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Sent a printer in for repairs at Canon Customer Care Centre (C4) a few weeks back. The printer output was a funky pink. I figured that it was the printhead but since we weren’t sure, we decided that it was best for the Canon technician to take a look at it. Incidentally, the printer’s warranty has expired.

We just wanted a diagnosis and a quote on the necessary repairs. Since I had managed to get my digital camera repaired for cheap, we were under the impression that it was a free service on Canon’s part. As it turns out, there’s no such thing as free service. Before you decide to turn in your equipment for an evaluation at Canon, it is important to note that unless your equipment is under warranty, a minimum service fee of RM30.00 is charged regardless of whether you decide to repair the said equipment or not. They don’t tell you this when you drop off your items at the service centre but it is written as a clause on the back of the service receipt that is issued.

So here’s my advice when deciding whether or not to send your equipment for repairs when it is out of warranty.

Consider the type of equipment and how much you purchased it for.

Quite frankly, printers are NOT worth sending in for repairs. Especially if it is a standard bubble jet printer and costs less than RM1000.00. Canon’s marketting strategy is such that they do not make a profit from the printers that they sell. Instead, their profit margin for such peripherals comes from the sale of ink refills. The aim of the printer is to get a market share and customer base. For that purpose, they sell the printers for cheap. This was evident in the estimates that we received for the necessary repairs.

In our case, we had purchased the printer (an S3000) for about RM260.00. As it turns out, my initial guess was correct and the print head was indeed faulty. When they called to ask if we wanted to make the repairs, the quoted cost was RM360.00! The print head was more expensive than the printer itself! And that is discounting the fact that the printer came with a set of print head and ink refills when we first bought it! In other words, it is cheaper to buy a new printer rather than make the repairs.

This again is their marketting strategy. The overinflated repair costs is to encourage their customer base to trade up to a newer printer model. When I declined their offer to make the repairs, they immediately offered to give me a discounted trade in value for a brand new printer. To be frank, I actually find this to be rather distasteful. However, I do understand their position in this matter. The printer market is so competitive that there really isn’t any other approach to it. As I have said, the main profit comes from the recurring sale of ink refills and not the printer itself.

So after turning down the offer of repairs, we still had to dish out RM30.00 for a simple diagnosis. That’s not including the petrol and the time required to drive 50km+ out of the way to get to the service centre in Saujana Resort (near Subang Airport) in traffic, TWICE. The evaluation and the petrol alone costs about a quarter of the printer’s initial cost!

Anyway, if you do decide to send your items in for repair, do not take their first quoted price. Always ask for a discount. Speak to the manager if you have to. When we asked for it, they offered to make the repairs for less than half the initial quote (RM165.00). This lack of standard in terms of repair costs and pricing gives me a bad impression of their service centre. It makes me wonder how many people have been conned into paying an extravagant fee for repairs. Heck, I’m wondering if I was fleeced the last time I paid RM100.00 to repair my digicam.

The next time you have a piece of broken down overpriced paperweight on your hands, do consider the hidden costs before taking the time to drive out to the service centre. Call them first to get an expert opinion. Request to speak to a technician. Describe to them the problem and get an estimated cost of repairs. Ask them to give you a ball park figure as to the minimum and maximum repair costs. Consider whether it is worth the guesstimate cost before physically sending in the equipment for the actual evaluation. Otherwise, you’ll just be wasting your time, effort and money sending it in, only decide not to fix it.