Beware if sending your camera to Nikon for repair.

Chris_911

Chris_911

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Chris Tarling
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I very recently sent a Nikon D850, via my NPS membership, to Nikon for a repair assessment.
The quote was astronomical and I asked for it to be returned.
Wanting a second opinion I sent it in to Sendean.
They gave the same assessment as to what the camera needed but at a much lower cost than Nikon.

However - they also pointed out that screws were missing from the camera.
They sent me a picture and there are indeed screws missing from the front of the camera.

I am chasing this through Nikon, who are exhibiting a shocking level of client care.
No empathy at all - not one iota. It's like dealing with machines. No one has offered any explanation of how this has happened, or any apology
And I am trusting that there is nothing further missing from the internals of the camera.

Nikon has quoted me 3-5 weeks for supply of the screws, which I am expected to replace myself.

I shan't bother sending anything to them in future.
Rant over.
 
Not the expected response from the professionals.
I’d also be disgusted.
 
I had a pretty awful experience with them a couple of years ago, which I detailed in the D750&D780 forum. Like yourself, they won't see another of my cameras in the future.
 
Chris_911 said:
I very recently sent a Nikon D850, via my NPS membership, to Nikon for a repair assessment.
The quote was astronomical and I asked for it to be returned.
Wanting a second opinion I sent it in to Sendean.
They gave the same assessment as to what the camera needed but at a much lower cost than Nikon.

However - they also pointed out that screws were missing from the camera.
They sent me a picture and there are indeed screws missing from the front of the camera.

I am chasing this through Nikon, who are exhibiting a shocking level of client care.
No empathy at all - not one iota. It's like dealing with machines. No one has offered any explanation of how this has happened, or any apology
And I am trusting that there is nothing further missing from the internals of the camera.

Nikon has quoted me 3-5 weeks for supply of the screws, which I am expected to replace myself.

I shan't bother sending anything to them in future.
Rant over.
Click to expand...
You do wonder why Nikon UK with such prestigious brand name would behave like this and it is appalling really. I'd be shouting very loud and very long at getting a reply and answer from Nikon and demanding better service as it's just not good enough.
 
The great service from Fuji UK is one of the things keeping me in that system, although it doesn't seem to be a global thing. There needs to be some joined-up thinking between marketing and service/warranty departments (although I know that this is not really how large companies work, especially Japanese ones).
 
I remember when I sent my D750 to Nikon around 5-6 years ago for the shutter replacement, it came back with a thick black hair inside the viewfinder which you could see every time you looked through it.

Fuji UK were much better, they sent me a courier label with an empty polystyrene box to put my lens in (so I didn't need to use the box I bought it in) and I got it back within a week.
 
On social media today, I have also seen some negative reviews of Canon's service in the UK.
 
I would write a letter of complaint, not an email, an actual letter. It is much more difficult for a company to ignore a physical piece of paper than it is for a email to get 'lost'. I always give companies one go by email before I get the printer and paper out.
 
I had a similar issue with Nikon a few years back. I sent my camera off for repair (although I can't remember what repair it was) and it came back with a hairline crack on the body. I couldn't say 100% if they had done it, or I had done it and hadn't noticed before sending it off, however, the only reason I noticed it was when the camera was returned to me, I felt it before I saw it, which made me feel as though it wasn't there before as it would have annoyed the hell out of me.
 
There is effectively no NPS in the UK any more.

The Nikon in house repair centre is in Poland and any quick fixes are sent to Fixation.
 
I have recently had a Nikon D850 and my 24mm PC lens repaired by Nital, Nikons agent in Italy. They did a great job and were quite reasonable, in charging me €300 for basically rebuilding my 24PC as they replaced the two central blocks.
 
DemiLion said:
There is effectively no NPS in the UK any more.

The Nikon in house repair centre is in Poland and any quick fixes are sent to Fixation.
Click to expand...
I don't have much faith in Fixation as a few years back I remember buying a "lemon" 2nd hand Nikon D4 from Grays of Westminster which had major issues with constant lock ups and a misaligned mirror box resulting in 90% out of focus shots. Twice they sent it to Fixation and twice I got it back with nothing fixed.
 
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Nikon service - the gift that just keeps giving.
This morning postie delivered a package.
Intrigued by the address which looked as though written by a 5 year old I opened the envelope.
Inside was a small plastic bag containing two screws.
So far so good.

Only problem is the screws are silver. I don't know of any D850 has silver screws fitted in a position where they are clearly visible.
Oh dear

On the phone to them.
Have persuaded them to collect the camera, sort it out, and return it to me in the condition they first received it.
Of course this should have happened weeks ago.

Sigh.
 
It began to go wrong with NPS when they stopped sending out a free diary.
Then the D300 and D700 dropped off the approved equipment list and I was out.
:(
 
I'm being told that there's another 3-5 week wait for the correct screws.
Absolutely ridiculous - and whilst they have my camera I'm just being asked to suck it up. There's no goodwill forthcoming at all.
 
Bought a mint D5 at a very competitive price from LCE back in January, the viewfinder display failed with a couple of weeks so back to LCE it went under guarantee, they in turn had to send the camera to Nikon as the replacement parts could only be installed by Nikon. The whole repair saga took over 3 months, communication from Nikon equalled zero, LCE struggled to get a response other than it is being worked on. In the end I started posting on social media which generated a response from Nikon but only to tell me that although they acknowledged the camera was mine I hadn't sent it in so they could only discuss it with LCE.

Nikon's communication skills were at best poor.

But, I will give Nikon credit where it is due, not only did they complete the repair, the camera also received a full service and was returned with some Nikon goodies.
 
One of the reasons Nikon service UK are poor at communicating is that your camera is no longer in the UK ... it has been sent elsewhere for repair so they can't track what's happening with it. My D750 was repaired in Croatia (or maybe the Czech Republic, I don't remember now) and had to go back there when it failed inspection back in the UK. The whole saga took months to resolve and is detailed in the D750/D780 thread. I did manage to get a loan unit although they clearly didn't want to do that. I also got a 100% refund on the repair cost.

You might find this person useful, if she's still in post:
Eliza Burnard (Customer Service Manager – Imaging)
T: 0330 123 0928 (option 2)
E: eliza.burnard@nikon.com
 
I’ve used Canon CPS about 3 times, once for Lens, once for Body and once for flash. I have (or had) their Platinum tier level membership and I get the repair done in the same week. Send it off Monday, it’s back by Thursday.

Prices were reasonable, generally a flat fee. I’ve fixed a few things.

SD card won’t stay in the slot, the lock has gone. I think they replaced heck of a lot of stuff inside as the camera lost all its settings.

Broken distance window on the 35L, they replaced the entire barrel of the lens, came back with a new serial number.

Flash head at the top was melted a little, I think I had it near a stage lamp…they replaced practically everything.

All fixed price, they call me when received and no surprises.

I’ve also used Sigma UK to fix a lens when got sand inside it, that was good too.

Fuji repaired my 56/1.2 after I dropped it, it was a bit pricy but alls well. (Just realised I forgot to claim for this one….i claimed for the rest)

Not tried Sony yet, I’m on their membership but nothing has broken…touch wood.
 
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Shame about Nikon UK. In 2014, I had cause to send a D7000 off for AF calibration - I don't think it was even Nikon's fault it was out of whack, I think I actually dropped it - camera returned in about a week, perfectly repaired and cleaned, invoice for £0.00.

Sent a brand new D850 back a few years ago - there was some problem with the rear LCD, dead or stuck pixels I think - they took weeks to return it, claimed to have replaced the offending panel, but clearly hadn't. I don't think they even looked at it!

I use Panasonic mirrorless now.
 
alexcarnes said:
Shame about Nikon UK. In 2014, I had cause to send a D7000 off for AF calibration - I don't think it was even Nikon's fault it was out of whack, I think I actually dropped it - camera returned in about a week, perfectly repaired and cleaned, invoice for £0.00.

Sent a brand new D850 back a few years ago - there was some problem with the rear LCD, dead or stuck pixels I think - they took weeks to return it, claimed to have replaced the offending panel, but clearly hadn't. I don't think they even looked at it!

I use Panasonic mirrorless now.
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I had previous good, indeed excellent, experiences with Nikon UK too. They replaced a failed shutter mechanism on a D300 that was way past its sell-by date and sent it back with nothing but a compliments slip. It is a shame that they appear to have moved repairs off-shore.
 
alexcarnes said:
Shame about Nikon UK. In 2014, I had cause to send a D7000 off for AF calibration - I don't think it was even Nikon's fault it was out of whack, I think I actually dropped it - camera returned in about a week, perfectly repaired and cleaned, invoice for £0.00.

Sent a brand new D850 back a few years ago - there was some problem with the rear LCD, dead or stuck pixels I think - they took weeks to return it, claimed to have replaced the offending panel, but clearly hadn't. I don't think they even looked at it!

I use Panasonic mirrorless now.
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In which case I would be extremely worried ,, Panasonics repairs are if within warranty replace with new .. like for like if out of warranty give a minimal discount on a like for like replacement .. they repair SFA ..
Olympus/ OMS though have a established and extremely good repair facility in Portugal and are very quick and efficient
 
It has been a bad year. I have managed to drop not just one but two lenses. Never happened before in my 40 years of photography.

I dropped my Nikon 24-200 and the VR was wrecked it seems. I sent it off to LTR who repair Nikon gear in Italy last Sunday, and today after a week, I got it back perfectly repaired. It cost me €500, half the cost of a new lens and they discount parts by 50% for Nikon stuff bought from the official agent in Italy - Nital

Just a thought. They will repair Nikon gear bought in Europe (without parts discount, €140 in my case), but they will not touch grey imports. This is why I buy from the official importer, who is dearer than grey or stuff bought in Germany for example. But when things go wrong I am not left with a grey optical doorstop.
 
A mate of mine, working professionally for a quartet of magazines at the time, this was in the early digital days, used Nikon.
It was the lack of, anything, from Nikon UK service which switched him to Canon.
 
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