is it possible to get them to cover this out of warranty repair PRIOR to sending it in, or do I send
it in first, then call? What should i say? I do not want to have to spend the $400 to fix this.
It's possible. if unlikely, that they will fix it for less or free. What makes a a lot more sense to me is an independant repeair firm that charges for the actual repair instead of averaging what might go wrong and billing more..... Plus, if you develop a modest relationship locally, it can be far faster. A good repair shop will advise you of ongoing problems and or things to keep an eye on....
You've rewad the problem posts here; why persist in sending it to the mfr??
3catsinky wrote:
is it possible to get them to cover this out of warranty repair PRIOR to sending it in, or do I send
it in first, then call? What should i say? I do not want to have to spend the $400 to fix this.
I doubt Nikon would do anything over the phone. And since they are not admitting to the meter defect in D2H bodies, it is unlikely they would agree to a repair over the phone.
I was denied on a first review. I then asked for contact info to take it higher which resulted in a second case review. My repair was changed to "no charge" after this second review.
You will probably need to send it in for service... wait several days to get the $400 estimate... then call back and talk to the service center people directly and start the process to get your case reviewed... then hope for the best. Be persistent... but polite. If it is indeed the dreaded "D2H meter failure" defect, then they may help you out.
From what I hear, if your warranty is only out by a few months or less, you may have a chance. I think chances for free repairs lessens greatly if you are over a few months out of warranty or you are not the original owner. Also, I know that there have been a lot of gray market D2h bodies sold used (like on Ebay) claimed to be USA models and when the meter goes out that buyer is out of luck. It looks like Nikon USA puts a repair "hold" on any D2H bodies that the serial numbers show up as imported and will not repair the meter. I personally know someone that is going through this. His case was reviewed and rejected due to being an imported model. He has had to resort to going back to the original owner and try to work something out (the original owner said it was a USA model and it wasn't).
Send the camera to Nikon with a letter telling of the meter failure, and tell them that you would like them to consider repairing the meter at no charge because it is such a well known problem. Be sure to include your receipt for the camera. That is all I did, and I was never charged for having my meter fixed. Wait at least 3 business days after Nikon receives the camera, then call and request a service number, then you can check the progress online. It took 12 days for mine including shipping both ways. My camera was out of warranty, but including a copy the receipt is an all important step in the process, and a well written business like polite letter is also important. Be patient, don’t worry about it, and the process will go smooth. That’s my experience.
I went to melville in person and met a friendly nikon service guy.. Mention of the common meter defect was responded to as "its possible" and he flat out told me to tell him that I bought it last year, which I did. Then he said he would fix it in warranty.
I think you might include a note saying all that was suggested below plus that it is just out of warranty recently or something like that...
It was the magic phrase that got me a free repair.
I bought my D2H online from KEH. I could not find my receipt, but I did have the email correspondence from KEH for the purchase, and that was as good as having the receipt for Nikon Service.
I bought mine used from KEH with only about 300 actuations on the shutter. It was just shy of 10,000 actuations when I sent it into Nikon for the meter repair, so I am not the original owner, but the email from KEH was good as gold with Nikon. If you have any kind of documentation of your purchase, include it. If you don't have any documentation, go ahead with the letter asking them to repair at no cost to you. It can't hurt to ask, but I think they do like documentation of the purchase.
I was just at Nikon today asking about replacing the rubber which is starting to come loose on my D2h - they said its considered "Costmetic" and would cost me - not covered. They also told me that warranty is not transfereble to the second owner even if its within the first year.
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