dubious seller on Amazon. After opening the camera I quickly found out that there was something wrong with the camera. Not only was there an object on the viewfinder that I could not get off by myself but the camera was taking blurry photos. Here is the letter that was sent to Amazon and Canon:

Subject: D B Roth aka “C&A Marketing Inc.”, “d.b.a Barclays Photo”, “Price Rite Photo”, “The Camera Mall”, “Empire Photo”, “Digial Goodys”, “Cameras Gone Wild”, “Brooklyn Army Terminal”“Dear Amazon and Canon Team,

(…) went to the Amazon Wishlist and ordered from there the Canon 40D (…) from what I thought was Amazon at the time, with the Express Shipping option to make sure it will arrive to her birthday. Unfortunately the item arrived seven days later with a shipping fee of $26.94 whereas Amazon’s One Day Shipping fee is $15.99! Not enough it was then as we found out that it was not Amazon who sold the camera but a company named D B Roth. (…) checked the content of the box and found that there was a blemish in the viewfinder. When she and I looked for contact information on the company on Amazon and did not find any we searched the Internet and found that D B Roth is well known for having a bad reputation under several aliases (see subject [Note: D B Roth aka "C&A Marketing Inc.", "d.b.a Barclays Photo", "Price Rite Photo", "The Camera Mall", "Empire Photo", "Digial Goodys", "Cameras Gone Wild", "Brooklyn Army Terminal"]). They don’t list any detailed contact information such as telephone or fax numbers, websites or even an appropriate address, which is even illegal in … Austria. More information about this company can be found here:

http://donwiss.com/pictures/brooklynstores/h0230.htm
“Brooklyn StoreFronts
C&A Marketing Inc., d.b.a Barclays Photo, BarclaysPhoto.com, D B Roth, dbrothonline.com, dbroth.com; formerly: Price Rite Photo, PriceRitePhoto.com, The Camera Mall, TheCameraMall.com, Empire Photo, EmpirePhoto.com, Digial Goodys, DigitalGoodys.com, Cameras Gone Wild, CamerasGoneWild.com
Brooklyn Army Terminal
140 58th Street, Suite 3M, Sunset Park
Chaim Piekarski moved back to this address around the end of 2005, after the Thomas Hawk barrage (“PriceRitePhoto: Abusive Bait and Switch Camera Store” http://thomashawk.com/2005/11/priceritephoto-abusive-bait-and-switch.html). Suite number and pictured building confirmed by security guard. Don’t miss the pictures following. They also use this Manhattan address (http://donwiss.com/pictures/ManhattanStores/h0033.htm) and this Jersey City address ( http://donwiss.com/pictures/OtherStores/h0009.htm). EmpirePhoto.net is their domain, but is not currently in use. See Shedding Some Light (http://sheddingsomelight.com/buy-cameras/list/dealers-priceritefam.html), The New York Times article ( http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/11/nyregion/11cameras.html?pagewanted=all&ei=5090&en=a33afcdb8319e765&ex=1294635600&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss) and also the PC WORLD article ( http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,107855-page,1/article.html) for more detail. Update July 2007: The eBay store CamerasGoneWild ( http://myworld.ebay.com/camerasgonewild/) shows item locations as Monroe, NY, but whose merchandise ships with this return address. They have also registered CamerasGoneWild.net. Update Sept 2007: Their newest name is D B Roth. All connections to Brooklyn are cloaked. The dbrothonline.com is a bit strange, with missing images and out of stocks, but the action is at their Amazon.com site.  ”

We have read about these companies already and we wanted to make sure to never fall for them, as they already stated themselves “… as a “professional photographer” [you] should have known better than to try and buy a camera this way.“. This is why I went to Amazon, a name that we could trust. But as it turns out when you click the button “Add to cart”, Amazon is not the default seller on the list when you want to buy an item. We contacted another camera store in the area where we live to find out what the appropriate procedure for this issue is. They stated that the camera should simply be replaced by the store you bought it from. We were trying to find out if we could do this with D B Roth but we read in shock their policy:

“… our profit margin does not leave us room for accepting returns for opened Electronics.
In some cases, at our own discretion, we do grant RA for opened goods, however an excessive restocking fee of a minimum 25 percent will be charged.
Please note we have to charge that fee as we do not sell open goods and we have to liquidate those items at a great loss.
Return for sealed merchandise are allowed within 7 days of delivery. Please email us @ dbroth.cs@gmail.com to request return authorization. We charge a restocking fee of up to 15% for “sealed merchandise returns” for items delivered within 7 days. However we do not refund any shipping and handling fees.
All of our products are brand new and in original retail packaging with UPC intact. After purchase, we will require the customer to deal directly with the particular manufacturer and their warranty policy. Damaged/DOA/Defective shipments reported within 7 days are immediately replaced free of  charge (subject to stock availability).
After the approval is sent, we will have to receive the item within the next 7 days. No refund/exchange will be made if the package is late. (!!!)
All returns with missing part (including, but not limited to, original manufacturer packing materials) will not be processed until the part is received.
Again, please do not send your return prior to asking for a RA number by emailing us @ dbroth.cs@gmail.com. Return without an RA on the box are refused by our warehouse!
*The following items are not allowed for return/exchange under any circumstances if opened:
Batteries
Battery charger with batteries included
Computer software
Video games
* If possible please include a copy of the order invoice, which can be printed out from buyer’s Amazon account, in the return package.
* We will not be held responsible if the return package is stolen or damaged during delivery.
* All policies above will be strictly followed with no exception. We reserve the right to update the policies above without any prior notice.”

They claim that they do not accept opened electronic goods but the defect of the camera could have only be seen by opening and using it! In addition we definitely do not want to pay a 25 percent charge for a restocking fee. We find it more than strange that we have to ask for authorization and furthermore are bound to make sure that the package is received within 7 days otherwise it is not accepted, although we do not have control over the postal delivery service!!
We are also worried sending the camera but never getting a replacement or getting a defective replacement again. We do not want to get threatened like other buyers before us.
(…) also worried that these people deal with stolen or already damaged goods and securing them with these harsh company policies for attempts to return defected goods.
I feel really sorry for … because all I wanted is to make her happy with a new camera and now she is just worried.

That’s why we want to ask Amazon as well as the Canon Team how we should proceed. We already informed the seller but haven’t gotten a reply yet. But we must admit that we do not want to deal with this company any more.
We want to make sure that Canon as well as Amazon know that D B Roth is putting companies with a good reputation in a bad light. We must admit that we now feel reluctant in buying from Amazon since there are companies reselling items on Amazon that are already known for their bad reputation (Yahoo Shopping and Cnet.com already removed this company from their Topseller lists) and furthermore my wife is not very happy with her camera, not only because it is defective but also because she does not trust where it came from and she wonders if everything is alright with it. We do not want to send it in again and again in for repairs.

Best regards,

…”

Amazons answer:

I’ve forwarded your message to the appropriate department in our company for claiming A-Z  guarantee for this item.

“Thank you for writing to us at Amazon.com.

I’m sorry to learn that the item you received was not as described and I apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused.

I’ve checked your order and found that you purchased “Canon EOS 40D 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)” from DBROTH, one of our registered third-party sellers on Amazon Marketplace.

Amazon Marketplace listings are created by sellers other than Amazon.com.
When you buy an item at Amazon Marketplace, the individual seller processes and ships your order. Hence we are unable to replace the item that are not shipped by Amazon.com.

In a case like this, we do ask that you first contact the seller to explain the situation and to make appropriate arrangements.

Further, we appreciate that you wrote to the seller regarding this situation and I’m sorry that you have not received a reply.

I have submitted an A-to-z Guarantee claim on your behalf for (…).

We do ask that you return the item to the seller if possible.

As you probably know, items purchased from third-party sellers need to be returned directly to the seller and not to Amazon.com. Amazon.com cannot accept returns in the seller’s place.

In this case, you will need to contact the seller directly in order to return it.

Though we are not able to reimburse you beyond the order total, we recognize that there was a cost to you for return shipping.  With that in mind, we would like to offer the additional gesture of a promotional certificate in the amount of $26.94.

This $26.94 the promotional certificate will be automatically added to the your account.

(…)I hope that this solution works for you. Again, please let me apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced as a result of this particular order. The vast majority of orders from third-party sellers are trouble-free, but for the occasional one that doesn’t work out, we are happy to employ the A-to-z Guarantee.

We want everyone who visits Amazon.com Marketplace to have a safe, enjoyable experience.  Not only do participants in transactions review one another, but Amazon.com also provides oversight and will suspend participants who violate our terms of use.  Credit card information is held on Amazon.com’s secure server, and is not shared with Marketplace sellers, ever.

Further, feedback is a great way for you to share your Amazon Merchant or Marketplace ordering experience with other shoppers.  Feedback also offers sellers constructive criticism and gives Amazon.com the ability to track and measure seller performance.  When you leave feedback, you are giving the seller a rating of 1 to 5 stars, with 5 being the best; you may also leave a comment.

To leave feedback on a seller you’ve ordered from, just visit http://www.amazon.com/feedback and log in with the e-mail address and password for your Amazon account. On the next page, you will see a list of orders awaiting your feedback.  Click the button on the right to rate the seller associated with the appropriate order.

Again, I am sorry that this experience has been a disappointment. Even though your purchase was made from one of our third-party sellers, we realize that it may influence your decision to visit our stores again. I hope that this issue is resolved to your satisfaction soon.

Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com.”

The offered A-to-z Guarantee from Amazon was not granted and the camera was not replaced by the seller.

My advice if you buy something from Amazon: Make sure that you get the product from the company that you want to buy it from by selecting the vendor first. Don’t click on the buy button blindly assuming that Amazon is the default seller! Also do a search for the vendor in advance on Google & Co. to make sure that you do not find any dubious stories about this store. Amazon obviously does not check those things.

Canons answer:

“Thank you for contacting Canon product support.  We value you as a Canon customer and appreciate the opportunity to assist you.  We are sorry to hear that your EOS 40D came with a dirty viewfinder.

We have forwarded this information to Canon USA through our Customer Feedback process.  This process allows us to capture important feedback from our valued customers.  As we constantly strive to improve our products and services, your comments are vital to our continued success.

It is possible to have the viewfinder on your EOS 40D cleaned by our Factory Service Center.  For factory service, please forward your digital camera to one of the Factory Service Centers shown below.  When shipping your camera, please be sure to remove the memory card and batteries.  You are not required to send any accessories or manuals when shipping the camera.  Be sure to include your name, street address (no P.O. boxes, please), telephone number, and a letter describing the issue with the product.  If it has been less than one year since the camera was purchased, we ask that you also include proof of warranty in the form of a copy of your sales receipt.

(…)Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance with your EOS 40D.

Thank you for choosing Canon.”

As I got the camera back from the Canon Repair Center I sadly had to find out two things: The camera still did not focus right and the camera came back wrapped into a plastic bag with a rubber band on it. (Note: Canon urges you to wrap the camera good since it does not come up for any transport damage). The original wrapping that the camera came with (anti static pouch and bubble wrap) and I had the camera wrapped in so that the camera was not damaged on transport were discarded by the Canon repair team and upon demanding the original packaging back Canon was only able to send back part of it.

My advice if you deal with Canon’s repair center: Don’t ship the camera in its original package! Although you might think it is the most secure way in not damaging your camera, Canon will send back the camera in a different box with the camera wrapped only in a plastic bag! They throw away the original packaging!

I had the camera sent in the second time and it came back with the repair notice that they adjusted the PCB assembly. After doing some test shots with the 40D and my good old 300D (same lens, settings, object, lightning, position, angle, etc.) I quickly found out that the camera was still not focusing right. I even took it on a day trip to San Francisco in good will to only find out later that all my shots with the 40D came out not in focus. After a search on the web I found out that I was not the only one having this issue with the 40D. L. Jones comment regarding the topic “40D AF problems” in the Amazon Customer Forum just underlines the same problem that I have with the 40D:

“I’ve had my 40D repaired 3 times now for autofocus problems where it jumps focus. Like you even in simple conditions. I’m a wildlife photographer so this is unacceptable. You can’t reschedule that kind of shoot!

Canon service has always been excellent, but in this issue they have kept my camera up to 17 days, claimed a PCB assembly problem, but each time it is not fixed. I realized after extensive, time consuming testing and trips to canon that the PCB assembly [the mother board of the camera] may not be the issue. I used my 20D for the last few weeks because of this, and I had forgotten how clean and consistent the photos were. I also noticed when the teleconverter is on [totally unusable for over a year, which is a horror for wildlife shooting], the 20D works perfectly, the 40D hunts, jumps focus continually [you can really see it in the viewfinder in multiple burst shots], and the photos are totally unusable with the 40D.

Others have discussed this problem in forums, but I think there are reasons why canon is not addressing this problem. For one, it’s possible they have no idea whats going wrong. Obviously since they havn’t fixed it yet. I’ve always been a canon advocate, but now this time consumption, missed photo ops and frustrations and not using my teleconverter for over a year is really getting to me. I may jump to Nikon. (…).“

The camera was sent in a third time and this time the repair team stated:

“…upon close inspection the exact cause could not be identified but it was found that the focus did not operate properly. Electrical adjustments were carried out on the pcb assembly. Other electrical adjustments and inspection and cleaning were carried out”

So I get the same camera back the third time with certain adjustments although they do not know what causes the problem. I wonder how you can do a repair when you do not know what the cause is?

Photography has become more and more a bittersweet hobby for me. Since my laptop broke at first and I could not process my photos any more and I had the problems with my harddrive that kept failing on me and finally the continuous problems with my Canon 40D, that I have not been able to use since I got it, I find myself in the situation that not only my photos kept backing up for over a year now but also that I’m continuously frustrated every time I see something related to photography causing me to stop listening to photography podcasts, reading any related books or magazines, being at photo community sites and shooting less and less photos because of the fact that I can not process, store or even get one photo that is in focus. I must admit, even the thought of thinking of photography or writing this article (that I have avoided for such a long time) hurt.

Update: I got a new laptop and a new harddrive (the harddrive is still as an interim solution). I could start processing photos again (from August 2007), but I am still hesitating to shoot new stuff since the old photos are backed up so much.

1 Kommentar

• By anonym, 2009/01/23 @ 15:25

  Die gleiche Firma vertreibt als ” ElekshopDE ” unter Amazon. Die gleiche Firma ist ” Smart Shop DE GmbH”. Auf keinen Fall kaufen!!!

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