The Day I Pranked the President of Canon Cameras

Recently I was reminiscing with friends about a game we played a few years ago(probably four years). We’d call a company, and see how far up the corporate ladder we could prank call. One of us had the bright idea to prank call Canon.

We started with their publicly available corporate office phone number. The first person we got was a secretary, followed by a junior executive, followed by a senior executive, followed by a secretary  followed by the president of Canon. What started as a small joke ended with me having a nice, serious conversation with the president of Canon over the phone. I talked about an issue I’d had with a camera breaking, and some repair troubles I’d had, and a few other minor complaints, and I also complimented their customer service.

It’s hard to prank someone you respect because you just feel too guilty, so the conversation ended up being a real one. I’m a little embarrassed by this story, but it shows just how accesible and open Canon is as a company. The president of the company sat on the phone, listened to my complaints as just an average customer, and answered them. I’ve bought two Canons (one for family) this year, including my Canon T3i I bought this week, and their customer support has always been excellent (or at least 95% of the time) and it certainly starts from the top. Here’s to the beginning of a beautiful friendship.