Unpleasant experiences of buying a used D700


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h2chng

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Hi all

This is an account how I got to buy a faulty d700 from a seller (id: Lostlost) on clubsnap.

On Saturday, I saw an ad for sale for a d700 from a seller that claims to be Lois(id: Lostlost). When I called, the cam was still available. So we arranged to meet up on Sunday afternoon at Chinatown MRT station. The meeting went fine, I check it and everything seemed to be as stated. I paid him the exact sum and we parted in our ways.

On the same night, I tried to download the ‘pics’ file from the D700 (to double check on the shutter count) using the USB port. However, it did not seem to work. I tried with two other cables and ports on my computer, but it still did not work. Finally, I took my backup d90 out and tested the cables. It worked well on the d90. I then realised that I had been given a lemon. As it was already late, I did not call or sms the seller.

The next day morning (Monday), I called Lois up to inform him that the usb port on the d700 was not working. He claims that he did not know that it is faulty and point towards a possibility that I could have short circuited the usb port. I explained to him how I tested it. But he insisted that d700 was working perfectly fine the last time he did some downloading. I told him I want a refund, but he suggested to bring the cam down to Nikon service centre for an actual valuation, and see if the service center can help to determine how the port was no working. He was elusive. So I went down to the service centre, and got an affirmation of what I already knew. The NCS were not able to make any reading through the USB. I texted him about the results and offered him two options. The first option was for him to take the camera back. And the second option was to send the d700 for repair. I will pay for the general servicing and he pay for the PCB that has the USB port attached. Since the general servicing will also clean the sensor, viewfinder etc, I feel it is ok to pay for that part of the cost. But again he start to claims that I cannot be 100% sure that I did not short circuited the d700. I ask him that my computer is still running and the cable is still running my mobile hard disk. No problem with other cams. What more proof does he want?
Then he started texting me that he should have sold the d700 to another chap that offered him a higher price. And how he previously got a d7000 from clubsnap BNS that does not read one of the card at times, but still he did not return it even though he is entitled because he know there is no warranty after the cam is sold. Then he told me that he is busy and will get back to me.

Later in the night, he texted me, telling me that he is very busy so does not have time to send the faulty camera to Nikon service centre. And he said “ If you want you can do it and make money out of it”. I told him I was not at all interested, I just want a refund. He then told me that he was not interested in taking back with a spoiled for no reason usb port cam.

Before ending my communication, I asked if he is from XXXXX Studio by the name of XXXXX. I got that from the d700 comment and copyright info. I texted to him that I am going to write a posting about the events and possibly make a police report. He claims that he is really Lois and XXXXX is a friend of his. The cam is his and he rented it out to XXXXX. And if I ever write a post mentioning his name, he will let his friend know. So that he can take action and make a police report as well.

I did a little search on clubsnap and this is what I found:
Lois (lostlost) shared the same telephone number with another forum member by the ID: Neotang
XXXXX has been deregistered. Last activity: 13th December 2011
Lois was registered on 18th May 2010. Real name: Tad Loh Bong
Google his number, see various posting advertising the above studio. It gives people the impression that Lois actually works for XXXX Studio.
When I went to the XXXXX Studio website, I found out that it is located just in china town (not very far from Nikon Service Center). And they provide studio services for all.
The camera serial number does not match the warrenty card given. (maybe he has more than one set?) (Lois claims that the D700 is a local set, but the box states it is a hong kong set)

For all the excuses and reason and pushing blame from Lois, I feel that I am extremely lucky. For I have only met people like Lois only once for all the purchases I made through clubsnap. I don’t really believe people can go so low. As for the camera, I would sell it off at a loss but with a clear conscience. I will inform the buyer of the true state of the cam.

The reason for me to write this posting is for people to take note of the telephone number below:
81001623

In the future, anyone could google this number and be directed to this page. And I hope it will help them to avoid situation I am in now. Thanks all for reading this posting.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
XXXX sms me to clarify the relation. Lois used to be working with XXXX, but now have found a new job. So the XXXX studio does not have any relation with Lois. I accept the clarification and think it is true unless otherwise.

Also to add, that the golden box is from XXXX which was given to Lois.

XXXX believes that Lois is honest.
 

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Thank you so much for the information. I am sorry that you had suffered for the sake of the community.
 

Another con man seller...... Sigh
 

Thanx bro for the info...really sad to hear of your plight & unfortunate that u had to deal with such "dishonest" people. Be wary next time!
 

Thank you for the heads up.

I avoid this individual as well as his wedding studio. Will advise all my friends to do the same.
 

Thank you for the heads up.

I avoid this individual as well as his wedding studio. Will advise all my friends to do the same.

BTW, you can try to get the USB port fixed. May be an expensive fix, may not be. Just check around other repair options. You can try contacting fatigue in this forum. He does excellent work.
 

dishonest photographer....sigh....

sorry to hear about your bad experience...

did some Googling...found something that might be relevant to you: How I Broke My D700 By Tethering | Terry White's Tech Blog

The blog's author mentioned a $125 (USD) charge if the port is broken, but did not say how much it will cost to replace the whole PCB....

did you check with NSC how much it will cost?

There are some comments on that blog too about the USB port:
Based on my experience with my own D700, I feel fairly certain it wasn’t your fault that your camera’s USB port stopped working. I’ve had to send my D700 in twice already to have this situation repaired. I never once had a problem with my D200. I shoot tethered exclusively in the studio, and I’m *extremely* gentle with my USB port (especially after my first failure). I always secure my cord to my tripod so there is no unnecessary stress on the port. The problem (which Nikon won’t acknowledge) seems to be with poor quality parts somewhere in the mix. I’m no conspiracy theorist, but this is the only serious camera issue I’ve had more than once in my twelve years of shooting.

I experienced this problem myself…my D700 no longer works tethered. However, when I mentioned this to a nikon salesman at a show he said that nikon sell a slot in cover which strengthens the firewire slot so that it wont yank out when pulled.
 

BTW, you can try to get the USB port fixed. May be an expensive fix, may not be. Just check around other repair options. You can try contacting fatigue in this forum. He does excellent work.

Thanks a lot for the lead. Will contact him to see if he could help to fix. Thanks
 

dishonest photographer....sigh....

sorry to hear about your bad experience...

did some Googling...found something that might be relevant to you: How I Broke My D700 By Tethering | Terry White's Tech Blog

The blog's author mentioned a $125 (USD) charge if the port is broken, but did not say how much it will cost to replace the whole PCB....

did you check with NSC how much it will cost?


There are some comments on that blog too about the USB port:


I check with NSC, the pcb with the port is $378 and the general servicing (labor cost) is $160. All before GST. Seems like it is more expensive here in Singapore
 

I just received a sms from Lois. Here is the whole sms:

"Good job on leading the readers by the title that I'm lying on the USB thing. To be honest, the only thing I never tell you is that I got the box from my friend my original Nikon box have been threw away. I want to sell mine as a whole set. I used to work with this friend neotang at his studio and I'm the one doing all the advertising and handle our equipments. When I'm selling this camera at this low price, I think I don't have to lie to those reading my selling post on the USB while I'm telling everyone about the mirror thing. If I want to, I can just avoid everything including the mirror. If you can prove that the USB is spoiled by me of course I'm willing to get it back, but the thing is I can't be sure that it's not spoiled by you."

Benefit of the doubt, maybe Lois and Neotang are two different people. I do not know if there are the same. And it does make sense to ask someone else do the advertising.

And maybe I might have accidentally spoiled the usb port without knowing it. Even thought I think it is not possible.

All I can say is he has not proven that the USB port was working just before he sold me the cam.

I agree the word in the title 'dishonest' is too strong and bias. I was not able to prove that he knew about the faulty usb port when he sold me the cam.

In short, next time we go buy body, bring a laptop to test the usb.
 

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h2chng: I do understand how you felt on this, and I believe every word you said on how you did the testing of the camera. But please do consider how I feel on this issue when you blame everything on me coz there's possibility that your usb port burned the chip on the camera, as I told you once I burned my hard drive's usb port because of the usb port on my desktop.

The last time i used the usb port it works well. It's true I never test it the day before selling it, I just took a few shots to make sure the camera is working fine that's all. But I'm not a service center, It's logical that I didn't test the usb the power port the a/v out port the shutter remote port the flash syncing port coz I knew they never had any problem before.
It's true that next time everyone should test everything especially those functions you'll be using often before purchasing any 2nd hand staff coz they don't have any warranty, to avoid this kind of things happened.

As I said, if you can prove the usb port is spoiled by me, I'm willing to take the camera back and return you the S$1500.00
I'm just someone who love taking photos, please don't call me Dishonest when you're not 100% sure on the truth. Thanks.
 

h2chng: I do understand how you felt on this, and I believe every word you said on how you did the testing of the camera. But please do consider how I feel on this issue when you blame everything on me coz there's possibility that your usb port burned the chip on the camera, as I told you once I burned my hard drive's usb port because of the usb port on my desktop.

The last time i used the usb port it works well. It's true I never test it the day before selling it, I just took a few shots to make sure the camera is working fine that's all. But I'm not a service center, It's logical that I didn't test the usb the power port the a/v out port the shutter remote port the flash syncing port coz I knew they never had any problem before.
It's true that next time everyone should test everything especially those functions you'll be using often before purchasing any 2nd hand staff coz they don't have any warranty, to avoid this kind of things happened.

As I said, if you can prove the usb port is spoiled by me, I'm willing to take the camera back and return you the S$1500.00
I'm just someone who love taking photos, please don't call me Dishonest when you're not 100% sure on the truth. Thanks.

Thanks for your reply. As you said if I can prove the usb port is faulty before the cam was sold, I will be entitled for a refund. But you also know that I did not check the usb when I met you. In that case, there is no way I will be able to prove anything.

Just received another sms.

From XXXXX. Asking me to remove all posting in regards to the studio and him.

If I get a confirmation that they are not related, I shall remove him and the studio.
 

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Yap, I told him about this and passed him your number.
I got the golden box from him.
The reason why I asked you to check with the service center is I want them to find out what happened to the USB port.

FYI, I've check my message inbox, I've rejected 14 offers for the camera because you called me first. 2 of them offered S$1600, 1 of them offered S$1550. If I'm "Dishonest", I can simply sell it to the highest offer.
 

Yap, I told him about this and passed him your number.
I got the golden box from him.
The reason why I asked you to check with the service center is I want them to find out what happened to the USB port.

FYI, I've check my message inbox, I've rejected 14 offers for the camera because you called me first. 2 of them offered S$1600, 1 of them offered S$1550. If I'm "Dishonest", I can simply sell it to the highest offer.

What you mentioned above does not add weight to your argument. Having multiple offers, has no relation to the state of the cam when it was sold.

You can only genuinely say that you do not know that the usb was not working. Once it is sold, it is the new owner liability.

I can only say that the usb was not working when I receive it. And it is possible for me to short the usb on my first try on my computer(Even though I have use the same computer and cable for years on other cams and equipments without problem). As I mentioned in the previous post, I should have check on the spot. But I did not. I think most people will actually check. but not for me. I am just too lazy. So serve me right.

So for fellow friends, please bring a laptop to check any camera body. Wait .... better ask the seller to bring his laptop and demonstrate. You don't need to carry the weight, and best if accidentally short the usb, then it is not your fault.

Thanks all for reading this post.
 

h2chng said:
What you mentioned above does not add weight to your argument. Having multiple offers, has no relation to the state of the cam when it was sold.

Never check properly, any how blame people and make people company look bad, but still wanting to argue instead of apologise. Maybe you are the dishonest buyer and people must be avoiding you instead.
 

Hmmm buyer no check on the spot, not working then blame seller. Buyer blame seller, seller blame buyer. In the end blame did not check on the spot only. 1.7K for D700 quite cheap right?
 

TS, it's will be Yr words against seller. Never ending, if no one wants to own up.

Take it as a lesson learnt, and be more wise next time.

Anyway, if u can ignore the spoilt USB, then it's ok. Why do u want to use the USB port for?

Download pics? Take out the card and slot into reader. It reads faster, anyway.

Wired remote? Use wireless then.

I never even use my camera USB for anything. If u are just a weekend hobbyist, hardly u will use it.

So long as the cam takes pics as supposed to be, it's ok la.

This is one of the reasons why buying from reputable 2nd hand shops is always better.

Want to buy cheap, there's a price to pay.
 

Yes lesson learned. Time to move on. My word against his. His word against my.

No point blaming others, I could have the opportunity to check and I did not. No fault of his. Lesson learned and lets move on.

Thanks all for the response, as the saying goes: No pain no gain. we all learn from mistake.
 

Hmmm buyer no check on the spot, not working then blame seller. Buyer blame seller, seller blame buyer. In the end blame did not check on the spot only. 1.7K for D700 quite cheap right?

I don't really agree though.

Current situation now is money is in seller's pocket but faulty item hanging on buyer's neck. There are many things you are unable to reasonably check on the spot. Thats why got lemon law.

Unfortunately this is a second hand item purchase and not from the shop.

However fortunately for the TS (out of the unfortunate), the repair fee of $575 est plus the cost fee of the D700 $1700 puts the total cost at $2275, which is still a common price for second hand D700 on BnS. What TS suffered is the unpleasant experience.

If do send for repair, might as well change the rubbers and do a general servicing.
 

I sold this camera to h2chng at S$1500.00 ONLY because sometimes the mirror on the camera won't come down need to off and on the camera again, and I put "6" for the condition because the rubber came off on some part. it was all stated on my original selling post.

If I'm the one spoiled the usb port, I don't really mind add one more line "spoiled usb port" and I'm sure S$1500 will still be a reasonable price.

If I'm as "dishonest" as how h2chng describes me on the post title, I can just skip the mirror problem and sell it at S$2200, S$700 higher than the price I own from this camera.

Calling me dishonest when I'm being honest on the condition of the camera from the beginning is such a rude insult.

A very well lesson learnt, next buy/selling 2nd hand staff, need to test everything on the spot to save this kind of unnecessary trouble.
 

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