john_sedeski

<p>Steve, all Nikon products will be at serious risk.<br />Several readers have sited Nikon USA's 5 year warranty. It covers defects in manufacture and workmanship...PERIOD.<br />Having represented several competing companies as an Authorized Service Center for many years, I can tell you that the amount of equipment that fail due to "defects in manufacture and workmanship" is less than 2%. Meaning...98% of the failures are customer induced, and NOT covered by the 5 year warranty. Those people will be left to pay whatever price Nikon USA requests. There will be no alternative source for service.<br />Gray Market will be even worse. Some parts are serialized, and if Nikon requires their authorized service centers to return the serialized defective part to verify it is a Nikon USA imported product, those that fail verification will be unable to be serviced.<br />After market warranties are rarely any better. Most duplicate the terms of the manufacturer. The minimal failure rate under the manufactuerers terms is why these extended warranties are so heavily pushed. <br />98% of failurers are due to impact damage, water/moisture, sand/dirt, excessive force and with todays shooting rates (100,000 cycles in under a year is common) worn out shutters and mirror/aperture assemblies. None of this is covered by the 5 year warranty.</p>

<p><br /><br /><br /> Operating a camera repair business for over 35 years…there<br />isn’t a single Manufacturer who (in the past) chose to limit parts distribution<br />or corral the service end of their business that survived.<br /><br />The early days of digital had RCA, Dell, HP and other “computer” manufacturers marketing<br />branded cameras made by others. When you don’t produce a product the<br />distribution of supporting parts is made very difficult. When you compensate by<br />simply trying to replace defective units with new ones or out –of –warranty units<br />with discounted “newer” versions, your profit margins and pricing structure will<br />be uncompetitive in relation to competitors who can satisfy service needs by supplying<br />just the broken part and labor.<br /><br />Nikon USA’s ill-conceived parts policy will have the same effect. A single<br />source service option is no option. You pay the price of the repair, or the product<br />is not repaired. It’s as simple as that. An estimate request, rather than a<br />query as to what “they” might charge as opposed to another service shop, turns<br />into a “take-it or leave-it” choice.<br /> Given that the Nikon brand will be the only major player with this quirky service policy, it’s going to hurt the brands reputation, and will affect the resale value of each person’s equipment. Any piece of used Nikon equipment that is found to have, or even suspected of having a fault, will have that single source resolution. Pay “us” this much to fix it…or throw it away. Retail shops will be at considerably higher risk of losing the entire trade-in value of an item that’s belatedly discovered of having a problem.<br /><br />Let us hope that JAPAN fully grasps how this Nikon USA policy has the potential<br />to damage their hard earned reputation as a premium product.</p>