The Canon EF 28-135 lens I bought in 2006 (!) for $420 died recently. The autofocus stopped working.
I can't complain too much -- I got a lot of use from it. The EF series is Canon's low end and it's not a great lens. (My Canon 50mm 1.8 is a famously cheap and great lens. With modern sensors it works very well for both portrait and for things I'd have used a 100mm zoom for. It's not image stabilized though.)
It turns out Canon doesn't service EF lenses of that generation. They will give 15% off a new similar lens (not sure what qualifies) or 10% off a refurb lens. Amazon's Canon prices are the same as Canon's list prices.
I think their modern equivalent of the old 28-135 is the Canon EF-S 18-135 (list $600, refurb $440) and EF-S 18-200 ($700). The 28-135 was a full frame lens on my 1.6 EOS body, these are S type lenses so the ranges are quite different. My old 28-125 was equivalent to a 45-200 S lens. After quick scan of review sites the 18-135 might be the better lens.
So a bit more money but a refurb with a 15% discount isn't too bad.
Would be nice if they still serviced old EF lenses. Maybe they do service old L lenses. Given the time it lasted the discount is nice (esp. on refurb) but not sure it's worth the hassle compared to an Amazon purchase. (If I buy I'll use KenRockwell.com referral link.)
Update: I did end up ordering the 18-135 EF-S as it has had a recent upgrade and sounded generally better than the 18-200 for my uses. So less zoom, but lot more wide angle. I took the 15% discount. Canon didn't want my old lens, only the serial number. They didn't have a refurb in stock.
Canon has the worst voice routing system I've used in years -- I had to keep repeating "representative" and on one attempt was booted off with a tedious and even condescending dialog. The automated system couldn't handle lenses.
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