Nikon Repair News

<p>I just received this news as part of a <a href="http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=4t5hwicab&v=001p2v57KM8pgayoFd6olv9aGbzMt121jlqyhbE4nBpio1FBl3pXCOKOdYPs22ILCxAVTZjIUkiVx4kGuTFFmjf1BX2mvEacOQIIAf4LJGOktVzv-2kYqsOTA%3D%3D">news letter from KEH</a>. </p>

 

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<p>…Nikon has announced that they will stop selling parts to independent repair shops.</p>

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<p>Thanks Robert but this has been talked about</p>

<p>Sorry, folks. I don't hang around here as much as I used to, and I just got the news letter today from KEH.</p>

<p>Certainly would make me think twice about buying Nikon gray market items.</p>

<p>I just think Nikon is becoming a real Japanese company.</p>

<p>Rene, has Nikon previously been an unreal Japanese company? :-)</p>

<p>This was the previous thread on this topic: <a dir="ltr" href="00ZsoC" target="_top" data-ctorig="http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00ZsoC" data-cturl="http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00ZsoC&sa=U&ei=dH5GT-jcBOmhiQKW_r3bDQ&ved=0CAQQFjAA&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNHhNGF3s5mT7yqf6K3dR-6cLFC0bA">Nikon USA to stop selling camera parts to independent repair</a><br>

It hurts gray market and the small repair shops. That is why those people complain.</p>

<p>Strange. I am tired of the bulky Nikon gear anyway. </p>

<p>Shun.... I will rephrase that: I THINK NIKON USA is becoming a real Japanese company.</p>

<p>What I mean is, Japanese really know how to make simple things complicated. No offense to anybody but after living in Japan for 19 + years, I really know how things are here compared to The States and Europe.</p>

<p>One of Nikon USA's greatest problems is gary-market Nikon products. From their angle, they do all the advertising, etc. etc. (like sending photo.net test samples, providing info to us) All of that cost money. Meanwhile, these people selling gary-market items simply enjoy a free ride. That is why Nikon USA wouldn't knowingly repair any gray-market Nikon products even though you are willing to pay for the repair. They are trying to use "unable to repair" to discourage people from buying gray-market products.</p>

<p>Controlling the supply of parts is just another step towards that direction. You may notice that it was B&H's Henry Posner who started the earlier thread on this topic. Henry is a great guy and he has been very helpful to me on these forums and via e-mail for well over a decade, and I buy from B&H quite often. However, B&H, along with Adorama, etc. sell a lot of gray-market items, and I buy them occasionally. Nikon USA's new policy affects them, and that is why they are not happy about it, so are the small independent repair-shop owners.</p>

<p>Another issue is that, at least in my experience, Nikon products don't require repairs often. Therefore, "unable to repair" doesn't scare me much. Occasionally I might drop a lens, but that might have happened like a couple of times in 30+ years.</p>

<p>AFAIK Nikon Japan owns Nikon USA so I am not sure why it is so important who imports the products. Nikon isn't trying to be the only reseller of their products, either, so why the importer? Nikon USA does advertising in the USA, which benefits Nikon as the manufacturer of the products as well as their subsidiaries who sell them ahead in various countries (since the advertising in US magazines and web sites does appear on magazine shelves and web sites throughout the world in practice). </p>

<p>Most of the Swiss watch companies have done this. It should be illegal.</p>

<p>I completely understand what the problem is but the way Nikon USA is doing it they are just punishing the regular costumers and the local stores. Now if someone's camera breaks in Montana the owner can not take it to the next door repair shop and he has to send the camera to Nikon in CA where he won't have a 1 to 1 relationship with the people working on his/her camera. Also they are taking away a little income to the local shops.</p>

<p>If they wanna be strict what they should do is to stop selling to stores that also sell gray market products and to stop selling to stores that sell overseas. If a Nikon store in HK is selling products in The US through the internet or magazines they should stop them. For example, B&H won't sell a NEW camera to someone living in Japan. That's the way they should try to fix the problem. </p>

<p>There is a long list of Nikon Authorized Service shops. So, I dont see the big problem <br>

:-|</p>

<p>KEH made the wrong choice, they should have stuck with being a used/repair center. Frankly, KEH is not on my short list of Nikon dealers for new gear.</p>