William Sommerwerck wrote:
On Sun, 14 Oct 2007 23:31:03 -0700, Jeanette Guire wrote:

For the record, I had called Nikon Service Relations at 800-645-6678
and they basically said that many people have the problem with the
Nikon Coolpix series battery latch door breaking and that it wasn't
something they cared about.

This is perhaps a good reason for not owning a Nikon camera. Canon seems to
have a better attitude -- at least about their SLRs. (You can reach Customer
Service on Saturdays. Even early in the evening.)

There are a couple of advantages to Canon. First, their designs seem to
be more rugged, even the plastic ones. This is because Canon is more of
an engineering company than a marketing company.

Second, Nikon U.S.A. is really strict about not honoring the warranty on
Nikon products purchased outside the U.S.A., while Canon doesn't make a
big deal about it. Nikon U.S.A. won't even fix products purchased
outside the country when the owner is willing to pay for the repair.
It's their way of fighting gray-market goods, but it does cause problems
for owners that have bought Nikon products outside the U.S..

It's worth noting that manufacturers are legally obliged to provide
"mechanical" replacement parts for at least three years after a product is
discontinued. The availability of parts _implies_ the availability of
service (though there seems to be no guarantee of _that_).

The problem is that it's not the battery door that breaks, it's the
whole camera body that breaks. Unless the entire camera body is
considered a "part."