Yesterday after drills, Stephen had gone hunting and I was just surfing around on the net. I notice the little box pop to say that Stephen had an e-mail from Nikon. I am thinking oh yeah maybe they found his camera and are e-mailing to tell him.
The e-mail never referenced the fact that the camera was missing for well over a week! Instead it said:
This email is in regards to your Service Order #: ######. Your equipment has been received and logged into the system, however our technicians have determined that this is not a US model and we are going to need an international Proof of Purchase in order to be able to Service it. If an international Proof of Purchase is not available, or if you cannot provide us with one, we will determine this equipment to be a Gray Market camera and it will not be serviced by Nikon USA.
Now I know that every company has their rules but we had no idea where to send the camera or how to get it serviced, so Stephen called the Nikon center and ask for help. He explained that he purchased the camera in the UK and registared it there at the time of purchase. He also ask for a detailed outline of what steps he needs to take in order to get the camera fixed even if the warrenty wouldn't cover it. Not once did the rep mention anything about needing proof of purchase.
Later when the camera went missing we made at least a 100 conversations with Nikon reps about he missing camera, we pretty much begged them to verify with the actual repair department if possibly the camera had been delivered and not scanned by the postal service at the time of delivery. Every single rep got he full story about he camera being from the UK and registared in the UK. Every single phone call Stephen insisted on giving them the serial number, thinking that they log them in by serial numbers and that would be the fastes way to verify if it was in the building. Not once even when we spoke to several managers did any one mention the need for proof of purchase.
Now to make the service even worse it turns out that the postal service did screw up they did not scan the package on delivery so their system shows the package as not delivered. However the repair center has a policy that once they recieve equiptment for repair if the serial number comes up as a non-USA product that equiptment is put to the side and left until they have a lull in service. In other words instead of verifying if the camera is legally in the US they leave it sitting on the bench and move on to other work. This is why Nikon could not verify that the camera was in the building they had never registared in their system that the camera arrived. They sat on if for a full week before bothering to log the camera in.
Now the postal rep was calling Nikon all along the way asking if they could send some one into the area where the camera was and visually look and see if it was sitting there waiting to be logged in. Of course the postal service was worried that time was passing and we where going to file a claim for payment of the lost package. The managers at Nikon failed to really try. I have worked in customer service for a long time I know that in a special situation where a package is thought to be lost they could have visually checked to verify if the camera was sitting there not logged in. 2 minutes of a reps time to actually go an extra inch would have save so much stress and time.
As well during all of this panick about the camera at least one rep should have known that the camera not being manufactured in the US it would not be logged in right away and may be sitting on a bench waiting. Even though Stephen kept insisting that they search for it by serial number not once did a rep say oh this isnt a US serial number and this could be the issue.
Stephen contaced the Nikon rep because the fax number that he rep gave us in the e-mail can only recieve faxes from with in the US, we needed a number that some one from the UK could fax to. The rep told Stephen 3 times that there was no such number and the only number was the US only line. After asking for a manager the rep suddenly gives Stephen a different number to use!
So this morning Stephen couldn't sleep and was pacing the floor. He made a call at 5am to the UK, (it wasn't 5am in the UK). It happens that Stephen is really big on spending your money with buisnesses that spend their money with you. So when he wanted a camera of course he bought it from a buisness that had hired him to do some computer work when he worked for himself. So Stephen called the store owner and ask if they had a record of the purchase. We knew for sure tha we dont have the reciept because Stephen had moved across the big pond and only brought what he could fit into his suitcase.
Thankfully the man had a record and could fax it to Nikon. Now I am sure Stephen will write about the whole thing at some point and he can tell you all about the store and its owner, I have never had a chance to go to the UK so I don't know much about any of Stephens friends and associates from the UK. I just know I am greatful that this man was willing to pull up sales records from 2005 and help us out!
Stephen responded to the Nikon e-mail saying that the fax had been sent and would they please verify its reciept. Of course the rep did not reply by e-mail or phone. So Stephen called and called and called again. Finally he had enough the rep insisted that the fax was never sent or recieved.
Now if I get pissed and use some foul language chock it up to my temper, but when Stephen says F*@# its on! He holds his temper and generaly is calm but today they just went to far. So Stephen finally unleashes the stress of the whole ordeal on this rep who magically found the fax and admitted that they have had the fax all day and no one bothered to log it! I see a pattern here!!!
At this point we are now waiting for Nikon' service center to look at the reciept and decied if they want to accept it or not, and then to let us know what the repair cost.
The entire ordeal there have been only 2 Nikon employees who actually tried to help us sort it out. Damingo started out helpful, he called the postal service and scheduled the redelivery and called us back with a confirmation number. How ever when the redelivery time came and went and Nikon claimed they didn't have the camera Damingo stopped taking our calls and started only responding by the Nikon web page. And when Stephen finally spoke to Damingo again, Damingo refered Stephen to the head office and pretty much washed his hands of the whole issue. At the head office there was Joy, and according to Stephen she was the nicest friendliest rep ever. Joy was shocked to realize that the fax number that would recieve a fax from outside the US was to a fax in their New York office when the issue is being handled in the California office. Joy said there is a fax in California that could recieve a fax from outside the US and she don't really know why we where not given that number?.
Needless to say Stephen and I are starting to think the next camera and equiptment we need to purchase may just come from Canon instead of Nikon!
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