What happens when you send a camera to Nikon for Repair

Symphotic

My Df came back from having the battery door replaced on February 26. It was dead on arrival. The camera would only work in manual exposure mode and then the meter wouldn't work. Very retro indeed, just like my old Leica!

I spent a day on the phone with Nikon and sent it back again on February 28, quite a bit unhappy.
It was returned to me today with a note saying it was back to factory spec:

ADJ CONNECTOR FPC
RPR AE OPERATION
CKD METER ACCURACY
CKD BAYONET MOUNT
CHD AUTO FOCUS OPERATION
CHK A-WHITE BALANCE
CLN IMAGE SENSOR
GENERAL CHECK AND CLEAN

I will say that now that the camera is working, it is very nice. I've owned it a month and a half and only used it for one day so far.

NSXTypeR

Wow, I'm a little appalled at what a dud you got. The Df should not be like that.

But I hope you get your camera back soon, because I like everything else about it.

A bit of a side note, if you buy your camera new and you don't send in the warranty card, does Nikon really care when you send the camera in for repair? Or can you just send the warranty card in right before and they'll do it anyway?

Symphotic

。。。。A bit of a side note, if you buy your camera new and you don't send in the warranty card, does Nikon really care when you send the camera in for repair? Or can you just send the warranty card in right before and they'll do it anyway?

Here in the U.S. you send a copy of your warranty card and your receipt when you send the camera or lens in for service. That would be the first time Nikon sees the warranty card since it left the factory.

My Df is back with me and I took lots of pictures of my dinner companions tonight.

GerardH

I have a D7000 still under warranty that I'm interested in sending to the Nikon USA service center for AF calibration -- I assume that I have to send all the lenses that I intend to use with the camera so they can test each one, is that a correct assumption?

Thanks!

Photobug

Yes GerardH that is the correct assumption. Fill out the on=line service request form and they will respond with the cost and instructions for shipping. You need to specify which body and each lens.

Golf007sd

@GerardH: Your D7000 is not under warranty. They will charge you to test the AF...it is not much. However, if you lenses are all within a 5 year warranty they will not charge you anything for having them AF fine tuned to work perfectly with your body. I highly recumbent you do a very GOOD job in packing them. Use lots of bubble rap around each lenses and body. Use a big box and ship via FedEx. Do not ship USPS or UPS.

GerardH2

Thank you all for your replies. However, a couple of questions:

1. Why would you suggest that my D7000 is not under warranty? I purchased it during the Black Friday sale and by my math, I have 8 months remaining on its 1 year warranty. Unless you're saying AF calibration is not covered under warranty, which seems odd to me since it wasn't calibrated correctly at the factory in the first place and that would be a QC issue.

2. This is a bit more uncomfortable of a question: I'm confused as to why I was banned after my first post here in this thread -- reading through the rules of the forum, I can't determine what I violated that would've caused me to be banned. I respectfully disagree with that decision.

I hope I can learn from the more experienced photographers here in regards to Nikon DSLR and digital photography overall and I also hope that I contribute to discussions, too.

Thanks.

PB_PM

@GerardH: Your D7000 is not under warranty.

Huh? Considering that you can still buy a D7000 new today, how could you know whether the posters camera is or is not under warranty. :-/

Golf007sd

@PB_PM & GerardH2: You are both correct...my mind was totally somewhere else....I stand corrected.

aaqilkhan253

Hi all,

I just sent in my D5100 (just out of warranty) after it stopped turning on (due to a faulty battery grip).
Anyhow, I registered on Nikon's website and they quoted $148. It's been a couple of days since I mailed it to the Los Angeles center (I live very close to LA) and although it should have been delivered, I have not received any information yet. Hopefully something happens soon.

-a

Symphotic

... It's been a couple of days since I mailed it to the Los Angeles center (I live very close to LA) and although it should have been delivered, I have not received any information yet. Hopefully something happens soon. ...
-a

It takes a few days to get through the system at LA. I generally ship UPS rather than mail since I can track the shipment rather than USPS.

hawkdl2

Just thought I would post another positive experience with the Nikon Los Angeles repair center. My SB-600 slid off a bench in my home and died (a modest fall of 18" ! But that's another issue). I got an estimate and sent in the flash and got it back in 7 days -the same turn around time it took to repair my D800 last year. It cost me $115 with shipping, as estimated, and their web site is a bit quirky, but I can't complain about the turn around time.

Vipmediastar_JZ

I sent in the D800 twice for AF issues. The notes where gibberish but the phone rep said that the mirrors were replaced. They did keep my foam inserts that I requested back. After several attempts to recover them they sent me replacements and advised to never send original packagaing or foam inserts in the future.

The next lens that is getting sent in is the 24-70 and I'm sending the D800 as well so that it gets calibrated together.

KunzmanPhotography

I recently cracked the rear housing on my 4 month old D800. First off it was barely impacted and it cracked in two places. The previous 5 Nikon DSLR's i had were much more robust than the D800. I did what every good boy should and I called Nikon. They said $140 to $340 to fix it. I sent it in and paid my $48 to ship it. I got an e-mail a few days later saying that they received it and the repair was going to cost $316.40. I called and authorized it. Within a few minutes my credit card was charged. I got an invoice a week later and it appeared the payment didn't go through. I called them and the lady said your camera shipped out today but it is beyond repair. She then said there is no charge. I was taken back by this and asked a bunch of questions. They just said there is nothing we can do. When I got it back it appears they never opened it but there was a letter saying the cover is cracked and it is beyond repair. I have taken a few thousand pictures with it and it sure appears to just be a cracked rear cover. Everything works perfectly. I then drove to Nikon to talk to them and they said "this camera is beyond repair, we can't touch it, not even cosmetic repair". I asked to talk to management but got nowhere fast. I then went to a camera repair shop and they said "all you need is a back cover but Nikon won't sell it to me and since they deemed it beyond repair you can't go to a Nikon authorized dealer because they will look it up and then not touch it". They gave me some authorized repair companies and told me "good luck".

Does anyone have any ideas?

spraynpray

Oh, jeez that is bad news for you - sorry to read this. Only thing I can suggest is buying another broken D800 and having an approved repair centre make a good one out of the pair.

Symphotic

..
Does anyone have any ideas?

Where are you located? I may have a solution if really all you need is a back.

Msmoto

If the camera works, no issues whatever, you might use a high tech two part repair material, force some very slightly into the crack, and gently squeeze it together to obtain a bond. And, if it were mine, this is precisely what I would do given the information you have provided. The point is to attempt to seal the back from moisture and to retain some of the rigidity of the structure.

Please understand, this is only an idea, in the face of an apparently unrepairable camera. But, there seems to be some information, possibly from Nikon, which is missing, but would explain why Nikon refuses to repair the camera.

[Deleted User]

Last monday I brought my D600 to the service center in Holland for a small issue, got it back yesterday.
Extra work, the sensor and mirror house were cleaned, camera checked and firmware installed.

When I brought it they asked if the shutter modification was done, I said that my camera was the first one in Holland, but there is a new shutter modification now. So the shutter modification was done again with the new one.

All under warranty, we have a 2 year warranty in Europe, my D600 is now 18 month old (Still a super camera).

rockinrobinw

Hi all, I've been reading these mixed reviews and thought I'd share my own experience...

I started with black pictures with my D5100. I tired resetting it to the factory settings, different lenses, etc.. to no avail, so I sent it off to Nikon in Montreal. I'm in Canada where the warranty is 2 years, but since I bought it online in the sates, they won't cover it, and the US warranty is only one year. I bought it a year and a half ago, so this one is on me.

They received it on the 15th of July according to the tracking number and when I hand't heard from them by the 18th, I gave them a call. They concluded I had a shutter issue, on the spot, and gave me an estimate of $285. I still don't have the camera yet. I didn't get an email with a service number, or any way to track the repair status, but they were at least very quick to charge my card. I called yesterday, and the guy said it was fixed. When I asked if it would ship he said, "It should go out either today or tomorrow." That's a great thing to tell a customer who had been told that the total repair time was supposed to be 10 days. I relayed my experience with Nikon service to that point, and all he said was, "Uh-huh." Great guy to have on the phones! I asked him to make sure it would leave yesterday. Hopefully it did.

There's someone on Ebay who will change the shutter for $135 parts included. They've got really good reviews, but I thought I should probably go with Nikon because the service would be better, but now I'm really not sure.

PB_PM

So you shipped your item to Nikon USA from Montreal? I would expect most of the delay would have been in shipping, due to customs which can hold items for up to 14 days in some cases, rather than Nikon (could be wrong though).

rockinrobinw

I live in Canada. There was a great deal online, and my brother has a cottage in VT. So when I originally bought it I had it shipped to his place, and he brought it across the border. He had been down long enough that he was able to bring it back duty free. Didn't turn out to be such a great deal after all, but stuff happens. ;-).

I did finally get the camera back yesterday afternoon. I haven't had a chance to really run it through its paces but it seems that the tech fixed it properly.

I do really like the camera, and a defective shutter could happen to any manufacturer. I can't believe how complex these little machines are, how well they are engineered, and how well they work. They're great products. It's a shame that the experience of owning such a great little piece of technology is soured by hit and miss customer service, especially by a company as established and reputable as Nikon.

Reading this thread, it seems to be a crap shoot as to whether or not customers are going to get good after sales service. There are always going to be people who are not happy, but there seems to be a substantial percentage of people who have experienced problems. You'd like to think with the amount of competition from other manufactures, Nikon would make sure that customer service was as good as it could be.

Okay, I'll stop this rant here and go take some pictures. Cheers, everyone!

Russ

Hi Folks,
I bought a Nikon 70-200 mm f2.8G AF-s VR zoom lens in 2007, and last year the auto focus died.I used it for awhile on manual but missed the auto focus. Somehow, they gave me an online estimate of $600.00 which is about Nikon's cost to make a new lens. I believe Nikon now has built in obsolescence in many of their products, but that is another story. I tried calling the toll free telephone number for the Melville NY repair center and was put on hold for about 40 minutes before i hung up. While surfing another web site, I discovered there is a 5th option on Nikon's computerized telephone service. I tried option five the following day and received a human in about 5 minutes. The woman told me Nikon would examine my lens and give me an estimate via e-mail, so I mummified the lens in bubble wrap and paper, placed it in a sturdy sarcophagus (cardboard box) and shipped it to Nikon via UPS (roughly $10.00 for shipping and $15.00 for insurance). Years ago, when Nikon USA was managed by Ehrenreich Photo/Optical, you could bring your equipment to the repair center, but now, Nikon no longer permits drop offs. I guess they do not want to face their victims of built in obsolescence. Anyway, Nikon received my lens the following day. I called them on July 25th and was told the repair would cost $470.00 and change. I agreed to the price and received a confirmation via e-mail the same day. They told me the repair usually takes 10 business days, if parts are available. Yesterday, August 7th my lens arrived via UPS. Nikon billed me $12.00 for postage and handling, they did not insure it.
When I bought this lens new, the auto focus made a "loud" sound compared to the sound it now makes. Has Nikon improved the auto focus to make it much quieter or will it fall apart before the 90 day warranty expires? I don't know. I can say this, the optics in this lens are fantastic. When I bought it, I took it to a concert and photographed a woman sitting about 6 feet in front of me. I could count every hair on her head and every pore in her skin (not necessarily flattering), and realized I could not blame this lens for a lousy shot. I'm off to test this lens.
I hope this helps.
Russ

Russ

Hi Folks,
Just a thought... after being put on hold for about 40 minutes after dialing Nikon's toll free number at Melville NY, and hanging up in disgust, I thought of writing a letter to Nikon's president and CEO, Kazuo Ushida, in Tokyo, Japan. I wonder if this would do any good? And I wonder if Japanese customers, in Japan, but better quality versions of our Nikon equipment and receive better customer service?
Russ

PB_PM

Nikon has some odd turn around times, no doubt about it. One time I sent some gear in for repair (D700), and got it back two days later. Sent in a lens, 300mm F4 with damaged front element and filter thread. It was gone for three, yes three months. D800 focus problem? 3 weeks. Replace 300mm F4 mount, which was warped through use, 1 week. Replace 300mm F4 AF-S motor (was only 4 years old), one week.

@Russ About the noise of the AF-S motor on the original or second generation 70-200mm F2.8G VR. It should be quiet, at least the ones I rented over the years were.

JJ_SO

One of my D800 cameras has been sitting waiting for parts for about 10 days now. I am getting annoyed.

No need to getting annoyed. Just tell them, they can keep ol' D800 and send you a D810 instead