Canon Powershot "Lens Error"

[ahtchristina]

I'm pretty sure I caused this myself, by zooming in and out too fast...at least that's what I was doing just before it went wonky.

I get "lens error, restart camera" whenever I do anything. My lens won't retract, camera won't turn on, won't do anything but give me that error.

I live in Airdrie, Alberta and the nearest Canon repair place is in Ontario (which if you know Canadian geography isn't all that close!). $149 just to get the camera to them, plus return shipping...

I'm trying to find someone local, not necessarily a Canon specialist, who has the know-how on opening the camera and hopefully just readjusting something so that it works again. I'm worried that once it's in Ontario, I'll get an estimate for fixing it that will be outside my budget, and then I'll have to pay just to get it shipped home.

Any thoughts? Anyone in this area who knows of someone who fixes cameras?