Is this a serious offer????

[Frank Fremerey]

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!

Your fear of a scarecrow makes you blush?

Or am I getting anything wrong here?

Am I lost in translation?

[CS]

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

That was not a grey market item according to Nikon USA policies. She bought the item in Canada, not in the
US, Frank. Why do keep,insisting that you know what is  going on ehen clearly you do not?

[Frank Fremerey]

Evidence is missing. Simple as that.

Customer's rule or Corporate rule. Ralf Nader made them dance to our tune, why do you dance to their tune?

Longing to pay more? Longing to be treated inappropriately as a customer?

[CS]

Evidence is missing. Simple as that.

Customer's rule or Corporate rule. Ralf Nader made them dance to our tune, why do you dance to their tune?

Longing to pay more? Longing to be treated inappropriately as a customer?

If you won't listen to reason. but choose to believe a fantasy, that is your choice. But, you being a big tough guy, why not come on over and show us how it's done, put your money where your mouth is. If not, it's all talk.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

All parties need to back off a little at this point. The discussion is not very productive at present.

[Frank Fremerey]

I am out

[CS]

All parties need to back off a little at this point. The discussion is not very productive at present.

My apologies.

[mysh]

My apologies.

You shouldn't have to apologize. Frank is the one who completely crossed the line and is talking complete rubbish. He is 100% wrong yet is calling people cowards and scarecrows. Sometimes calling someone a moron is just stating a fact.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Please, this kind of language describing other members is inappropriate no matter what the circumstances.

[Andrea B.]

As regards my Canadian D200:  "Nikon Melville was happy to service it" means that the D200 was indeed repaired by Melville.

My understanding is that in each country (or country group), official Nikon retail sellers may form their own sales organization with their own rules. Thus, in the USA, the US official Nikon retail sellers have chosen to have a rule about not servicing gear which has been imported into the US to be sold by an official Nikon retail seller as a gray market item for a lower price than the "official" imports.

I personally think that the US gray market rule is bad policy. The buyer may save some money (more savings than I had realized as per a comment above!), but if the purchased gear breaks then that buyer is up the old creek without the proverbial paddle -- you pay your money and you take your chances! While I agree that Nikon gear is quite robust, most of my repairs have been due to my own goofs such as in tipping a tripod over into a frog pond. Or the infamous 7 foot gear leap from a fish gate onto a granite ledge below. Had any of those damaged items been gray market, then I would have had to discard them as unrepairable. [Also note that here in the USA, we have a very strict regulation of who can or cannot repair Nikon gear because parts will only be sold by Nikon to official repair shops, and official repair shops must obey the Nikon gray market rule.]

This was all explained to me by Nikon USA when I wrote to them to ask if my Canadian D200 was considered to be a gray market item. It was not because: My Canadian D200 was originally imported into Canada to be sold there by a Canadian Nikon retail seller, was then purchased as a new camera by a Canadian citizen and finally was re-sold by that original Canadian buyer to me in the US. So my import of the D200 was not considered a gray market item. And therefore it could be repaired by US Nikon Melville.

I hope this is considered a factual explanation of the US gray market thing. And everyone can now move on.

[CS]

As regards my Canadian D200:  "Nikon Melville was happy to service it" means that the D200 was indeed repaired by Melville.

My understanding is that in each country (or country group), official Nikon retail sellers may form their own sales organization with their own rules. Thus, in the USA, the US official Nikon retail sellers have chosen to have a rule about not servicing gear which has been imported into the US to be sold by an official Nikon retail seller as a gray market item for a lower price than the "official" imports.

I personally think that the US gray market rule is bad policy. The buyer may save some money (more savings than I had realized as per a comment above!), but if the purchased gear breaks then that buyer is up the old creek without the proverbial paddle -- you pay your money and you take your chances! While I agree that Nikon gear is quite robust, most of my repairs have been due to my own goofs such as in tipping a tripod over into a frog pond. Or the infamous 7 foot gear leap from a fish gate onto a granite ledge below. Had any of those damaged items been gray market, then I would have had to discard them as unrepairable. [Also note that here in the USA, we have a very strict regulation of who can or cannot repair Nikon gear because parts will only be sold by Nikon to official repair shops, and official repair shops must obey the Nikon gray market rule.]

This was all explained to me by Nikon USA when I wrote to them to ask if my Canadian D200 was considered to be a gray market item. It was not because: My Canadian D200 was originally imported into Canada to be sold there by a Canadian Nikon retail seller, was then purchased as a new camera by a Canadian citizen and finally was re-sold by that original Canadian buyer to me in the US. So my import of the D200 was not considered a gray market item. And therefore it could be repaired by US Nikon Melville.

I hope this is considered a factual explanation of the US gray market thing. And everyone can now move on.

As good an attempt at deciphering Nikon's can-of-worms grey market policy as any. People need to be aware of the pitfalls before they buy grey market Nikon gear. I'd add an emphasis on the part where you had provenance too, because that kept it from being declared a grey market item by Nikon USA.

Who ever thought that the simple act of buying camera gear would be so nuanced?

[David H. Hartman]

[Also note that here in the USA, we have a very strict regulation of who can or cannot repair Nikon gear because parts will only be sold by Nikon to official repair shops, and official repair shops must obey the Nikon gray market rule.]

This refusal to sell parts to independent camera repair shops and owners is illegal in the state of California and there is or was a lawsuit that was winding its way through the courts. I have not followed the lawsuit. I was told by an independent camera repairman that Nikon tried and failed to have the venue changed to New York where it is legal to withhold sales of parts.

Dave Hartman

[Wannabebetter]

As regards my Canadian D200:  "Nikon Melville was happy to service it" means that the D200 was indeed repaired by Melville...

...This was all explained to me by Nikon USA[/b] when I wrote to them to ask if my Canadian D200 was considered to be a gray market item. It was not because: My Canadian D200 was originally imported into Canada to be sold there by a Canadian Nikon retail seller, was then purchased as a new camera by a Canadian citizen and finally was re-sold by that original Canadian buyer to me in the US. So my import of the D200 was not considered a gray market item. And therefore it could be repaired by US Nikon Melville.

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.

[Wannabebetter]

There are countries in which Nikon has a relaxed and customer-friendly policy.

Exactly! And in my experience, courtesies are reciprocal. Set the standard and live by it.

[CS]

Human nature being what it is, most find no reason to comment on a non-event. An example might be "I went to the market and bought a loaf of bread, and there was nothing about the experience that stands out from the norm". Hardly a topic of conversation, yet it happens too many times day to keep track of.

Now, if that loaf had a hole in the wrapping, and end chewed off, or maybe the clerk was discourteous, then we have an issue to talk about. The situation was out of the norm. for whatever reason.

Unless asked, I would have no reason to praise Nikon USA service unless they did less than, or went beyond, what was expected. If not, it would be a non-event.

IOW, usually we only hear something if there's a reason to talk about it. I doubt anyone cares about the very nice loaf of bread that my wife will pull out of the oven later today.