Canon Camera Service Centers in Chennai - Scarce & Costly !

I have been owning a Canon Powershot A630 for nearly 4 years, now. Recently, the camera needed a service. The lens door wasn't closing or opening properly. I started looking for service centers in Chennai. I took the camera for service to a 'mom & pop' service center in Parson Complex (near Gemini Flyover). The shop was called V.V Camera Clinic. It looked very much like a 'watch repair shop' that you see on the road sides. After seeing the camera, he said, he'll charge Rs.950 for the repair. I was completely thrown away when I heard the price. I asked him - "Are you going to replace th entire lens". He said, "No sir! I'm going to just fix the lens door". I asked him "Can you just remove the lens door for me? Technically, I don't need a lens door as I'm keeping the camera away from dust all the times". He said "No sir ! It isn't possible". I was hesitant to leave my costly(!) camera there for service. I decided to check with a proper "Canon Camera Service Center" in Chennai. (Also read: Goods in US market - lots of options & cheaper prices)

One of my friends told that there is a Canon Service Center opposite to HCL Technologies, in Vadapalani. I took the camera there and came to know that the Service Center is taking care of only printer repairs, these days (They used to service cameras before). It looks like they've consolidated all the Canon Camera/Camcorder repair services to one location in Chennai.

The Canon Camera Service Center is located in Mylapore - right opposite to Thirumayilai MRTS/Railway Station. It is a busy area with buses flying left and right. and I had to park my two wheeler on the road near-by. The service center itself is a small shop and had neat interiors. There were atleast 3 people waiting before me. There was a board in the shop displaying the rates for various services. The minimum charge for any service is Rs.827 (Rs.750 + tax). They do a pre-inspection and will tell you "how much it would take to service the Canon camera". They'll give you a ball park estimate. After inspection, they'll tell you the exact amount for the service. If you think, you don't want to do the service, you can get the camera back. However, they charge Rs.200/- for inspection.

One of the service reps did a pre-inspection and told me that it would take Rs.950 for the service :-) [Thats when I realized why the "mom & pop" guy asked for Rs.950]. I asked the service rep "Why does it cost so much to just replace a small lens door?". He said "Sir ! Any time we open a camera for repair, we charge Rs.827. Charges for the parts will be extra". I thought "Hmm ! These guys are getting more than what I get paid for an hour of job". I didn't have much option. I decided to leave the camera there for service. They called me in an hour and asked me to collect the camera back. I couldn't go on the same day and collected the camera on the following day.

It costed me $20 to get a small lens door replaced, in Chennai. Of course, the same job would cost more in US. But, $20 still looked high for Indian standards. Considering the fact that many guys own Canon Camera/Camcorders here, having only one service center for Cameras/Camcorders was still surprising to me. Not sure if there are many mom & pop guys who are stealing "service" business from Canon. Or, the Canon cameras may not be getting faulty often :) Anyways, it was an interesting experience to me. Just thought of sharing the experience with others.

Here is the address for the Canon Authorized Service Center in Chennai. NO. 7 RK MUTT ROAD, 1ST FLOOR, MYLAPORE, CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, Pin : 600028, Tel : 044-42101331/64602423. You can look at Canon India website for the latest details.

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