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Nikon 'Grey Market' Repair


PapaTango

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Hello, my name is Patrick--and I am a Photoholic.

 

[Hi Patrick, welcome!] :rolleyes:

 

I like to save money so I can get lots of stuff. Sometimes that works against me. Like what I understand the situation is now. A couple years ago, I bought a D7100 from a reputable reseller as a grey market body. They included a 1 year warranty that matched Nikon's, a selling point for me. Last year, after the warranty ran out I made a mistake--inadvertently leaving the camera outside overnight where it got caught in a very light rain. I immediately took the lens, cards and batteries out and placed the body in a dehumidifying box.

 

The upshot of this was that the little info display window on the top has never worked since then. Seemingly not a big deal as everything else works fine--it has proven a nuisance when moving about in fast environments changing settings. 'At A Glance' has been replaced by 'hit info, hold the camera up and look at the big screen.' This causes lost shots-and I would like to get this fixed.

 

My understanding is that Nikon does not look favorably on grey market items--and penalizes owners with higher than usual repair costs. Is this actually true?

 

Who out there in the repair business that is not Nikon can competently and reasonably replace the top screen assembly--and does anyone have a general 'SWAG' estimation of what something like this should cost? :)

 "I See Things..."

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Direct from the horse's mouth: https://www.nikonimgsupport.com/ni/NI_article?lang=en_US&articleNo=000001223

Nikon Inc. USA cannot provide any technical support or warranty service on Gray Market items. 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.

Authorized Photo Service might be able to help you out: Nikon camera service and repair - Authorized Photo Service, Inc.

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Sounds like a fairly simple repair to me. Monochrome LCD modules have electrical contact made through compressible conductive rubber pads, which are easily disrupted - as for example by moisture ingress.

 

At best the module simply needs removing, the contacts cleaned and re-seated.

 

At worst the contacts will have corroded to the point where the module or its driver board (or both) need replacing.

 

Any competent repairer should be able to easily remedy the first case, and any authorised Nikon repairer should be able to access board-level spares at a fixed cost; regardless of where the camera originated. Although perhaps the word "should" is the nub of the matter.

 

I'm not sure which is worse: the intransigent protectionism of Nikon US, or the intransigent unhelpfulness and incompetence of Nikon UK.

Edited by rodeo_joe|1
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  • 2 weeks later...

When I had problems with my almost new FM (some years ago) Nikon sent me to a nearby repair place.

 

Presumably authorized Nikon repair shops that are not Nikon owned can also do gray market items,

as can others that are likely as good.

-- glen

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For what it's worth, I believe it's actually illegal to have this policy in the EU: I've had training that says we're not allowed to impose region-specific requirements on things like servicing (although since this decision is above my pay grade I may have misunderstood). I always found it a little odd that Nikon US can get away with it. So... you could probably send the camera to Nikon UK if all else fails. :-)
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