It's just over a year old, and is now not covered by warranty, so of course it went tits up today. I turned it on, and the lens extended halfway and began grinding and shaking. I'm PRETTY sure that's bad.

The website said the nearest repair shop for my type of camera (PowerShot SD550 Elph) was in Illinois, and was even so kind as to provide me with a map for my 985.6 mile journey

Looks like I'll be sending it in to them. Anyone ever dealt with Canon before?  

I sent an "L" series lens to the IL shop for repairs a few years back.  I bought the lens used from a local camera shop so I have no idea how old it was, but almost surely out of warranty.  Within 2 weeks, I had it back, no charge.

My sister bought a Canon point and shoot.  Her fiancee' promptly dropped it on concrete and damaged.  A trip to the IL shop, a couple of weeks and the camera was back, no charge.

I would highly recommend Canon customer service.  Good luck.

Canon USA was some of the best customer service I have ever had to deal with!

I had problems with a Cannon printer 2 weeks after my warranty expired. I called them and they pushed my purchase date back a few weeks so the warranty would still be good.

I had a Fuji do the same thing to me. I took out the batteries, recharged them, give the camera a whack.  Re- install batteries and turn it on. For some reason this solved my problem.

they fixed a camera body for me that was out of warranty and they were great

Quoted: Throw it in the trash, they'll want more to fix it than what it costs to replace.  BTDT

My Canon camera would not read the card:  it kept saying memory error.  I bought a new card and same problem. By the time I figured out it was the camera and not the card,it was out of warranty.  I sent it in anyway with a letter and then quoted me a price.  I called to bitch and they didn't have the letter.  After screwing abound for a while they found the letter and agreed to fix it for free.  This was some time back and I remember trying to research if this was a common problem.  It was not, but I do remember finding some camera forums where more than a few people reported the problem you are having.  If you can do some research and build a case that it is a common problem you may get them to fix if for free, but if you have to pay, it will not be cheap

You stand a fair chance of getting it fixed free.

The Service Center in my area is 10 miles away so I've dealt face to face with them and they're pretty good to deal with.  No problem with warranty work at all.  No out of warranty deals so hard to say but from others they seemed to be pretty fair.

ETA if this is a common problem they may be doing what's called a "good will warranty" that extends your warranty.  They will not publicize this fact but they will usually acknowledge whether it's being done.

Quoted: Is your camera displying an E18 error? My girl had a Canon that faulted like that and I followed something like this to get it working again.  @ minutes of fussing with it and it was working again, although with a little bit of odd noise. Turn off the camera. Place it on the back with the lens facing up and take a look at the spacing between the lens and the lens housing. If you notice that the gap is not even all the way around the lens, the problem should be easy to fix. This type of a problem usually occurs if the camera was dropped while the lens was extended. Simply - VERY GENTLY - press down the lens on the side where the gap is the biggest. You should hear a "click" as it pops back into place. Try powering the camera back on. If the lens doesn't extend at all or it extends, and then retracts again, do the following. Turn the camera off. Take the camera in one hand and with the other gently take one part of the lens and gently move it round in a circular movement. Do so with both sections of the lens. You will hear a "click" as it pops back in place. Power the camera on. Another version of this fix would be to pull and twist on the largest ring of the lens while turning the camera on. Listen for a "click". If at first the focus seems to be off, turn the camera on and off and take lots of pictures, close ups and distance. Focus should slowly start improving.

You know, it IS an "E18" error. I tried gently adjusting the lens, but it didn't do any good. It's still making the same clicking/grinding sounds as before.

Thanks for the input, though!

Quoted: My first Canon video camera was one day old when I dropped it and broke it - my Citiband Visa card's insurance policy covered it.

ouch