Faulty Canon EOS80D body.
I ordered a used canon EOS80D body from Park Cameras. When it arrived I set about testing it and found I could not get the autofocus to work in certain modes despite resetting it back to the factory default settings and also trying a few other things suggested during my search through Google. I contacted customer services and was talked through a few different possible fixes but none of them worked and so they agreed to take it back. Two weeks later I saw they had another one for sale and so ordered it. It turned out to be the same camera body with the same problem. I did not have time to get yet another one before my holiday and so again resorted to Google in the hopes I could fix the problem myself. After more than two hours of working my way through various help forums and YouTube videos I was eventually able to fix it. Even though I had managed to fix the problem I still contacted customer services and explained that I had been sent the same camera body with the same problem. They told me this was completely unacceptable and that an investigation into how this could have happened would be conducted and that I would receive a report as to their findings. Having heard nothing from them after several days I chased them up for the report but the only response I received was a request for instructions on to how to correct the problem in case they came across it again.
According to Park Camera’s website customers can:
"Buy with complete confidence and peace of mind, as our equipment is quality-checked prior to listing, having undergone comprehensive testing, cleaning, as well as a sensor check on all second-hand cameras”.
Unless checking the camera will actually focus is outside the scope of their “….. comprehensive testing” then this is clearly untrue. The fact that they sent it out once with this problem is bad enough but to send it out a second time with the same problem, even after I reported it to them, is an absolute disgrace. Also, I never received the promised report, probably because they could not not come up with a valid reason to explain what happened other than shear incompetence. If I was being cynical I might be tempted to believe they take the view that it is more cost effective to replace any faulty equipment rather than testing every piece, relying on the fact that the majority of photographers look after their equipment.
I certainly will not buy anything from them again.
The reason I waited so long before leaving this review is because the camera body was under warranty and I was concerned that if I left a poor review during the warranty period any claim might be looked upon less than favourably.
September 17, 2023
Unprompted review