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"Factory Refurbished" vs "Canon USA Refurbished"

John Craig

New member
I was wondering if anyone has experience or insight with respect to these 2 evidently different "refurbished" canon types of products. From what I can tell there are "factory refurbished" and there are "refurbished by Canon USA" products available. The "factory" refurbs seem to qualify for an actual Canon 90-day warranty, yet the "USA" refurbs only get store warranty?

Are both types of refurbs made to similar specification? Do both types get packaged and sold in the "white" refurbished boxes? There doesn't seem to be anything on the Canon website about refurbs, or even who are "authorized sellers" of refurbs would be. Do "refurbished" bodies have their own Canon SKU numbers that we can search by if comparison shopping?

Also would be interested if anyone knows the 'typical' chain of custody for a camera to get into a 'refurbished' box (factory and/or Canon USA) and sold as such?
 

Will Thompson

Well-known member
I have 2 friends that own 2 different Canon authorized camera stores and have only heard of store only warranty.

I will ask them tomorrow what the difference is and if they both exist.
 

John Craig

New member
FYI.. here's a quick link to one such "Canon USA" warranteed 1ds.. see the "item includes" section.

http://www.adorama.com/ICA1DSR.html

I should I guess also point out that in the UK you can also buy cameras at the "Canon Outlet" which is apparently (?) a direct-from canon marketplace of refurbished cameras.. and all the cameras there have a 1-year Warranty.. WOULD LOVE to the see the same thing from Canon in the US.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Canon-Outlet
 

Will Thompson

Well-known member
No Canon USA refurbished sold in the USA!

Per my Canon contacts, dealers and such there are no canon refurbished camera bodies sold in the USA! All refurbished units are gray market and are imported by the dealer and have a 90 day factory warranty.
 

Nill Toulme

New member
When my little S400 died I sent it in to Canon and they offered me a swap to a refurb S500 for an upcharge (mine was well out of warranty). As I recall it was a Canon factory refurb and carried a 90-day warranty.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net
 

John Craig

New member
Per my Canon contacts, dealers and such there are no canon refurbished camera bodies sold in the USA! All refurbished units are gray market and are imported by the dealer and have a 90 day factory warranty.

Obviously this is either wrong.. or resellers such as Adorama (although B&H has had these I think in the past also) are misrepresenting their products. Gray market implies imported, yet descriptions are for product "refurbished by Canon USA".. which doesn't make sense if they're gray market.

Example: do a google of the following Canon part number: 0296B036AA and I think you'll find this is an actual Canon part number for a refurbished "by Canon USA" Eos 5D. The regular "new" 5D part number seems to be 0296B002.
 
This is not my area of expertise, so I'm researching it with our Sales group. Please be patient.

Best Regards,

Chuck Westfall
Director/Media & Customer Relationship
Camera Marketing Group/Canon U.S.A., Inc.
 

John Craig

New member
Thank you, Chuck.

I think what would be of particular interest is in knowing if there is any set of minimum qualifications a "refurbished" body must meet in order to qualify to be packaged and sold as such in the "refurbished" (special white) boxes, eg... things like:

1) No more than XX number of shutter actuations
2) Free (or limited amount) of cosmetic imperfections
3) X, Y and Z testing has been performed to ensure meets A, B, and C mimimum requirements in overall performance...
4) Provence of camera is known and accounted for.

... that kinda thing. Again, thanks for any heads-up or further info you can throw our way!
 

John Craig

New member
Just some further confusion on the refurbished market for Canon products. I received the following email response from CITS at Canon with respect to an equiry:

"Question:
>>I have seen at various online vendors, the selling of Canon digital
>SLRs
>>labelled as "refurbished by Canon USA".
>>
>> Can you please advise of whether these are legitimate products, and
>>whether or not these products come with any warranty from Canon USA? I
>
>>cannot find anything on the Canon USA website detailing what's involved
>
>>with their 'refurbishing' of cameras.
>>
>>Also, I was wondering if you could tell me what the usual source of
>>these refurbished cameras is -- whether these are demos from trade
>>shows, or returns from prior owners etc.., and/or whether there is any
>>specific criteria by which a 'used' camera qualifies for Canon USA
>>refurbishing?
>>
>>Thank you,"

response:

" >>From: Canon Support <CareCenter@cits.canon.com>
>>Date: 2007/03/22 Thu PM 06:59:52 CDT
>>To: XXX
>>Subject: Re: Product Information (KMM7062390V7953L0KM)
>
>>Dear John:
>>
>>Thank you for your interest in Canon cameras.
>>
>>We do not sell refurbished cameras to the public or to dealers. We do
>>not warranty refurbished cameras, as they were not refurbished by us.
>>The cameras were likely repaired or refurbished by a third party repair
>
>>company.
<excerpted unrelated info>

>>Sincerely,
>>
>>Erik
>>Technical Support Representative



Of course then of course I pointed them to links to such products, available at their authorized retailers:

">Thank you for your response. However, what you are saying seems to be
>contradicted by what's available at one of your well known authorized
>retailers. These products are in fact sold, and packaged in White
>"Canon" boxes with the word "refurbished" actually printed on the carton
>packaging. So I guess I remain confused."
>
http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?op=itemlist&cat1=Refurbished&cat2=Digital SLR Cameras

Their response brings some more confusion as the implication is that these cameras could or should (?) come with a 6-month warranty?:

">Dear John Craig:
>
>Thank you for your reply.
>
>If the camera is packaged and sold as refurbished, then this model will
>generally have a 6 month Warranty. I have not seen may retailers
>carrying the white refurbished box, although this is the Genuine Canon
>packaging that you are describing for refurbished products. Regrettably
>the source of these cameras is not released, as they all have the same
>Warranty.
>
>We hope this information is helpful to you. Please let us know if we
>can be of any further assistance.
>
>Thank you for choosing Canon.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Tim
>Technical Support Representative"
 

Ron Caswell

New member
m2n referb

My first post in the forums :), I'm interested in what Chuck Westfall finds out because I just bought a referb 1Dm2n from Normans Camera and was told that there is no canon warranty only a store return up to 14 days and I had the option for 90 dollars to buy a 3 year mack warranty which I did. Camera looks like brand new and works great, Had 41 clicks on it. Ron
 

John Craig

New member
My first post in the forums :), I'm interested in what Chuck Westfall finds out because I just bought a referb 1Dm2n from Normans Camera and was told that there is no canon warranty only a store return up to 14 days and I had the option for 90 dollars to buy a 3 year mack warranty which I did. Camera looks like brand new and works great, Had 41 clicks on it. Ron

FYI.. I'd imagine that "refurbishing" would include a reset somehow of how many "clicks" the camera had over its lifetime. The 41 qty is probably from date of being refurbished (wish we new exactly what this meant).
 

Ralph Wagner

New member
I have purchased three Canon 'refurbished' items (2 lenses, 1 camera body) and have found them to be as good as new units. I do know of a Canon refurbished center in Illinois. The link below gives you some info about this facility. I do like the fact that Canon is active in hiring persons with disabilities. The site link:

http://www.avenuestoindependence.org/canon.html


Ralph
 
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