Is this a serious offer????

[Andrea B.]

Well it is a puzzle about Nikon US service. I also have had nothing but good experiences with Nikon Melville. As they say on the East coast, Go Figure!

[CS]

Well it is a puzzle about Nikon US service. I also have had nothing but good experiences with Nikon Melville. As they say on the East coast, Go Figure!

Agreed. While it isn't anything that we're going to solve here, I do think that raising awareness about it is good. Forewarned is forearmed.

[Thomas G]

[...] I doubt anyone cares about the very nice loaf of bread that my wife will pull out of the oven later today.  [...]

I probably would and I have my own reasons for that. But that does not belong here. 

[Wannabebetter]

In every instance, Nikon USA exceeded all my expectations. I sent them "beaters" I could hardly afford to buy used much less send out for service, and they returned me working tools -- sharp and shiny -- that served me well through the lean times. Like, now...

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Gosh. Am I happy to live in Germany. I am a global photographer using stuff from Nikon my trusted global supplier who pays an independent local service provider to service the stuff via NPS. Nikon USA seems to run a different business model. Did anyone see a camera for the EU plastered full with "EU" stickers?

In the EU, it is required by law that the manufacturer's importer give warranty service to products that are sold in that market irrespective of where they were purchased or who imported them. There is no "gray market" in the EU basically since there is no legal way for the manufacturer's importer (which is usually wholly owned by the manufacturer, i.e., Nikon Japan in this case) to avoid providing warranty support.

Nikon USA does actually provide warranty service to items which were not imported by Nikon USA, as long as they were imported by Nikon's official importer for the country of purchase (i.e. not gray market in the region of purchase) and the purchase receipt exists and is shown. This is information that I received from Nikon USA when I requested it when I was about to move to live in the USA for a time.

[David H. Hartman]

Nikon USA does actually provide warranty service to items which were not imported by Nikon USA, as long as they were imported by Nikon's official importer for the country of purchase (i.e. not gray market in the region of purchase) and the purchase receipt exists and is shown. This is information that I received from Nikon USA when I requested it when I was about to move to live in the USA for a time.

That has long been my understanding.

[Frank Fremerey]

In every instance, Nikon USA exceeded all my expectations. I sent them "beaters" I could hardly afford to buy used much less send out for service, and they returned me working tools -- sharp and shiny -- that served me well through the lean times. Like, now...

That is great service. Do they check the channel where the beaten up items originated decades ago? What about used items in general?

[Frank Fremerey]

You cleared that up quite nicely, and I thank you! Somewhat besides the point, my own experience with the Melville facility has been nothing short of extraordinary in the best sense, which I know contradicts conventional wisdom [sic] if one is to accept the horror stories related on numerous websites, blogs and online videos. Perhaps Nikon USA, Melville just likes me?! Perhaps it's my native fluency in Long Islandese as well as several other metro New York dialects? As I write this, I'm preparing to send a disabused camera recently won, on that auction site out to Melville to be completely refurbished at no cost to myself. They didn't ask me to produce a receipt, excuse, retina scan, or stool sample. Only to pack the camera, carefully.

To me the stories I hear of actual service experience seem to hint to what I already expected and expressed above.

Truth is Nikon USA will service items built by Nikon no matter what. They will usually not investigate the original trade channel, because it is irrelevant.

They will continue to check serial numbers of stolen property.

And they will continue to discourage trade channels that channel profits away from them by telling the non service fairy tale. Point me to any significant number of people who were actually denied service. I never met one. Did you?

[Bill De Jager]

To me the stories I hear of actual service experience seem to hint to what I already expected and expressed above.

Truth is Nikon USA will service items built by Nikon no matter what. They will usually not investigate the original trade channel, because it is irrelevant.

They will continue to check serial numbers of stolen property.

And they will continue to discourage trade channels that channel profits away from them by telling the non service fairy tale. Point me to any significant number of people who were actually denied service. I never met one. Did you?

link

link

link

We had a local camera store that sent an old Nikon (grey market) in and they actually pulled a key component out of it and refused service.  Guy sold it and second buyer sent it in.  Came back unfixed from Nikon again.  He found an independent shop who tried to order the part, back when Nikon sold parts to the independents, and Nikon refused shipping them the parts from the serial number.  Thing couldn't get fixed anywhere as they "black-balled" that camera body.  Store manager gave the guy $10 for it and kept it on the shelf as a selling point on the grays verses buying from them.

link

[David H. Hartman]

Truth is Nikon USA will service items built by Nikon no matter what. They will usually not investigate the original trade channel, because it is irrelevant.

A camera repairman friend confirmed that he could not buy parts for Nikon cameras in violation of California law.

Frank, you do not live here. You do not know.

Dave Hartman

---

It's quite easy to speculate that Nikon USA wants a monopoly on importing Nikon products into the USA. Nikon USA does not under US law have a monopoly so they are refusing to repair "white market" Nikon camera, that's right it's perfectly legal under US law for anyone to import Nikon products into the US so it's a white market.

In the old days EPOI was the official Nikon importer and EPOI was not owned by Nikon so it had legal monopoly on import. This fuss about "gray market" didn't exist as EPOI had customs on its side.

Nikon is refusing to sell parts in California because they will be shipped everywhere in the US. If they loose or have lost they will have put many independents out of business. They tried a change of venue to New York state as there they can refuse to sell parts in New York. The change of venue didn't work. I haven't followed the lawsuit.

I like Nikon products. I don't like the company [Nikon USA]. I'm married to Nikon through my legacy Nikkor lenses.

I haven't time for any more of this.

Dave Hartman

[Frank Fremerey]

link

link

link
 link

Very helpful links, Bill! Thank you.

Obviously they can (halfway) enforce this customer unfriendly policy as long as the number of grey market items is small compared to the number if items sold.

If customer base sees a significant advantage in buying "grey" and the number of items rises therefore over a certain threshold they have to change their policy.

So I stand corrected. There are in fact cases where Nikon lends some credibility to their marketing strategy of "non service". And the strategy works as long as enough customers are scared into buying "Genuine US items" I have several bought from official channels in your country including my D3 which I bought April 2008 at cameta camera .com

....

[Frank Fremerey]

I know that it can be very tricky to get your hands on Nikon spare parts anywhere in the world.

....unless you know some people inside ....

Question: What about insurance? If you manage to pay 1000 US$ less for a camera but you have a good insurance that will replace the item with a new one in case you break it on the job e.g. you are on the safe side, are you?

It is a question of economics. Do the 1000US$ matter to you now? How many years of luxurious insurance will 1000US$ cover?

From Bill's links I see, that the official Nikon channels seem to have supply problems at times so people buy "grey" because the "white" shelf is empty.

For me personally I have new and used items from all over the world plus a lot of brick & mortar local official and "genuine US" stuff. At the time I bought these in 2004 to 2008 the price difference to grey was insignificant.

My reason to buy in the USA was their listing price in Dollar was lower than the listing price in Euro here and the Euro was very strong. My D3 genuine US was 700€ cheaper including 19% import tax than the best price in good old Germany.

*****

Just because I do not live in the US does not mean I do not understand the US cultural reality.

[CS]

http://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-store/gray-market.page?icid=img_en_us:hp:grid:5:mkt:na:110816:grayMarketBanner

[charlie]

Just because I do not live in the US does not mean I do not understand the US cultural reality.

Frank, all throughout this thread I've been under the impression that you are in some part mocking the US and anyone who has differing views than your own. All the while you've been dismissing other peoples opinions, suggesting someone is a "lost coward" if they don't engage in the same practices as you, ignoring people more informed than yourself on matters and coming to your own alternative facts, for lack of better term. You've even adopted the "fake news" terminology as your own.

Do you see the irony yet?

You are making the case that you would be the perfect candidate as mayor of "Trumpland", where ever that might be.

[David H. Hartman]

I know that it can be very tricky to get your hands on Nikon spare parts anywhere in the world.

....unless you know some people inside ....

It wasn't this bad some years back. I call up Nikon USA and ordered two CPU(s) on the flex to put in extension tubes. I gave them the information, name, address and a credit card number. They shipped the parts to me. No problems. It was no different than ordering a memory card from B&H or Adorama would be today.

Nikon USA already had their "gray market" policies in place and had but a few years back they decided to further their desired for a monopoly of importing Nikon products into the United States NOT SUPPORTED BY USA's FEDERAL LAW by refusing to sell parts to owners and independent camera repair shops parts. This is or was ILLEGAL IN CALIFORNIA. Nikon USA tried a change of venue to New York where they don't have to sell parts to owners and independents. The change of venue failed. For all I know the Little Mother R***rs have moved out of California.

If I were starting in photography today I'd buy Canon but I'm not. I'm married to Nikon through legacy lenses I bought as far back as 1978. I don't still own any of the lenses I bought from 1970 to 1975. I went "Walk About" for three years and didn't own a 35mm camera.

Why do I keep posting to this stupid thread?

Dave Hartman who is horse from yelling.

There is an nice run on sentence above, yes?

You can get anything you want,
At Nikon USA's Restaurant,
Excepting Parts.