I've mentioned repair issues previously and mostly regarding warranty work from both Nikon and Canon.

This is more about our local shop and maybe we're now seeing a new sherrif in town!

For years the best place for repairs was Midwest Camera Repair in Wyandotte, MI.  Great service and decent prices and a fair turnaround time.

Unfortunately that's all changed.  I sent a lens in for a basic clean, lube and adjust and to have the zoom ring smoothed out.  Over the years it's become sticky and more difficult to turn.  

So anyway, six months and a few emails later I get a bill for $317.00-ish and a package with my lens.  

The zoom ring functioned like new, that's cool!  

317 bucks -  that's in the ballpark for them typically and I'm neither thrilled nor upset by that.  

Six month, that's really poor. Pathetic for a company that says it gives priority to working professionals.

Auto focus - it barely works at all.  It's incredibly slow and even binds up to the point where it won't work at all.  This lens is an AF-S lens so it ought to be really fast to focus and it ought to be focussing accurately. 

But it doesn't.  AF fine tune showed it to be decently sharp, but in real world use the AF did not lock in correctly hardly ever and so the images it produced were way below acceptable.

So I sent it back in for more repair work.  Midwest is out of the picture in my mind.  I could not afford another six months without that lens.  Nikon's estimate was $600.00!  Ouch! That's crazy. 

I remembered that my fav used equipment retailer, KEH.com, now offers repair services and they do it on a flat rate basis.

KEH has always been top notch in my book, so I figured it was worth giving them a shot.  

They had my lens back to me in 18 days for a cost of $235.00 and it now works perfectly and is sharper than it was before I sent it in to Midwest.  

Unhappy customers that get no explanation and charged premium prices for poor work causes customers to leave.  If the customer finds a good option, then they become former customers.  

So, yeah, there's a new sherrif in town and it's KEH.  I love supporting the local shops, but sorry Midwest Camera Repair.  You were great at one time. I can't afford that sort of treatment.

3/2017