This makes me believe that they'll just carry on selling those camera bodies merrily to unsuspecting customers.
At no point did they make an attempt to investigate the issue (didn't have a clue what exif data means and never asked me for the serial numbers of the camera body I had purchased). They seemed unprofessional in the way they handled the problem at hand and were rather happy to return the camera and save themselves a critical customer. Was a bit disappointed that the customer service at Tronixcomputers was pretty rubbish. At no point had they asked me for the serial numbers to verify with Canon.Ī few days later Canon called me back, confirming that the camera was from Singapore and that the serial number on the body was indeed fake. I was then told by the manager (via a colleague) that they had called Canon and were told that "it's normal that there are 2 or 3 serial numbers on a camera body". The people at the shop didn't seem to take my concern seriously. Eventually I went back to the store to return the camera and save myself the hassle. So I emailed the seller once again, asking him how they would handle warranty with a camera that clearly had a fake sticker on it, probably a wrong serial number on their original purchase receipt/ warranty card. In addition, it wasn't very clear how i would register the camera with my equipment insurance, with those 2 different serial numbers etc. The only issue for me was the warranty offered by the seller and I wanted the reassurance that a faulty camera would be handled professionally. After all, the camera was a few hundred ££'s cheaper than amazon or high street. He wouldn't really engage with me via email but on the phone he told me I shouldn't worry and clearly they had no clue about what I was talking about.Īt this point considered the following: I wasn't surprised that the camera was a grey import and was fine with that. I send him this link of a thread discussing the same issue about fake serial number stickers: They didn't reply to my emails but after plenty of phone calls I got someone on the phone. In the meantime I sent several emails to Tronixcomputers. They couldn't check the serials straight away but promised to call back. They told me that it wasn't a known issue to them (which it clearly was, as plenty of people have dealt with Canon regarding that issue) and that sometimes the serial number in the exif data is inaccurate (which to me sounds like BS). Research on the internet revealed that it was not an unknown issue. Checked the body number in the exif data of a recent test picture from that camera and compared it with the serial number on the sticker and it turned out that they don't match.
Then I checked the serial number sticker and became suspicious. Checked the sensor for dead and stuck pixels: all good as well.
I went to the store to inspect the camera, paid by debit card and took the camera home. They have an ebay shop but also operate from a high street store that sells electronic cigarettes. The store is Tronixcomputers in north London. Because the store had plenty of positive reviews and was located in London, close to me, I decided to purchase from them. I found the aforementioned camera on ebay at a pretty good price. In my opinion people should be aware of what and who they're dealing with to make up their own mind whether to buy from the store or not. After some research I decided to keep my hands off that camera and returned it to the seller. The camera had a fake serial number and the customer service offered by the store that sold me the camera was pretty unprofessional. I've found a Canon 5D Mark III + 24-105mm lens kit on ebay and bought directly from the seller. It's pretty boring stuff for most, but relevant for whoever is considering buying a Canon DSLR. I thought I'd share the experiences I had with a camera purchase as a word of warning for fellow image makers.