Back to the factory it goes ...

I have had my D3200 since May. The auto focus component of the camera is flat-out not working. It worked fine for the first month or two, then the auto focus began working intermittently. Now it's not working at all. The really sad thing is I went to Alaska on vacation and took about a 100 shots of whales only to find they were blurry and the auto-focus wasn't working. I'll never get those shots back. The rest of my vacation I shot everything on manual.

So I'm packing it up and sending it in to Nikon for repair. Has anyone else had this problem? Just wondering if this is going to be a common problem with the D3200s.

I have not heard of it before, but not many D3200 users on here yet. Hope you get it back soon!

Wow sorry to hear about that. That sucks big time. Please keep us posted.

Hope you have better luck than I am having with Nikon factory support.

Welcome, Jill. Hope you get your camera fixed real soon. I haven't heard of any others with this problem, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened.
Just be insistent with Nikon that they either fix it or replace it. Is there a Lemon Law in your area?

Ugh. It sounds like there may be some horror stories out there about Nikon service. Do they have a reputation for being stingy with their warranty repairs?

Is it the camera or lens...Have you tried cleaning the points between camera & lens, be great if it's something as simple as that..

It's the camera. I tried both my lenses on the body with the same result. Then I took it back to the camera shop where I bought it and the manager declared it a dud. I would have rather been embarrassed by something silly like the wrong setting or something but nooooooo. When we were on vacation my husband kept telling me I just didn't know how to work the camera so I had my nose in the air when I told him, "IT WASN"T ME!!" One little victory in the war of who is right :untroubled:

So the manager declared it a dud. Did he replace it for you right there, or is he sending it in to be repaired?

Nope. I have to make all the contacts with Nikon and send it back to the factory myself.

That doesn't make any sense. Did you buy it at that location? Because if you did, he should honor the exchange for a working camera..I would think being a Nikon/Canon/Leica dealer, they would have contacts and connections to make things happen for their customers.

eurotrash said:

That doesn't make any sense. Did you buy it at that location? Because if you did, he should honor the exchange for a working camera..I would think being a Nikon/Canon/Leica dealer, they would have contacts and connections to make things happen for their customers.

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Exactly! Your camera dealer has the authority AND all the necessary contact details to honor a warranty. I'd be asking him why he couldn't do that for you, and if not........change camera stores! Not very good customer service, if you ask me!

I bought my camera from a national camera store that was a few miles from my house (only place in town). One week after I bought my camera they closed. So now I drive 40 miles into Austin to the remaining store that is obviously struggling to stay open. The manager told me that they don't do any service there. When I got home I went on Nikon's website & used their search tool to find other options. I got a message that for now, D3200s are only serviced at their Nikon service center in California.

I dont know how US consumer law works, but here, your contract is with the shop. If he's declared it to be a dud, then HE should replace it, or HE sends it back. Its not your job to do all the donkey work.

Once you get it sorted, ( hopefully ) take your custom elsewhere, as it appears that the shop is not fulfilling its legal requirement

I don't know the consumer rules in Texas, but in UK if you buy it from a shop then your contract is with the shop. So its upto them to either replace it or repair it. But as its less than 6 months old I'd have agued its unfit for purpose and comes under the 12 month warranty so want a new one

Expect the factory to possibly refer you back to the shop where you bought it from, their contract is with the shop as well and should be aware of shop returns

If you get no joy, if there is a local legal advice regarding consumer laws I'd have a talk to them and see what they suggest. A legal letter usually gets things moving where shops are dragging their feet. A bit of bad press may persuade them to see their error

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda. The shop said they didn't have any more D3200s and didn't know when they would get more. Who knows if that was true or not. To be honest, once I read on the Nikon website that all warranty repairs for the D3200 had to be done at the Nikon facility versus locally, I didn't trust the dealer to pack up my camera & get it shipped out in a reasonable amount of time. I envisioned them letting it languish in their store until they got around to it. So I packed it up and shipped it myself that day. it was worth the $20 to make sure it got done quickly.

Just for grins I checked out the lemon laws in my state and it only covers cars and large appliances. Small claims court would have been my only option. Right now my camera is being assessed by Nikon for repair or replacement. I'm hoping for the best...


And yes, I'm going to take my business elsewhere.

I had an issue with the auto focus, but mine never worked. The day I received the d3200 was my son's baseball game and I took it there to try it out. But no auto focus, then it got dark. BUT THEN later that night I realised the nikon zoom lens I was using was not a "AF-S". Never noticed that it needed that. So in my case the camera was fine and is working well. I never had any warranty issues with Nikon in the past 25 years but hope you get your camera back soon.