Lou37 Loc: Long Island, N.Y.

Last Thursday I took my Nikon DSLR to Nikon in Melville Long Island for a repair estimate. After the lady at the desk took all the information she told me it would cost $200 plus dollars for a repair. I told her that I was told that estimates were given at no cost. She agreed and I left. When I received my mail yesterday (Friday) I had a letter from Nikon advising me that it would cost $200 plus dollars to repair the camera. It has become very apparent that Nikon does not provide free estimates even though they say they do. The letter quoted the $200 plus price that she tried to sell me at the service desk. I purchased the same DSLR from a vendor at E-Bay two weeks ago. I received the camera in great condition, with a DX zoom lens, a 2GB compact Flash card, Nikon camera strap, two batteries and a charger for $112.50. Who in their right mind would pay Nikon $200 plus dollars just to repair the camera. Nikon should wake up and smell the roses. They are milking the public with their ludicrous repair policies. I was wondering what you folks think about this. Am I crazy or what?

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

I truly don't understand your post. It seems to me that you had a broken camera that you took to Nikon for repair. They gave you a free estimate, telling you it would cost over $200 to repair the camera. Instead, you purchased one from eBay for less money.

What am I missing? And, how is this a disappointment of Nikon's service?

machia Loc: NJ

My friend had a similar experience here in NJ and will never by Nikon again. I own Canon equipment so I can't really comment on Nikon, other than I used to shoot w/ an old Minolta and my buddy had a Nikon. I always thought my Minolta-Rokkor lenses were better than his Nikkors in terms of image quality though ! When I found out Minolta built lenses for Leica from the actual Minolta lens glass I knew I wasn't being biased. Hey, I had a poor mans Leica ! lol

Hacksaw Loc: Pacific Northwest

What did you buy? You said you received it in great condition; why does it need to be repaired? Paid only $112.50? Is the camera even worth $200? What Nikon may be doing is trying to prevent going through the cost of tearing it down to find out what's wrong with it and then being told to forget it because the camera is not worth the $$. They don't want to left holding a worthless camera. Can't expect them to work for free. A local camera repair shop wouldn't do that. Of course I'm just theorizing here due to the limited amount of background information.

Nikonbob Loc: Upper Chichester, PA

I am confused by your comments. You received an estimate of the repair cost and were not charged for the estimate. Isn't that a free estimate?

Camera repair is very labor intensive and not inexpensive. But, no repair service of any precision equipment will be cheap. I think your characterization of Nikon "milking the public" is way off base. They do great work and if you value your gear, the price is worth it.

oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA

I don't like the cost of repair anymore than you but in the
NYC area, that is a reasonable charge.

BebuLamar

You're upset because the price they quote you a repair higher than what you paid for the camera? Sorry! Unless you buy the camera new, most used camera lose a lot of value so that almost any repair would be too high. I don't think Nikon USA service is very good myself but in this case they did nothing wrong.

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

I've had very good experiences with Nikon. People who have problems usually misunderstand the system and wrongfully flame the vendor and the vendor will not usually defend itself. So the events become a one way street.

Wilsondl3

You didn't say what model you have. I have a D50 that is in great shape if sold on eBay I would be lucky to get $100 for it. I also have a D7100. If they both had the same problem it would be just as much work to fix so the quote of $200 would be the same for both. Sometimes it just is not worth the cost to get it fixed. - Dave

rhadams824 Loc: Arkansas

I also mailed a camera to them and they quoted a figure greater than what it would cost to buy a used camera. When I called to discuss the estimate they said it could cost less than quoted but no guarantee. It seems they don't really examine the camera to provide a firm quote of what it would cost for repair but quotes a large figure. I might as well have not gone to the expense of sending and having the camera returned.

GTinSoCal Loc: Palmdale, CA

Exactly.

You had/have the option of not having it repaired for the ~$200 repair cost.

Not paying for an estimate makes the estimate (note, it is an ESTIMATE) free :-)

GT

Rongnongno Loc: FL

I have a real beef with nikon at the moment but it partially my fault as I did not try the lens after receiving it back from servicing... Now I am stuck with a worthless walk-around lens for the next 6 weeks...

That said, I never had to pay anything to Nikon as I did not have repairs done other than this lens and it still under the 5 years USA warranty.

Buying stuff for cheap on questionable sites and rant about the cost of repair being higher than the purchase price?

Why did you purchase a broken camera in the first place?

As to the cost? I have no idea what camera you are dealing with since you do not give any information on that.

$200.00 is relatively low and since when Nikon does repairs you get a warranty on it I really do not see what your beef is about, unless you like to have high-blood pressure for no reason that is. And oh, hey, your quote is the repair cost not an estimate...

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Do you understand what "free estimate" means? They gave you a free estimate of what it would cost to do the repair... Nowhere is it implied that the *repair* would be free!

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

It is obvious to me that even when you did not mention the camera body that it was an old camera because to buy the same body in the Internet for $112.50 tells me the camera has to be old.
Today $200 to repair a camera is not considered expensive. If the camera is useful to the person ordering the repair and the person wants to spend the money that is only a personal choice. I put no fault with Nikon.
I like APS or Authorized Photo Service in Morton Groove, Illinois. They only work with Nikon cameras and they are courteous and have reasonable prices.

Gendarme Loc: Katy, TX

No repair service is going to do a lot of labor for a "free estimate." To use the example of car repair, they tell you what they think it is by their observation, but also qualify that by saying that once they take it apart, it could be something else that cost more or less. Same with the camera. They are not going to tear it apart to diagnose the problem and estimate the repairs only to have you say it is too much or take it somewhere else. The tear down is labor intensive and if you say no, they figure you will also expect them to use their labor for free to reassemble it.