Question - getting Nikon lens serviced/repaired

[losfp]

I received a lens from eBay this morning - an AF-S 300mm f/2.8 (Version 1).

Mostly seems fine apart from the following which is not mentioned on the auction description:

1. The tripod collar locking knob is broken. You can tighten the knob down, however the collar still rotates.
2. The lens has problems focusing closer than about 5 metres. It hunts very slowly and frequently gets "stuck", at which point the only way to get it to autofocus again is to manually focus it further than 5m and try again.

Does anyone have any recommendations on service centres etc? Is Nikon Aus in Lidcombe pretty much my only choice?

I basically want to work out whether it's worthwhile getting it fixed, or sending the lens back to the seller in the US. Their policy states that if an item is not as described, they will offer a full refund of the original purchase price and shipping, but the buyer pays for the return shipping and any taxes and duties incurred as part of the purchase.

I got it for around $2800 AUD including delivery, which I thought was fair considering the price of a brand new 300VR - plus customs in their infinite generosity and wisdom appear to have not bothered to sting me for the GST at all If that is a cheap price, it may be worth just getting it fixed. If I stick it on the 6m-infinity focus limit switch, there's no problem at all.

[shakey]

Poraday....which is now located in Chippendale... and I think is part of Nikon on Broadway will give you a quote phone 96995011 to see if they can help you out

[losfp]

Errrrr... how embarrassment.

Wifey and Devil Child came home today after a week visiting the in-laws and she had the D200 with her. So I thought I'd plug the 300mm into that camera and see if there was a difference.

Holy hell, it was focusing fast as, racking back and forth from minimum to infinity in a snap. What the hell's going on here? Mounted it back on the D300 - nah, once you tried to focus close, same problem with stuttering AF and getting stuck.

Hmmmm it occurs to me that I was having a couple of problems a couple of weeks ago taking photos at a friend's son's 1st birthday. At the time I attributed it to the low light conditions but now I wasn't so sure. I did a bit of googling and discovered that apparently you can run into problems if there's dust in the AF sensors. Okay, I'll give anything a shot. Took the lens off and blew the hell out of the inside using the old trusty rocket blower. Mounted it back on and whaddya know - perfect AF back and forth.

I guess that saves a lot of trouble!! I am happy to live with the non-locking tripod collar (and if I bother getting it fixed, it sure will be a lot cheaper than fixing the AF-S in the lens!) and it'll save me dealing with shipping back etc etc.

I was going to run it through a few more tests when I got home anyway, thankfully it was something as simple as this!!

[Willy wombat]

Wowzers - thats lucky

[aim54x]

Wowzers - thats lucky

I would say! Great to hear that you have avoided a trip to lidcombe!

[losfp]

A bit of feedback regarding my experiences with purchasing this lens.

The eBay dealer was ShutterBlade - they do a lot of auctions of photographic stuff, and I had previously unsuccessfully bid on 300mm lenses auctioned by them before...

When I went back to grab contact details to chase them up on my issues, I went and read some of their feedback. I had noticed that they had 99.9% positive ratings or something so never really thought much about it. Of course, with thousands and thousands of transactions, this actually means dozens of negative feedback! I got a bit worried when I read quite a few pieces of feedback around items not being in the described condition, and issues with organising refunds and arguments over who was responsible for paying return shipping etc etc. But I thought, I would send them a polite email and see what happens.

My original email was:

Hi, this is regarding the item:

Nikon Nikkor AF-S 300mm 2.8 ED Lens for D300 NR 88242 - Item Number xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The ordering process was easy, the shipping was very fast and the package arrived in good shape. The condition of the lens is generally as stated on the auction, however I have tested the lens and have the following 3 concerns which are NOT mentioned on the auction description.

1. Rear lens cap not included
2. The tripod collar locking knob is broken. You can tighten the knob down, however the collar still rotates.
3. The lens has problems focusing closer than about 5 metres. It hunts very slowly and frequently gets "stuck", at which point the only way to get it to autofocus again is to manually focus it further than 5m and try again.

I'm not really bothered by #1, but #2 and #3 have a pretty severe impact on functionality.

I am willing to have it checked out by a Nikon service centre - will you cover the service fee to resolve issues 2 and 3? Otherwise you would have to cover listing fees, and update the item description etc.

Regards, and hope to hear from you soon,
Des.

Their response:

Hi there,
The rear lens cap was included and was shipped on the lens, the front cap was not included as indicated in the auction:

Auction Includes Only the Following: Lens, hood, rear cap, leather case, strap

The tripod collar did not have any problems when it was sent to you, so I am not sure why you are experiencing this issue now. According to the manufacturer specs the lens should focus down to 3m, so I am not sure why it is not.

Unfortunately, we are not set up for repairs. If you would like, you may take the camera to a local repair shop and get a free repair estimate. Please do not pay for any repairs until you have consulted with us first. Send us a copy of the free repair estimate. Depending on the cost, we may be able to assist in the repair cost or we will determine if it is best to return the item for a refund. Our warranty period expires on August 23, 2009. The estimate must be received no later than that date. You may want to consider getting it repaired locally because Nikon may take up to 8 weeks to provide an estimate and that is an unacceptable amount of time for the estimate.

Or, you may simply send the camera back to us for a refund.

Please let me know which solution you would prefer. I apologize for any inconvenience that this has caused you.

Thank you and have a great day!

I thought this was actually a very fair response, even down to suggesting a local repairing to hurry up the quoting process.

I sent a further email when I was able to work out what the AF problem was:

Hi, I have run a few more tests. It turns out that the AF issue was restricted to only one body that I first tested the lens with. It appears that the AF sensors may have had a lot of dust on them as the problem looks like it is ok now that I have blown all the dust out.

I am happy to tolerate the other two issues, however it would have been nice for the description to mention them.

to which the reply was:

Hi there,

I am pleased to hear that the AF issue has been resolved. We can offer you a partial refund of $50USD with regard to your remaining two concerns. This offer is valid until July 31, 2009.

Thank you and have a great day!

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

I am super-happy with this outcome, and feel that ShutterBlade did everything that was expected of them. Thankfully it didn't need to get to the stage of getting repair quotes etc, so I can't say if that process is as smooth.

So the sum total:

I got the lens for $2820 AUD delivered.

I didn't get stung for GST at customs.

I won the auction at 5:50am on Monday and had the lens on my desk at work on Friday morning.

I received email feedback within hours.

I accepted the $50 USD partial refund and it was credited to my account first thing Monday night (Monday AM their time).

Upon inspecting the non-locking tripod collar, I noticed the pin was slightly bent, so I "corrected" it by means of a short sharp tap with a hammer to remove the bend.. and it now locks! You have to screw it very tightly down, but it locks.

I replaced the missing rear lens cap with one of my spares.

Thumbs up to all parties involved

[Glen]

Glad you dodged a bullet, Des and fair response by the vendor

[aim54x]

Glad you dodged a bullet, Des and fair response by the vendor

Good to hear that things have worked out for you! I'd be pretty happy with that...I am still waiting for NIkon to refund my repair (partial refund as a compromise as well...)

[losfp]

Haha, perhaps I spoke too soon. I just received an import declaration from FedEx with an amount payable of $336 on my package. I assume I will receive the bill later on. I was just under the impression that if it gets past customs, then I'm home free. Perhaps FedEx pays it first, and then bills the receiver later. Fair enough. Still a good deal IMO Including the 50 USD refund, the lens will have a final cost of ~ $3050 AUD.

[Willy wombat]

Ha - I cant believe that Fedex try to recover the customs duty cost after delivery. I would imagine this could be a very difficult process for them with risk of people disapearing.

Good outcomes for you on this purchse though