Ok this is a rant... after coming off the phone with Canon this my last resort and spleen vent.
After always buying Nikon we recently switched allegiances and bought a Canon IXUS-80 from Kmart in Helensvale for the birth of my 2nd child - it was about $250. After about a couple of months the lens decided to jam. My wife did a search on the net and this is one of the most common problems experienced with this camera - tried all the suggested solutions with no luck. Anyway - we thought "No problem" let's just take it back to Kmart and get a new one... I have always been very impressed with Kmart's no-fuss exchange policy and is probably the number 1 reason I shop at stores like this.
Anyway - for the first time ever, Kmart actually sent the thing away for repair... and we have been waiting several weeks for it now and my wife has been pulling her hair out as she has no camera to take pictures of my daughter. The camera just came back from Canon saying there was "Foreign Body" inside the camera and that we had to pay $200 to get it repaired OR $50 quotation fee to get it back!!
I phoned Canon - apparently there was sand in the camera (why didn't they say that on the quote???) and warranty is invalid. I don't know how there is sand in there - the camera was only at the hospital and home, but meh. She also adamantly denied that they charge $50 quotation fee but it's right there on the piece of paper....
Anyway - not very helpful, and they aren't budging - so all I can now do is buy another (not canon) camera from a store other than Kmart. Shame - the camera was pretty good until this - but I gather from the net there are a lot of problems with this camera lens and if Canon is like this with warranty, then buyer beware!
