byThom

I thought you would be interested to hear about a good experience with a Nikon repair.  I have a 24-70/2.8 that I purchased in February of 2008.  It developed a wiggle in the hood mount, enough to cause the entire hood to wobble and affect focus, and the zoom rubber had come loose.  In mid-September, I had Calumet Photo (Washington, DC) send the lens to Nikon for repair, at a cost of $35 for shipping and insurance, with the promise that they would interface with Nikon to “keep things moving.”  The keep things moving part of the bargain was disappointing, as I had to call Calumet numerous times to get them to check with Nikon, leading me to believe that I would have been better off sending the lens directly.  However, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that while Nikon’s estimate for repair was $375 (B1 repair), they offered to do the repair under warranty even though it was seven months past the 5-year warranty period, provided I could show proof of purchase.  I had my email confirmations of the purchase from 2008, which Calumet faxed to Nikon.  After a little over 6 weeks, I was able to pick up the lens, which now seems as good as new:  Nikon had replaced the hood mount and rubber, replaced an (unspecified) lens element, and cleaned and calibrated the lens.  In light of all of the bad experiences I’ve read, I thought getting an out-of-warranty repair for no charge was pretty good. (jk)