Disappointed...D100

I was in LA today. I live nearby and had to drive in for a meeting. It was about 7 miles from The Nikon Torrance repair center.

I went in and there was one person putting their D1x in for the firmware upgrade.

I said I wanted the D100 firmware upgrade. She (the repair clerk) started to fill out a work order and I asked, "will this take more than an hour?" She said, "no, 3 to 5 working days". I didn't feel like begging, figuring I wouldn't get anywhere, but am really disappointed that they can't do a 5 minute upgrade while a "walk in" waits. I told her I can't leave the camera for that long because I need it for a shoot this Friday.

Sorry to bring up a sore subject from the past but it will rear it's ugly head again when the next upgrade comes out.

I asked the women getting the D1x upgrade if she was also having her buffer upgraded. She had forgotten about that option and turned to the same Nikon clerk and said, go ahead and add that to my firmware upgrade order. The clerk replied, "Oh, that will take much longer since we need to order the chip for the upgrade". What? one of two nikon service centers has no buffer upgrades for the D1x? The woman said she could not wait any longer than the week for the firmware upgrade since she had a shoot.

Considering how many pros use Nikon digital I can't imagine the volumen of "down time" that must exist with this stupid method for upgrades.

I hear in Singapore they do the upgrade while you wait. WHy not in the US?

thanks

Version 1.01 and holding.

They enjoy watching today's Nikonians evolve to become tomorrow's Canonians.

I think about it all the time, and I don't believe I'm the only one either.

Brendan
--
If a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, I'm the world's most dangerous man!

I would not expect to get something of this nature while I waited. I really do not know of anything else in the world you can get "while you wait" except for food and a haircut.

People are just way to impatient these days.

--
Ken
http://kenmcvayphoto.clymbers.com

Ken McVay said:

I would not expect to get something of this nature while I waited.
I really do not know of anything else in the world you can get
"while you wait" except for food and a haircut.

People are just way to impatient these days.

In General, I agree with you on the impatient people these days. We live in a fast paced instant gratification society ugh!!!

Click to expand...

However, from everything I've heard, the "fix" or "upgrade" only takes Nikon a couple of mnutes to do. If that is the case, walk in traffic should be given the courtesy of having it done in a timely manner.

I'm going to trash Nikon, I enjoy using my Nikon gear (also enjoy my Canon gear) but I think in general we should expect better out of such a large internationl giant camera company.

Ken McVay said:

--
Ken
http://kenmcvayphoto.clymbers.com

Click to expand...

Mine was done in 10 minutes in Montreal even if some big shot D1X came at the same time I WAS THERE.

Go figure ...

Clark Hampton said:

I was in LA today. I live nearby and had to drive in for a
meeting. It was about 7 miles from The Nikon Torrance repair
center.

I went in and there was one person putting their D1x in for the
firmware upgrade.

I said I wanted the D100 firmware upgrade. She (the repair clerk)
started to fill out a work order and I asked, "will this take more
than an hour?" She said, "no, 3 to 5 working days". I didn't feel
like begging, figuring I wouldn't get anywhere, but am really
disappointed that they can't do a 5 minute upgrade while a "walk
in" waits. I told her I can't leave the camera for that long
because I need it for a shoot this Friday.

Sorry to bring up a sore subject from the past but it will rear
it's ugly head again when the next upgrade comes out.

I asked the women getting the D1x upgrade if she was also having
her buffer upgraded. She had forgotten about that option and
turned to the same Nikon clerk and said, go ahead and add that to
my firmware upgrade order. The clerk replied, "Oh, that will take
much longer since we need to order the chip for the upgrade".
What? one of two nikon service centers has no buffer upgrades for
the D1x? The woman said she could not wait any longer than the
week for the firmware upgrade since she had a shoot.

Considering how many pros use Nikon digital I can't imagine the
volumen of "down time" that must exist with this stupid method for
upgrades.

I hear in Singapore they do the upgrade while you wait. WHy not in
the US?

thanks

Version 1.01 and holding.

Click to expand...

--
If you don't snap it, nobody will snap it for you ...
Kafrifelle (Yves P.)
Nikon D-100/MB-100 grip with
AF 18-35 ED Nikkor
Sigma AF 15-30 D
AF 50mm 1.8 D
AF 35-70 Nikkor
AF 80-400 ED VR Nikkor
AF 60 Micro ED Nikkor
Kenko Tube ext
Tamron 2X converter
SB29s and SB 22 flashes. Vivitar 283 flash
Assorted Tiffen/Cokin/Hoya filters
Sony DSC-S50 (2.1 MP that is working great)

http://www.pbase.com/kafrifelle

NNS said:

However, from everything I've heard, the "fix" or "upgrade" only
takes Nikon a couple of mnutes to do. If that is the case, walk in
traffic should be given the courtesy of having it done in a timely
manner.

Click to expand...

True. But perhaps they had less staff on because of christmas holidays, etc.

NNS said:

I'm going to trash Nikon, I enjoy using my Nikon gear (also enjoy
my Canon gear) but I think in general we should expect better out
of such a large internationl giant camera company.

Click to expand...

I agree. Mostly it is the inavailability of parts for a professional series of cameras (D1) that drives me nuts. I dont know how working professionals can put up with it...

• Andrew

Ok. Now that's two...Singapore AND Montreal will do it while you wait. And I thought American's "invented" "drive thu".

Wanting something done while you wait that takes 5 minutes is not "impatient" particularly when it's a $2,000 + piece of equipment that many earn their income with.

Ken McVay said:

I would not expect to get something of this nature while I waited.
I really do not know of anything else in the world you can get
"while you wait" except for food and a haircut.

People are just way to impatient these days.

--
Ken
http://kenmcvayphoto.clymbers.com

Click to expand...

Clark,

This is largely due to the inefficiency of the facility you visited. It could be a contract facility (ie. not directly managed by Nikon USA) with a sub-standard level of service.

I am from Singapore, and we Nikonians used to face the same problem with the previous distributor (for over 40 years) for Nikon products here. This company is notoriously known for long waits with a less-than-desirable attitude towards customer service. We lost quite a number of Pros to Canon just because of this, can you even perceive that? Geez ...

Than, it happened, a good number of Nikonians petitioned against this sub-standard company, and thanks to this action, Nikon Japan decided that a properly managed Nikon facility is in order. What we get now is a level of service that is IMHO, a shining example for all customer related businesses.

My D100 firmware upgrade took me a little more than 10mins, this is complete with free CCD cleaning and a basic system (cam) check. We even have a cosy studio-like room for us to relax in while we wait. Now, from what I heard, the Singapore arm for Nikon is coming up with even more plans to boost the already stellar level of Customer Service, this includes a free while under warranty service loan plan if your Nikon system needs a > 24 hrs repair, special services for Pros under a membership system, etc.

I am sure Nikon USA can provide the same level of service too. All it takes is some constructive suggestions to them by their customers. Perhaps heavy-weights like our own Phil and Thom Hogan can take the lead?

Just my 2 cents.

Clark Hampton said:

I was in LA today. I live nearby and had to drive in for a
meeting. It was about 7 miles from The Nikon Torrance repair
center.

I went in and there was one person putting their D1x in for the
firmware upgrade.

I said I wanted the D100 firmware upgrade. She (the repair clerk)
started to fill out a work order and I asked, "will this take more
than an hour?" She said, "no, 3 to 5 working days". I didn't feel
like begging, figuring I wouldn't get anywhere, but am really
disappointed that they can't do a 5 minute upgrade while a "walk
in" waits. I told her I can't leave the camera for that long
because I need it for a shoot this Friday.

Sorry to bring up a sore subject from the past but it will rear
it's ugly head again when the next upgrade comes out.

I asked the women getting the D1x upgrade if she was also having
her buffer upgraded. She had forgotten about that option and
turned to the same Nikon clerk and said, go ahead and add that to
my firmware upgrade order. The clerk replied, "Oh, that will take
much longer since we need to order the chip for the upgrade".
What? one of two nikon service centers has no buffer upgrades for
the D1x? The woman said she could not wait any longer than the
week for the firmware upgrade since she had a shoot.

Considering how many pros use Nikon digital I can't imagine the
volumen of "down time" that must exist with this stupid method for
upgrades.

I hear in Singapore they do the upgrade while you wait. WHy not in
the US?

thanks

Version 1.01 and holding.

Click to expand...

Clark,

I live in Vancouver Canada I brought two D100s in to the local Nikon Service folks - went for a lunch (Burger King) and picked-up the D100s in within an hour. It is likely the folks in Torrance are busy and could not accommodate a faster turn around. I understand that the upgrade is a BIT more complex in that it must be done absolutely right....and can fail during the data upload to the camera - so Nikon is being rightfully so careful.
Terry

Clark Hampton said:

I was in LA today. I live nearby and had to drive in for a
meeting. It was about 7 miles from The Nikon Torrance repair
center.

I went in and there was one person putting their D1x in for the
firmware upgrade.

I said I wanted the D100 firmware upgrade. She (the repair clerk)
started to fill out a work order and I asked, "will this take more
than an hour?" She said, "no, 3 to 5 working days". I didn't feel
like begging, figuring I wouldn't get anywhere, but am really
disappointed that they can't do a 5 minute upgrade while a "walk
in" waits. I told her I can't leave the camera for that long
because I need it for a shoot this Friday.

Sorry to bring up a sore subject from the past but it will rear
it's ugly head again when the next upgrade comes out.

I asked the women getting the D1x upgrade if she was also having
her buffer upgraded. She had forgotten about that option and
turned to the same Nikon clerk and said, go ahead and add that to
my firmware upgrade order. The clerk replied, "Oh, that will take
much longer since we need to order the chip for the upgrade".
What? one of two nikon service centers has no buffer upgrades for
the D1x? The woman said she could not wait any longer than the
week for the firmware upgrade since she had a shoot.

Considering how many pros use Nikon digital I can't imagine the
volumen of "down time" that must exist with this stupid method for
upgrades.

I hear in Singapore they do the upgrade while you wait. WHy not in
the US?

thanks

Version 1.01 and holding.

Click to expand...

i suspect that their greatest fear is success. If word got out of while-you-wait repairs and upgrades then they would have to be prepared for a large number of visitors. When version 2.1 comes out everyone in LA would be heading to their place the next day.

They're probably setup for having N workers fixing M cameras a day. If they accept walkins then those walkins will be getting in line ahead of those who mailed in their cameras, which would make their turnaround time seem very poor to everyone not in LA.

That being said I wish they would change their business model a bit and hire extra people just to handle walkins as their first priority, and then make a reservation system so only a certain number walkin on a given day.

To the person who said, Nikon is not Burger King, I say, it should be. Or maybe it could be like other companies that offer firmware upgrades and make it user installable. This is not too much to ask, computer companies, hardware manufactures and other camera manufactures do it. Why can't Nikon? Because they 1. Either don't care about customer service, or 2. They shipped the D100 out the door without thinking or with problems that cannot be fix with just a down load. Personally I think it is both and I agree with the poster. I wish I would have purchased the Canon. I didn't because it had a Raw/jpeg thumbnail issue (a feature Nikon D100 does not even have) but low and behold, Canon has a fix and guess what? You can download it from the web and install it yourself instead of being without your camera for a week. That is customer service. Nikon service sucks all the way around and please do not try to tell me Canon is worse. They have people on forums (rob galbraith) that help answer questions who work for Canon, wow, what a concept. I seriously reget my decision on the D100 ontop of that all the images are slightly underexposed or at the least require a large amount of post processing time. I cannot justify taking the hit to sell my d100 and the lenses and go Canon. Until Nikon gets it's act together and fixes it's problems I will just be Nikon whiner. Nothing sucks more than buying an inferior product that includes inferior service and seeing another companys product and service blow the socks off the product you just purchased.

Other than that I am pretty happy with my D100.

Clark Hampton said:

I was in LA today. I live nearby and had to drive in for a
meeting. It was about 7 miles from The Nikon Torrance repair
center.

I went in and there was one person putting their D1x in for the
firmware upgrade.

I said I wanted the D100 firmware upgrade. She (the repair clerk)
started to fill out a work order and I asked, "will this take more
than an hour?" She said, "no, 3 to 5 working days". I didn't feel
like begging, figuring I wouldn't get anywhere, but am really
disappointed that they can't do a 5 minute upgrade while a "walk
in" waits. I told her I can't leave the camera for that long
because I need it for a shoot this Friday.

Sorry to bring up a sore subject from the past but it will rear
it's ugly head again when the next upgrade comes out.

I asked the women getting the D1x upgrade if she was also having
her buffer upgraded. She had forgotten about that option and
turned to the same Nikon clerk and said, go ahead and add that to
my firmware upgrade order. The clerk replied, "Oh, that will take
much longer since we need to order the chip for the upgrade".
What? one of two nikon service centers has no buffer upgrades for
the D1x? The woman said she could not wait any longer than the
week for the firmware upgrade since she had a shoot.

Considering how many pros use Nikon digital I can't imagine the
volumen of "down time" that must exist with this stupid method for
upgrades.

I hear in Singapore they do the upgrade while you wait. WHy not in
the US?

thanks

Version 1.01 and holding.

Click to expand...

Clark,

This is largely due to the inefficiency of the facility you visited. It could be a contract facility (ie. not directly managed by Nikon USA) with a sub-standard level of service.

I am from Singapore, and we Nikonians used to face the same problem with the previous distributor (for over 40 years) for Nikon products here. This company is notoriously known for long waits with a less-than-desirable attitude towards customer service. We lost quite a number of Pros to Canon just because of this, can you even perceive that? Geez ...

Than, it happened, a good number of Nikonians petitioned against this sub-standard company, and thanks to this action, Nikon Japan decided that a properly managed Nikon facility is in order. What we get now is a level of service that is IMHO, a shining example for all customer related businesses.

My D100 firmware upgrade took me a little more than 10mins, this is complete with free CCD cleaning and a basic system (cam) check. We even have a cosy studio-like room for us to relax in while we wait. Now, from what I heard, the Singapore arm for Nikon is coming up with even more plans to boost the already stellar level of Customer Service, this includes a free while under warranty service loan plan if your Nikon system needs a > 24 hrs repair, special services for Pros under a membership system, etc.

I am sure Nikon USA can provide the same level of service too. All it takes is some constructive suggestions to them by their customers. Perhaps heavy-weights like our own Phil and Thom Hogan can take the lead?

Just my 2 cents.

Clark Hampton said:

I was in LA today. I live nearby and had to drive in for a
meeting. It was about 7 miles from The Nikon Torrance repair
center.

I went in and there was one person putting their D1x in for the
firmware upgrade.

I said I wanted the D100 firmware upgrade. She (the repair clerk)
started to fill out a work order and I asked, "will this take more
than an hour?" She said, "no, 3 to 5 working days". I didn't feel
like begging, figuring I wouldn't get anywhere, but am really
disappointed that they can't do a 5 minute upgrade while a "walk
in" waits. I told her I can't leave the camera for that long
because I need it for a shoot this Friday.

Sorry to bring up a sore subject from the past but it will rear
it's ugly head again when the next upgrade comes out.

I asked the women getting the D1x upgrade if she was also having
her buffer upgraded. She had forgotten about that option and
turned to the same Nikon clerk and said, go ahead and add that to
my firmware upgrade order. The clerk replied, "Oh, that will take
much longer since we need to order the chip for the upgrade".
What? one of two nikon service centers has no buffer upgrades for
the D1x? The woman said she could not wait any longer than the
week for the firmware upgrade since she had a shoot.

Considering how many pros use Nikon digital I can't imagine the
volumen of "down time" that must exist with this stupid method for
upgrades.

I hear in Singapore they do the upgrade while you wait. WHy not in
the US?

thanks

Version 1.01 and holding.

Click to expand...

I definitely agree with the thought that the upgrade process should be user doable. Unless there is something else involved besides just flashing the firmware, should be downloadable and user installable. if i'm not mistaken this is doable with the coolpix seriews..doesn't make sense why it can't be with the D-series. oh well

kevin

Richard said:

Other than that I am pretty happy with my D100.

Clark Hampton said:

I was in LA today. I live nearby and had to drive in for a
meeting. It was about 7 miles from The Nikon Torrance repair
center.

I went in and there was one person putting their D1x in for the
firmware upgrade.

I said I wanted the D100 firmware upgrade. She (the repair clerk)
started to fill out a work order and I asked, "will this take more
than an hour?" She said, "no, 3 to 5 working days". I didn't feel
like begging, figuring I wouldn't get anywhere, but am really
disappointed that they can't do a 5 minute upgrade while a "walk
in" waits. I told her I can't leave the camera for that long
because I need it for a shoot this Friday.

Sorry to bring up a sore subject from the past but it will rear
it's ugly head again when the next upgrade comes out.

I asked the women getting the D1x upgrade if she was also having
her buffer upgraded. She had forgotten about that option and
turned to the same Nikon clerk and said, go ahead and add that to
my firmware upgrade order. The clerk replied, "Oh, that will take
much longer since we need to order the chip for the upgrade".
What? one of two nikon service centers has no buffer upgrades for
the D1x? The woman said she could not wait any longer than the
week for the firmware upgrade since she had a shoot.

Considering how many pros use Nikon digital I can't imagine the
volumen of "down time" that must exist with this stupid method for
upgrades.

I hear in Singapore they do the upgrade while you wait. WHy not in
the US?

thanks

Version 1.01 and holding.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more about the do it yourself approach to upgrading the firmware. The same risks are associated with any firmware upgrade regardless of the product, and they should always be done while taking the risks into consideration. That being said, the majority of all computer products allow the consumer to do their own firmware upgrades, so why not Nikon cameras. Apparently Canon allows you to, so I don't understand why Nikon has such a problem letting us do the same. Upgrading firmware on any device is typically a safe procedure as long as the flash utility is written well. Most flashes will only fail if the user does something to not allow the flash to complete, such as turning off the camera or device.

As for the service issues, I worked for a store that offered computer upgrades and repairs to customers. We would almost always do certain upgrades while you wait, such as memory upgrades. Memory upgrades typically just take a few minutes, so we were willing to squeeze their upgrade in with our regular workload. Having worked in a similar environment, I don't see why Nikon US can't do the same with firmware updates. This should be irrelevant though, since they should just let us do it ourselves.

Richard said:

Other than that I am pretty happy with my D100.

Clark Hampton said:

I was in LA today. I live nearby and had to drive in for a
meeting. It was about 7 miles from The Nikon Torrance repair
center.

I went in and there was one person putting their D1x in for the
firmware upgrade.

I said I wanted the D100 firmware upgrade. She (the repair clerk)
started to fill out a work order and I asked, "will this take more
than an hour?" She said, "no, 3 to 5 working days". I didn't feel
like begging, figuring I wouldn't get anywhere, but am really
disappointed that they can't do a 5 minute upgrade while a "walk
in" waits. I told her I can't leave the camera for that long
because I need it for a shoot this Friday.

Sorry to bring up a sore subject from the past but it will rear
it's ugly head again when the next upgrade comes out.

I asked the women getting the D1x upgrade if she was also having
her buffer upgraded. She had forgotten about that option and
turned to the same Nikon clerk and said, go ahead and add that to
my firmware upgrade order. The clerk replied, "Oh, that will take
much longer since we need to order the chip for the upgrade".
What? one of two nikon service centers has no buffer upgrades for
the D1x? The woman said she could not wait any longer than the
week for the firmware upgrade since she had a shoot.

Considering how many pros use Nikon digital I can't imagine the
volumen of "down time" that must exist with this stupid method for
upgrades.

I hear in Singapore they do the upgrade while you wait. WHy not in
the US?

thanks

Version 1.01 and holding.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

The biggest reason for my frustration is the D100 is such a great camera that I have come to rely on it for much of my commercial work. I can't be without it for a week as much of my work comes at a moment's notice.

I wrote Nikon telling them that they must think of a better way with their digital cameras. firmware is a fact of life with digital and always requires upgrades and fixes soooo an upgrade or fix should NOT be a service call.

I would imagine (hoping) that Nikon is listening and watching other camera makers. For god's sake, you can upgrade their consumer models over the net.

Give me a warning like motherboard BIOS upgrades do but at least give me the option.

If it's inherent in their design and they are worried about me messing up the camera, I suggest a few Nikon engineers go next door to Canon and ask them how they do it.

Richard said:

Other than that I am pretty happy with my D100.

Clark Hampton said:

I was in LA today. I live nearby and had to drive in for a
meeting. It was about 7 miles from The Nikon Torrance repair
center.

I went in and there was one person putting their D1x in for the
firmware upgrade.

I said I wanted the D100 firmware upgrade. She (the repair clerk)
started to fill out a work order and I asked, "will this take more
than an hour?" She said, "no, 3 to 5 working days". I didn't feel
like begging, figuring I wouldn't get anywhere, but am really
disappointed that they can't do a 5 minute upgrade while a "walk
in" waits. I told her I can't leave the camera for that long
because I need it for a shoot this Friday.

Sorry to bring up a sore subject from the past but it will rear
it's ugly head again when the next upgrade comes out.

I asked the women getting the D1x upgrade if she was also having
her buffer upgraded. She had forgotten about that option and
turned to the same Nikon clerk and said, go ahead and add that to
my firmware upgrade order. The clerk replied, "Oh, that will take
much longer since we need to order the chip for the upgrade".
What? one of two nikon service centers has no buffer upgrades for
the D1x? The woman said she could not wait any longer than the
week for the firmware upgrade since she had a shoot.

Considering how many pros use Nikon digital I can't imagine the
volumen of "down time" that must exist with this stupid method for
upgrades.

I hear in Singapore they do the upgrade while you wait. WHy not in
the US?

thanks

Version 1.01 and holding.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

hi!

how about 5 weeks (!), not days in central Europe???

fimware upgrade and CCD-cleaning, from the day I sent in
until coming back...of course with priority mail...
(just takes up to 2 days!)



THATS nikon´ service!

regards,

--
Michael S.
Austria/EUROPE
http://www.pbase.com/bountyhunter

D-100 fw 2.0, 18-35 nikkor, 24-85 2,8-4,0 D nikkor,
80-200 2,8 AFS nikkor,
MB-100, SB-80DX, Image-Tank 20GB
still Olympus E-100rs, Olympus C-50z

Drop photography. Get involved in painting ;-)
Some people are just way patient these days. LOL

Ken McVay said:

I would not expect to get something of this nature while I waited.
I really do not know of anything else in the world you can get
"while you wait" except for food and a haircut.

People are just way to impatient these days.

--
Ken
http://kenmcvayphoto.clymbers.com

Click to expand...

--
regards,
AdWiser

Hi Michael

I'm still waiting for Nikon Nugary to let me know when will they able to do hotpixelmapping so I walk in and hopefully have the firmware upgrade as well.

I expect nothing less than a walk in. They cleaned the CCD in a couple of minutes almost for free (2 USD).

regards
AdWiser

Michael S. said:

hi!

how about 5 weeks (!), not days in central Europe???

fimware upgrade and CCD-cleaning, from the day I sent in
until coming back...of course with priority mail...
(just takes up to 2 days!)



THATS nikon´ service!

regards,

--
Michael S.
Austria/EUROPE
http://www.pbase.com/bountyhunter

D-100 fw 2.0, 18-35 nikkor, 24-85 2,8-4,0 D nikkor,
80-200 2,8 AFS nikkor,
MB-100, SB-80DX, Image-Tank 20GB
still Olympus E-100rs, Olympus C-50z

Click to expand...

fge ..swdf

Firmware upgrade took less than 10 minutes in the Netherlands, for two D100s... Didn't even have enough time to drink my coffee ;-)

Bram

AdWiser said:

regards
AdWiser

Michael S. said:

hi!

how about 5 weeks (!), not days in central Europe???

fimware upgrade and CCD-cleaning, from the day I sent in
until coming back...of course with priority mail...
(just takes up to 2 days!)



THATS nikon´ service!

regards,

--
Michael S.
Austria/EUROPE
http://www.pbase.com/bountyhunter

D-100 fw 2.0, 18-35 nikkor, 24-85 2,8-4,0 D nikkor,
80-200 2,8 AFS nikkor,
MB-100, SB-80DX, Image-Tank 20GB
still Olympus E-100rs, Olympus C-50z

Click to expand...

Click to expand...