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.

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.

--
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com
home of The Camera-ist's Manifesto
The Improved Links Pages are at
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com/links/mlinks00.html
A sample chapter from "Haight-Ashbury" is at
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com/writ/hait/hatitl.html

"Aguilabrava" wrote in message
ups.com...
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.

On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 06:57:17 +0000, Tony wrote:

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.

Then I guess Canon shouldn't be doing any business in Africa.

Tony, they haven't replied yet, I guess you are right, they at Nikon
USA don't care about their customers, obviously this company doesn't
have anything to do with Nikon Japan, where the cameras are designed
and made...

Nope they probably don't - but Nikon Japan doesn't seem to be doing
anything to correct the situation at Nikon USA - therefore, since I live in
the USA, I have to recommend that other residents of that small unimportant
(to Nikon Japan) country, avoid the products and buy from reliable companies
with good service departments even in little out of the way places like the
US.

--
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com
home of The Camera-ist's Manifesto
The Improved Links Pages are at
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com/links/mlinks00.html
A sample chapter from "Haight-Ashbury" is at
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com/writ/hait/hatitl.html

"Aguilabrava" wrote in message
oups.com...
Tony, they haven't replied yet, I guess you are right, they at Nikon
USA don't care about their customers, obviously this company doesn't
have anything to do with Nikon Japan, where the cameras are designed
and made...

Nope they probably don't - but Nikon Japan doesn't seem to be doing
anything to correct the situation at Nikon USA - therefore, since I live in
the USA, I have to recommend that other residents of that small unimportant
(to Nikon Japan) country, avoid the products and buy from reliable companies
with good service departments even in little out of the way places like the
US.

--
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com
home of The Camera-ist's Manifesto
The Improved Links Pages are at
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com/links/mlinks00.html
A sample chapter from "Haight-Ashbury" is at
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com/writ/hait/hatitl.html

"Aguilabrava" wrote in message
oups.com...
Tony, they haven't replied yet, I guess you are right, they at Nikon
USA don't care about their customers, obviously this company doesn't
have anything to do with Nikon Japan, where the cameras are designed
and made...

On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 06:57:17 +0000, Tony wrote:

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.

Then I guess Canon shouldn't be doing any business in Africa.

Tony, they haven't replied yet, I guess you are right, they at Nikon
USA don't care about their customers, obviously this company doesn't
have anything to do with Nikon Japan, where the cameras are designed
and made...

On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 06:57:17 +0000, Tony wrote:

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.

Then I guess Canon shouldn't be doing any business in Africa.

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

snip

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.

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.