Hamish Gill
Tech Support (and Marketing)
There are a few autherised nikon repair centres in the uk
http://www.europe-nikon.com/en_GB/s...0&lidsub4=0&sParamValueLbl=&sParamValue=&dcr=
And in fact lehmans in Stoke is not only closer to me than surrey but I have also dealt with them before at work and had good experiences.
Still, Nikon in Surrey seemed the logical place to send my camera as I am a member of nikon pro services.
If you have 2 pro bodies and 5 or more pro lenses you get a better service from nikon repair, as little as 4 day turnaround apparently.
That sounded appealing, so I contacted nikon and explained I had a camera to send to them for a quick repair...
Whats your nps number I was asked, or something similar... Well to cut a long story short, it turns out I'm not a member, I had signed up, sent all my details, but they had failed to let me know that I didn't qualify due to my camera being registered with it's previous owner...
They said not to worry, we will make sure it's quick anyway.
Fine, so I sent it off on the 14th of sept. I got an email on the 16th saying they had received it.
They send you a link so you can check progress.
I checked the progress daily until the 24th when I looked at the page and it had changed to say a quote was ready, but with no link to click.
So I phoned them.
£356
At this stage I decided to mention that I was concerned that it had been faulty from new, as it had never faired to well with focusing my 70-200 lens. The lady said, that this was in fact it's second repair. So it turns out I bought a camera with a history! This is when it gets a little strange, she said it had it's top plate(?) replaced in 2008. Ok? But then when we got to what I was being charged for she said it was having a new "I base plate unit" but couldn't tell me what that was... She said it was also having "repair/adjustment of coupling/aperture control mech". well this made sense, as reading on the Internet about people with similar problems this apeared to be the fix for the problem.
so whats this I base plate?
then she told me "oh, it looks as though they have also replaced the shautter but arnt charging for this" ... at this stage i just wanted the thing back a soon as possible so i told them to get on with it ... i even gave them my card details and told them to take the money straight away.
i then heard nothing until the 5th of october when i recived an invoice... i was a little confused as i thought i ahd already paid... it turned out that i hadnt, then i had ... "oh no, actually, we have just taken a payment this afternoon". it was fixed, they had taken a payment but it had missed the post.
so i eventually got it back on the 7th ... aproximately 3 weeks...
now i no that isnt bad for nikon, for normal stuff we send to them it takes at least 4 weeks... but this was supposed to be urgent
to top that off the camera had a dirty sensor and dirt in the prism when i got it back... not much, 2 bits of dirt on the sensor. i rang them and told them it wasnt acceptable and they have given me a free cleaning service next time it needs to go back to them ... not much use if it never needs to go back ... which lets face it is what i am hoping for!
so, a bit of a mystery, they claim to have fixed/replaced bits for free... even thought the previous repair was well out of its waranty having been in 2008 ...
would i go back to nikon in surrey for a repair on my camera... well maybe... they were very polite and did apear to rush the job... am i satisfied with this repair, no... do i have confidence in my camera again... no... so all in all im not to happy!
http://www.europe-nikon.com/en_GB/s...0&lidsub4=0&sParamValueLbl=&sParamValue=&dcr=
And in fact lehmans in Stoke is not only closer to me than surrey but I have also dealt with them before at work and had good experiences.
Still, Nikon in Surrey seemed the logical place to send my camera as I am a member of nikon pro services.
If you have 2 pro bodies and 5 or more pro lenses you get a better service from nikon repair, as little as 4 day turnaround apparently.
That sounded appealing, so I contacted nikon and explained I had a camera to send to them for a quick repair...
Whats your nps number I was asked, or something similar... Well to cut a long story short, it turns out I'm not a member, I had signed up, sent all my details, but they had failed to let me know that I didn't qualify due to my camera being registered with it's previous owner...
They said not to worry, we will make sure it's quick anyway.
Fine, so I sent it off on the 14th of sept. I got an email on the 16th saying they had received it.
They send you a link so you can check progress.
I checked the progress daily until the 24th when I looked at the page and it had changed to say a quote was ready, but with no link to click.
So I phoned them.
£356
At this stage I decided to mention that I was concerned that it had been faulty from new, as it had never faired to well with focusing my 70-200 lens. The lady said, that this was in fact it's second repair. So it turns out I bought a camera with a history! This is when it gets a little strange, she said it had it's top plate(?) replaced in 2008. Ok? But then when we got to what I was being charged for she said it was having a new "I base plate unit" but couldn't tell me what that was... She said it was also having "repair/adjustment of coupling/aperture control mech". well this made sense, as reading on the Internet about people with similar problems this apeared to be the fix for the problem.
so whats this I base plate?
then she told me "oh, it looks as though they have also replaced the shautter but arnt charging for this" ... at this stage i just wanted the thing back a soon as possible so i told them to get on with it ... i even gave them my card details and told them to take the money straight away.
i then heard nothing until the 5th of october when i recived an invoice... i was a little confused as i thought i ahd already paid... it turned out that i hadnt, then i had ... "oh no, actually, we have just taken a payment this afternoon". it was fixed, they had taken a payment but it had missed the post.
so i eventually got it back on the 7th ... aproximately 3 weeks...
now i no that isnt bad for nikon, for normal stuff we send to them it takes at least 4 weeks... but this was supposed to be urgent
to top that off the camera had a dirty sensor and dirt in the prism when i got it back... not much, 2 bits of dirt on the sensor. i rang them and told them it wasnt acceptable and they have given me a free cleaning service next time it needs to go back to them ... not much use if it never needs to go back ... which lets face it is what i am hoping for!
so, a bit of a mystery, they claim to have fixed/replaced bits for free... even thought the previous repair was well out of its waranty having been in 2008 ...
would i go back to nikon in surrey for a repair on my camera... well maybe... they were very polite and did apear to rush the job... am i satisfied with this repair, no... do i have confidence in my camera again... no... so all in all im not to happy!
