Godfrey
Well-known member
Just off the phone with my local camera technician, Fred Mueller. He's working on my Balda Baldix 6x6 folder ... Fred's one of the last techs I'd send a nice old classic folder like that to, around here anyway. He'll have it lubricated, adjusted, and working like new in a week for $150: a bargain.
Anyway, we got to talking as usual. Seems that Nikon now requires that service people who want to stay authorized to buy parts from them now have to invest $66,000 in new calibration machinery, AND have a dedicated employee available at all times for Nikon work, AND send that employee for training on a regular six month basis, AND they're reimbursing service shops about 15% on the dollar for warranty related work. Without that commitment, they won't even renew Fred's ability to buy parts.
To me, that's a heck of a kick in the butt for someone like Fred. He's a small, two man outfit with a solid 50 year track record of good service. He knows his shop's limitations and supports customers needing work that he can't handle by contracting with other, larger service providers that he trusts, and he personally inspects and guarantees that work done that way is up to par. Requirements like that are way out of line for the service he provides. To cut off his access to parts for service work on equipment that he can handle ... That's just wrong.
Another blow to the little guy in the camera business, I guess. Does anyone care anymore?
Anyway, we got to talking as usual. Seems that Nikon now requires that service people who want to stay authorized to buy parts from them now have to invest $66,000 in new calibration machinery, AND have a dedicated employee available at all times for Nikon work, AND send that employee for training on a regular six month basis, AND they're reimbursing service shops about 15% on the dollar for warranty related work. Without that commitment, they won't even renew Fred's ability to buy parts.
To me, that's a heck of a kick in the butt for someone like Fred. He's a small, two man outfit with a solid 50 year track record of good service. He knows his shop's limitations and supports customers needing work that he can't handle by contracting with other, larger service providers that he trusts, and he personally inspects and guarantees that work done that way is up to par. Requirements like that are way out of line for the service he provides. To cut off his access to parts for service work on equipment that he can handle ... That's just wrong.
Another blow to the little guy in the camera business, I guess. Does anyone care anymore?