Message from Nikon

[wendellt]

hi people

just passing on mesage from people at nikon service centre Australia

they said just because you have 1 bad experience doesn't mean the service there is bad

people tend to report bad experiences but never preach the good news just human nature

ive had my camera in there about 7 times so ive had some bad experiences but at the end they fixed it all up good as new and lookin gback i cant even remember the bad experiences

they told me to spread the news
just the messenger here

[blacknstormy]

Fair enough Wendell - but just maybe it would be nice if Nikon actually listened when things don't work out, and maybe there wouldn't be sooo many bad reports ????

[jamesw]

I thought it was human nature to forget the bad remember the good. People tend to look back on things (like school, old friends, old jobs, etc) with rose coloured glasses.

[ATJ]

Wendell,

The thing is the service should ALWAYS be good. Good is the minimum expected and there's nothing special about good service. There is no excuse for bad service. Perhaps if the service was excellent from time to time it might make up for the bad service.

[jamesw]

And BTW good customer service is:

- getting it right,
- first time,
- all the time,
- managing the expectations of the customer appropriately (wouldn't you rather know the date you were actually going to get your camera back, rather than some fictional date so you don't get mad initially?)
- no arguments,
- no questions asked.

In my dealings with Nikon servicing, none of these points have ever been ticked. I suspect this is also why many feel the premium for genuine australian stock is too high (People like d-d photographics provide var superior after sales service... no questions asked).

[gstark]

they said just because you have 1 bad experience doesn't mean the service there is bad

And what, exactly, do they suggest that it does mean?

What, pray tell, would they say when, from the one family group, of four brand new cameras purchased through Nikon Oz/Mazwells, each of those four cameras have each suffered at least one failure under warranty, and in addition to that, one of those was DOA?

Four cameras, five warranty claims! One family group!

That is failure rate of ... 125%

What, precisely, do they suggest that says about Nikon quality?

And then, repairs were delayed because of a sever parts shortage. Repairs promised for within a couple of weeks actually took a couple of months.

What, precisely, do they suggest that says about Nikon service?

people tend to report bad experiences but never preach the good news just human nature

Wrong, wrong wrong. We have seen many instances here of people reporting exceptional service.

Good service is not something that is special or beyond the norm: it is the absolute minimal standard that should be given; it is the norm, and when it is provided, it is only correct and appropriate that it not be reported upon.

ive had my camera in there about 7 times so ive had some bad experiences but at the end they fixed it all up good

And there's the problem: at the end!

That should be their first port of call. Their deliverable should be excellence. Fixed first time, every time, and as quickly as possible.

Anything less is sub-standard, and for them to be bleating like this is just a load of codswallop, bullshit, and absolute fucking garbage.

they told me to spread the news
just the messenger here

They really should be ashamed of themselves if they've asked you to be their messenger in this. Why do they not have the guts, the professionalism, the integrity, to come here and post that message on their own behalf?

That's not simply unprofessional, it's downright cowardice.

How dare they!

How bloody piss-poor of them!

It makes me want to puke all over my corn flakes!

[gstark]

The thing is the service should ALWAYS be good. Good is the minimum expected and there's nothing special about good service. There is no excuse for bad service. Perhaps if the service was excellent from time to time it might make up for the bad service.

Eaxactly.

[Oneputt]

Wendell - service should all be good. Sadly my experiences have all been bad. Until there is a fundamental change in attitude by the personnel at Nikon the situation will never improve. We pay top dollar for the best of gear, getting good service from a Service Department should be par for the course, not a rarity. By all means pass on my comments to them, although I doubt they will have any effect.

[gstark]

And BTW good customer service is:

- getting it right,
- first time,
- all the time,
- managing the expectations of the customer appropriately (wouldn't you rather know the date you were actually going to get your camera back, rather than some fictional date so you don't get mad initially?)
- no arguments,
- no questions asked.

In my dealings with Nikon servicing, none of these points have ever been ticked. I suspect this is also why many feel the premium for genuine australian stock is too high (People like d-d photographics provide var superior after sales service... no questions asked).

Exactly.

I'm sorry Wendell, but you need to go back to the person at Nikon who asked you to be the messenger, and tell him that he is welcome, at any time, to post his messages here, himself.

Let him come into the forums and defend his words; it is not in any way appropriate that they ask you to do this on their behalf. It is in fact highly inappropriate, and whomever asked you really needs to be counseled by their manager about how they perform their duties.

[blacknstormy]

And I just want to point out that we are not having a go at you Wendell - just at Nikon !!!! ... again

[gstark]

And I just want to point out that we are not having a go at you Wendell - just at Nikon !!!! ... again

Correct.

IMHO, this truly makes at least the individual there who asked Wendell to spread this message quite a despicable individual.

[jamesw]

IMHO, this truly makes at least the individual there who asked Wendell to spread this message quite a despicable individual.

What an odd request, btw.

"Just because we stuff up most of the time, it doesn't mean that we stuff up all of the time. Now please, go tell everyone."

Nikon customer service and repairs are not good enough. Simple as that. It has been documented by well known pros for a long time, and Canon run rings around Nikon in this area.

(Dear Mr Nikon, uhhh... thanks for making great cameras and stuff... i really like them... but... ummm.... your after-sale service stinks.)

[MCWB]

Let him come into the forums and defend his words

I don't think there's much in that for him, unless he's a serious masochist! Hopefully something that they can take from this thread (and others here and elsewhere) is that their level of service is particularly poor. I concur with the sentiments expressed earlier in that IMO it's currently not worth paying any extra for Aus stock over grey stock in terms of warranty service. CPS vs NPS is another order of magnitude as I understand!

[Bugeyes]

Nikon used to be such a good camera company, I have very fond memories of my fm2 and f3, never had a fond memory of Maxwell’s though, there service has always been arrogant and second rate.

[gstark]

Let him come into the forums and defend his words

I don't think there's much in that for him, unless he's a serious masochist! Hopefully something that they can take from this thread (and others here and elsewhere) is that their level of service is particularly poor.

And I think that that, truly, is the point.

Look at the initial responses to Wendell's post: how many have - quite independently from one another - stated that good service should be the norm? All within a few minutes of Wendell's OP on the matter.

It's simply not good enough - and it's not acceptable - to set mediocre as your target level of achievement. Excellence should be the target. Anything less is just a pocketful of excuses.

I concur with the sentiments expressed earlier in that IMO it's currently not worth paying any extra for Aus stock over grey stock in terms of warranty service. CPS vs NPS is another order of magnitude as I understand!

You're bring up two completely different arguments here, but both of them hold similar validity.

One can have a camera returned to HK in probably less time than a local dealer would have that same camera returned to Lidcombe. What is wrong with that? Everything!

And with many dealers, why are you paying extra? To get shepherded towards the current best-paying commission prospect for the salesperson? With few exceptions, there are not that many sales people who understand what photography is. let's all wander into our local Hardly Normal or Tricky Dicky and ask them why we should be shooting in raw vs jpg, or what the benefits of one exposure mode over another might be.

Maybe then ask them what they think might qualify them to sell you this camera when they don't understand its functionality and workings?

Perhaps suggest that they're guilty of fraudulent behaviour for daring to claim that they're earning their income in this manner.

WTF should I pay exorbitant local prices when I'm not getting value for those extra $$$?

As to CPS vs NPS: while I have no personal experience of either, comments from those who have suggest your assessment is entirely accurate. It's certainly consistent with the views being expressed within this thread.

[phillipb]

people tend to report bad experiences but never preach the good news just human nature

Let's be fair to Nikon, here's a suggestion.
How about they ask everyone who takes equipment in for repairs how they would rate their experience - Excellent, as expected or not good enough, and then post the results. Then there will be no misrepresentation from anyone.

[chrisk]

well i've only had to go there once. my nikon 5700 shit itself in nov last year. i took it in and they asked what was wrong with it to which i replied, "buggered if i know, it doesn't work."

the week b4 xmas i got the camera back in the mail all repaired with a note to say that they replaced the sensor as per some sensor recall i never heard of. considering the cam is around 6 years old and they fixed it for nothing and sent back within 3 weeks, just b4 xmas all i can say is my experience has been nothing short of excellent.

i hope i never have to experience the fabled poor Nikon Aust customer service but to say it should ALWAYS be good ? come on, lets be a little realistic. i've been to 5 star hotels and $100/ meal restraunts where the service has been lousy. it's just not possible.

[jamesw]

i hope i never have to experience the fabled poor Nikon Aust customer service but to say it should ALWAYS be good ?

there are obviously going to be times where things don't go right, parts are not availible, or simply human error kicks in.

but that should be 1% of the time.

nikon should be aiming to get things right all the time, and appropriately it's managing customer expectations... for instance, i'd rather know at the initial point of contact that my repair is going to take a few months, and plan around that, than be told it will be fixed within a week... that drags out to a few months.

the person that wendell spoke with, obviously has resigned himself to the fact that they arent going to get things right... to me, this is a clear reflection of the culture within nikon aus... it's ok if we do a below average job, these suckers have already bought our gear!

if things don't go to plan, they should figure out why and fix the structural problem.

instead, they cover their mistakes up with beauracratic mumbo jumbo... why isn't my camera fixed? a part isn't in... or we found another part wasn't working... or something still needs to be calibrated... or we're really busy...

[Killakoala]

I have owned 5 Nikon cameras and 3 have been to visit Maxwells (D2H, D70, CP5700.) The other two are 35mm Film cameras and have never failed. (F5, F70d.)

With the failure rate of new digital cameras being so high, Nikon SHOULD get their service and repair sorted out. A quick turnaround should be expected. Days, not months. One week would probably be fine in most cases for most cameras but 2-3 days for pros who need their tools to earn money.

[Bindii]

Cameras that break down...

Bad service...

Yet two more reasons to add to my list of why I am and always will be a Canon girl....

[methd]

Let's be fair to Nikon, here's a suggestion.
How about they ask everyone who takes equipment in for repairs how they would rate their experience - Excellent, as expected or not good enough, and then post the results.

Problem - D70 needed the shutter fixed out of warranty (AU model)

Length of time it took to fix - 6 weeks

Cost - $500 odd

Rating - poor to average (I expected it to take that long).

I'm now curious as to how long it will take to fix my D3. .but i'm not going to risk it until my new one arrives as i have a very bad feeling about it already.

[jamesw]

^^^^^

problem: cracked my D70s body (near the AF/MF selector), the flash would not stay down (had to tape it down temporarily)

i took the camera to adelaide techical camera repair, the authorised nikon service people.

response:
took body in, quote given after 7 days.

told it would take about 10 days to get the part in and maybe a week to fit the parts. was happy with this, as I had a spare D70 body.

no call after 3 weeks, so i called the guy. he told me that the LCD also needed to be replaced, but he had not included this on the invoice. he said that it was included in the charge though. however, this particular part was out of stock. (i assume he broke the lcd while pulling the body apart, or pinched the lcd out of my body to put into a more urgent repair.)

from here it was another 6 weeks, after repetitively leaving messages and trying to call the repairer. no luck. so yeah, after 6 weeks i recieved a call saying 'your camera is ready, come pick it up'.

so 10 weeks without camera.

cost: $350

[Steffen]

I only had to use Nikon service once in my life. My D2H had the rubber peeling off the CF card door, and I found the AF performance dodgey.

I booked the camera in at Lidcombe on a Friday (together with three of my most important lenses, for the AF issue), and picked it up the next Wednesday. They replaced and calibrated the AF sensor, found my lenses to be free from faults and replaced the CF card door. Not cheap all up, but fast. They also did a few things that didn't appear on the bill (like completely reskinning the camera, which was good because I had rubber creeping up to the front dial).

The camera was way out of warranty, so I was prepared for a juicy bill, but the service was nothing short of excellent.

Cheers
Steffen.

[beetleboy]

I remember your experience with the Adelaide repair "centre" James..I had some fun with that chap as well. Aside from the fact that his office/workshop looked more like one of those "tenants from hell" houses from Today Tonight he refused to accept that my D70 was shagged and just kept saying it was operating "within manufacturing standards".

I would rate my experience with Nikon Adelaide at well below below standard (yes, that's 2 below's!)..I also had some fun with a HK repair but I won't go into that one.

[who]

Or at least communicate, provide details, keep someone informaed with honest details.

If they say 1 week to evaluate and assess..... then inform me that it will take 4 weeks for a part to be sourced from a supplier in Japan and then freighted to Aus by non-priority air - so be it. Then 1 week to fit, test etc, and then 4 days to courier back to Tassie.... that is fine, I know that after 1 week I know where I stand.

Then I know that I won't have a camera for say 6 weeks. If I need a camera within 7-8 weeks, I will make a contingency plan. If have lots of money I'll buy a new body. If I don't I'll hire/borrow/ make do with a P&S.

At least I can plan then.

That is how I handle my clients. I give them realistic timeframes. And generally deliver earlier, unless there is a SNAFU beyond expectations.

I seem to keep clients, and don't lose them. So I must be doing OK (at least).

[gstark]

people tend to report bad experiences but never preach the good news just human nature

Let's be fair to Nikon, here's a suggestion.

I think that Nikon needs to be fair to themselves, as well as fair to Wendell.

Is is appropriate that

they told me to spread the news

or should they come here and say what they need to say for themselves?

I would welcome their input. I have, in the past, invited members of Nikon (Maxwell) staff whom I have met at trade events to come and have their say. They have politely declined.

How about they ask everyone who takes equipment in for repairs how they would rate their experience - Excellent, as expected or not good enough, and then post the results. Then there will be no misrepresentation from anyone.

Perhaps.

But there is also the possibility that what Fred rates as great service I might only rate as good: different people have different perceptions. Naturally Fred's results should be discarded because he clearly doesn't understand the issues.


But seriously, the underlying belief though seems to be that there is a problem with the level of service provided by Nikon. There is more than enough anecdotal evidence of this, and Nikon themselves must be aware of this, otherwise why would they have asked Wendell to "spread the news"?

But whilstever they sit on their hands, contemplating their navels, and they continue with their stupid higher pricing for no perceived improvement in value or product, and while they persist in keeping their heads buried in the sand, ignoring the fact that it is not just cheaper, but actually easier to make a purchase OS, and likely quicker to get service from OS than it is from their local service centre, why should they get any sympathy from me?

They are disrespecting me: they need to learn that to earn my respect, they need to respect me as well.

[Big Red]

there are a hell of a lot of reasons why you get shoddy service, coming from a service related industry i have seen all the below and far more ...

your expectations are too high.
the customer is the problem but wont be truthful about it.
the cust can't tell you whats wrong with it.
the cust steers you up the wrong path about the prob.
there is restrictions on cost/ time to find exactly what is wrong with it.
sometimes problems only occur spasmodically and not when the tech is testing.
sometimes the problem does not occur and the tech has to make a guess based on customers description.
theres not enough techs to do the work.
the owners don't allow enough time for techs.
the price has to be kept down so not enough testing happens.
the time has to be kept down so not enough testing happens.

you could fix all these problems but no one would pay for it.

i bet not one of you would pick the mob that truthfully said it will take three months and $1000.00 to fix your camera over the mob who said it will take about a week and about a hundred dollars to fix it even after both times and moneys matched in the end.

[blacknstormy]

Shane - I did to get my 80-200 lens fixed
Quote $900, told would take between 1 and 2 months ...
and I hugged my lens, and asked them to treat it nicely

and it was worth every single penny !!!

And for the record - the repairer was Andersons, and they were utterly brilliant !!!!

[Big Red]

Shane - I did to get my 80-200 lens fixed
Quote $900, told would take between 1 and 2 months ...
and I hugged my lens, and asked them to treat it nicely

and it was worth every single penny !!!

And for the record - the repairer was Andersons, and they were utterly brilliant !!!!

what would have happened if you also was told by Maxwells "$100.00 and you can have it back tomorrow" ?
Before: you would have sent it to Maxwells and complained afterwards when they didn't fix it in time/cost!
After: you would have said "what a ripoff that Andersons Mob are!"

[by the way, its good to see someone happy with their service]

[Oneputt]

Shane there is more than a grain of truth in what you have said, but really you have no idea how poor Nikon service really is.

[gstark]

there are a hell of a lot of reasons why you get shoddy service, coming from a service related industry i have seen all the below and far more ...

Shane,

Yes.

But little of that applies to Nikon service.

Less than little of it, in fact.

Within the realm of what you suggest ...

We had one camera - just over a year ago, and under warranty, that failed.

We took it to the Nikon Service centre. It was under warranty: no cost to us at all.

The camera had failed with a known, common fault. We were told this at the time of lodgment, and promised a 14 day turnaround. The parts required were known to the repairer - as I said, it was a known, common fault.

It took TWO MONTHS for the repair to be effected, because there were no parts.

At NO TIME did Nikon make any attempt to contact us and advise us of a change in the repair schedule.

It took high level representations from me to get the repairs expedited, when the parts - for a common repair - finally arrived.

Those are the facts.

Which of them would you attribute within the scenario you suggested?


Let's take it further: Onyx (Chi) recently had some dead pixels on his D200, and he took the camera to Nikon for repairs. It is common knowledge that the repair for dead pixels is very simple, and requires no more than remapping of the sensor.

After several weeks with the camera being held in Nikon's service department, Chi was told that the reason for the delay was because they were waiting on parts.

As noted above, there are no parts needed for the problem: it's a software, not a hardware, solution.

Those are the facts.

Which of them would you attribute within the scenario you suggested?

Sadly, this seems all to common within the realm of Nikon Oz, as it has been for as long as I care to remember.

People who know me know only too well that I subscribe to the maxim that the problem is, generally speaking, one of user error. With many issues regarding supposed Nikon faults, this remains true, except that when you bring Nikon Oz service into the equation, all bets are off. I doubt I could trust Nikon Oz service department to peel a bloody banana, quite frankly.

Oh yes, one final point ...

there are a hell of a lot of reasons why you get shoddy service, coming from a service related industry i have seen all the below and far more ...

I don't give a damn who the hell I'm dealing with: there is no excuse whatsoever - none - for shoddy service. I have never been one to accept second rate anything, and I am not going to lower my standards because your standards are low. (I'm not referring to you, Shane; merely stating a case). If your standards are low, that is your problem, and it is you that needs to address that problem.

My standards, by the way, are for the achievement of excellence. If an organisation doesn't aspire to at least that level, they need to seriously review their mission.

"Near enough" is not good enough. Sorry.

[jamesw]

the customer is the problem but wont be truthful about it.
the cust can't tell you whats wrong with it.
the cust steers you up the wrong path about the prob.
there is restrictions on cost/ time to find exactly what is wrong with it.
sometimes problems only occur spasmodically and not when the tech is testing.

these should all be resolved by the time a quote is given.

theres not enough techs to do the work.
the owners don't allow enough time for techs.
the price has to be kept down so not enough testing happens.
the time has to be kept down so not enough testing happens.

these are clearly all problems with the organisation providing service. not the customer.

i bet not one of you would pick the mob that truthfully said it will take three months and $1000.00 to fix your camera over the mob who said it will take about a week and about a hundred dollars to fix it even after both times and moneys matched in the end.

whats your point?

nobody would pick the mob who says 3 months and $1000 initially. its not rational. if you had no dealings with either group, why would you chose the more expensive shop that is going to take longer...

but after trying out both organisations (or hearing feedback from other people), and then establishing who actually provides superior service... i'd pick the truthful mob everytime.

[dawesy]

My what an interesting thread, good thing I'm buying Grey!

From someone who has also spent his fair share of time inside a call centre, thankfully not any more, it would seem to me the key to quality service is honesty and communication. Most people accept that shit happens. If you call up up the average Joe to let him know that the part you thought would take a week is going to take 4 because it's stuck on a boat somewhere, he'll usually thank you for your honesty. Not always, but in the long run it tends to pay off.

Case in point. We had a customer get double charged for a purchase. A screw up, but recoverable. A person in our Customer Service dept got a call from him, said a refund would be organised and passed it to accounts - who charged him again. Another, somewhat more serious screw up.

So I get his next call, it must have been my lucky day, and he is irate. He is 45 minutes away from leaving to go OS, and has just discovered that he has now paid for our product 3 times. He was talking police, fraud charges and media.

How do think the story ended?

As it happened it ended with him calling specifically to thank me, and the relationship between my company and him being positive. All it took was acknowledging that we screwed up, we were wrong, and it had to be fixed. He was right and I told him so. I made one phone call to accounts to explain things in detail, and be sure they got it right this time. A phone call to him to explain that that is what I'd done and I would personally follow up, then actually following it up later in the week. Time spent - about 35 mins including his initial call.

Honesty, communication. Not hard.

[Big Red]

He He, this stirred up a hornets nest. BTW ... in no way was i trying to defend Nikon Service ... i have heard more than enough stories about them to believe they are pretty bad at it and its not an isolated incident.

just wanted to give a view from the other side to garner a little bit of understanding of both sides of the argument.

[gstark]

A phone call to him to explain that that is what I'd done and I would personally follow up, then actually following it up later in the week.

You took ownership of the issue, and made a contract with the customer to ensure that the issue was resolved. Very simple. And very effective.

And that is what it's all about: ownership of the issue, and open, honest communications. If there's a screwup, do not become defensive: accept that a screw-up has occurred, but resolve to rectify the fallout from that screw-up.

I become very wary when I hear people becoming defensive when I'm talking with them: what are they trying to hide? Why are they being defensive?

And if you're going to become defensive, do not be surprised when I begin to attack!

[norbs]

A mate in Melbourne had his camera for 5 weeks out of last year. It was a 2006 xmas present. A D70 from memory. At 1 point, he was told the warranty was void because he had used a non Nikkor lens. I will direct him here and maybe he will tell his story.

His wife bought him a Canon 40D for xmas, and as soon as the Nikon is back, he is giving it to his sons school. He doesnt like the layout of the Canon as much as the Nikon, but he has already taken more photos with the 40D than he did all year with the D70.

[Mr Darcy]

Perhaps Nikon would like a comparison.
Just before I left Canberra, I bought a Festool product for about $2000. These are manufacturers of premium power tools. It was DOA with a relatively minor problem (a "moving" fence was jammed). I rang Festool, and told them about the issue. They suggested I return it to the store for a replacement. When I said that was 4 hours drive each way, Colin's - yes the person on the phone gave me his name, and direct line for that matter- response was "No problem" ship it back to us & we'll fix it priority. It was four days till they closed the workshop for a month. they are in Melbourne, I am 100km west of Sydney.
They priority shipped me a a shipping container as they felt the original packing may not stand up to the rigours of the courier company. They also included a priority return courier voucher. They rang to say it had arrived two days later, but forgot to tell me they had fixed it. When I rang them on the day they closed, I discovered the hard way they closed at midday. nonetheless, it arrived home on Christmas Eve, safe and well. They had not only replaced the offending part, they had also gone through and done a full alignment test on all the moving parts. When I finally got around to checking it, it was within 0.25 degrees of accurate. Probably more so, I can't check closer.

All this was at no cost to me, and at no point did they ask for proof of purchase. Well yes I realised it was part of what I paid for in the initial price, and that I could have bought a similar looking tool for a mere $500 or so, but I'm glad I spent the extra money.

[moz]

If you want comparisons just look in the "trader opinions" section... a fair chunk of those are "this place is great" "yeah" "me too"... it's not as though we're unreasonably harsh.

FWIW, I've had similar experiences to Greg with a range of retailers/repairers. I've recently bought a TIG welder, for example, and the supplier couldn't get the foot controller for it. Really, really couldn't. So after a month they *gave* me a cheap replacement that they'd rewired to have the right plug. Sure, it's a $300 part not the $800 one I would prefer, and the manufacturers warranty on the welder is probably at risk now. But they're the ones holding the basket on that one, because my warranty comes from them (and they assure me they'll honour it). If it fails they'll come up with another solution (they're probably hoping it lasts until the proper one is available). They also came and picked up the welder, tested it with the controller, then delivered it back to me. That is the level of service I expect for a $3000 purchase.

Canon did similar for me a year or two ago - I had two items in for repair, they had instructions with each entry to wait until both were ready but they rang me after the first one, so after I picked that up they couriered the second repair out free of charge. Cost to them about $10, value to me a lot more than that.

This stuff is not rocket science.

[Onyx]

Here I was - just caught wind of this thread, after having just started to get the bitter taste of Nikon AU "service" out of my mouth... BTW, I don't feel that I forget the bad experiences of the past, it's the superior product that makes the inferior local service bearable and ultimately worth putting up with (but I find that balance shifting ever so nearer to the fulcrum with each incident, and it tipped the scales on my previous experience I will now no longer support Nikon AU and are comitted to buying grey imports).

Thinking I might have had to restrain myself in posting my views, least I come under attack from the mods and admins' banstick.... and then I read Gary's posts. I don't think I have any more words to add.

I have worked in the warranty repair industry. I know bad warranty service - my workplace was the epitomy of it (and a large number of people who have purchased the market leading brand of mobile phones in the past year or three would know of it too). Having been on that side, my expectations of service levels as a consumer are lower than most... and yet I still feel dissatisfied and disappointed with Nikon AU.

[beetleboy]

Onyx..I think I know the mobile brand you speak of! I have had 3 "experiences" with them over the last 2 years and to say the customer service was bad would be a grossly exaggerated compliment for them. I was treated like a number (literally they referred to me as the reference number of my phone repair!) and continually told me that something had been repaired when it clearly hadn't. My number 9 key didn't work from the day I bought the phone, I had to press it VERY hard to get it to register..took me a while to notice as I don't dial numbers and wxyz aren't common letters in my text msgs! They refused to repair under warranty claiming I'd broken it and then when I took it back cos they hadn't actually fixed the problem they said I must pay the quote fee again to get them to look at it.

That's where I'll leave the story cos it's not any happier from there on!

[jamesw]

I have a friend that works in Nokia, the stories he tells me are ridiculous.

The pinnacle (at the time) N93 phone had a defect rate of 1 in 2 or something like that. THey were simply replacing faulty phones... but then, there was a 1 in 2 chance that the replacement was faulty, too.

But it only takes time for manufacturing shortcuts to show up in sales.

[Dargan]

Thought I'd add a recent experience. Checked on the price of a cracked end cover MBD200 yesterday in Brisbane, about $20 for the part but $160+ for the repair. Yes, I could have bought one new for less. So I said I just want the part. Advised to ring spare parts at Nikon. Called, talked to a reasonable guy, emailed image, he return emailed the part number and price (very reasonable at less than $20 posted, I figure I can do the replacement job myself) so faxed my order and details and am now awaiting part. So far, I have no complaints, all done and dusted in less than an hour. Mind you, I don't have the part yet but I found communication with Nikon very reasonable. I'll be surprised if I do get the part that easily as most businesses today just do not see parts as an economic proposition so they tend to centralise them and in many cases await for economic order sizes before order batches. It doesn't help us but may explain some problems we have, we are not a huge market for Nikon either which is something we should remember.

[Benny2707]

I dropped a lens off to Nikon today for repairs. The aperture blades aren't opening or closing anymore and it's only 4 months old. Anyway, dropped it off at Nikon. Spoke with David who I found to be bloody amazing. He was polite, gave me all the paperwork I needed and quoted a service time of 2 - 3 weeks which is better than the 5 - 6 weeks I had been hearing.

All ticks there, it is however, early days.

I then asked him if he had any HB7's (a hood) for the 80-200. He said he couldn't sell me one but that they were in stock. He then asked me which way I was going home. I told him, he then called ECS and asked if they had any and could they hold the one that they did have for me.

That for me is great customer service. He went out of his way to help me and made me feel like I was valued.

I'm not disputing any of the stories above. I merely speak as I find.

[greencardigan]

quoted a service time of 2 - 3 weeks which is better than the 5 - 6 weeks I had been hearing.

That's what they told me a few months ago when I dropped my 70-200 off for a repair. Still waiting...

[Benny2707]

quoted a service time of 2 - 3 weeks which is better than the 5 - 6 weeks I had been hearing.

That's what they told me a few months ago when I dropped my 70-200 off for a repair. Still waiting...

Well I can only relay what Nikon have told me. In 2 weeks I'll give them a call, see where they're up to and go from there. I'm lucky that the only reason I'm getting the lens repaired is so that I can sell it as I have no use for it anymore.

[MarkW]

I'm lucky that the only reason I'm getting the lens repaired is so that I can sell it as I have no use for it anymore.

If Nikon read that, then you can kiss you 2-3 weeks waiting time goodbye. If they realise that there is no pressure on your part to get the lens back then the service they provide will be less that what they normally give - that could be real bad

[Matt. K]

I had many cameras repaired through Maxwells and have to say that when they fixed something it was fixed properly. As good as new. I've had no dealings with Nikon since Maxwells have gone.