Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Last Update: February 25, 2012 - Five months and counting. Three times to the shop. Same issue. I upgraded from a D3000 to a D7000 this year. The capabilities of the camera had sold me and I wasn't quite ready to jump into full frame. But after taking several pictures, I realized that the pictures were soft. So I went looking online and found plenty of posts about backfocus issues with the D7000. I broke out my D3000 and put it on a tripod in my kitchen and took one of my kids homework papers and stuck it on a cabinet. I took pictures, put them up in lightroom and blew them up by the same factor. Sure enough, My D3000 at 10MP had a sharper image than my D7000 at 16MP Checked all of the settings twice. I created a ticket with Nikon and uploaded some images. They didn't look at them and I had no response for days. I finally called and asked for them to look at it. They said they would look at them within 48 hours of sending the pics. I responded they had been up there for several days. I was then put on hold and the person came back and said it would be 24 hours. Fine. 2 days later, no call, no email. I call back, I get apologies about them being busy. The person looks at the pictures and asks for me to send more. 3 more days, no response. I finally get frustrated and take a comparison shot between two cameras to make it clear what the difference is. I upload that. Still no response. I finally call back and am told that they are not sure what the issue is but I can send in the camera if I want to. (Really?) So I send in the camera. I forget to include the receipt so I call up and ask how I can add the receipt. This person is helpful and courteous and gives me the info. I upload the receipt and wait. 8 days later, no response. Nothing. Bupkis. I call and ask if they have the camera. Why yes they do, and it will be $169 for the repair... No explanation of what is wrong, no question of when I bought it. I said "Wait, the camera is under warranty." This person responds, "well there is no receipt on the ticket". I asked, "did you look at the ticket?" There is a pause, and then she says, "These are all pictures" (Obviously Nikon hires rocket scientists) My response, "take a look at the second to the last file that says D7000.pdf". Her response, "We will need to certify that the repair is under warranty". So now it is the day before Thanksgiving, at least I have my D3000 but the fact that Nikon has this kind of quality control issue, and then follows up with a crap customer service experience that can only be eclipsed by Hewlett Packard is just unbelievable. So if you do buy this camera, take some pictures, look at the detail. If the edges look soft and fuzzy, take it back before your time runs out for a refund like mine did. Update Nov 25:This is service? Remember where the lady above said that they were going to need to certify that the repair is under warranty? Well I called today to get an idea of when the camera would come back. She didn't update the ticket. The guy asked me for proof of purchase. *sigh* I asked for a supervisor and made it clear that this kind of customer service was unacceptable. We'll see what happens. At least I know what the repair is, it seems there is something wrong with the focusing motor and they have replaced it. Update Jan 1:Camera back, still soft pictures. So I get back from my international travel on Dec 16 and finally get to test out the camera. Result? Same issue is happening sporadically. I can get it to reliably focus manually and take good pictures so it's not mechanical. It could be variability in the motor or a sensor issue or even software. It's difficult to replicate twice in a row. But take a critical shot like my father in law heading back to LA after Christmas vacation and the whole shot is out of focus. The focal point is right, the lighting is fine, no good reason for it. Tomorrow I raise another call. I hope that I can simply get it exchanged, even for a rebuilt model. Update Jan 5:Going around in circles Raised another call. Agent asks me what the aperture and speed settings are at. We discuss camera settings for a bit. Do a reset. I take more pictures. Same issue. He asks me to do an upload. The ticket isn't enabled so I figured he would just open it up later so I can upload images Update Jan 8:Waiting on the service desk Call is still not opened up so I can update images. I call in today and the agent is sending me shipping labels so I can send in the camera *again*. I am going to call Visa and see if they can get the camera replaced. Update Jan 9:Still not working Visa only comes into the picture once the 1-year warranty ends. I haven't received the shipping labels yet, so I decided to methodically test the focusing issues. I set up a tripod and various items in front of the camera with writing on them to see how it picked something to focus on and if the focal points matched up with the picture. Very often, where the camera says it's focusing isn't what it takes a picture of. I used the 39 point and 11 point AF settings as well as varying steps of AF-A AF-S and AF-C. Out of 20 pictures I had 1 that actually focused properly on the Sonicare toothbrush. The rest either focused on the wrong thing or focused on the toothbrush but something else was in focus. There is something in the logic of the camera that isn't right and replacing the motor won't fix it. Update Jan 18: Sent the camera back So sent in the Camera again. Filled out the survey and linked this review. Hopefully they figure out that it isn't the motor. Update Jan 23: No way to get in touch with Nikon outside of the 'service' desk. Called the service desk to check up on my camera status. I asked what were the escalation options past talking to the service desk. I didn't get a helpful answer but that's what you would expect from the front line. So I get moved up to a fairly obnoxious supervisor. So I find out that there is no other escalation number. No contact information. Nothing. Short of sending a letter to the corporate address, which will probably get me nothing, there is nothing else I can do but stay on the merry-go-round. Update Feb 9: Camera is back in the shop Uploaded more pictures and sent the body back in again. I did find a way to escalate within the service department outside of the number and I am crossing my fingers that it actually gets fixed this time. I took a picture of my son and just like the rest, his face is out of focus but the threads on his T-shirt are crystal clear. It's unbelievable that they have sent this back to me twice now. Update Feb 25: Was out of town for a couple of weeks and now I have the camera back in hand. First few test shots, the issue is still there. The setting now is on single point (as agreed with the tech) and still the same thing. I have been able to get to Nikon corporate but I am not sure what else to do or can do at this point. I may actually go down to Best Buy and buy a new one to do a side by side comparison and then return that one just to clearly demonstrate the issue.