NIKON USA--TERRIBLE SERVICE EXPERIENCE.

I just wanted to let everybody here know about my recent experience
with the Service Dept. at Nikon USA in Melville, New York.

About a month ago or so I decided to send one of my Nikon F3HP cameras
for service to their Service Dept. at Nikon USA. Since I live in the
east coast, I sent the camera to Nikon USA in Melville, New York.

I enclosed a letter with the camera explaining that I wanted to have
the camera cleaned, lubed and adjusted, and the viewfinder's light bulb
and AE Lock button on the body replaced.

Few days after they received the camera, they mailed me an estimate for
the cost of the repair, they wanted $248.00, which I approved and paid
for immediately through Nikon USA website.

I waited for about three weeks, then I finally received the camera
back.

As soon as I took it out of the box, I realized that the AE Lock button
hadn't been replaced because it was still loose to the point of almost
falling off of the camera, and the leatherette on the body was so
poorly reattached that there were several dimples from excessive glue,
gaps from misalignment and in some corners the leatherette was even
coming off. The camera also showed some signs of mishandling and
scratches that it didn't have before it was sent in for service.

I wrote them an email complaining about all these problems, and they
replied back with a UPS Shipping label for me to resend the camera back
to them.

I did that the next day, and they received it by November 11th, 2004.

Well, I received the camera back from them for the second time last
Monday. They did replace the AE Lock button and the viewfinder's light
bulb this time, and it seems that the camera was lubricated and
adjusted, but they ruined the leatherette completely, now there are
even bigger gaps and bigger dimples than before, and the double
exposure little handle on top of the camera was scratched and then
repainted by the "technician" with a black permanent marker. This
camera was in mint condition before it went to Nikon USA, all it needed
was to be cleaned, lubed and adjusted and the two parts mentioned above
replaced.

Now, it looks just terrible, and I'm wondering how this job was
performed, just by looking at the body's leatherette cover makes me
think that if they were incapable of doing that right, I have no reason
to believe that whatever they did on the internal parts of the camera
was done the right way.

I emailed them again, last Tuesday, and a lady named Melanie Chaplin,
who's a Service Relations Supervisor at Nikon USA replied saying that
she was forwarding my email to Harold Glassberg, Nikon USA Service
Manager because they appreciate customers letting them know when things
aren't right...

And that was all they had to say.

My advise:

1)Do not send your cameras for service at Nikon USA, I had never seen
such a poor and mediocre job performed on a camera that, again, was
mint when it left my house.

2)Do not pay the extra dollars for the Nikon USA guaranteed product,
after seeing this, I don't think it's worth it, this is the same kind
of mediocre people that will fix your camera if anything goes wrong
with it during the warranty period.

 

Have you checked serial numbers -- are you sure the camera you got back was
the one you sent in?

 

Nikon screwed me for 359 to 'fix' my scanner, and put me through a similar
ordeal then stopped answering emails. It is the main reason why I will never
buy or recommend any product from the company now. If your service
department is allowed to go to crap, you should go out of business.

 

On Thu, 09 Dec 2004 19:39:43 -0800, Aguilabrava wrote:

Don't stress, I'm sure that they will sort it out for you. You just have
to keep on at them until they give you the service you demand.

Did I ever tell you about my experiences with Canon, South Africa? That's
a story that with shake your faith, if ever there was one.

 

Ah.
And since South Africa holds the standard by which all Canon service should
be measured, I'm sure we're all quite concerned.

 

Could you post some images?
Not that I doubt your words: A few years ago they damaged housing
of my F90 as it was send in to clean and lub! I can post an image
of it. They denied that this was them.


BUT: I got also miserable experiences with my two Canon repairs
and cleaning! Among others they made my original package vanish,
promised a replacement which I never received.

Furthermore, I just discovered a drastic fading problem (ca 12
months) with their top of the line A3 photo printers. I am now
fighting to force them to take seriously fading problem in their
printers. Lost cause, I tell you...


Besides I believe that your conclusion about specifically a
problem with Nikon US does not touch the real problem, which
is a downfall of American customer service quality due to
outsourcing to foreign countries and letting service being
made by lowest paid workforce.


I have quite a list of cases like this, not related to
photography though. Let me thus just list a few examples:

1) Linksys, $500 wireless network does not work, 40 emails,
protests, letters, lawyer.

Solution: got $10 cat-5 cable and have now a cable running
across living room, but it works.

2) Symantec SystemWorks 2003 caused drastic performance
problem. Uninstall failed, reinstall of version 2001
failed. After 17 emails and several "troubleshooting"
papers send me by Symantec I gave up and have a crippled
product ever since.

4) Microsoft Streets and Trips 2004 plotted a route through
water in Redwood City, CA. I received several emails
in severely broken English, seemingly from mainland China.
They claimed that Microsoft does not have any control
about the routing database and cannot fix it. Yea right,
I sure believe *that*, I sure do... I received a contact
to a Return Center and we returned the product. We than
received two more emails from service supervisors with
some bizarre verbal "bowing down" and apologies for the
inconvenience. I wrote back, fix the product instead of
wasting your time in writing these elaborate texts and
wasting my time in reading them.

5) Viewsonic 17" screen: FIVE replacements. We finally
got an "upgraded VG700" version, which was also
refurbished. It flickers for approx. 30sec after
going our of screen saver. My wife said she does
not care, she just does not want pack and unpack
these screens anymore...

And so on. Thus as much I am sorry about your FM3,
the reality is: welcome to the club :-(

Thomas

 

I think it's more along the lines that the concepts of "repair" and
"service" have fallen into disfavor - you're supposed to buy a new one!

Face it, most of the stuff we buy is NOT designed to be fixed - the
customer who want a repair done is an annoying aberration.

The last truly satisfying service interactions I've had were with Leitz
and Bang & Olufsen - and note that in both cases, I had to ship the
items to europe to be worked on.

My general rules of thumb (except for the two companies above) are:

1. Never to use the "factory" service depot unless required by warranty.
2. Paradoxically, make sure the place you use is factory authorized.
3. Extensively photograph the item immediately before service.
4. Prepare a printed list stating what you want done; and if possible,
have their employee sign it.
5. Examine the item for cosmetic damage IMMEDIATELY on receipt, and
test for correct operation ASAP.

Not too long ago, I had Apple Computer actually dent the metal housing
of a laptop sent in for upgrade - then try to tell me their "Warranty
doesn't cover cosmetic issues" And I worked for them at the time!

 

From: ThomasH

Thomas, which paper were you using? The Canon prints are supposed to last up
to 30 years or so if kept behind glass BUT only for *one* paper type (the
expensive one), the other papers do indeed fade much more quickly. This is
well-known (ie, Wilhelm Research).

Bill

 

A couple of years ago I sent a camera under warranty for repair. They
had it returned to the wrong part of the country, to a shop that was
demolished years before and had a shopping centre built over it, it was
returned to them undelivered - undeterred, they re-sent it to the
demolished shop, where someone signed for it. They actually blamed it on
the courier, who were just trying to deliver to the address they were
given. There was more, and I didn't have a working camera for some 3.5
months, getting compensation to the value of 5 pounds or so in the end,
which I refused and sent back. They wouldn't answer my calls, voice
mails, messages etc. after that, I even got a receptionist to walk down
the hall to personally see the guy I'd been dealing with. Nothing.
Useless. Oh, and the complaints department is either part of or is the
tech support department (olympus uk), so they have no interest in
complaints about themselves/the people they eat lunch with.
And the kicker is that the replacement camera had the same fault, which
it turns out was a design flaw and they couldn't find the problem, I
worked it out for myself in the end.

Tom

 

Thank you for the heads up but please *do not* capitalize the title of your
posts.
Thank you,
me

 

The paper in question is the Glossy Photo paper Plus, and no
glas. I know that Canon says it so now, they have sned me the
'exact condition' under which the warranty of 30 years is
granted. They say that only the Photo Paper Plus has 4 layers
and provides such protection.

BUT: They do not say that the barely cheaper Photo Paper Plus
might hold for one year only, and I will that they print this
in bold on their product. Besides: why to get glossy paper and
cover the gloss by glass?

A paradox is that several other images printed on the Matte
paper, or even on the thin and cheap High Resolution paper
(matte has much better shadow gradation!), are supposedly
completely unprotected lacking the glossy layer, and yet they
look just barely different! Something is wrong with their
Photo Paper Plus.

http://www.pbase.com/phototalk_thh/2004_10_12_s9000_fading

I printed this image now on Photo Paper Pro and I have put it
on the same place with the same magnetic frame, no glass. We
will see one year later!

Anyway, my next printer will use pigment inks. Thus, this
will be an Epson or a HP.

Thomas

 

So you are speaking here about Olympus UK, not about Nikon, right?

 

Er, yes, though now you mention it I only mention it in passing and even
then near the end of the blah. Damn, that's annoying. Oops.

If it makes things any clearer, Olympus UK sucks when it comes to
after-sales support.

Tom

 

The truth is just there "after-sales". You paid, they don't care anymore.
Why would they anyway? It costs less to loose one or few customers that to
provide efficient support.
Especially for the under warranty repairs.
Once the warranty expires, they don't want to repair your camera. They want
you to throw it away and buy a new one...

 

Any big corporation that says that the customer satisfaction counts, lies.
It is like a politician saying that he cares...yeah right...
All that matters to them are the figures they'll be able to show at the next
shareholder meeting.
How to manufacture the product as cheaply as possible, using the cheapest
resources available and still convince the customer that he buys the best
there is.
So the camera that was once made using metal parts in Japan, is now made out
of plastic in China. And when it brakes, you'll be able to reach the
customer support in India to help you out...

 

You sound like a Sigma owner.

 

No, all Canon as far as cameras go.
And there is a Canon service center few blocks away, so no need to e-mail
anything if it brakes.
Used it only once so far for my point and shoot pocket camera. It was under
warranty and everything went smoothly.

It was more of a general statement.
Brands don't mean much anymore. That you buy a Sony, a JVC, a Panasonic or
Sanyo doesn't change anything.
There is probably one of them that own another, or a part of it. They share
components and are all made in China and surroundings.
They'll have better finishing and better feeling that the no name product
you'll find at Wal-Mart, but that's about it.
And we cannot blame the companies neither. We had the choice of no buying
the cheaper products at the beginning.
Now it's clear that there is more money to be made with the quantity rather
than the quality.

 

Perhaps you're not acquainted with Canon's L series.
The story is entirely diferent. Built like tanks, with absolutely rock
solid construction and optical quality.
For that matter, Canon's consumer lenses are very well-built...until you get
down to the cheapie kit lenses. -Even those don't fall apart as Sigmas
have.

 

I was talking more about the wide public electronics.
Obviously a lens worth several thousands dollars is not aimed towards
general public.
Even few hundred dollar lens is still more that what most people would spend
on a complete camera.

 

Then perhaps your input was misplaced entirely. This is a 35mm equipment
forum. The lenses and camera bodies didscussed here are commonly valued in
thousands of dollars. There are still companies who take good care of their
customers. Canon, for instance, will perform warranty repairs even on
imported lenses.