dhklein1

Just sent my D850 to Nikon in Melville for warranty repair to fix a sticking shutter. Camera is ten months old and never abused in any way. Called today as per fed ex tracking, body was received yesterday. Wanted to learn when it will returned. I was informed that they were just logging in receipts arriving one week ago. They further said repair would take after log in, 7-10 business days (assuming parts are available) and that shipping would take 5-10 business days. I complained but to no avail. Only received an apology. This time frame in total means that I will be without the D850 body for a month or more. Seems like a real staffing or quality problem or both. Really not acceptable. Absent ownership of much Nikon glass, I would seriously be looking at Cannon or Sony. Beware. Welcome advice from anybody on how to expedite my repair. Thank you.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

To be honest you can't expect a quick turn around on precision equipment.

Bill_de Loc: US

They may be out of parts, or giving you the worst case scenario. If you get it back sooner it will ease the pain. If they say a week and it takes three, you will feel the pain forever.

A lot of repairs that go to Melville get farmed out to local repair shops. I'm not sure if Melville knows how quickly they will turn things around on a day to day basis.

Hang in there.

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trjudd Loc: Colorado

Canon's not much better. Charging the owner to send in WARRANTY repair (they pay shipping back). Then, not fixing anything, but they "cleaned the sensor." Wow. So back it went, next time for 3-weeks. Replace a bunch of internals. Same camera as before. This with a (at the time) one-month old Canon 6D Mk II.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

A month does seem long. But, Nikon gets swamped sometimes, that they have to send cameras to their affiliated authorized nearby repair shops. Parts run out of stock too. Nikon's East Coast New York facility, gets more business than its West Coast facility in Los Angeles. Normally, Nikon does well on fixing cameras in a timely manner.

Stardust Loc: Central Illinois

In the future, if time is important, I would always check how long it will take BEFORE not AFTER, whether a car oil change or a camera repair. If time is long, places often offer Expedite Service for an upcharge. Same as Amazon - wait for it to arrive free or pay overnight shipping charges.

And, isn't that why you have a back-up camera?

dhklein1

I did ask in advance how long it would take and was only told 7-10 days. There was no reference to a week’s wait from receipt to login. This is main basis for upset.

I shipped using Fedex ground in two days. Why Nikon said 5-10 days on shipping return makes no sense to me! With Nikon’s purchasing power, they should be able to get two to three day service.

There was no option to pay an up charge for expedited repair service.

Yes, having a backup camera is not a luxury. It is basic.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

As far as I know, Nikon is still able to sell every D850 they make. So parts are most likely still being sent to and stocked at the manufacturing site, not the repair centers. There also has not yet been time to establish a 'repair profile' of the most likely repairs so it's likely that not even "strategic" parts have been identified and stocked for repair. Until very recently, I've not seen a lot of communication here about D850s needing a lot of repair. That tells me that they are turning out to be a pretty reliable model, at least so far, which is great news.

All that said, I certainly understand your frustration. Mine has been in the repair cycle since December 28th, with no committed return. While I am excited to get it back, my wish is for Melville to do the repair and not be tempted to farm it out. I paid a lot of money for it less than 5 months ago. My overarching requirement is that it be indistinguishable from new when it comes back to me. I'm willing to wait a bit of extra time for that, within reason.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I've been a Nikon user for 52 years - my experience has been different than yours. They will provide a worst case scenario, but often fix it much faster. I have dropped off a dropped D300 and a dropped 24-70 on a Friday, and gotten a call that the camera and lens was ready for pickup on the following Monday. They had parts on hand to do all the repair. Also, the estimate was higher than what I was actually charged.

The worst was a D800 that had a confirmed focus issue with all of my lenses. I gave it to them, they claimed to fix it, it wasn't fixed, I gave it to them a second time, still didn't fix it, then the third time they got it they figured out what was wrong - and they fixed it. It took over 3 weeks to get this all sorted out with them. It helped that I could drop it off and pick it up, since I lived in NY (Yonkers) at the time and it was just over an hour each way to Melville, but aside from that D800 episode, I would rate Nikon repair above average in turn around, quality of repair, and overall quality of customer service.

Rental is an option. You don't have to rent a D850, either. But I have always kept at least a couple of bodies for situations like this.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

The amount of time it will take as quoted to you seems fairly reasonable to me. It's about what I'd expect, roughly 3-4 weeks total for repair and return. It won't be all that much quicker with Canon or Sony either.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Maybe you wouldn't consider Canon gear "precision equipment" but as a general rule, turn around from receiving to shipping out repaired equipment is from 5-7 business days depending on how quickly you might agree to non warranty service. Warranty service is usually in and out in 3-5 business days, and Canon Professional Services members get 1-2 days turnaround.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Sorry, but it is much faster at Canon. Perhaps it is because they don't farm it out. All repairs are done at one of their 4 extremely efficient regional repair centers. Even before I became a Canon CPS member with its 1-2 day turn around, the average turnaround for me has always been 3-5 business days. Add to that an additional two days shipping each way and an intervening weekend, and you are looking at perhaps 7-10 days from the time you first send the equipment to them until its back in your hands, and its often less. Just ask the many Canon owners here. Sure there are exceptions, but fast turnaround is the Canon norm and appears to be significantly faster than both Nikon and Sony.

A specific example is when I sent them my Canon 7D Mark II on a Thursday a few years ago. They called me the next day on Friday afternoon to tell me they had received it that morning, and had already identified the problem as a defective main board which would be replaced under warranty. In other words they did the analysis shorty after they received it. They called me again on Monday afternoon to let me know they had completed the repair and were shipping my camera back to me. I'm close to the New Jersey facility and had it back in my hands the next day. I mailed it out on a Thursday, and it was back in my hands the following Tuesday! Six days total including shipping time and an intervening weekend! And...that was before I was a Canon Professional Services member.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

Yeah, as a general rule. And as a general rule Nikon gets them out quicker too, but sometime there are delays. Just because your gear (regardless of manufacturer) gets caught up in a delay situation doesn't mean that brand has really bad warranty service.

And yes, I do consider Canon, as well as the other brands, to be precision equipment. I am not one of the many we see here on UHH who believe their gear brand primero and every thing else to be segundo.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

I'm sure a month or more is not typical for Nikon, but I have read many threads here and elsewhere by Nikon customers which seem to confirm that repair/maintenance turnaround is generally significantly longer than Canon's. If true I assume its due to the difference between Canon's four in-house national service centers vs Nikon's authorized repair shop network.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

Ok.