I'm unhappy with Nikon service dept. - give me some perspective

[TiffanyK]

My Nikon D40 is about 6 months old. A month or so after I got it I started having trouble with the auto focus. It just wouldn't auto focus much of the time and it got worse and worse. I sent it into Nikon and they sent it back after a few weeks. It looked new, clean etc. And it was working.

About a month ago I started having problems with the auto focus again. I didn't want to be without my camera on vacation though and it was working most of the time. Now it's gotten worse again and doesn't work much of the time.

I called Nikon today and they couldn't explain to me what they had done to it before, or if it could be fixed again, or if I would need a new camera. They said I couldn't talk to anyone who works on cameras. The guy was pretty sarcastic, but he did write up a formal complaint with a reference number. I didn't ask him to do that, but he did. He also said he would send me mailing labels so I could send the camera free of charge (last time it cost me $30 to have UPS pack and ship it) I haven't gotten the email with the packing labels so I'll have to check up on that.

I'm just really frustrated with the lack of communication with them. I really don't want to be without it. And I really think they should offer me a new one, or at the very least I should be able to talk to someone about what is wrong with it and why it's not working again.

I guess I just wanted to rant a little bit. Anyone else had experience like this with your camera?

 

[Gdad]

Sorry to hear you are having a bad experience. I sent in my D70s once for a couple hot pixels and it came back fine- that was my only real experience with their service. Hope everything turns out okay.

 

[Chikabowa]

It is so difficult to diagnose a problem over the phone. Almost impossible. They will have to have it in-house in order to make any repairs to the camera, so your best bet will be to send it into them for work.

Nikon service isn't necessarily like a local repair shop where you can just walk down the hall and talk to someone. It's a HUGE operation and most likely once they receive your camera for service they will pull the file and have a technician then be able to look at it for this problem and past problems. It's not like they can just say, "Oh sorry Mrs. Johnson. Last time we did such-and-such. I'm sure this time it's just this-or-that." These are essentially pretty fancy little computers we carry and they need to open it up and perform a little electronic surgery.

Additionally, it's probably still under warranty, so they are going to check to see if this is an actual problem with the camera or something you did to do for warranty repair. Can't do that over the phone.

And trust me... these companies have been fleeced by people who have intentions very less honorable than yours... which leads to policies that hurt everyone. Which is why they aren't going to place a new $600 product in your hands until they've exhausted all steps for repair.

Costco and Target both used to have massively generous return policies, but they were taken advantage of too many times, and now their policies have changed to very strict return policies. Every business finds eventually that it has to do it.

Don't stresss. Just send your camera in and get it worked on!

Trust me, Nikon service is incredible! I had a VERY busy June and I had my LCD go out on me in the middle of the month. They really stepped up their game to get all work done for me in between Saturday weddings.

 

[TiffanyK]

Thank you both. You've made me feel better about sending it in again. It's just frustrating and they guy I got on the phone today was very sarcastic. He also never sent the mailing labels so I'll have to call again for those.

Anyway, thanks for the replies. You have made me feel better about it.

 

[YesDear]

I will ditto the fact that the few times I have needed to use them. I agree with Susan that asking about your particular camera and the repair is not what they are set up for!

Since there is no motor in your camera, it could be the lens?

 

[jann1033]

i use canon but i can't believe nikon doesn't have it all on computer according to serial number as well as by name, date and invoice number like canon does so how hard is it to look it up.. send it back in and if they don't fix it see if they have a customer resolution that helps with problems. unfortunately it seems when you get it back and it doesn't work still then they take if personally. I'm know both canon and phototech didn't even look at my lenses the second times i sent this in since they came back with the exact same problems ..or they have blind techs who couldn't see they weren't working, one of the two. both times i went over their heads and got either customer resolution or the distributor ( since phototech isn't just a repair for one lens) involved as a go between and it helped.
i really think it's due to sexism but that is just my take on it. ( and if the woman at phototech calls me "honey" in that condescending tone one more time i am jumping through the phone and taping her mouth shut. I sound a lot younger and nicer on the phone than i am)

 

[TiffanyK]

Part of the reason I wanted to talk to someone who knew what had been fixed (supposedly) is that I don't really know if it was the camera or the lens. Last time I shipped it all body, 18-55 and 55-200. I don't use the 55-200 lens that often, but last time I thought it might not be auto focusing correctly.

It does seem that they could at least tell me what had been fixed last time. The guy said I should have gotten a list, which I did but I have no idea what it meant. Just a bunch of numbers and codes.

 

[jann1033]

call in again and see if you can talk to someone else or a supervisor. they should have all that info somewhere.even if it's wasn't under warranty most places give you a 3-6 month warranty on repairs so there is no way they don't have what they did recorded somewhere. how would they know if it was the same problem otherwise. i had sent my lens in to phototech in 2007( when it first started not working right ) and they swore i hadn't... till another tech "found " the info the first one swore wasn't there. some people just don't want to bother, just like any other job

 

[Chikabowa]

i use canon but i can't believe nikon doesn't have it all on computer according to serial number as well as by name, date and invoice number like canon does so how hard is it to look it up.. send it back in and if they don't fix it see if they have a customer resolution that helps with problems.

I'm sure they do.... but all my experiences of calling Nikon service and getting a 'rep' is a 'rep' in India. They have NO IDEA how to walk through the problem with you and really, when you are talking that specific, most consumers aren't going to be exactly easy to talk with or understand all the mechanics. So they listen and then they tell you to send it in. On the flip side... most pro's they talk to are talking in such a high-level that I doubt they could walk through the problem with them either!

And what you said about being a woman...
YES YES YES YES!! I have found the treatment I get inside of pro-shops to be DEPLORABLE!!! I seriously stood at the counter for 45 minutes waiting to get helped while all the older men around me were getting helped prior to me. It was so frustrating as the sales people were helping these guys with a couple hundred dollars worth of equipment while I'm waiting to be helped so I can spend $5K (after already dropped $15K last year in that same shop!). My, then 7-month old, DD was with me and quietly sitting in her stroller eating Cheerios and playing with a book (not making a sound) and I had a CUSTOMER come up to me and tell me how inappropriate it was for me to bring a child into the camera shop. I was LIVID and walked out, came home, ordered from B&H and paid for next day shipping.

Granted, this was not a Kit's Camera... it's a shop that caters exclusively to pro photographers, but still... horrible. And I've found that pretty much across the board, not matter where I go, I am talked down to and ignored. I've taken to having my 6'4" firefighter hubby go with me. They always ask him what he needs and then he tells them "I don't know, ask her, she's the one with the money to spend."

Then they are roped into helping me. But once they start talking to me, the actually figure out that I know what I'm talking about... :

But, yeah, I really wouldn't be surprised if you were talked down to and made to feel bad. It happens and unfortunately a good majority of the industry is still pretty sexist - that has at least been my experience and the experience of a lot of my girlfriends. I'm sorry to say that it's pretty common... I've had it happen so much that I just expect it anymore.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I've had two repair experiences. When my Canon camera dropped to the floor, my lens got knocked out of whack. It was still in the warranty period, but abuse wasn't covered by the warranty. Canon had me send it (I can't remember if they handled the postage). They fixed it and sent it back. That was almost three years ago and I haven't had any trouble since.

My other experience was with a cheap Pentax P&S. It would power up and immediately shut down. We sent it to them and they fixed something. Then they sent us the wrong camera. We sent that back and they sent us the correct one. It worked for another year or two and then the same thing recently happened. I decided to just pitch it and start again with something else.

 

[jann1033]

I'm sure they do.... but all my experiences of calling Nikon service and getting a 'rep' is a 'rep' in India. They have NO IDEA how to walk through the problem with you and really, when you are talking that specific, most consumers aren't going to be exactly easy to talk with or understand all the mechanics. So they listen and then they tell you to send it in. On the flip side... most pro's they talk to are talking in such a high-level that I doubt they could walk through the problem with them either!

And what you said about being a woman...
YES YES YES YES!! I have found the treatment I get inside of pro-shops to be DEPLORABLE!!! I seriously stood at the counter for 45 minutes waiting to get helped while all the older men around me were getting helped prior to me. It was so frustrating as the sales people were helping these guys with a couple hundred dollars worth of equipment while I'm waiting to be helped so I can spend $5K (after already dropped $15K last year in that same shop!). My, then 7-month old, DD was with me and quietly sitting in her stroller eating Cheerios and playing with a book (not making a sound) and I had a CUSTOMER come up to me and tell me how inappropriate it was for me to bring a child into the camera shop. I was LIVID and walked out, came home, ordered from B&H and paid for next day shipping.

Granted, this was not a Kit's Camera... it's a shop that caters exclusively to pro photographers, but still... horrible. And I've found that pretty much across the board, not matter where I go, I am talked down to and ignored. I've taken to having my 6'4" firefighter hubby go with me. They always ask him what he needs and then he tells them "I don't know, ask her, she's the one with the money to spend."

Then they are roped into helping me. But once they start talking to me, the actually figure out that I know what I'm talking about... :

But, yeah, I really wouldn't be surprised if you were talked down to and made to feel bad. It happens and unfortunately a good majority of the industry is still pretty sexist - that has at least been my experience and the experience of a lot of my girlfriends. I'm sorry to say that it's pretty common... I've had it happen so much that I just expect it anymore.

canon still is someplace in the US so that would make a big difference.
glad to hear it's not just me.( well can i really be glad to be ignored?????) i found that with buying a computer as well, they'd ignore me and ask hubby...i don't know much about computers( although i research like crazy before hand so i have a good idea what i need or not)but am a "genius "compared to him in the "tech" aspect so he'd just him and haw around then finally say "ask her"

 

[Chikabowa]

Nikon Service is still here in the US - California to be exact. Just their phone bank is overseas.

 

[Twigs]

I luckily live 25 min away from Nikon's repair center here on Long Island, so when I brought my camera in I did get to speak to someone face to face. As mentioned above I would ask to speak to a supervisor, someone should be able to translate those codes for you.

 

[rtphokie]

I called Nikon today and they couldn't explain to me what they had done to it before, or if it could be fixed again, or if I would need a new camera. They said I couldn't talk to anyone who works on cameras. The guy was pretty sarcastic, but he did write up a formal complaint with a reference number. I didn't ask him to do that, but he did. He also said he would send me mailing labels so I could send the camera free of charge (last time it cost me $30 to have UPS pack and ship it) I haven't gotten the email with the packing labels so I'll have to check up on that.

You are talking to a call center at a major corporation, not a guy at the corner camera shop. the person you are talking to probably knows the database where they log customer calls inside and out but may not know a D40 from a hole in the wall. Even if you got through to technical support, they are going to be most skilled at helping customers in the operation of their cameras and cant really diagnose anything over the phone.

When you sent it in, did you send just the body or the lens(es) as well? Does it have trouble focusing with all lenses? Have you tried other lenses. I'd look at the electrical contacts on the lens and on the body to see if they are a bit dirty. It might not be making good connection with the camera.

 

[TiffanyK]

I'd look at the electrical contacts on the lens and on the body to see if they are a bit dirty. It might not be making good connection with the camera.

I just called Nikon again. This guy was more helpful and said that it might be exactly what you said - dirty contacts on the lens and camera body. He told me to use a tiny bit of alcohol on a q-tip to clean it. that would be an easy fix if it works.

How often do you all need to clean the contacts on your camera/lens? I don't change lenses that often, but maybe I should have been cleaning it regularly anyway.

 

[jann1033]

i wouldn't clean to often. i was just having a problem with a lens( what a shock ) and they told me to clean the contacts with a microfiber cloth but to be careful not to rub to hard...didn't do a thing in my case but ya never know till you try