Oct 20, 2012 (commentary)--I mentioned the NikonUSA parts withdrawal last week. Here's yet another example of the lovely service we get from NikonUSA these days (I've gotten six similar emails in six days):
"Last night, while photographing my son's football game, the small locking knob on my 70-200 lens collar came off and I could not find it (grass field, night time, poor lighting). I immediately thought of your commentary on Nikon parts and thought...I'm screwed.
I called Nikon USA Parts and they would not sell me the part. So it is in fact true, they are a dumb as you say. Unbelievable they won't sell me a simple part and insist I send [the lens] to them for evaluation and repair. I called Nikon service centers to see if I can acquire the part. A place in Dallas that used to be an authorized repair center said he does not have the parts and Nikon will not sell him the parts unless he sends them $168,142.68 for their service equipment. He said 23 other dealers are in the same boat and are getting ready to file a class action lawsuit against Nikon over the issue.
I did find the parts manual on line and the knob can be easily screwed in place without disassembling the lens in any way (one service center tried to tell me you have to take the lens apart to replace the knob. Someone had called him earlier in the week about the OLD 70-200 and he kept asking me if I was the same guy - I kept having to tell him "NO, this is the first time I've called you!" After 5-minutes I realized he was talking about a different lens b/c he was not paying attention to what I was saying and gave up - great customer service). I called several other service centers and they either did not have the part and could not get it, or would not sell me the part. I have to send it to them for "evaluation"."
Fortunately, this person managed to eventually find the part on eBay. But note that the problem here isn't just the lack of parts availability, but also NikonUSA's customer service seems to want to argue with the customer, plus wants cameras and lenses back for repair just to screw something on. Exactly how much time did this customer waste trying to track down a US$10 part that is customer replaceable? How much did NikonUSA spend on phone calls telling the customer "no." How much time and expense will they waste doing user-installable parts repairs? As I wrote before, this is just absurd.
Nikon has an online store. Have someone go through all the current product lines with the repair manual, figure out what parts are user replaceable, and put them all up on the store for sale. Is that so hard to figure out?