Update: 70-200 vr FINALLY back from melville

[Wilk]

Mine fell victim to the sticky zoom ring syndrome. It just got way to sticky to be usable. My understanding is that many have had the problem, I just hope they don't try to play the "spill" game with me - I have NEVER drank anything but water with any lens/cam combo around my neck.

We'll see!

 

[Wilk]

Well, it's been a long nearly two month, very impatient wait, but my lens finally came back from melville today. All seems just fine, but it was a frustrating 2 months.

I have an issue or two to sort out still, but on the advice of a friend I let a camera store for whom he knows the owner well send the lens in on his advice. I didn't do my homework, because I had to get the lens ready on short notice, so I packed it with the box, lens bag and hood, none of which came back, but I have to figure out if the camera store held it and forgot, or if Nikon kept it all.

I learned a lot of lessons, some of which are unclear to the outcome, but things will be different in the future.

I'm just glad my baby's back!

 

[dmwphoto]

Steve,
Glad you got it back and I sure hope it is working fine. It would be easy for the store or nikon to loose that hood because it is designed NOT to stay on in the inverse position. From a couple of posts that I have observed here it would seem that one is better off sending it direct VS involving a camera store. But not sure that is true.
Hope to see some shots from you and IT soon.
Dave

 

[Wilk]

Steve,
Glad you got it back and I sure hope it is working fine. It would be easy for the store or nikon to loose that hood because it is designed NOT to stay on in the inverse position. From a couple of posts that I have observed here it would seem that one is better off sending it direct VS involving a camera store. But not sure that is true.
Hope to see some shots from you and IT soon.
Dave

Thanks Dave.

My experience was that I lost all control over the process by using a second party. For starters, there was a 13 business day lag between the time the lens left my hands, and the when Nikon logged it into thier system. I have no idea where the lag was, because I had no tracking info, nor did I know when it actually got sent. Then as things went from slow at nikon to stand-still, the intermediate "turned over" the nikon tracking info, and I was able to track it AND call to see why it was on parts hold... interestingly enough, less than 24 hours after I made that call, it was being repaired... was Nikon playing a squeeky wheel shell game? Probably, but a small chance not. I got a call two days after the initial call saying the repair was done and it was going into quality control. Two days later it was on the way to the middle man, and I STILL had to pay for shipping from him to me. Small price, and I did get the lens the very next day (today).

It's more than just the hood - I did find an obsucre vendor today that seemed to have them in stock and ordered another one - even if I do eventually get the original back, I need one asap, because all of us that have the lens know it's proned to flare. But I'm still missing the original box, the nylon case and did not get back my warranty slip (Nikon may keep that?) and do not have a copy of Nikon's work order, which I definately want. The biggest issue of all is done though... I can now mount it on my bodies again...yay!

I'm hoping the middle man did take the box apart and send just the lens, that is still to be seen and may take a while, because the owner is here in miami dealing with a very serious family health issue.

The lens: it's better than new! The zoom ring is so soft now, I can move it with a single finger, which is what I want in any zoom anyhow. So nice to make a subtle adjustment with the small tweak of one finger.

It will likely be at least 3 weeks before you see any images with this baby, I'm way behind in my PP work. I'm SO happy now, this is quite easily one of the very best lenses in Nikon's arsenal, and I'm so proud to own it.... SHARP baby! SHARP!

 

[dmwphoto]

Steve the items that you are missing require immediate squeaky wheel techniques! these need to be found and returned chop chop

 

[Wilk]

I hear ya dave! I'll get on it monday first thing. I don't want to be TOO overbearing with the intermediate though, because of the owner's situation. But I agree, they must be found.

 

[Beezle]

Your experience sounds awful. I sent mine in for the same thing and had it back in hand less than two weeks later.

Personally, I have decided to not support local camera stores anymore. They all stink. They charge a lot more, which I could live with, except their services are useless, and even the best of the best store near me pulled a few fast ones on me that I did not appreciate.

I will give Calumet a shot in San Francisco when I am up there, but the stores down here won't see me again. I can't even imagine using a local store to do a repair.

 

[TOLady]

Whenever I took any of my cameras into Nikon service centre directly, the first thing they did was strip it down and hand me all my stuff back, straps, batteries, cards, etc. They don't want to have to keep track of all that stuff. Most stores who handle returns know this as well, so there's a good chance your stuff is at the store, not the Nikon centre.
I highly support the general consensus of dealing directly with Nikon. I've had many repairs out of warranty handled by them, and at no charge. On one instance, they noticed my CCD was giving wonky readings so they changed it FREE even though the camera was in for a switch repair, nothing to do with the CCD. I've got great admiration for the Nikon tech guys - I've always had a smile after dealing with them. Glad you got your baby back safe and sound, and working better than before!

 

[Beezle]

I have to agree about Nikon service. They impressed the daylights out of me on more than one occasion.

I actually will use the original box or case as an "inner" container when shipping to them, and they have always returned them. Only thing I ever lost was an eyecup when they replaced a D2X. On the other hand they have sent me extra bits such as a charger and battery and wouldn't take them back.

I would just as soon not have to send anything in to be looked at, but I am glad they are there, and as good at they are.