EDIT
I just found out Canon gave me the $1000 after all. It was applied to the lease.
Thanks Canon for being a stand up company.
I received my Canon C300 camera on September 27th. Love it! The low light shots are just unbelievable.
BUT…..
I moved quick with my decision to buy this camera because the 0% interest lease offer that was due to expire within the week. Then a few days later I see Canon extended the offer and “wait there’s more” now you also get $1000 off??
So I’ve been in contact with the company I bought the C300 from. They tell me they are in contact with Canon because other people are also feeling cheated out of this $1000.00 rebate offer.
The way they handled the 0% interest lease deadline is also in question. I mean why put an end to the lease if you knew you were going to extend it, unless you wanted people to jump on the band wagon for the first lease knowing you were going to offer a rebate with the extension. We can certainly hope this is not the case, but at best this is poor judgment on the part of Canon’s marketing folks.
Needless to say I am very disappointed, and will pursue this until satisfied.
FYI on the lease! Never having entered into a lease before, I thought it was just like any other 0% interest loan. The initial application given to me by Sammy’s Camera had no fine print on it. It was not until Canon had all the needed info that they sent us a document with details on it. And remember I was trying to rush and get this done, because the offer was about to expire.
Things to know:
1) You will most likely have to pay taxes on the camera depending on how your state handles out of state sales tax. (So that added $1,200.00 to the price of the camera.)
2) You will have to insure the amount of the lease. We did not know this going in, so we added an extra $600.00 to the amount for other items we needed. So now there is an additional $28.45 per month added to the amount for this camera. Canon’s Insurance department make insuring the camera through your own insurance company complicated at best. Remember you are insuring the lease, not just the camera. So you are insuring the taxes and any other stuff you put on the lease.
3) Canon’s Financial Services is very limiting and strict with their payment terms. It is their way or no way. You would have to be a lawyer to understand how things are handled if you want to try and pay extra on the lease every month, or paying it off early. Remember the longer you pay on the lease the longer they can collect the insurance money and associated fees.
4) Only talk to the right people at the Financial Services office. The first guy we talked to chuckled (as if what a silly question) when I asked if there would be any problem paying off the lease early. And, I was also initially told that the cost would only be $18.00/mon to insure the camera…well not so much.
I still love my C300. I just want to be treated fairly. At this time I feel taken advantage of. I hate that feeling.