Have you ever sent grey market Nikon camera/lens to be repaired by any non Nikon serv

[haring]

Have you ever sent grey market Nikon camera/lens to be repaired by any non Nikon service centers? I know the disadvantages of having/buying a grey market Nikon lens/camera. Nikon doesn't offer any repairs or technical support. My question: DOES Nikon supply parts to non-Nikon authorized repair centers? I have heard that lot of grey market Nikon owners use nikoncamerarepair.com for repair. Have you used them? nikoncamerarepair.com does repair grey market lenses but I am wondering whether Nikon supplies them the required original Nikon parts?

Thanks so much!

 

[Paul Jenkin]

I don't know the full answer, so I'm taking the risk of being shot down, here. However, if I were Nikon (or Canon, Pentax, etc), why would I want to supply components to companies over which I have no quality control and that I have no idea whether they can instal or not?

Firstly, it potentially devalues the services of the network of authorised repair centres in the customer's domestic territory and, secondly, it could put the customer in a really bad situation if the non-authorised repair centre caused more harm than good in trying to effect a repair.

To be honest, I'm not 100% sure why products made in the same factory require separate warranties dependent upon the territory in which they're sold. Why not have global warranties? I can only assume it's to discourage people buying cheaper outside their domestic territory and impacting the worldwide dealership network. Which sort of gets back to why grey imports come with risks attached.

 

[Bob Michaels]

..... My question: DOES Nikon supply parts to non-Nikon authorized repair centers? .....

Nikon stopped selling parts to other than their authorized repair centers about a year go. Canon still does. This is per my local camera repair guy who is also a personal friend.

 

[sevo]

Where are you from? In recent years (that is, anywhere past the late 1970's) the notion of "grey market" is very much a US only thing - most cameras sold outside the US come with a world wide warranty which is honoured by every representative on the planet except for the US one...

 

[sevo]

Nikon stopped selling parts to other than their authorized repair centers about a year go.

They can't do so in the EU, per EU court rulings against car makers. And they can hardly prevent parts being handed on from EU independent repairers to their US counterparts. So that will not stop third party repairs - but it might make them more expensive and/or slower than their official repair centres...

 

[newsgrunt]

Nikon Canada also won't touch equipment bought outside the country. This applies to warranty and non warranty work.

 

[Huss]

Nikon USA no longer provides spare parts to unauthorized Nikon repair shops.

 

[rlouzan]

I have a big problem with dealers selling both USA and grey market cameras at the same time. The manufacturers and government are the only ones to blame for for allowing these practices.

My 2 cents

 

[kzphoto]

Nikon may refuse the repair but other 3rd party facilities often have no way of checking US vs Non-US serials. Make sure the repair centre has Nikon parts authorization and you're good. If it is a VR lens it will require Nikon service.

 

[JoeV]

From the standpoint of the consumer, in theory it shouldn't be an issue getting a camera repaired in a country different from where it was purchased. Years ago I purchased a camera overseas, in Singapore, but had it for many years thereafter in the US. Fortunately, I didn't have to deal with any warranty repairs.

I see this issue as different from that of aftermarket replacement parts, like batteries. A Nikon-specific part, for instance, should be coming from a Nikon distributor, regardless of the country of sale, and so Nikon's getting their money. If this were about counterfeit parts, then that's a different discussion.

I can understand the manufacturer's concerns regarding exchange rates between various international markets; but my suspicion is that their concern is more about protecting their monopoly in one market - which smacks to me of price fixing, which more progressive governments attempt to protect their populace from via anti-trust laws.

~Joe