My first copy of this lens came from Panamoz. After about two months I noticed VC wasn't working, even though it was turned on. Panamoz took it back and gave me a full refund. I ordered another from Amazon and within 3 weeks the same thing happened. I also had lens errors and it would lock the camera up. To be honest both copies were pretty poor on my 5Dmkiii as far as speed and reliability went. Again, I sent it back. Ended up with the Canon 24-70 f/2.8 mkii. That's was 3 years ago.
I know a mate who has had this lens since before mine, and while he says it works fine I've proven it's decent red quite a bit.
Sometimes I feel it's just not worth trying anymore with 3rd party equipment although I realaie many don't have issues. Then again, most people will swear blind they don't have any issues but that's not to say they don't, just that it either doesn't matter or they don't notice it.