Call Center Location?

lens4life

Call Center Location?

Msmoto

It would seem to me, the reason to purchase a camera is in what we would like for the end result. Does the camera do what we ask...etc.

All the large companies utilize multinational services which are not always well identified as to location.

In photography, most of us find we have a list of priorities which we use to determine the camera/lens/post processing we utilize in creating a final product. Many of the parts are manufactured in countries which are fraught with rather profound human rights violations. I do not like this, but if I want a camera which performs...no real choice is available.

ChromiumPrime

I know how you feel lens4life. I too had my job outsourced once (Expedia call center) so I know exactly how you feel.

I found two accounts on this, one on yelp and the other on fred miranda, and, unfortunately, both indicate Nikon call center operations are now located in the Dominican Republic.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/nikon-el-segundo#hrid:Eo_KmTX66raQ6cudYpE4Ww
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1118715/0

Ironheart

You can hardly blame a Japanese company that has operations in the US for choosing a lower cost location for a call center. The blame should lie with the rules and regulations that encourage companies to look elsewhere. This is not a political statement, but rather one of fact. A public company has to look out for it's shareholders (i.e. the bottom line) and when blatantly obvious cheaper alternatives are available, it would be irresponsible and illegal for them to not consider these alternatives. Yes, it really sucks, especially when its your job on the line. I think the best we can do is vote often and write letters to try and get the laws changed.

spraynpray

That is a double-edged sword Ironheart.

Msmoto

Interesting that this user who posted the original question apparently works for Canon USA......
Canon USA Inc.
OrgId: CANON-1
Address: One Canon Plaza
City: Lake Success
StateProv: NY
PostalCode: 11042

If this is incorrect, I encourage the OP to PM me....

TaoTeJared

I say report them to Canon and Nikon. Comments like this encourage overt ethnic racism and is despicable.

The thought that somehow having a call center in a particular country is bad is absurd. Not all call centers focus on support and we have no clue what this particular center focuses on, could we say maybe that the calls from that part of the world get directed there? International companies have call centers all around the world. To believe that the US is the center of the world, and Nikon's focus and rational decisions has anything to do with our employment hurdles or political environment is just naive.

ChromiumPrime

It's interesting that lens4life decided to truncate most of his OP in light of Msmoto's comment about his address... but be that as it may, I want to address some of the points raised.

You can hardly blame a Japanese company that has operations in the US for choosing a lower cost location for a call center.

Nikon USA is an American company not a foreign one. But I fully agree with you that there needs to be better rules and regulations that govern.

@Tao you're right that there are many other call centers all around the world but if you read the posts I linked to, you'd understand that the call center in DR is for US support and not just some random call center that supports customers in the Caribbean.

The same person who posted on FM, also posted on Nikonians but this time we also get other accounts from two other posters confirming the move from El Segundo to DR.

http://www.nikonians.org/forums/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=430&topic_id=9244&mesg_id=9244&page=

If you think about it, this also explains the significant drop in customer service quality and the amount of complaints we've been hearing recently about Nikon support.

Msmoto

Well, the OP did not PM me but instead edited the original post. I think the post was a rather blatant attempt to denigrate Nikon and the fact it came from Canon is really the bottom of the barrel for ethical behavior. In spite of Nikon problems, I would hope no one would resort to this type of unethical behavior.

shawnino

This deserves (much) wider publicity.

Golf007sd

Question: Is it possible or has anyone done this: I would like to take my gear to my local Nikon Service Center in Souther California (I think they are located in LA but not sure where as of yet) and wait while they service and fine tune my gear.

Appreciate any feed back on this question....thx.

spraynpray

I asked for a simple while-you-wait sensor clean and they said they 'were not set up for that' so I reckon that you have no chance as you would be jumping the queue of those waiting for service.

PB_PM

@Golf007sd It is possible, but it depends on how busy they are. You could be sitting there for a few days, or a week, unless you are NPS.

donaldejose

As a US citizen I say consider this. Drop US corporate tax rates to zero or near zero. Encourage all corporations to locate their main office here and then collect your tax on the income of those corporate executives. Use low corporate tax rates to lure corporations. You cannot offer low worker wages because we don't want to be paying third world labor rates in the US (or any developed country) but you can reduce how much the government takes out of the corporation before anyone is paid. Encourage the high paying jobs, not the low paying jobs, to be located in the US (or whatever county you are from). Of course, Nikon won't move because they are too invested in Japan.

shawnino

DEJ: Corporate taxes are always 0% no matter what the nominal rate is. Corporations just pass the taxation on to their customers. I agree, a 0% nominal rate would help lower costs of goods for the end consumer, but the end consumer is always the one paying "corporate" taxes anyway. Sadly, if we look around the world, the political push is always for more taxes these days, not less. Demonizing people who work for a living somehow pays off politically.

Nikon's call centre may be offshore but that's never a tax issue--it's a wage issue.

TaoTeJared

+1

And realistically, it doesn't matter where it is located at.

It was proved a troll got on here - I vote to close the thread before it goes into any more political arguments.

NSXTypeR

Question: Is it possible or has anyone done this: I would like to take my gear to my local Nikon Service Center in Souther California (I think they are located in LA but not sure where as of yet) and wait while they service and fine tune my gear.

Appreciate any feed back on this question....thx.

I've only done it in Hong Kong. I don't think those type of service centers exist in the US.

I had a sensor cleaning done in one day.

Msmoto

I think TTJ is correct...no need to discuss this further.