Extended Warranty w/ Accident Protection

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Nathan Lanni

Senior Member
Anybody got a tip on a good dslr camera extended warranty policy w/ accident replacement?

I've had my camera, which I bought new, for a little over a month. The setup w/ my 18-200mm f/3.5 zoom worked great this morning, but when I switched to my 35mm f2d, I got a "EFF" message. This lens has been great on my camera before, but I've had the message when I failed to lock the aperture ring. In this case it was locked just fine. I went to my local retail outlet and put the lens on a d7000 body and it worked flawlessly. My 18-200mm f/3.5 zoom works great so I'll be having someone look at my d7100.

I did a search for local Nikon authorized repair centers and a link turn up that Nikon is pushing out the locals in favor of their own regional centers.

How Nikon is Killing Camera Repair | iFixit

The Nikon site has a little applet they use rather show a list, so that's a pain.

Please give me the run down on extended warranty policies and how they work.
 
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carguy

Senior Member
If I read your post right, you are having an issue with your D7100 body verified by testing your 35mm lens on another body and it worked fine. Is your camera currently covered by a warranty?
 
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Nathan Lanni

Senior Member
Yes

No doubt I'll be sending it to Nikon for warranty inspection.

My concern is this:

My past experience with companies like Nikon that have big warranty machinery (figurative) is they can be very picky and at times less than helpful. I imagined these cameras to be fairly robust, and to save money I decided to forgo the extended warranty/accident replacement policy at time of purchase. I'm concerned this thing could get very costly and want coverage.
 
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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
I recently updated my home owners policy to cover my cameras, guns and my wife's very expensive diamond ring under a rider. It covers thief, damage and loss. There is no deductible on this section of the coverage. I was really surprised at the cost. If was only about $10 or $12 a month added to my homeowners policy. Anyone who owns a home should look into this. Most of it is not currently covered under your policy especially if it is not in your home at the time of loss.
 
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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
teagueAMX said:
Thanks Don.

That's good info - my home owners policy cross my mind, so I'm look into it.
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It won't cover it like a Warranty but I recently dropped a D3100 and it was damaged beyond repair. I also tend to go into places where I could fall and damage myself and my camera pretty easily. The camera portion of the coverage was only 3 or 4 bucks a month.
 
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Nathan Lanni

Senior Member
Tracsoft - Don Kuykendall said:
It won't cover it like a Warranty but I recently dropped a D3100 and it was damaged beyond repair. I also tend to go into places where I could fall and damage myself and my camera pretty easily. The camera portion of the coverage was only 3 or 4 bucks a month.
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I'm worried about dropping it or bumping it.

I have a nice LowPro bag that I use to take my setup everywhere - just toss on the seat next to me. Wasn't abusive but not gentile either. I always travel with a lens on the camera, so now I'm wondering...
 
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Rick M

Senior Member
I'm going with the homeowners policy also. Mine will cover accidental loss like dropping in a river or theft obviously. Some extended warranties don't even cover things like drops, more likely than equipment failure, but the HO policy will. I think most electronic devices will fail within the one year warranty if they are going to. I would never buy an extended warranty on anything (unless I could have gotten one on my wife, the parts that do housekeeping have failed and she is past the return window).
 
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Nathan Lanni

Senior Member
Rick M said:
I'm going with the homeowners policy also. Mine will cover accidental loss like dropping in a river or theft obviously. Some extended warranties don't even cover things like drops, more likely than equipment failure, but the HO policy will. I think most electronic devices will fail within the one year warranty if they are going to. I would never buy an extended warranty on anything (unless I could have gotten one on my wife, the parts that do housekeeping have failed and she is past the return window).
Click to expand...

ROFLOL - so true! It must be a union thing. :)

Yeah, the extended policy at POS was a little over 1/5th total retail cost. I figured for that price I'd take my chances, and as noted I made a false assumption about the unit's durability.

Mind you I have not been exactly white glove gentile but didn't expect it to be fragile, either. I've seen photos of people tromping around out-of-doors with them hanging off a tripod - maybe they buy a lot of replacements.

Oh well live and learn. :(

Cheers
 
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Rick M

Senior Member
Many extended warranties don't even start until the original stops (after a year). Unless it was a warranty where you can walk into a retail outlet and get an immediate replacement, they are as much of a hassle as the original Manufactures warranty anyway.
 
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Nathan Lanni

Senior Member
@ Rick, that's what turned me off with my retail store. I dealt with their process before.

Talking with a couple of the Customer Service people today and they mentioned as an option I could send it to their repair center. I asked what do they do with it - it's one thing to trouble shoot a computer monitor or TV, but a dslr is another thing. They said they have a Nikon rep on site. Thanks - goodby - have a nice day.

I know a lot of people like B&H, and others, but I'm on the West Coast and really didn't want to deal with shipping it all over.

Monday AM I'll be calling my insur carrier.

Thanks Don and Rick. Really appreciate the advice.

Cheers.
 
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carguy

Senior Member
Agreed that extended warranties are a poor chioce financially speaking. I would not expect any warranty to cover damage due to dropping.

Tap'n on the Galaxy S3
 
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Rick M

Senior Member
Update- I just set up my insurance coverage. Registered all my gear and the cost is only 7.50 per month on my homeowners. Covers theft and damage of any kind, even if I drop it. Replacement cost and no deductible, small price for piece of mind!
 
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