My well-loved D90 had a problem with the power. I would turn it off, but the light on the back would keep blinking, and it would eat up batteries. In the beginning, little tweaks would get it to turn off all the way, but within a few months, the only way I could keep my batteries from being eaten up was by taking the batteries out. In addition, the year before, the plastic on the back right of the camera had just fallen off -- it was a very hot week, and that's the only thing I can think of that might have made that happen.
I'd heard negative things about Nikon repair and wanted to avoid that and also bring it to someone I could drive to and knew already, but they told me they could no longer get Nikon parts. I also didn't like the very impersonal way one schedules a repair and estimates a cost on the Nikon site. The repair shop's bad reputation and impersonal service and the fact that they won't sell parts to independent shops ticked me off enough to make me think that in the future I will go with another brand with a better repair reputation. However, I scheduled the repair and sent my camera in.
My camera came back much sooner than expected (I was without it for under two weeks), looking great. The packaging was a little beaten up, but the camera was safe inside it. They did the repairs, and cleaned it, and it works great. The really strange thing, however, is that they billed me when I sent in the camera, but when it came back, they refunded the money. My camera was long past warranty. I have no idea why they refunded it. But somehow I came out of this with a repaired camera that was returned sooner than expected (saving me rental fees -- I really needed a camera for an upcoming event) AND it was free.
So I had an excellent experience overall, but I am still a little wary of Nikon's repair reputation and their impersonal approach. I wish I could feel more comfortable with that. (dm)