Disposable Economy
Welcome to the disposable economy.
My daughter accidentally dropped my Canon SD200 camera and broke the flash. (The rest of the camera works just fine). So I took it to Canon Canada’s customer service centre, asking for a repair estimate. They just called; $241.50 (presumably $210 + taxes). The camera _new_ is $345 ($300 + tax)! Even if they’re replacing the _entire_ electronics board, there’s still a lens, battery, SD card…
At this point I’m thinking that I’ll buy a new one, and give the (mostly) working one to the kids to play with.
Sheesh!
*Update:* I called Canon this morning, and asked why they wanted so much money. He explained that because I didn’t bring a receipt for the camera, they charged me a general flat rate fee for the repair. I explained that the _reason_ I didn’t bring a receipt was that this is not a warranty repair, and reminded him that Canon should know what the retail prices of their products are :-). Anyway, long story short, he _immediately_ requoted the repair at $70 + tax, much more reasonable…
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Don’t repair it. Repairs have a probability of success p p, 0..1 A broken camera costs $x, average to repair. The true cost of fixing the camera is thus $x * sum(1+(1-p)+(1-(1-p)*p)+ …) which with .5 for p (my experience in these matters) and $240 for $x is 240 * (1+.5+.25+.125 …) = $480. $480 > $345. [There is some variance from how good of a screamer you are when trying to convince them the 2nd and subsequent repairs are related to the first]
At that price, I’m certainly not planning on repairing it! $100 _maybe_; $240? Never!