As a long-time Canon shooter and CPS member, I haven't had a lot of experience with Nikon service in recent years. However, I recently purchased an older manual-focus lens that turned out to be suffering from internal mould/fungus growth, and I contacted Nikon Canada to see if they would still service it. They confirmed that they would, and they gave me a rough estimate of the cost to completely dismantle and clean the lens.
I shipped the lens to the Vancouver service centre, and the tracking information showed they received the lens late last Monday afternoon. By early Tuesday afternoon they had completed the work and were ready to ship the lens back to me that day. I received the lens yesterday, and it's completely spotless - just like a brand new lens.
I was quite astonished at how quickly they turned the lens around, considering I have to pay $250 annually to receive the same level of service from Canon CPS (and even then it's available only on selected items), and this is just Nikon's regular consumer service. The cost for the work was comparable to Canon's flat-rate service, and the only real difference was that I had to pay for the shipping to Nikon, and they shipped it back by express post rather than overnight like Canon CPS does.
Kudos to Nikon Canada for providing top-notch service without forcing customers to pay a membership fee just for the privilege.
I believe Nikon Canada will service any legitimately purchased Nikon piece of equipment provided you pay the fees. Warranty service is a different matter, probably to do with the way sales are accounted for in the different regions, and the allocation earmarked for service work by the techs, etc. Unofficially, if you're an NPS member, they will bend the rules for you if you are nice to them and aren't always abusing the privilege.
orgovsky wrote:
Would they not service any Nikon equipment even if non-Canadian market provided you pay?
I've had folks like Dan Bellyk tell me that Nikon does service imported gear, but I've also had the service managers at both the Vancouver and Mississauga locations tell me they don't.
I know the Vancouver service depot used to work on US gear, and some US photographers would actually send gear there rather than deal with Nikon USA, but several years ago the service manager there told me that head office was forcing them to follow official policy and not service any more imported gear.
It's been a few years since I last looked into this, and the big warnings about grey-market products seem to have been removed from the Nikon Canada web site, so maybe Nikon Canada has relaxed their service policies again. I wonder what they would do in the case of used gear, where you have no receipt to prove where it was purchased?
Cliff not if it makes a difference that I am an NPS member but what I had to do was send in proof that I purchased the camera and I think the original bill of sale then pay for service.
Dan Bellyk wrote:
Cliff not if it makes a difference that I am an NPS member but what I had to do was send in proof that I purchased the camera and I think the original bill of sale then pay for service.
I guess it's a bit of a moot point now, with prices being so much higher south of the border... not much reason to buy gear from the USA (and maybe that's one of the reasons why Nikon Canada has backed away from this policy...?).
JackCnd wrote:
Couple questions on warranty service in Canada...
Anyone have experience getting warranty service if your not the original purchaser?
The warranty states it's not transferable but Canon never made an issue ,
they just wanted to see the original invoice, how about Nikon Canada.
Can you deal direct with Nikon service or do you have to go through a dealer for warranty claims?
Nikon's warranty is exactly the same as Canon's - valid only for the original purchaser, and not transferrable - except that Nikon's warranty is much longer than Canon offers.
Nikon Canada service is fantastic. I have never had a bad experience there. They are very knowledgeable and very helpful. Great customer service, delivered promptly, at very fair rates.
It's the complete opposite of what I experienced at Canon HQ, about 10 minutes away.
I deal with Nikon in Mississauga (I am an NPS member) and they have been very good to me. No complaints whatsoever. Quick turn around times and first rate service.
In this day and age where service seems to be an afterthought (or an annoyance) for some companies, it is nice to see Nikon treat their customers this way.
