Ding Dong my D700 is dead (it lives again!!!)

TCR4x4 said:
I dont think buying second hand is the issue. Ive had the camera for 2 years, and its worked flawlessly. I could be the first owner, the problem will still have happened.
The only difference is I may have had a case with SOGA. But if Nikon say its user error, there is nothing I can do about it, even though Im 100% sure it isnt.

Its not the first occasion of this happening I have witnessed. "User error" seems a very conveinent get out clause for warranty or non warranty repairs. How can we proove otherwise?
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First 5 years in Scotland they have to prove it was your fault :D

Sadly its only one year in England :(
 
Lunawolfy said:
I'm a lovely guy in all honesty. Just stories about people getting screwed by companies grinds my gears. Maybe it was the way I was brought up, not being able to 'just replace things' having to fight at every turn when the boiler broke and you had no heating, or the freezer thawed out overnight and the companies just went 'meh'.

I'd love to be able to just buy new things, but I'm sadly not blessed with that luxury :(
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No-one is "getting screwed", if the damage was the result of the lens being forced off (whether it was jammed or not) then that isn't covered by the warranty, or the SOGA.

The fact that the camera was purchased secondhand further removes Nikon's obligation to repair the item under warranty, as they make it quite clear that said warranty isn't transferrable.

And whilst you may be a "lovely guy" I personally wouldn't transact any business with you after reading what you wrote....
 
Lunawolfy said:
If you bought a £1500 washing machine and it died after 12 months would you be happy? No. At the end of the day Nikon are only out for a profit and the biggest one they can grab, their market is unique in that your choice is really just them on Canon for DSLRs and once you've bought some lenses your essentially trapped. With no company with enough real bankroll to make an impact on the market these companies can run riot maximising profits (hell canon don't even give lens hoods with their Non-L lenses!

£1500 Washing machine = 6-8 years of life
£1500 DSLR = 1 year of life? Fat chance.
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Well if I was mad enough to pay that much over the odds for a washing machine than who knows... If something I bought stopped working I would expect it to be repaired, if it was just out of warranty I would certainly ask the question and quote SOGA. However I would not lie about the situation, if I caused the problem I would admit it, I would not claim to be he original owner if I had bought something secondhand. You clearly feel that these big companies owe you something.

As for the DSLR market, I doubt it will be a two horse race for much longer. Sony's market share is increasing rapidly and the rise of m43s cameras is also having a big effect. As for Canon not including lens hoods, it's not a big secret. I guess they could included one but the the price would go up and ther are plenty who are happy to shoot without them. As for being trapped to a system have a look around the forum you'll see plenty of people switching from one to another.
 
Sorry to hear your cameras bust Tom

Hope you do get it sorted out and fingers crossed Nikon do offer some sort of "goodwill gesture" towards the repair cost, even better if they'd pick it up fully.

Good luck ...
 
Lunawolfy said:
First 5 years in Scotland they have to prove it was your fault :D

Sadly its only one year in England :(
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Incorrect, on both counts. The period after which the onus of proof passes to the buyer is SIX months - in both England and Scotland. The only difference is that in England you have 6 years from the date of purchase to prove the fault was there at the time of said purchase, up here you have 5 years from the date you first discovered the problem.
 
Lunawolfy said:
I'm a lovely guy in all honesty. Just stories about people getting screwed by companies grinds my gears. Maybe it was the way I was brought up, not being able to 'just replace things' having to fight at every turn when the boiler broke and you had no heating, or the freezer thawed out overnight and the companies just went 'meh'.

I'd love to be able to just buy new things, but I'm sadly not blessed with that luxury :(
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There is a huge difference between fighting for your rights and being dishonest to get what you want. If my camera broke I wouldn't be able to just go out and buy another, I would do what the OP is doing and selling someone that I use less to fund the repair.
 
On the upside, for just under £300 I should get back a fully cleaned, fully serviced D700. They often tend to replace the rubber grips too, which were starting to go a bit mankey.

Considering whether to flog it once its back and get a D3?? tempting, but I dont think I can afford the little extra on top.

What Id really like to do is sell it and then buy a brand new one with 2 years warranty.. :rules:
 
TCR4x4 said:
On the upside, for just under £300 I should get back a fully cleaned, fully serviced D700. They often tend to replace the rubber grips too, which were starting to go a bit mankey.

Considering whether to flog it once its back and get a D3?? tempting, but I dont think I can afford the little extra on top.

What Id really like to do is sell it and then buy a brand new one with 2 years warranty.. :rules:
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A set of grips will account for about a quarter of the bill - cost me nearly £30 for just the rh one on my D300 :wacky:
 
postcardcv said:
There is a huge difference between fighting for your rights and being dishonest to get what you want. If my camera broke I wouldn't be able to just go out and buy another, I would do what the OP is doing and selling someone that I use less to fund the repair.
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Correct, selling my Contour I only bought 2 weeks ago, and considering selling my 150mm macro too. Just sold my spare bass drum pedals, and have another set listed on ebay. Might sell one of my bass guitars too.

This came at the worst possible time. My car needs £3-400 worth of welding before the MOT in June, and also new suspension.
Im going to do all the suspension myself now to save money, but its still £2-300 worth of parts.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
A set of grips will account for about a quarter of the bill - cost me nearly £30 for just the rh one on my D300 :wacky:
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I found some on ebay, they are only about £15 each. They have the PCB board for £40 too..
Way beyond me to fit it all though.
 
TCR4x4 said:
On the upside, for just under £300 I should get back a fully cleaned, fully serviced D700. They often tend to replace the rubber grips too, which were starting to go a bit mankey.

Considering whether to flog it once its back and get a D3?? tempting, but I dont think I can afford the little extra on top.

What Id really like to do is sell it and then buy a brand new one with 2 years warranty.. :rules:
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Out of curiosity how much did you pay for it?
 
TCR4x4 said:
I found some on ebay, they are only about £15 each. They have the PCB board for £40 too..
Way beyond me to fit it all though.
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Linky to the rubbers? Always handy to know where to get them cheap.
 
I bought it with with a 24-70 for £2350 about 2 years ago.

I paid £1340 for my first D700 brand new, then they jacked the prices up :-(
 
I would email Nikon UK head office (if such a thing exists) pointing out how disappointed you are that the fault is classed as a user fault, and how you've been using Nikon for years, how much money you've spent on Nikon cameras/lenses/ accessories (in a matter-of-fact style rather than moaning), how amazing you think the products are, how you've never had a problem before, yadda yadda yadda you get the drift, then the punchline - is there any chance you would consider writing off part of the charge as a gesture of goodwill.

Got to be worth a shot.

Remember, the customer is always right.
 
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Jez2011 said:
I would email Nikon UK head office (if such a thing exists) pointing out how disappointed you are that the fault is classed as a user fault, and how you've been using Nikon for years, how much money you've spent on Nikon cameras/lenses/ accessories (in a matter-of-fact style rather than moaning), how amazing you think the products are, how you've never had a problem before, yadda yadda yadda you get the drift, then the punchline - is there any chance you would consider writing off part of the charge as a gesture of goodwill.


Got to be worth a shot.

Remember, the customer is always right.
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Its the head of UK customer service I contacted and have been having email communication with, and also who rang me today. I said exactly all that, been using Nikon 8 years yaddda yadda, owned 7 bodies from new yadda yadda, very concerned/dissapointed yadda yadda.

Cant get much higher before going international.
 
TCR4x4 said:
Its the head of UK customer service I contacted and have been having email communication with, and also who rang me today. I said exactly all that, been using Nikon 8 years yaddda yadda, owned 7 bodies from new yadda yadda, very concerned/dissapointed yadda yadda.

Cant get much higher before going international.
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Go for it! Don't stop till your talking to Mr Nikon himself!
 
Jez2011 said:
I would email Nikon UK head office (if such a thing exists) pointing out how disappointed you are that the fault is classed as a user fault, and how you've been using Nikon for years, how much money you've spent on Nikon cameras/lenses/ accessories (in a matter-of-fact style rather than moaning), how amazing you think the products are, how you've never had a problem before, yadda yadda yadda you get the drift, then the punchline - is there any chance you would consider writing off part of the charge as a gesture of goodwill.

Got to be worth a shot.

Remember, the customer is always right.
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Don't waste your time or lower your self esteem creeping to them, only 2 colours exist as far as they're concerned black & white, that's the reason I now use Sony and will never go back to Nikon, whether or not Sony customer service are any better I'll find out should I get a problem.
 
SussexBlue said:
Don't waste your time or lower your self esteem creeping to them, only 2 colours exist as far as they're concerned black & white, that's the reason I now use Sony and will never go back to Nikon, whether or not Sony customer service are any better I'll find out should I get a problem.
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All companies seem to be sucky these days =[

Rare to meet a company that goes the extra mile :(
 
Jez2011 said:
Remember, the customer is always right.
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Having sat at the other end of the phone, they are probably thinking the exact opposite and they are the one's holding the evidence and knowledge. While the OP may not have knowingly done anything a small knock or a loose screw is all it could have taken.

A person I follow on twitter killed a D3s, D3x and a 600VR in Africa when the vibration from the vehicle loosened a tiny screw in the 600s lens mount which then took out the mounts and aperture levers on both cameras and then bent the mount of the 600. It really doesn't take much to do some serious damage to such precision components.
 
TCR4x4 said:
Its not the first occasion of this happening I have witnessed. "User error" seems a very conveinent get out clause for warranty or non warranty repairs. How can we proove otherwise?
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Sounds a lot like the old 'impact damage' line they came out with when the 24-70 zooms started sticking/falling apart.
 
don't pro guys take these to war zones !! should be able to hack some rough treatment -
 
maninsuitcase said:
Having sat at the other end of the phone, they are probably thinking the exact opposite and they are the one's holding the evidence and knowledge. While the OP may not have knowingly done anything a small knock or a loose screw is all it could have taken.

A person I follow on twitter killed a D3s, D3x and a 600VR in Africa when the vibration from the vehicle loosened a tiny screw in the 600s lens mount which then took out the mounts and aperture levers on both cameras and then bent the mount of the 600. It really doesn't take much to do some serious damage to such precision components.
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In that situation, surely then it's not user error and is a manufacture defect. The screws should be sufficiently tightened so they don't loosen with vibration.

My Land rover has a very similar thing. In order to cut corners, they didn't use thread lock on the oil pump bolt. The result is after a few years, the bolt loosens, falls out and the entire engine is wrecked due to oil starvation.
They had to fork out a lot of money to people who had this happen, even though they still denied it was a fault. Strange how in the later models they started using thread lock though.
 
TCR4x4 said:
In that situation, surely then it's not user error and is a manufacture defect. The screws should be sufficiently tightened so they don't loosen with vibration.

My Land rover has a very similar thing. In order to cut corners, they didn't use thread lock on the oil pump bolt. The result is after a few years, the bolt loosens, falls out and the entire engine is wrecked due to oil starvation.
They had to fork out a lot of money to people who had this happen, even though they still denied it was a fault. Strange how in the later models they started using thread lock though.
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You could argue the vibration was extreme and prolonged (which it was) and beyond what would be deemed normal. Especially if this is a 1 off rather than systematic as with the Land Rover.

Btw not saying you did knock it or anything but just an example. From the other side if it looks like user error probably 90% of the time it is. Of course there's always that 10%! Sometimes **** just happens.
 
don't pro guys take these to war zones !! should be able to hack some rough treatment -
 
Was the camera powered up when you changed lenses Tom? If it was and the lens got jammed half-way, it may have shorted out the lens contacts causing the DCU to blow. (I wonder if the DCU is the same part as the DC/DC converter :thinking:).

Another thought - have you checked the grub screws on the lens in question? If one of those comes unscrewed (even by a tiny amount) it can cause the mount to jam up solid, which in turn could bend the aperture lever. Nikon may be more sympathetic if the whole sad event was caused by a loose screw on one of their lenses.

Edit: Doh! - just read post 101 :bang:
 
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Ozei said:
Was the camera powered up when you changed lenses Tom? If it was and the lens got jammed half-way, it may have shorted out the lens contacts causing the DCU to blow. (I wonder if the DCU is the same part as the DC/DC converter :thinking:).

Another thought - have you checked the grub screws on the lens in question? If one of those comes unscrewed (even by a tiny amount) it can cause the mount to jam up solid, which in turn could bend the aperture lever. Nikon may be more sympathetic if the whole sad event was caused by a loose screw on one of their lenses.

Edit: Doh! - just read post 101 :bang:
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I always turn the camera off when changing lenses, but presumably power is still present in the body to power the top LCD. I'll have a look at the lens in a minute and see.
Not sure what the dcu is, don't think he knew either, took him 3 attempts to say it! Lol
 
Tom - I'd guess that the top LCD is powered by the internal battery and so is irrelevant, i.e. when the camera is off, the lens contacts are not live.
 
Tom hi, sorry to hear about all the expenses coming at one time, doesnt it always happen like that, hope Nikon do something for you. You've shown great decency in not trying to pull a flanker with Nikon, although my guess is they may know who the original owner is so I think it would be real risky to say you were the original owner. As a side note and you probably realise now forcing anything camera wise will probably results in doing some damage, sorry it happened to you.

Matt
 
Just realised my 16-35 is knackered as well.
The aperture lever is bent and stuck.

Moral of the story, if your lens gets stuck on, don't try and free it, send it straight to Nikon.

But then they will just tell you that lenses don't get stuck on and blame you anyway.

So here comes another £200+ bill
 
TCR4x4 said:
Just realised my 16-35 is knackered as well.
The aperture lever is bent and stuck.

Moral of the story, if your lens gets stuck on, don't try and free it, send it straight to Nikon.

But then they will just tell you that lenses don't get stuck on and blame you anyway.

So here comes another £200+ bill
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Now that's a bummer, if I may say so.

I was going to ask, once your body is repaired by Nikon, it ought to be sent to you with a 6 months warrantee on the parts they've had to replace? Which sort of isn't bad, helps reduce the repair cost pains :shrug:
 
Wail said:
Now that's a bummer, if I may say so.

I was going to ask, once your body is repaired by Nikon, it ought to be sent to you with a 6 months warrantee on the parts they've had to replace? Which sort of isn't bad, helps reduce the repair cost pains :shrug:
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I presume it will have some sort of warranty yeah, not sure on the details though.
 
Yes!!

After they tried to fob me off with its my fault, I told them to look again.
He then rang back a few days later, asking what lens it was that got stuck on. As soon as I said 16-35, he oh, ok.

I had already wrapped it up ready to go to fixation, but he said send it to them and they will check it, as there is a known problem with that lens.
I sent it, and they confirmed the lens was at fault.
There is a tiny screw that stops the lens rotating too far, it was missing on my lens, and they know this has happened before.

Well, anyway, now the lens is sat beside me, fully repaired with a new bayonet mount, new aperture lever, new contacts and a full clean/service/check over all FOC.

The camera however is still with them.
Its been saying on the tracking status for a while, "awaiting spares", This changed to "spares recieved" on Tuesday, so its just a waiting game.

I still dont know for sure if that will be FOC, but Im guessing so as it was the lens that caused it.
I did recieve an invoice, but it was sent before the lens issue came to light, so Im just ignoring it for now!

Hopefully within the next few days I'll either have the camera here fixed and shiny, or Ill have some confirmation of if I have to pay or not.
 
That sounds like it's going to play out well as it should (y) and all with out even considering some of the less honest things mentioned earlier in this thread (y)

Glad to hear that it all sounds like its going in your favour (y)

Matt
 
Well that's good news, I would think that having repaired the lens FOC for a "known fault" it would be very hard for them to do anything other than repair the 'consequential' damage FOC - I would certainly be kicking up if they tried!
 
Just read through the thread Tom and it sounds like it's going to be good news! Sure hope so....

I was thinking Oh no when I read about the camera, and then Oh ***** when I read about the lens.... and then, Hurrah! when I saw your last post :LOL:

Fingers crossed eh?! (y)
 
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