NPS repairs and "impact damage" claims

spraynpray

Hi,

Thanks all again, I got a friend to write to SLR hut to ask about the London address, where the cameras were from, repairs etc As you rightly guessed they said;

We have the UK address as a courtesy for our customer base.

This camera will carry a one year warranty with Nikon USA - not Nikon UK, or Nikon Hong Kong.

If any defects occur you can ship it back to our London address, then we pay to send it off to Nikon for inspection.

Wish I had asked that before buying, does grey mean it is not a real Nikon camera? or just its from the wrong place?
Nikon UK have replied and said they are looking at the repair cost, and the courier replied say they have no record of collecting it!!! so no idea how it got to Nikon then!!

I do appreciate all your help and time, for what seems to be my own fault / stupidity but I did not look for the cheapest, just a company who offered the Camera with the lens I wanted.

No, they are all Nikon products, but you have been unfortunate in this instance. The D7100 is a great camera, you need have no fear about that. Can you get anywhere with your credit card company? The courier is giving you the runaround because you didn't engage them to take the camera, Nikon service centre did. To be fair, you had a problem before you shipped it to Nikon so it is most likely to be the fault of the carrier used by SLR Hut.

N1konD

Unless you are a very famous photographer/Nikon Ambassadors like Joe McNally, Dave Black, or Moose Peterson or even a Youtube star that reviews photography gear, you won't get jack sh!t from NPS or Nikon USA/UK/Asia or whatever Nikon branches they got. Just my humble opinion.

Had a recent bout with Nikon USA regarding my D810 and chatted with a Nikon USA rep regrading a light hairline etching/scratch on the mirror and they immediately told me to send it to the service department for assessment. When I told the rep my camera was bought last March of this year and the warranty hasn't expired; will the replacement of the mirror be covered? Then I was told those famous words "impact damage" is not covered by warranty so I may have to pay out of pocket. When I inquired about the estimate of the repair I was told that the service department will notify me. WTF!??

Good thing I didn't send it over as I discovered other Nikon D800/800E/810 users have the same laser etching on mirror. Nikon USA is like a typical car dealership repair shop. You come in for an oil change, then later on the rep will come to you and say your brakes are faulty needs replacing. So you come in guessing to pay $40 for an oil change and when you come out you end up paying $750 for everything. This is ridiculous!!!!

spraynpray

@N1konD: So what is your personal experience with Nikon UK? If none, what are your grounds for lumping them in with the USA repair centres? I do have plenty of experience with Nikon UK and it has all been very good. For example I just got back my bodies and lenses from them after CLA and they only charged me £23 for micro-adjust on one lens (70-200 f4) because that one was out of warranty.

The situation in the USA may be different, I have no personal experience of that so I can't comment.

paulr

If you cannot get satisfaction from the retailer and you paid by credit card, the credit card company are just has liable has the retailer to claim against them .See Section 75 Regulations on the internet So if one fails go for the other.

spraynpray

I would like to just add (and I have many years very relevant experience that enables me to say this):

When a qualified (or at least fully trained) individual strips a lens or camera, that person finds clear evidence inside that tells a story. The story may be that the camera has been well looked after before stripping, or that the camera has been open in dusty/sandy/wet or salty environments or that it has suffered impact damage. That impact damage may have occurred before the current owner bought it (whether new or used), or may have happened in the post on the way to the service centre, but it is there to see. In my experience, those most likely to have damaged their gear are often least likely to realise it as they often lack adequate (or even any) mechanical sympathy and/or believe the gear should be able to withstand what they do with it as they believe they give it fair usage. Whatever happens to gear is clearly shown when it is stripped for service if it was severe enough to show or cause a fault.

The more I shoot with others, the more I see people dropping gear or using it in harsh conditions and not noticing particularly that they have done anything wrong. A small example: When I got back from using my gear in freezing conditions at the coast one night last year, I stripped my tripod, washed off all the sand and salt and left it in a warm dry place for 24hrs. When the person I was with next got their tripod out of its bag (a bag I had to force him to buy to protect it), the tripod was still covered in the salt and sand from the previous shoot and there was a lot of that sand stuck to the sides of the bag too. He just laughed when I told him I that believe you make your own luck.

I trust my Nikon service centre and, as I conceptualised, designed, set up, trained and maintained a chain of repair centres world-wide for technical products and was on frequent call to trouble-shoot system stoppages world-wide costing up to a million pounds a day, I do fully understand their position. Never have I, and certainly never would I, claimed any reason for a failure was anything other than what the evidence proved had caused it and the customer - when faced with the evidence - always accepted my judgement and was usually just happy to have the system running again. Maybe that is because they had their best technical people around them verifying everything I said whereas when Nikon deals with members of the public or even professional photographers, they are often dealing with someone who doesn't necessarily have those qualifications or that mechanical sympathy and so is likely to resort to conspiracy theories or paranoia when faced with an unexpected bill.

Photobug

+1 @spraynpray
Totally agree with your comments.

When I ship to buyers on eBay or to Nikon for warranty and NON warranty work the gear is over protected and there is at least 4/6" of air space and tons of bubble wrap and other protective packaging. The idea is that the packing material absorbs the impact. Never had a complaint from eBay buyers or Nikon. BUT your correct, once you get inside the lens or DSLR they know if the gear has been harshly treated and if there is impact damage.

Great example with the tripod. I have seen those point & shoot, consumer and professional DSLR's and SLR's slammed and dropped by other people and just shake my head. My wife no longer shakes her head when we are on vacation because every night it's the same routine in the hotel....wipe down all bodies and lens, clean the glass on lens and the rear view finder and top LCD panel, charge batteries, and dump memory cards to a back up device. When I sell my gear always get positive comments on condition. But that is just me. I treat my gear with respect and care and it never lets me down.

autofocus

Just got my 14-24mm back from Nikon. Dropped it last year and broke the lens hood. After the drop it functioned just fine. I couldn't see any difference in performance. The crack ran underneath the focus ring so I was concerned it would no longer be weather sealed. Nikon replaced the SWM motor and lens hood/body, cleaned and tested for a grand sum of $651.00 Not happy about the cost but what are you gonna do. It took 13 days from the day I sent it.

Wesley

Does Nikon sell accidental and theft warranty?

paulr

Depends where you live. In the uk Nikon have teamed up with Domestic and General
and offer a + 1 year warranty total three with Nikon warranty insurance covers damage world wide and is transferable unlike the Nikon warranty Must be taken out when bought new and registering the Nikon warranty.

Ironheart

In the US you will need third party insurance from the likes of Mack or square trade. Or if you are not a pro, check with your homeowners carrier.

western

Hi, Interesting reading, not sure if it is meant for me or not, but if it is, I can assure you all my cameras are looked after, never mind cleaning after the beach, would never take a camera on a beach!! I was brought up to look after everything, still have my Corgi toy cars from when I was a child, my first Sinclair calculator from School, every camera I have ever bought (apart from one stolen) mobile phones, you name it I still have it and all in mint condition. My cameras are always kept in cases, lens cap on unless taking a photos.
The fact of this was the problem was there from new and when it arrived, spending all the time, asking, messaging for help other than to read page 75.
Nikon refuse to report this to the courier, and while so many have / had great experience with Nikon, I have not.
I bought a Camera, that is all, I can do without hassle, and wish I had not bought it now.
Thanks Again

spraynpray

No @western, the last part of the above is for anybody who needs to read this thread in future because - as far as I can see - we have gone as far as we can in answering your question. It is now up to your efforts to rescue the situation as best as you can. I think the world has changed since you bought your (English made) Corgi toys! In those days, there were set prices and if you could find them cheaper, well, you could buy it and smile. These days, the world isn't so simple and by buying a product made in Japan and sold in Europe via a distributor at an unrealistically low price you are being a little naive in expecting the same level of service that the rest of us who bought European distributed UK products have paid Nikon bv (the Dutch European distributor) to get. The fault is not Nikon's, but yours I am afraid as you bought from an unofficial outlet that perhaps misrepresented what you were getting. It doesn't reflect badly on Nikon at all - if you had bought a Canon you could have still bought a grey import. If you didn't have your problem, you would be feeling smug that you got it so cheap, but as it is, you weren't so lucky.

Put yourself in Nikon UK's position - would you cover problems when you never sold the product? I suspect not.

spraynpray

I wrote this on page 2 of this thread:

"When all things are considered, if I couldn't afford to buy the fully warranted item that has contributed to the upkeep of the distributor and service centre structure in my area, I'd rather not buy it. The risks outweigh the gains in my opinion."

western has proved that is good reasoning (and no, I am not rich - far from it!).