Royal Camera Service

Great service here. My camera had water damage and I decided to give this shop a try. Packed my camera, paid the inspection fee, put in the problem description slip and mailed it out. 4 – 5 days later I got a I call from the shop explaining what it would cost to fix.
It was cheaper than what Canon is charging. I gave the go-​ahead and about a week later I had the camera back, all in working order and cleaned.
That was more than a year ago. Recently I met someone who has some equipment needing repair so I dug this place up to recommend it. Nearly 9000 shots later the camera works great.

Drove over an hour dropping off a dvd for them to fix, for which they said shouldn’t be a problem. Paid $ 278 and was told it should take 6 – 8 weeks. That was beginning of November 2014. After three months, beginning of February 2015, no calls or email with any progress, I called them acquiring about my player and someone gave me some really bad attitude as if I was really bothering them and told me that they will call me when it was ready!
The end of march, planning on moving to LA, I called them and left a message asking them to have it shipped when fixed to california and they called me back following day said they can not fix and to pick it up for refund.

Had the brand new DMD chip go bad less than three months after picking it up from Royal Camera Service. That was within the warranty period, so I brought it back in and they had it fixed (again) in only a couple days. Been over five months since without any further issues. Their customer service and efficiency are impressive. I do wonder about the quality of replacement parts they use, but I’m hoping that last DMD chip was just a rare defective new unit (lower price means more lax quality control, so that’s the trade-​off).

I use my Sony professional camcorder for my business. The audio was dropping out on my recordings so, because they offered a free diagnosis, I took it to Royal Camera. Because I have been in the video business for nearly 20 years, and have used a variety of professional grade camcorders, I am aware of the signs of a recording head gone bad. Royal assured me that, albeit the heads have 2000+ hours on them, «the recording heads are still in good shape», and charged $ 400+ for a cleaning of the workings within the chassis.
Within 1 week of recordings the audio was again dropping out of the final product. They offered to order the replacement parts and «fix» my camera, but it would take more than a week to complete the job. I said no, and took it to another shop my colleagues use here in Chicago. Royal’s saving grace is that, after some argument they refunded the $ 400+ I spent (not including travel and rental $$ for other equipment) for their bad job.

I sent in a digital video camera for repair estimate. Turns out I had the wrong charger and that’s why it wasn’t working. Technician explained issue, charged up my battery, and sent me back camera for just shipping cost — I had sent it in during a free repair estimate promotion. Thanks for the honesty and quick answer. Now I need to find the right charger. Technician also suggested where I could get reasonable charger if I couldn’t find my original.