Is this a serious offer????

[Roland Vink]

I should have said "lens or camera", it's the same situation for any Nikon product...

[David H. Hartman]

I feel that it's a double cross on Nikon USA's part not to help a customer avoid buying a used gray market Nikon product.

Dave Hartman

[Wannabebetter]

It's not fake news, it's a reality here in the U.S. and has been for a long time. I'm not concerned over grey-market status for old lenses and film cameras which can be repaired by third party repair shops using parts from deceased units.  However, for recent and expensive digital bodies in particular, the problem of losing access to post-warranty repairs is a serious matter.  I have been willing to take chances on refurbished and even used items, with generally good luck so far, but not grey-market digital bodies.  It's a matter of risk management rather than mere risk aversion.

It may be fun to be wild, until the consequences bring one back down to harsh reality.

The reference to "fake news" was code-speak for something entirely besides the point. And frankly, I'm disgusted by it.

[Frank Fremerey]

Dispatched: Tuesday, July 11, 2017 at 00:00 Origin Service Area: MANCHESTER - Lancashire - UK Destination Service Area: COLOGNE - BONN - GERMANY

Hope it arrives before my holiday starting Saturday

[Frank Fremerey]

I feel that it's a double cross on Nikon USA's part not to help a customer avoid buying a used gray market Nikon product.

Dave Hartman

Very bad customer service if they really execute this policy in reality and not just tell a story to scare off the curious, which I still think.

They should instead price service higher for people shopping at the competition. That would be fair.

[pluton]

Very bad customer service if they really execute this policy in reality and not just tell a story to scare off the curious, which I still think.

They should instead price service higher for people shopping at the competition. That would be fair.

I will try to find out if Nikon USA offers a way to clear suspected gray market serial numbers. I recall anecdotal claims (in past years) that there was a way to do it, but have never tried myself.
As for higher priced service for gray goods, I expect that might be a legal issue because of the USA's consumer protection laws.

[Bill De Jager]

Very bad customer service if they really execute this policy in reality and not just tell a story to scare off the curious, which I still think.

Frank, here is what Nikon USA says: "Additionally Nikon Inc. USA cannot perform any fee-based repair work on Gray Market items. Please do not contact Nikon Inc. USA for help with any Gray Market products."  This issue has been extensively discussed on a number of American websites for many years and is not just a figment of our imagination and induced fears.

Now I have also run into sites that say that Nikon USA will now service certain models of gray-market bodies after previously not doing so (and despite the public statement above), so there isn't absolute clarity here.  On the other hand, given Nikon USA's extremely poor record of customer service I would not relish trying to get them to do something they say they won't do.

[Andrea B.]

A few years ago I had a Canadian D200 which I bought used. Because it was originally imported into Canada and not the US, Nikon Service in Melville was happy to service it. Of course, I had the Canadian warranty (although expired) and my bill of sale to prove provenance.

I don't understand at all why the "Nikon gray market" thing is even permitted in the US. Only a few dollars are saved and you cannot get service. Why would someone buy that way? Maybe those gray market items are only sold to non-US buyers who could get service in their countries??? But then there are value-added taxes and high shipping fees for non-US buyers, so why would someone buy that way?

[Frank Fremerey]

I don't understand at all why the "Nikon gray market" thing is even permitted in the US. Only a few dollars are saved and you cannot get service. Why would someone buy that way? Maybe those gray market items are only sold to non-US buyers who could get service in their countries??? But then there are value-added taxes and high shipping fees for non-US buyers, so why would someone buy that way?

A friend of mine in Florida bought my first lenses for "My digital Nikon setup" in 2004, when I was reentering photography in December after leaving photography in general forever to become a profesinal drummer.

She bought a lot of stuff for me at shops like "Abes of Maine" and "Adorama" and "Cameta Camera", places where she bought her equipment too

All were value added tax free. She sent them to Germany where I paid import tax and had them registered with NPS in 2006, when I started my professional carrer with two D70-bodies and some lenses. Later I got my D3 from the USA, saving 700 Euros, although I paid import tax and got a lot of added value like a second battery, Capture NX and MC-36...

The crucial point was the exchange rate in these days. 100 Eurocent were worth between 145 to 161 Dollarcent at the time. Shipment is not sooo expensive if you buy in the big shops, or if the sister of my friend worked at an international express carrier in the USA...

Ever since I started professional photography I was covered by Nikon Professioinal Service.

All items I bought (except for one) were covered by "Nikon world wide warrenty". whatever that means. The "one" was a 1.4/85D which I did not like at all and sold after months of shelved life. It was covered by a warrenty insurance contract with world wide coverage.

Nikon stuff does not break so often. I once had a degorge at a Champagne Manufacture blast of into my 2.8/60D, requiring professional cleaning. After years of professional abuse I sold it for more than I paid for it. Stupid me broke the aperture lever of the D600 when I tried to mount Chris Dees old 1.4/35 Ai-S in 45 deg wrong orientation, and one of my D70ies stuck after the first 30.000 shots. I sold her with some 120.000 on the meter (or so, counter overflows at 16 Bit) later.

Check & Clean is free and if they have the parts I drive to Cologne, have a coffee and wait for the repair... This service is one of the reasond I love Nikon.

Nikon USA seems very strange to me.

****

To clear this "poodle in Microwave":

1) Who of you people here has experience the NON REPAIR POLICY first hand?

2) Who was scared off buying "grey market" by Nikon USA's threat?

[CS]

It's not a threat, Frank, it is the policy of Nikon USA. "Scared" is not the correct term, it would be sheer lunacy to knowingly buy grey market gear and expiect Nikon USA to service it with their stated policy.

You are a resident of Germany, and you're trying to tell US residents how Nikon USA works, but you have ZERO personal experience to back your claims. Why can't you accept what the folks in the US are telling you? Frank, you have no credibility in this, what happens elsewhere had no bearing on what happiens n the US.

[CS]

A few years ago I had a Canadian D200 which I bought used. Because it was originally imported into Canada and not the US, Nikon Service in Melville was happy to service it. Of course, I had the Canadian warranty (although expired) and my bill of sale to prove provenance.

I don't understand at all why the "Nikon gray market" thing is even permitted in the US. Only a few dollars are saved and you cannot get service. Why would someone buy that way? Maybe those gray market items are only sold to non-US buyers who could get service in their countries??? But then there are value-added taxes and high shipping fees for non-US buyers, so why would someone buy that way?

Well B&H has a grey market lens that is $700 cheaper than the US model. So sometimes the price  is very different.

[CS]

A few years ago I had a Canadian D200 which I bought used. Because it was originally imported into Canada and not the US, Nikon Service in Melville was happy to service it. Of course, I had the Canadian warranty (although expired) and my bill of sale to prove provenance.

I don't understand at all why the "Nikon gray market" thing is even permitted in the US. Only a few dollars are saved and you cannot get service. Why would someone buy that way? Maybe those gray market items are only sold to non-US buyers who could get service in their countries??? But then there are value-added taxes and high shipping fees for non-US buyers, so why would someone buy that way?

Not just camera gear, remember the grey market Mercedes Benz issue? Dealers here would not do warranty service a grey market MB.

Nikon owns this issue, it's their policies at play. They know what I s going on, but I don't know why they allow it.

[Frank Fremerey]

It's not a threat, Frank, it is the policy of Nikon USA. "Scared" is not the correct term, it would be sheer lunacy to knowingly buy grey market gear and expiect Nikon USA to service it with their stated policy.

You are a resident of Germany, and you're trying to tell US residents how Nikon USA works, but you have ZERO personal experience to back your claims. Why can't you accept what the folks in the US are telling you? Frank, you have no credibility in this, what happens elsewhere had no bearing on what happiens n the US.

Did you ever try to get a grey market item serviced and were sent away?

YES or NO?

If not you know as much as myself and I have all right to call this fake news or poodles in microwaves or clever marketing to the faint of heart or simply bullshitting customers.

[CS]

Did you ever try to get a grey market item serviced and were sent away?

YES or NO?

If not you know as much as myself.

No,Frank, I know better than to do that. How can you sit in Germany and be the last word with regard to policies in the US. The tuth is that you do not kniw what you are talking about.

Come on over here abnd try it for yourself, we already know that it doesn't work!

[Frank Fremerey]

A few years ago I had a Canadian D200 which I bought used. Because it was originally imported into Canada and not the US, Nikon Service in Melville was happy to service it.

"They were happy to service" .... Means the DID service or DID NOT service???