filmscanners: NikonUSA warranty service

[Hersch Nitikman <hersch@silcom.com>]

After all the complaints about Nikon service, I thought I should add a note 
on the other side. For the past several months, the LS-30 I bought last 
July 6 had a maddening intermittent set of failure modes, including severe 
banding, and severe gamut compression. I kept waiting for it to fail 
permanently, to assure proper diagnosis. The last thing I wanted was to 
send it in and have it come back unrepaired because it worked fine on the 
bench. Sometimes it was out of action for up to 3 days. Then it would come 
back perfect! Finally, with the warranty period almost up, I sent it in to 
the NikonUSA repair service, accompanied by a page of pix from a set of 
identical negatives, perfectly scanned, and with blatant failure modes, 
side by side. That had to have helped.

Anyway, it went UPS Ground on June 4, and was received today, 3 weeks 
later, repaired, and apparently working very well. The invoice listed a 
replaced main pcb, (obviously the main culprit) adjusted focus tracking, 
general check and clean.
I had spoken with the Tech Support personnel on their 800 number, a couple 
of times before sending it in, always polite and helpful, after only a 
brief period on hold. When I asked the Tech what would happen when the 
1-year warranty ran out, if the repair was unsatisfactory, he replied that 
the repair is warranted for 90 days. That should be plenty to determine if 
the repair is for real.
I would say that I could not have asked for better treatment.
I can only hope that the new pcb is better than the original one. Right 
now, I'm ready to get back to work on my archiving.
Hersch