Distorted

A while back, my digital camera (a Canon PowerShot S1 IS) started to show some quirks. From time to time, the viewfinder display showed some purplish flashes. At first I thought there was something wrong with the display, but afterwards it became clear the the recorded photos were equally affected:

Since I bought the camera second-hand a few years back, the warranty period was long over. Besides, the problem only happened occasionally, so I was just hoping it wouldn't crop up too frequently.
Until a friend (the guy in the photo, incidentally) told me it was a known problem that affected some Canon devices equipped with a certain CCD made by Sony. The adhesive used for bonding the glass cover plate on the CCD causes corrosion of some parts of the CCD internals with the result illustrated above. The whole process is accelerated in warm and/or humid environments (it was indeed a very warm day the day that photo was taken).
Apparently, Canon has stated that they would repair affected cameras free of charge (including shipping to a service center). My guess is that they in return will claim their money back from Sony.

Anyway, equipped with this information, I finally reserved a day for a telephone fight with customer services. I first called Canon's Universal International Free Number: +800 22666 767. Either the number is out of commission, or it's not available through my Telenet Mobile subscription. Then I called the number of their Belgian helpdesk: 02 6200 197. After the obligatory language chooser and waiting until the phone support guy got out of his settee, this went very quick (4 min 12 sec): they don't do repairs in Belgium. But they did give me the number for the repair center in the Netherlands (+31 165 850 500).
Then I called the repair center, a phone call that also went very quick (3 min 28 sec). They said I had to start up the repair process through their website (they spelled it, as the name is somewhat unfortunate). I would have to send or bring in the device after which they would give me a quote for the cost and ask whether I would want to have it repaired. To my reply that this was an issue where both repair and shipping was supposed to be free of charge, regardless of warranty status they immediately responded "it's about a faulty CCD then?"
Honestly, I was impressed. I had thought it would be a lot more difficult to get something done for free.

Anyway, I registered on their site, requested pickup and sat back and waited. Next day UPS hostaged me the entire morning until about 1300 (I had to stay home until they picked up the package with my camera).
According to UPS tracking, my package arrived (was signed for) the next day. According to the repair center's status tracking, they received it a week later and sent it immediately to a 'repair location' where they started the repair and ordered parts.

That's the story so far. I've spent €2.76 on phone calls and half a day waiting for UPS. Hopefully, Canon keeps their promise and I won't have any further expenses.

To be continued...