Hello every one, newbie here with a camera repair question "how long is too long?".

[Blown87]

Hello every one, my name is Greg Nettles and I fool around a bit with cameras, never going to be great at it, but I do take some pictures for a couple of magazines in the gun industry..

BTW, my sign on name has to do with my love of supercharged cars.
It is my sign on name on the Corvette and Porsche forums, and others.


Any way about the repair question, after what length of time would you start to lose your good nature on a camera repair.

I sent in a D80 to have repaired and I am just about done being a nice guy.

So how long would you think would be ok?

I was told 2-3 weeks when I took into KEH in Atlanta, the date was September 1, 2009, now I live way on the south side of Atlanta so this is not a short trip for me.

I did not even bother to call until three weeks had passed and all I got was a not yet, they had found the problem and were waiting on parts.
Long story short, that did not repair the camera and the next three things they tried did not correct the problem.

They finally said, we cant fix it, got to send it to Nikon, I say sure, because frankly after 2 months I kind of figured out they could not repair it.

I was not a pest about it, and only called once a week starting at 3 months.

Finally I called them, (they only called me once and that was to give me a quote) and they said it was ready, I asked "Did you test it to see if it works?" and was told by Shawn who has been very nice through this ordeal that Nikon tested it and KEH tested it, the date was December 31.

You may have guessed by this point that the camera did not work and at this point I have been with out my camera for going on 21 weeks and I am a bit pissed at this point.

So how long is a fair amount of time, and should they give it a priority because of the time that has passed and the fact that I was told it was fixed ans it was not.

Thanks

Greg Nettles

[OldClicker]

Mine has been gone almost 7 weeks and the parts are supposed to be in this Thursday. I hope I'm not just starting your journey. - TF

[Kokopeli]

I posted a reply to this thread earlier, and got a server too busy, please reply message. It was a somewhat lengthy post and it was lost. With that being said, IF you need a reliable repair guy, I know of one in California. You can mail your camera to him. I have used him for the past decade. He knows his stuff on both film and digital SLRs (P$S too). He does excellent work and is very reasonably priced. If you need his info PM me and I'll post it up.

And PS.. Welcome to the forums!

[Blown87]

It is just frustrating, four and 1/2 months is to long.
I repair cars for a living, if I kept some ones car for that long I would get sued.
Greg Nettles

[Frog]

KEH has a good reputation when it comes to selling used but maybe not for repair, eh?

[Paul Harris]

If they said 2 to 3 weeks then 3 weeks it is. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Give 'em hell.

[WesternGuy]

I find this interesting because back last year when Canon announced it would be doing warranty repair on the 5D and some defect with the mirror, they said it would take 18 to 21 days from the time I shipped it. Sure enough, 18 days later it came back.

One suggestion that I have if you (anyone) is going to have repairs done, make sure it is an authorized repair depot - just because they say they repair Canon, Nikon, whatever, doesn't mean they can, or that they will do a good job at it.. This is even more important today with everything digital and changing so fast. I suspect even the techie repair guys at the manufacturer's depots are always running to keep up to date with the "latest" new technology and as the digital cameras become more complex, they may take longer to repair and/or "fix" depending on where parts are manufactured and how long it may take to get them.

Greg, I do feel sorry for you and anyone else who is in a situation of not having their camera for such a long time. This is one of the reason I kept my old Rebel when I upgraded to a 5D, that way I always have a backup and my EF lenses all fit it. Maybe its time for you to buy a relativley inexpensive P&S as backup(?)...

A second suggestion, is talk to the technicians (if you can) and find out if they have worked on your type of equipment before and how often. I know it is not always possible to do this, but I would keep plugging away until I felt that they know what they are doing.

I know this probably doesn't help much at this time, but maybe we need a sub-forum for repair depots and people to post their experience with the various ones they have used.

Greg, Good luck with you "repair adventure"...

WesternGuy

[Blown87]

KEH has a good reputation when it comes to selling used but maybe not for repair, eh?

They have a stellar reputation, I could not find any negative reviews about them doing repairs or the quality of the cameras they sell.
Other than what I would call "Sour Milk" type postings.

One of my friends who is a pro has used them many times with out a issue.

I truly understand how sometimes it can take longer than what was quoted, but I suspect that it is going to be closer to 6 months before I get my camera back than 5 months.