Nikon warranties

What does one stand if buying a Nikon lens from on online trader in Hong
Kong or USA (these are the most likely for me), and importing it to the
UK? Will Nikon honor a warranty if it is not bought from the UK? In this
day and age, it seems incredible that a company will not, but some are
suggesting Warranties are specific to a country.

Extending this further, does one have to buy from a Nikon dealer to get
a warranty? Where I work there is an official Nikon dealer within about
200m of Jessops. Jessops was 175 pounds cheaper on an F6 body, so I
bought it there. I assume with Jessops there would be no hassle, as
under UK law the warranty is with the dealer who sold you the goods, not
the manufacturer, so I am not too bothered by this one.
Whether Jessops would get the body serviced by an independant dealer, or
Nikon however I would not know. I would hope the latter of course.

However, I am slightly more concerned about buying a lens from outside
the UK. But the saving seem huge now, so it is very tempting.

I recently bought a D70 Kit from a good retailer in Honk Kong via e-bay
(DigitalRev). They are first class. However the Body is only warranted
through them in H/K which could be a pain if it broke. The lenses though
have a 'worlwide warranty' so one assumes that this would be honoured
anywhare world wide. I plumped for a 70-200 VR from them as well at £835 it
was too good to stand up! They did a good deal on postage and Vat on the
lens was very small too!


"Dave" wrote in message ...
What does one stand if buying a Nikon lens from on online trader in Hong
Kong or USA (these are the most likely for me), and importing it to the
UK? Will Nikon honor a warranty if it is not bought from the UK? In this
day and age, it seems incredible that a company will not, but some are
suggesting Warranties are specific to a country.

Extending this further, does one have to buy from a Nikon dealer to get a
warranty? Where I work there is an official Nikon dealer within about 200m
of Jessops. Jessops was 175 pounds cheaper on an F6 body, so I bought it
there. I assume with Jessops there would be no hassle, as under UK law the
warranty is with the dealer who sold you the goods, not the manufacturer,
so I am not too bothered by this one.
Whether Jessops would get the body serviced by an independant dealer, or
Nikon however I would not know. I would hope the latter of course.

However, I am slightly more concerned about buying a lens from outside the
UK. But the saving seem huge now, so it is very tempting.

I recently bought a D70 Kit from a good retailer in Honk Kong via e-bay
(DigitalRev). They are first class. However the Body is only warranted
through them in H/K which could be a pain if it broke. The lenses though
have a 'worlwide warranty' so one assumes that this would be honoured
anywhare world wide. I plumped for a 70-200 VR from them as well at £835 it
was too good to stand up! They did a good deal on postage and Vat on the
lens was very small too!


"Dave" wrote in message ...
What does one stand if buying a Nikon lens from on online trader in Hong
Kong or USA (these are the most likely for me), and importing it to the
UK? Will Nikon honor a warranty if it is not bought from the UK? In this
day and age, it seems incredible that a company will not, but some are
suggesting Warranties are specific to a country.

Extending this further, does one have to buy from a Nikon dealer to get a
warranty? Where I work there is an official Nikon dealer within about 200m
of Jessops. Jessops was 175 pounds cheaper on an F6 body, so I bought it
there. I assume with Jessops there would be no hassle, as under UK law the
warranty is with the dealer who sold you the goods, not the manufacturer,
so I am not too bothered by this one.
Whether Jessops would get the body serviced by an independant dealer, or
Nikon however I would not know. I would hope the latter of course.

However, I am slightly more concerned about buying a lens from outside the
UK. But the saving seem huge now, so it is very tempting.

Don't know about the lenses. But when I was shopping for a small digital
camera to bring when hiking, I saw that a Nikon camera bought in US has
warranty in US only, not even in Canada.


"Dave" wrote in message ...
What does one stand if buying a Nikon lens from on online trader in Hong
Kong or USA (these are the most likely for me), and importing it to the
UK? Will Nikon honor a warranty if it is not bought from the UK? In this
day and age, it seems incredible that a company will not, but some are
suggesting Warranties are specific to a country.

Extending this further, does one have to buy from a Nikon dealer to get
a warranty? Where I work there is an official Nikon dealer within about
200m of Jessops. Jessops was 175 pounds cheaper on an F6 body, so I
bought it there. I assume with Jessops there would be no hassle, as
under UK law the warranty is with the dealer who sold you the goods, not
the manufacturer, so I am not too bothered by this one.
Whether Jessops would get the body serviced by an independant dealer, or
Nikon however I would not know. I would hope the latter of course.

However, I am slightly more concerned about buying a lens from outside
the UK. But the saving seem huge now, so it is very tempting.

Don't know about the lenses. But when I was shopping for a small digital
camera to bring when hiking, I saw that a Nikon camera bought in US has
warranty in US only, not even in Canada.


"Dave" wrote in message ...
What does one stand if buying a Nikon lens from on online trader in Hong
Kong or USA (these are the most likely for me), and importing it to the
UK? Will Nikon honor a warranty if it is not bought from the UK? In this
day and age, it seems incredible that a company will not, but some are
suggesting Warranties are specific to a country.

Extending this further, does one have to buy from a Nikon dealer to get
a warranty? Where I work there is an official Nikon dealer within about
200m of Jessops. Jessops was 175 pounds cheaper on an F6 body, so I
bought it there. I assume with Jessops there would be no hassle, as
under UK law the warranty is with the dealer who sold you the goods, not
the manufacturer, so I am not too bothered by this one.
Whether Jessops would get the body serviced by an independant dealer, or
Nikon however I would not know. I would hope the latter of course.

However, I am slightly more concerned about buying a lens from outside
the UK. But the saving seem huge now, so it is very tempting.

"Paul Bielec" wrote in message
...

Don't know about the lenses. But when I was shopping for a small digital
camera to bring when hiking, I saw that a Nikon camera bought in US has
warranty in US only, not even in Canada.

I doubt it.

I once talked to someone at Nikon USA about the following scenario: I go to
Japan, buy a camera from an authorized dealer there, bring it back home, and
it breaks. Will they repair it?

They told me that if I buy a camera in person from an authorized dealer
anywhere in the world, the warranty coverage is valid anywhere in the world.
The only time there is trouble is if (a) it is not purchased from an
authorized dealer, or (b) if it is shipped to another country rather than
being purchased in person (or by mail-order from an authorized dealer in the
same country).

It is possible that their policy has changed since I spoke to them about
this matter. However, I would still be surprised to find that a camera
purchased while traveling abroad does not have warranty coverage back home.

"Andrew Koenig" wrote in message
...
"Paul Bielec" wrote in message
...

Don't know about the lenses. But when I was shopping for a small digital
camera to bring when hiking, I saw that a Nikon camera bought in US has
warranty in US only, not even in Canada.

I doubt it.

I once talked to someone at Nikon USA about the following scenario: I go
to
Japan, buy a camera from an authorized dealer there, bring it back home,
and
it breaks. Will they repair it?

They told me that if I buy a camera in person from an authorized dealer
anywhere in the world, the warranty coverage is valid anywhere in the
world.
The only time there is trouble is if (a) it is not purchased from an
authorized dealer, or (b) if it is shipped to another country rather than
being purchased in person (or by mail-order from an authorized dealer in
the
same country).

It is possible that their policy has changed since I spoke to them about
this matter. However, I would still be surprised to find that a camera
purchased while traveling abroad does not have warranty coverage back
home.


At that time, I didn't speak to anybody from Nikon. But, since the warranty
card inside the box specifically said that the warranty covered US only, I
didn't buy the camera. I ended up buying a Canon here in Canada instead so I
didn't follow up on that issue.

"Paul Bielec" wrote in message
...

At that time, I didn't speak to anybody from Nikon. But, since the
warranty
card inside the box specifically said that the warranty covered US only, I
didn't buy the camera. I ended up buying a Canon here in Canada instead so
I
didn't follow up on that issue.

I would not be surprised to find that the card is there as evidence that
Nikon USA is willing to repair the camera under warranty. Of course, Nikon
USA does not provide service anywhere but the USA, , so what they put on the
card has no bearing elsewhere.

In other words, if the card says "This card entitles you to warranty service
in the USA only," that does not negate the possibility that the camera is
still covered under warranty elsewhere.

Nikon USA seems to be semi-independent from the rest of the Nikon
distribution network.

Dave wrote:
What does one stand if buying a Nikon lens from on online trader in Hong
Kong or USA (these are the most likely for me), and importing it to the
UK? Will Nikon honor a warranty if it is not bought from the UK? In this
day and age, it seems incredible that a company will not, but some are
suggesting Warranties are specific to a country.

Extending this further, does one have to buy from a Nikon dealer to get
a warranty? Where I work there is an official Nikon dealer within about
200m of Jessops. Jessops was 175 pounds cheaper on an F6 body, so I
bought it there. I assume with Jessops there would be no hassle, as
under UK law the warranty is with the dealer who sold you the goods, not
the manufacturer, so I am not too bothered by this one.
Whether Jessops would get the body serviced by an independant dealer, or
Nikon however I would not know. I would hope the latter of course.

However, I am slightly more concerned about buying a lens from outside
the UK. But the saving seem huge now, so it is very tempting.

I got a bit more information on this. Jessops were unable to get me a
case for the F6, so I went into a Nikon agent (Kingsly(s) in Tottenham
Court Road) yesteday to order an F6 case (75 pounds). They said it
should be in today or tommorow, which is pretty quick.

There was at the time a Nikon employee there. So the sales person asked
him the situation. The Nikon employee said they would ask that the lens
is returned to the point of sale (i.e. Hong Kong). I've contacted the
dealer in Hong Kong, and he too said the warranty would only be valid in
Hong Kong, so would have to be returned to them.

Looks like it might be a bit of hassle, but then the price difference is
not insignificant, although I can get a reasonable deal in the UK -
I'll make a sepparate post of that.

Andrew Koenig wrote:

I once talked to someone at Nikon USA about the following scenario: I go to
Japan, buy a camera from an authorized dealer there, bring it back home, and
it breaks. Will they repair it?

They told me that if I buy a camera in person from an authorized dealer
anywhere in the world, the warranty coverage is valid anywhere in the world.
The only time there is trouble is if (a) it is not purchased from an
authorized dealer, or (b) if it is shipped to another country rather than
being purchased in person (or by mail-order from an authorized dealer in the
same country).

It is possible that their policy has changed since I spoke to them about
this matter. However, I would still be surprised to find that a camera
purchased while traveling abroad does not have warranty coverage back home.

Yeah, absolutely. Do they think nobody moves? In the past 15 years
I have lived in six countries. What am I supposed to do, just live
with the fact that warranties don't apply to me? Rubbish, they'd
be hearing from me quite loudly, and would give me service, you can
bet on that.

--
Ken Tough