Nikon recall / return - experiences?

Spleen Sauce · 8 Aug 2017 at 11:32

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with Nikon service here in the UK?

Basically I've returned my D750 for the shutter shock recall advisory. Just had an email off them quoting me to replace the screen (which was perfectly fine when I sent it, as was the rest of the camera besides the shutter mechanism its recalled for) - £212 for parts and labour!

They've said, "screen doesn't work now, so either you pay for it or we return it like this". I'm not sure I could be any more furious!

Jase · 8 Aug 2017 at 12:50

I can't believe "screen doesn't work now, so either you pay for it or we return it like this" is an actual quote as it's not the manner any customer service advisor should be taking.

It also says "doesn't work now" suggesting it was at some stage, so if they broke it they repair it.

How old is it? has there been screen issues before?

Either way in all cases speak to them, if you don't like what you are told initially ask to speak to a manager. Any recent photos taken with it may back your claim that it was working.

Spleen Sauce · 8 Aug 2017 at 13:15

Granted, I'm paraphrasing. The customer services lady wants to help but is limited by what the engineering team say (and they take hours and hours to respond). The last update from them was, "LCD defective, return to result in non-functional display without repair". Thats word for word, she read the email back from them.

What I can't understand is that on the form they've sent with the estimate for repair, there's no mention of the shutter recall being sorted - the very reason I returned it to Nikon.

I'm awaiting a call from a manager, which I'm told could be up to 48 hours. If I have to pay for this repair in order to get it back working as it was, I'll be selling all of my Nikon kit.

D.P. · 8 Aug 2017 at 19:44

Not had many issues so haven't used nikon service much. I did send in my 70-200mm f/2.8 to be centered after my wife dropped it. Costs and service was all reasonable.

D.P. · 8 Aug 2017 at 19:48

Spleen Sauce said:
I'm awaiting a call from a manager, which I'm told could be up to 48 hours. If I have to pay for this repair in order to get it back working as it was, I'll be selling all of my Nikon kit.

Just tell them that and see what they say.
The issue may be the LCD screen was about to go faulty, you never noticed but it failed at the service center. It is unlikely whatever they did affected the LCD screen directly. Sound like the time when i took my car in for a routine service and then drove it less than a mile before the transmission blew. Of coruse i swore it as the garage's fault but they refused to acknowledge. Got some layers involved and they basically said tough *** unless I can prove they purposely tempered with the transmission since their work order had nothing to do with it.

You also need to verify if thr screen was working when they received it or it failed upon initial testing, in which case the transportation likely did something like loosen a component.

Spleen Sauce · 8 Aug 2017 at 20:14

D.P. said:
Just tell them that and see what they say.
The issue may be the LCD screen was about to go faulty, you never noticed but it failed at the service center. It is unlikely whatever they did affected the LCD screen directly. Sound like the time when i took my car in for a routine service and then drove it less than a mile before the transmission blew. Of coruse i swore it as the garage's fault but they refused to acknowledge. Got some layers involved and they basically said tough *** unless I can prove they purposely tempered with the transmission since their work order had nothing to do with it.

You also need to verify if thr screen was working when they received it or it failed upon initial testing, in which case the transportation likely did something like loosen a component.

Yeah that is feasible. I’ll give them a call tomorrow for an update. I took photos of the camera before sending it (including with the screen on) so hopefully they’ll sort it.

And · 9 Aug 2017 at 09:25

Having read this I'll be taking pics of all external working parts, screens etc before I send anything to Canon.

@OP
I'd be pushing them to fix it if it was working when you sent it in. Make the point it could have happened in transit and seeing as it was for a recall it's on them. Good will and all that.

xaldub · 9 Aug 2017 at 11:50

I've only had limited involvement with Nikon UK for repairs, but if I was in your position I would be insisting they fix the LCD screen at no cost since it was working normally prior to the service recall. If they won't back down ask to speak their manager, and failing that go public with the story on DPR, Petapixel etc.

Spleen Sauce · 9 Aug 2017 at 16:38

Thanks for the replies guys. So the technicians emailed through a photo of the camera, looks like a they've hit it on the side of a table or something - you can see a dent/impact mark next to the LCD screen! I forwarded the photos I took of the camera the day before sending (very detailed, shows the screen on and the camera in immaculate condition). I then went on to tweet Nikon UK who then asked for details via DM.

Call received about an hour later advising the LCD will be repaired free of charge, and an apology.

If there's one thing I've learnt it's that taking 'just in case' photos before sending anything valuable off only takes minutes and is well worth the effort!!

xaldub · 9 Aug 2017 at 18:51

A good outcome in the end, and you were wise to take photos of your camera prior to sending it away. A bit naughty of Nikon UK to try and foist the charges for repairs on to you though.

Spleen Sauce · 9 Aug 2017 at 22:26

Yeah I'm really disappointed in them to be honest. Had a good look at the photo they sent me of the damage, there's additional dents/marks on the bottom of the camera also that weren't there before - I think they dropped it. I've sent them further evidence showing they weren't there previously and asked them to ensure its sorted before returning it.

Honestly can't believe my luck sometimes, its poor to say the least.

Spleen Sauce · 11 Aug 2017 at 23:21

Just to give an update on this - had my D750 back today. Happy to report that its absolutely pristine. I can only assume they've replaced a lot of the body because not only are there no visible marks at all, the wear on the grip is gone - it looks brand new.

Also, just to add, I swear that the shutter mechanism sounds a little different (which would make sense if they've changed it as per the recall). Happy ending to the saga after all

Steve M · 12 Aug 2017 at 11:11

Saw a thread on flickr about this. One person posted the documentation he received when he got his camera back.

As well as replacing the entire shutter mechanism, they cleaned the sensor. updated the firmware, adjusted the focus operation and replaced the grip.

All for free and camera was out of it's warranty period. Mine's due to go back. Just waiting for the return label. All good as my sensor could do with a clean

Jono · 13 Aug 2017 at 08:45

What did you send with the camera and what was the turnaround?

Spleen Sauce · 13 Aug 2017 at 11:44

Just the camera body with mount cap, nothing else (no battery, etc). Turnaround was 3 weeks but that wasn't helped by the fact they broke the screen and had to replace it.

Steve M · 17 Sep 2017 at 13:59

So, after around 6 weeks, Nikon finally sent me my return label. Camera was sent and confirmed as received by them 3 days ago.

Will update this thread when it comes back.

snow patrol · 22 Sep 2017 at 09:00

had a soft 24-70g several years ago. It was clearly faulty, ie softer on the left side of the frame (even at narrow apertures). Took back to calumet who returned it to nikon who did a few vague things to it but it was exactly the same when it was returned. I found it disappointing that they wouldn't acknowledge the issue. That's my only dealings with nikon service.

D.P. · 22 Sep 2017 at 16:02

snow patrol said:
had a soft 24-70g several years ago. It was clearly faulty, ie softer on the left side of the frame (even at narrow apertures). Took back to calumet who returned it to nikon who did a few vague things to it but it was exactly the same when it was returned. I found it disappointing that they wouldn't acknowledge the issue. That's my only dealings with nikon service.

Did you send in your camera as well? It might have an issue with the camera or a combination of the 2. nikon will sometimes ask for camera + lens to check but they don't force you to send both. The issue is the lenses are manufactured within a tolerance of say +- 0.1mm, the camera mount will have its own tolerence, and the focus unit its own tolerance. If you get a combination of a lens and a camera mount that are at opposite extremes of their tolerance then you can get issues, but tested individually the lens might have been within the Standard Nikon specify.

I used to have the Nikon 35mm f.18DX and it was a dream on my old D90, on my wife's D7000 at the time though the lens was a lot softer wider open, much more than the resolution difference would indicate. The D7000 was fine with other lenses including the 85mm f/1.8, it was just that specific combo.

Steve M · 25 Sep 2017 at 20:56

Sent my camera off to Nikon as per the recall for the shutter. I get this emailed to me today.

My camera is working fine. I only sent it to Nikon as it was one of the affected serial numbers for the shutter issue. I thought the fix is meant to be free of charge?

Spleen Sauce · 26 Sep 2017 at 05:29

Steve M said:
Sent my camera off to Nikon as per the recall for the shutter. I get this emailed to me today.

My camera is working fine. I only sent it to Nikon as it was one of the affected serial numbers for the shutter issue. I thought the fix is meant to be free of charge?

No doubt that once you call them and the few days after that you finally get some kind of response, they’ll claim that it was faulty when you sent it to them. Same absolute nonsense they pulled with mine and quoted to replace the LCD screen that they broke. Luckily as per the above I had plenty of evidence photos.