A good word for Canon service
 

I have had my XM2 for over 3 years, so it is well out of warranty. Like many users I experienced the "Remove Cassette" problem, and worked around it. However, recently that became impossible so I decided to have it repaired. It was sent to Canon UK on Monday and was back in my hands the following Friday. The repair was carried out free of charge as a goodwill gesture, the lady at the service centre told me, when I rang to ask the charge.
Canon also replaced the zoom key assembly.

Talk about a Christmas present. That's really good to hear.

My first "remove the cassette" error
 

Prior to buying my GL2 I did a lot of research and I seen the odd case of the "remove the cassette" error here on this site. But still bought one Feb 16th of last year. Well today It finally happened. After using my canon to do some live recording yesterday (direct to the computer no cassette in it) today I was going to capture some old footage I had. I open the tape bay and hear a strange noise, something didn’t sound right. But I still went and put my cassette in. And now its screweded, royally. "Eject" constantly flashing and "remove the cassette" when It wont even spit the tape back out.

I am sick to my stomach. I found my receipts from B&H and this little "canon limited warranty" card. I don’t know if there’s some other warranty thing I need or not. I’m really too upset to even look for it.

Anyone with this experience can you please tell me what I need to do to get it fixed?

Hi Matthew

Welcome to the "remove the cassette" club here ...

I bought my GL2 back in July of 2006 and last month I got the famous message. Taking the tape out and putting it back in would not work. Putting in a new taoe would not work as well.

I had it sent in to Canon Canada (Toronto) and it came back fixed. They had to replace the tape transport mechanism. luckily I had purchased the extended warranty so I was covered.

I also had the same problem on my XL1. On that one my warranty ran out so I had to pay $600.00 CDN buckaroos!!!!

Canon keeps denying there is anything wrong with their tape transport mechanism. It seems thay are using the same cheap tape transport mechanism on their XL1/XL2/GL1/GL2 lines.

Search for "Eject Tape" or "remove the cassette" in this forum and in the XL1 forum and you will see many users who had experienced this same problem.

The only solution to your problem is to send it in to Canon Canada in Toronto. You may want to first check to see if there is a Canon repair centre in Alberta. If they cannot do the repairs in Alberta, they will send it to Toronto.

At the end of the day, what keeps me staying with Canon is their gorgeous FRAME mode.

good luck

thanks, there's one In Calgary so I can send it off there. I’m just over the 1 year warrantee too but they said they might be able to extend it by 5 weeks. I really hope they do.

How did you ship your camera? I think I’m just putting mine in the original box it seems pretty secure in there don’t think I’ll even bother with bubble wrap. This isn't really any fun. I just hope I get it back.

well I just sent it off. No idea when I'll even get it back. I dont like the Idea of sending off a camera that I really did like up until it broke. And now it has to travel trough the mail, to go to some random tech in some shop. I'll most likely end up waiting a month or 2 before I get it back and have the same problem happen again a few weeks later.

Hi Matthew

I actually brought it to my local Canon office here in Montreal. They took care of the shipping and handling of the camera to Toronto. So I did not have to pay for any shipping and handling. I brought the camera as is (no box) and they just wrapped it up in some plastic covering and they sent it off.

These are the parts that were replaced on my XL1:

DY1-8030 Recorder Unit, DMC
DA1-8534 Cushion Stand.

Total cost for everything was $600.00.

This was repaired back in Septembre of 2004. The same problem came back in the summer of 2006. Back it went to Canon and they had to replace the DY1-8030 piece again. This time they only charged $400.00 (Labour only).

For both time, it took about 2 weeks before I got the camera back.

Oh by the way, the first time it came back,the camera could only operate in easy easy mode so back it went ...

I think I have a "Friday" model ...

Regards

I had the same issue with my Elura 2... 3 years out of warranty and they fixed it for free...

My HV10 also stopped playing back footage, sent it off and got it a week later working flawlessly.

I think canon has awesome customer service when it comes to their video cameras...

I am sorry for your difficulty. I found your original purchase, dated 02/13/06. If you need another copy of your invoice, email me.

What? HV10 has also this problem??
Nooooooo!

Haha no, I was filming in the pouring rain, and it got in through the microphone I assume and did something with the playback... it would simply not playback, you hit play and nothing would happen.

I sent it to canon and got it back in a week working perfectly... been filming non-stop ever since then and gotten 15-20 hours worth of footage to play with... :)

I'm also in the club, but once I remove the tape the camera works fine. What I gather from reading the other "eject tape" threads is that the problem seems to reoccur. Rather than sending it to Canon and spending a load of money, I'm thinking of taking the money and putting it towards one of the DTE hard drive recorders. There is a thread on the FS-4 that works for alot of people.

Well the 15th, according to Canada Post Canon got my camera. A couple days ago I phoned to try to get an Idea of when I could expect it back. The service rep on the other line told me it can take up to 4 days before any information gets entered into the computer. Whatever no big deal, I told him I'd phone back Monday. Today I get a parcel, and guess what. Its my GL2. They shipped it back on the 21st. Even though I was just outside the 1 year warrantee they fixed it free of charge. the cause - defective parts. the part - DYI-8264-000 Recorder Unit DMC II. (can anyone tell me more about this part or its value?)

I gotta say, although I am still very upset for having this occur in the first place. My hats off to Canon for an ultra quick turn around time and doing the repair and general clean/check for free. It was better than I hoped for.

Having said that I still haven’t turned on my camera... I'm too scared I'll brake it. ;)

I can't believe the differences in what has been charged for the same "eject tape" problem, $600! I had it and limped by for a time using the alcohol trick mentioned here on this site. It finally came back worse than ever so I sent it to NJ repair center. Had it back in a week and was only charged $35.

GL2 Stuck Cassette Carriage
 

Hi everyone,

I have a GL2 and the MiniDV tape loading mechanism is stuck open. I got the "eject cassette" message, so I opened the cassette compartment to remove the cassette. After opening the tape compartment to remove the MiniDV tape, the carriage mechanism automatically retracted with the tape carriage cover still open. Now the tape carriage cover and the compartment door are stuck open because the tape holder has retracted. The tape loading mechanism refuses to come back out even after powering on/off.

I am using this camera for a school project and I don't have another camera to use, so I was wondering if there's anyway to fix this problem?

*edit*I have posted uploaded some pictures of the camera onto ImageShack: http://img299.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img1187sg4.jpg
http://img145.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img1188zd1.jpg

Thanks!
Chuck