* update 14 July 2009 – Gave them a call since it’s already a week from the due date they were suppose to call me. The call was picked by Paul, the head of Nikon Malaysia Service Center. And guess what? They are still waiting for parts after they had promised me that i) the parts are in and ii) it will take them a week to settle it. Can you believe that? Paul – if you are reading this, I guess it’s about time for you to resign from your post since you can’t maintain the effectiveness of your own department. I so damn pissed.
** update 2 14 July 2009 – they called me up. they managed to secure a loan unit for me after nearly 2 months of inefficient service on their part. and they asked me to come over and pick it up. What kind of service is that? Now I have to waste my time to go and collect the loan unit?
***update 2 14 July 2009 – to all facebookers – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=121885586712&ref=nf
**** update 16 July 2009 – i went to the Service Center to meet up with Paul and to collect my D300 loan unit (after 2 months of delay on the repairing of my actual D300). It seems that everyone knows me. Ha! I must have made quite an impression over the phone and thru this post. Anyway, bad service again today. No apologies were given to me (direct to my face). I felt unwelcome – as if they want me out of there as soon as I get my loan unit. Maybe they were busy but hey, basic PR – if you have made a mistake, apologize to your client. But they didn’t. I didn’t care whether they have apologized over the phone. I just want to hear it from them – telling me direct to my face. But no. Bad bad PR. I guess they didn’t get any training beforehand. Yeah, Nikon Malaysia Service Center sucks big time!
Hello.
Monday morning – another week to go thru.
I’ve been using Nikon DSLR cameras ever since I started shooting 4 years back. I love the colour, the contrast and the usability of its camera. Sadly, I am quite pissed with the situation am in for the past 2 months.
I own two D300 bodies plus another D200. I mainly shoot with two D300s, with one as a backup to another one. The D200 is the ultimate backup – ie if anything happens to one of the D300, I have the D200 to the rescue. I love my D300s because it helps me to get my job done.
The 2 D300s is about one year apart – I bought the first one when it first came out and the second one last year. The 2nd body works fine up until few months ago when it keeps switching off by itself. One year into its service, the body needs to be returned to the service center with the warranty.
That was went all the nightmare started.
I’ve heard all the negative points about Nikon Malaysia Service Center – the slow service, the inefficiency to name a few. I’d sent my unit in on the 20th May 2009 to claim my warranty. Since I run my business with my D300, I took the opportunity to ask for a loan unit. I told them that I am a full time pro photographer, running my own business and my camera is my source of income. They said they will get back to me in a week’s time.
The standard operating procedure was to accept my unit in, notify me of the problems with the unit and proceed with the repair when I have been informed. That’s what Canon do to their customer as Nazir had one of his DSLR sent in to Canon few months ago.
So I waited a week for their call and no call. I gave them a call on the 2nd week and ask about the situation. The reply was, the technician is still looking into it. 2 weeks after I had sent in the unit, the technician probably just started looking at it. Fine. What about the loan unit?
“We can offer you a D50 for a loan unit…”
What a nerve! Nevermind with the loan unit Luckily i have my D200.
Week three, I gave them another call. They have identify the problem and the need to change the motherboard of the body. But they couldn’t get the work done since they have to wait for the parts to come it. Fine.
“Go ahead with the repair when the parts have come in. And keep me updated on the status of the repair,” I told them.
Week five. Instead of getting an update from them, I gave them a call. The same answer, “we are still waiting for the parts to arrive. We’ll update you in 1 week’s time“. Two weeks and no parts?
Week six – the week I got pissed off. No calls from them. No updates. Nothing. Gave them a call. Asked around. Parts are in. The front desk told me that she personally will give a call later that day. No call. The next day, I picked up the phone. I shouted, I cursed, I swore, to the person who had answered the phone. “We are sorry sir, we’ll give you a call later in the week for the update.” Fast forward to Friday of week six, still no call. Again, picked up the phone. A different person had answered the phone. Again shouted, cursed and all the above.
She had the nerve to tell me – “We have a lot of cameras to repair. You must understand“.
“That’s your *effing* problem” – I practically said the F word.
“Why can’t you be like Canon?”
“Your cameras have been to the outer space but your service sucks like hell!”
After a lot of shouting and cursing on my part, I told them to please get on with the work and update me accordingly. Slammed the phone down and few hours after the that, the same girl called me and update me on the status. She said the technician needed 1 week to settle it.
That was last two weeks and last week was the deadline. Still no call, no updates.
Promises left empty.
I have many things to settle and to attend to. The ordeal has drained all my energy and made me a negative person. I just can’t be bothered anymore because my work suffers.
I believe that I am not the only one suffering from the inefficiency Nikon Malaysia Service Center. I’ve heard countless stories where repairs took up to a year! And I’ve also heard the double standard they gave to semi pro and pro users where one with a much more high end DSLR gets the extra service and jumps the queue. I cannot confirm the story but if this is the case, then Nikon Malaysia is in a serious trouble.
I do not want to change side – to Canon. I’ve invested a lot on Nikon stuff. I love the colours. I love the ISOs. I love the practicality & usability of the bodies. But for the last two months, I’ve been contemplating on changing sides just because of my experience with Nikon Malaysia Service Center.
I thing that I’ve learnt from all this is not to be like them. No matter how high end my products are, my after sales service is important too. Sadly this is not the case for Nikon Malaysia.
To all Nikon user, any bad experience with Nikon Malaysia Service Center?
by Hafiz Ismail
show hide 55 comments
link to this post email a friend