Nikon suport??

[bittenyakka]

Hi
I have 2 question about the level of support and how people have found it.
Firstly I take it Nikon offer no support what so ever for gray cameras? AS I have been told by some stores here in Adelaide that they don’t even like to repair at your cost e.g. after warranty?
Secondly
Last year I got a D40 for my birthday it was all good until it stopped auto focusing. So as it was under warranty we took it to the place of purchase and it was apparently the motor in the lens. All well and good the store took it and said they would send it to Nikon to get fixed. Now 4 weeks later we were about to go on a holiday to the Kimberly and Nikon still hadn’t fixed the lens. (at this point the camera store lent us a lens to take on our trip). Then a month later when I got back from holidays the lens still wasn’t fixed. At this point the camera store gave us a new one and then continued to deal with Nikon.
Is this normal?
As I figure the hassle of dealing with distant dealers for warranty issues with the gray market might be not that different to dealing with Nikon Australia.

Thanks

[gstark]

Hi, and welcome.

Please be sure to add a meaningful location to your profile. This is a requirement of membership here, and please refer to the front (portal_ page and FAQ to get an understanding of what is meant by "meaningful".

Now that the housekeeping's done ..

Firstly I take it Nikon offer no support what so ever for gray cameras? AS I have been told by some stores here in Adelaide that they don’t even like to repair at your cost e.g. after warranty?

Correct, in terms of digital bodies. Lenses and film bodies usually come with an international warranty.

I personally think it's disgraceful on the part of Nikon Oz: the stuff all comes from the same factory, and anything they say about it is just a load of bullshit. But so, too is much of their pricing.

Now 4 weeks later we were about to go on a holiday to the Kimberly and Nikon still hadn’t fixed the lens.

Without wanting to cast aspersions on anyone, do you know that the lens is actually at Nikon? And when it was sent to them?

That said, this is not at all surprising, and we have seen similar instances from them. Not often, but enough to make one ask why you should bother supporting them, rather than buying grey.

As I figure the hassle of dealing with distant dealers for warranty issues with the gray market might be not that different to dealing with Nikon Australia.

We have often found that we can source stock, and have it in our hands, more quickly when dealing with HKG than we can when dealing with Nikon Oz.

But this is always a decision that one must decide, for themselves.

[aim54x]

Nikon Oz lost my F80 when I had to send it back to them due to a battery drain problem. The camera was NOS (New Old Stock) so therefore had a full 1yr warranty, but when they found the camera they quoted $500 for the repair, as you could imagine I was not a happy kid!! In the end my mate, who works for a camera store called them up and had some arse kicked, via the Nikon rep, and they magically found the missing paperwork and promptly fixed the camera under warranty. (My F80 was given new PC boards and a new top cover)

In general they seem to be ok at getting repairs done, but it does drag on for a few weeks before they get it done. My case, and it seems that your case seems to show that they have their terrible days/weeks and f*ck things up pretty bad. It was nice of the camera shop to give you a new lens because it seems like Nikon has lost yours.

I agree with Gary about pricing and service, the Aust service is just not THAT good to warrant the huge price difference. The only thing that keeps me buying from Nikon Aust is the fact that I can get good pricing (better than retail) and that I can get an invoice that I can claim on tax. But HKG prices are damn tempting atm.

[bittenyakka]

Thanks for the prompt replies.

To the best of my knowledge it was at Nikon but yes it could have been anywhere.