p.1 #1 · My Positive Nikon Service Repair Experience (El Segundo, CA)
A couple of weeks ago when I was searching around for people's experience in dealing with Nikon in getting their camera or lens serviced, a majority of them were quite negative and only a very few had a positive experience. Although I was worried from reading all the reviews that I found from on the web, I decided to still send in my lens for servicing. I figured that most people tend only share something when they experience issues , but not when things go well. This is my very first time dealing with Nikon and having something sent in for servicing since I am new to photography. I hope this may help someone else in the future and put them at ease to balance out the scale.
When I first bought my Nikon 17-55 2.8, I thought the zoom ring felt a little bit tough to turn. It didn't take much effort but I could feel the resistance around certain focal lengths while other areas felt loose and easy. Originally I thought that this was normal since it was my first time purchasing a brand new professional lens so I just ignored everything and used it as is. I kept using the lens for 8 months until a couple weeks ago, the zoom ring felt even rougher and eventually made a slight grinding noise. This was when I decided to send in my lens to Nikon. I went through their website to see what the procedures were and created a packing slip by using their online form. I didn't contact anyone by phone or email.
Thursday 4/12/12 - I packed my Nikon 17-55mm 2.8 DX along with my receipt form BHphotovideo & copies of my warranty papers and had it sent via UPS to Nikon in El Segundo, CA.
Friday 4/13/12 - My lens were delivered. (This was because I'm located in Southern California)
Tuesday 4/17/12 - Nikon sent me an email stating that they have received my lens and is now entered into their system. I received a PDF in the attachments stating that my lens was covered under warranty so there won't be any charges. My order service ranked under "C" as "major repair". Status on Nikon's webpage says "Estimate: Waiting for Approval by Service Department"
Wednesday 4/18/12 - Checked the status in the morning and it said "Estimate Accepted" dated 4/17/12
Thursday 4/19/12 - Checked the status in the morning and it said "In Shop: Product is in repair process" dated 4/18/12
Friday 4/20/12 - Checked the status in the morning and the status is unchanged with no update.
Saturday 4/21/12 - Checked the status in the morning and it said "Shipped: Order has been shipped" dated 4/20/12. A tracking number was also provided giving me an expected delivery date of 4/23/12 on Monday.
Monday 4/23/12 - UPS delivered my lens, it also came with an invoice for the repair stating everything that was done to my lens. I checked everything and quickly mounted it to my camera and boy did it feel like it was brand new. The zoom ring is now as smooth as butter and I'm glad I sent it in to get serviced. My only regret is that I wish I did this sooner! I guess this is how it should have felt like brand new out of the box brand new, but I just accepted it as is.
Overall, Nikon took less than 2 weeks to have my lens repaired. It took a little bit over 1 week, but things seemed to have went very smoothly. The only negative thing I can think of is that I assume Nikon updates the statuses overnight and takes 24 hours before you see the status update. So to find out what is the status for today, you have to wait until tmrw, and so on.
p.1 #3 · My Positive Nikon Service Repair Experience (El Segundo, CA)
That is about average and as far as the web updates go, they are doing better. A while back, they never updated the status to the point where I had my camera back for 2 weeks and their website showed it was still "in shop".
I use Melville as it's closer but keep hearing good things about El Segundo to the point it might be worth the extra time and shipping fees.
