I managed to get the following response from Canon (by telephoning Canon UK on +44 (0)1737 220000 and asking for the complaints dept.) [edited slightly]:

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CANON S45 DIGITAL CAMERA

Thank you for your e mail concerning the above, which has been passed for my attention.

I am sorry to hear of the problems that you have experienced with your camera recently. Canon regrets any failure of its products and I can assure you that the general reliability of this model is very good.

I can assure you that all Canon products are subjected to rigorous quality control checking procedures before being made available to customers and although it is impossible to give 100% guarantee on all products, we do offer a 12 - month warranty to secure product quality.

Whilst Canon products are extremely reliable, like most electro mechanical products, failures whilst rare, do sometimes occur. It is for this reason that Canon offer customers a low cost extended warranty, which would cover the product for all parts and labour costs in the event of a breakdown. Customers should be aware that it is their responsibility to ensure that adequate service arrangements are made to reduce any potential costs that could be incurred. Given that no extended warranty was taken out on the product at the time of purchase or when the normal warranty expired, there would be a cost to any repair required.

Under the circumstances, on this occasion only as a gesture of goodwill and without prejudice I would like to offer a free of charge evaluation / inspection, therefore I would recommend that you send your camera into our service centre with a copy of this letter marked for the attention of []. Following the evaluation / inspection our technician will contact you with the findings and advise you accordingly.[...]

Assuring you of our best intentions at all times.

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So, in essence, they check their cameras rigorously, but are not sufficiently confident in their build quality to offer a 3 year warranty. Still, a free evaluation of the damage to my camera is fair.

I await the outcome of their inspection with interest.

[Reply]

This time a reply to the question I submitted through the helpdesk email system (the question was essentially "is two years an acceptible lifetime for a camera?"):

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Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding your Canon product.

Canon cameras are manufactured to very high standards, however it is impractical to define a 'lifetime' due to the conditions the cameras are often subjected to.

All Canon products are subjected to rigorous quality control checking procedures prior to your purchase, and although it is impossible to give a 100% guarantee on all products we do offer a twelve month warranty to secure our products' quality.

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So essentially, they see no problem whatsoever with the camera only lasting two years, because of "conditions".

[Reply]

That Leica M6 is starting to look like a bargin.

Canon should get their story straight on this one. On one hand they are saying "Our cameras are reliable, this is a unique case", in which case they should apologise for the poor quality of the one you got and replace it. Fair enough, everyone has bad QA days.

On the other hand they seem to be acting like this is a piece of disposable consumer electronics--and a very expensive one at that--by only offering a 1 year warranty. I assume by this that they don't expect their cameras to last any longer than 12 months. Does this hold for the 300D and 20D too, Canon? Maybe I'll get a Nikon D70.

If you had taken this thing into a studio and shot a 100,000 frames on it in two years, then I would agree with the "This camera wasn't meant for that workload" argument, but less than 20 frames a day for 2 years? Gimme a break.

[Reply]

Today I received this rather cryptic note from Canon in my pigeon hole.

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Dear Customer,

We regret to inform you that there will be a delay in completing the repair to your

DSC POWERSHOT S45 GB

This is due to a delay in receiving the spare part required. We would ask for you patience, and would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Yours sincerely,

Canon Regional Competence Center

- Customer Service-

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I assume from this that they have located the problem and are fixing it free of charge?

If I get a chance, I'll give them a call and find out what is going on.

[Reply]

I received a more illuminating reply over the email...

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We have received your camera, it is now with a technician. I have as a gesture of goodwill instructed the technician to repair this under the warranty agreement. However the camera requires a part which we do not have in our stock, so i am afraid there will be a delay on the repair.

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Welcome news indeed!

[Reply]

Well done Canon.

[Reply]